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Former U.S. Attorney says William Barr pushed him to resign

Mar 14, 2024
Last week, Manhattan's

former

top prosecutor told lawmakers that Attorney General William Bar pressured him to

resign

from his position. Jeffrey Berman said Barr also urged him to take another job in the Trump administration, warning that if he didn't he would be fired. Refusing to give up on Berman. He was ultimately fired after leading the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York until last month. Democrats have expressed concern about his removal. It's not the only shakeup we've seen recently at the Department of Justice Rebecca Roy, he joins me now she's CBS. Rebecca, legal analyst and

former

New York County Assistant District Attorney, welcomes you, she's great to see you.
former u s attorney says william barr pushed him to resign
According to Berman's prepared remarks for the Judiciary Committee, Barr pressured him to

resign

from his job, both in person and by phone, on June 19. He was then fired the next day after refusing to resign. What do you think of Berman's testimony? So I think one of the most alarming things about that story is the fact that Bill Barr lied to portray his meeting with Berman. Furman Berman resigned and Berman clearly said in his testimony that he refused to resign, so those two things are simply incompatible, which leads people to wonder what was really going on here and a lot of people have speculated, you know the Southern District from New York. is involved in really important investigations into Trump and his associates and Bill Barr was trying to interfere in those investigations and I think people are legitimately concerned about that now Bill Barr has insisted that he was not and has said that those accusations are absurd, But the appearances are worrying, to say the least, it appears that what Bill Barr was trying to do is exert greater control over the historically independent prosecutor's office, so whether or not he was trying to interfere in a particular investigation, it seems very clear that I was trying. control the office in a way centralized control over the office in a way that is inconsistent not only with the history of the Southern District of New York but also with the history of the prosecutor's office in the United States, so Rebecca is all this a toothless investigation on the part of the legislators or it could result in something important, you know, I mean, I think if it were ever determined that, by doing this, he was trying to interfere with a particular investigation, that would be shocking, it would definitely be something that lead to an investigation into Bill Barr himself and concerns about whether Bill Bar should be charged or not.
former u s attorney says william barr pushed him to resign

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former u s attorney says william barr pushed him to resign...

I guess that's not where he's going. I think instead what we're seeing is someone trying to consolidate control over processing in part. because he himself believes that these independent offices have become politicized and have been persecuting his boss, the irony of all this is that by intervening, he is the one who politicizes these offices because he is the political appointee, he is the one that everyone thinks well, you are so Close to Trump, if you are trying to assert all this control you must have a reason, unlike these line prosecutors, these people who have been professional prosecutors who don't have a horse in the race, they are clearly just doing their job . chasing that long piece of evidence and until it's proven that they have some kind of vendetta, then this seems, um, you know, this seems very strange on Barr's part, it seems like he has a real ax to grind here and that's worrying because it's extremely It is important that our prosecutors not only remain independent from political pressure, but also appear legitimate, and I think it has done serious damage, if not to the actual independence of these prosecutors, at least, that does harm.
former u s attorney says william barr pushed him to resign
I think it's worrying and I think the perception is a little wrong. The creators are absolutely right, so look into it. Rebecca On Friday Attorney General Barr announced that Richard Donahue would move from his job as district

attorney

in the Eastern District of New York to a position on the chief court. What else can you tell us about Donohue? and how common this type of move is in the Department of Justice, you know it's uncommon and it's uncommon, particularly at this particular time for an election, you know this is less alarming. I think the incident with Berman, in part because these are career prosecutors who have had experience in the office, so at least they both seem to have good, good experience with prosecution and criminal work.
former u s attorney says william barr pushed him to resign
They are there. They are certainly qualified for this job at the same time. I think it looks like what's happening. is far from taking people with whom you have developed a relationship and who you feel are loyal to you and trying to install them in these jobs that historically have had a lot of independence, not legally, not formally, but informally, through tradition and history. . been independent of the chief judge and the reason for this in part is because we want the prosecutor's office to be independent of politics and the chief judge is closer to politics than these independent individual offices, so he has the same concern.
I think he really has it and so does Rebecca. On Friday, President Trump commuted Roger Stones' sentence. Stone, as you know, had been convicted of lying to investigators and obstruction in the Russia investigation. Former special prosecutor Robert Muller reacted to Stones by cooking up a situation in an op-ed that said Stone was prosecuted and convicted because he committed several federal crimes, is still a convicted felon, and, rightly so, Attorney General William Bar even called the stone's sentence as fair last week, so what kind of message does the president's action send to the rank and file of the Justice Department?
I think it's incredibly demoralizing. The bases within the Department of Justice I imagine morale is extremely low right now. This is a job that people seek not for money. You know there are many other jobs. It's a top job, but you know you could go to a fantastic law firm if you could get a job in the Southern District of New York or the Eastern District of New York and these prosecutors would take this job because they're committed to public service. and the notion that they are doing something that is valuable and they are serving justice and I think the idea that their work is being undermined in this way and the reputation of federal prosecutors themselves must be very difficult on a day-to-day basis for These prosecutors do their job and pause for a second because we focus so much on Trump, but most of the things these people are doing have nothing to do with politics, so it's pretty alarming that this narrative about the Russian investigation and all these prosecutions that Now I think you know that a series of different moves by Trump have been gradually undermined by the daily work that prosecutors do and this is especially ironic from a president who calls himself the president of the law and order because this is not good for law and order, I mean, you know, these are dangerous criminals, drug traffickers, you know, organized crime, that these prosecutors spend their days working to combat and I think weakening their offices is weaken the country and weaken law and order, well, Rebecca Brophy, thank you.
Thank you very much for sharing your game, thank you with us, we really appreciate it.

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