Former Southern District of New York prosecutor Geoffrey Berman spoke with members of Congress on Thursday and gave details on how Attorney General William Barr tried to get rid of him. Berman referred to Barr’s attempts as “unprecedented, unnecessary and unexplained.”
According to Berman, Barr contacted him multiple times urging him to step down from his position at the SDNY.
Berman went on to say in his testimony that he told Barr that he wanted to stay at his current job and would only step down if a replacement was nominated by Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
According to the former prosecutor, Barr kept on insisting and wouldn’t take no for an answer. The attorney general then asked Berman to step down on June 19. Berman then asked Barr to give him until June 22 to make his final decision.
But that wasn’t the case. Barr, according to Berman, gave him until the next day to step down – yet, the Department of Justice had put out a press release just hours later on June 19 that falsely claimed Berman was stepping down.
“The press release said, among other things, that the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Craig Carpenito, had been appointed by the president as Acting U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York effective July 3rd pending Jay Clayton’s nomination and confirmation for that position,” Berman told lawmakers. “The appointment of Craig Carpenito as Acting U.S. Attorney, or anyone from outside of the Office, would have been unprecedented, unnecessary and unexplained.”
You can read Berman’s entire opening statement HERE.
