Patterico's Pontifications

6/20/2020

Berman Unequivocally Wins the Fight Over His Successor

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 4:08 pm



After nine updates to my previous post, I don’t want this to get lost in the mix. Geoff Berman has won this fight.

Here is AG Barr’s announcement last night:

Attorney General William P. Barr has released the following statement:

“I am pleased to announce that President Trump intends to nominate Jay Clayton, currently the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to serve as the next United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. For the past three years, Jay has been an extraordinarily successful SEC Chairman, overseeing efforts to modernize regulation of the capital markets, protect Main Street investors, enhance American competitiveness, and address challenges ranging from cybersecurity issues to the COVID-19 pandemic. His management experience and expertise in financial regulation give him an ideal background to lead the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and he will be a worthy successor to the many historic figures who have held that post. On behalf of the President, I thank Jay for accepting this nomination, and I look forward to working with him soon.

On my recommendation, the President has appointed Craig Carpenito, currently the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, to serve as the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, while the Senate is considering Jay Clayton’s nomination. This appointment will be effective July 3, and Craig will work closely with the outgoing United States Attorney to ensure a smooth transition. I thank Craig for his continued service and for taking on this important interim responsibility.

Finally, I thank Geoffrey Berman, who is stepping down after two-and-a-half years of service as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. With tenacity and savvy, Geoff has done an excellent job leading one of our nation’s most significant U.S. Attorney’s Offices, achieving many successes on consequential civil and criminal matters. I appreciate his service to the Department of Justice and our nation, and I wish him well in the future.”

Here is AG Barr’s letter today to Berman:

Note especially this passage:

By operation of law, the Deputy United States Attorney, Audrey Strauss, will become the Acting United States Attorney, and I anticipate that she will serve in that capacity until a permanent successor is in place.

Barr blinked, and Berman’s statement makes it very clear that this shift in the identity of his successor was the reason he agreed to step down.

In light of Attorney General Barr’s decision to respect the normal operation of law and have Deputy U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss become Acting U.S. Attorney, I will be leaving the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, effective immediately. It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as this District’s U.S. Attorney and a custodian of its proud legacy, but I could leave the District in no better hands than Audrey’s. She is the smartest, most principled, and effective lawyer with whom I have ever had the privilege of working. And I know that under her leadership, this Office’s unparalleled AUSAs, investigators, paralegals, and staff will continue to safeguard the Southern District’s enduring tradition of integrity and independence.

Audrey Strauss is not going to squash the investigations into Trump cronies.

It’s this simple:

Berman refused to leave when his replacement was going to be political appointee Craig Carpenito. He agreed to leave when Barr said Strauss would get the position. That’s why Berman agreed to step down. Period.

PSA: If anyone is telling you that Berman was always going to step down, because he knew he had no choice, they’re lying to you or they don’t understand what happened. Such people have to explain why Barr blinked on the issue of who would succeed Berman. And they can’t. If you care about the truth, you should not listen to such hacks. (PSA ends.)

31 Responses to “Berman Unequivocally Wins the Fight Over His Successor”

  1. I hope that clears it up for those who were confused about what happened here.

    Patterico (115b1f)

  2. Will Barr turn around and try to fire Strauss in two days after representing in writing that he expects her to remain until her successor is confirmed? Who knows what a cretin like him might do?

    Patterico (115b1f)

  3. Well, this has been an entertaining and uproarious Saturday matinee.

    norcal (a5428a)

  4. Indeed!

    Patterico (115b1f)

  5. Once someone on Fox & Friends reports that Strauss has been investigating and prosecuting Trump’s cronies, Trump will head-nod right along and she’ll soon be on the chopping block. They’re not even putting the thinnest veneer over their corruption.

    Paul Montagu (d27749)

  6. In the space of three days Team Trump takes three beatings that arose from its own incompetence. It lost on DACA because it rushed the paperwork. It lost with Berman because it didn’t do any paperwork when he was appointed. And it seems it let itself get trolled by a whole bunch of Democrats who registered for the Tulsa rally solely for the sake of making Trump look a fool.

    Kishnevi (51f52a)

  7. It’s kinda hard to keep up these days.

    Dustin (e3a6ae)

  8. Sorry, I still don’t understand. So the AG wanted Berman to leave and put Clayton in, and Berman decided he wouldn’t leave unless his Deputy AG was promoted. What other Federal District Attorney has ever done such a crazy stunt?

    And we’re supposed to believe this all about PROTECTING the independence of some mysterious on-going investigation, that Barr – without any evidence – supposedly wanted to shut down. We’re also supposed to believe that all the lower level running these mysterious investigations, wouldn’t have run off to the DoJ IG, or the Press the second, someone tried to stop them. Finally, we’re supposed to believe -without any evidence – that the man Barr wanted was some “Hack” who would’ve acted unethically.

    Frankly, there are a lot of unsupported assumptions, none of them with any evidence to back them up.
    Berman may have “Won”, but what he “won” is unknown. And I’m still not clear why the AG can’t fill an acting AG spot with who he wants. I didn’t know that Federal District Attorney’s now have the power to name their predecessor, no matter what the AG or POTUS says.

    rcocean (fcc23e)

  9. If you’re a Democrat or dislike Trump you can thank Sen. Graham. He’s given the NY Senators Veto power over who gets appointed. Lindsey is quite a good friend of Trump’s – as you can see. For some reason Clayton who heads the SEC, is unacceptable to them. Had he been confirmed, the “political hack” that Barr wanted to be temporary Federal D/A, would’ve been in the job for a very short time.

    rcocean (fcc23e)

  10. Also, seems extremely unlikely that Jay Clayton, defense attorney to the financial industry and SEC fox-in-the-henhouse, will be nominated or confirmed for the SDNY:

    Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally whose panel oversees U.S. attorney nominations, said he had not been consulted by the move and would follow Senate tradition by essentially giving New York’s two home state senators veto power over the nomination.

    The two Democrats, Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both said Saturday that Clayton shouldn’t even be considered for the job.

    So, daily double win.

    Purple Martin (34703c)

  11. The problem with Clayton is this: he has no experience as a prosecutor,but does have experience as a lawyer for Deutsche Bank.

    Kishnevi (51f52a)

  12. BTW, did anyone read United States v. Hilario (2000) (the date is relevant), cited by Barr in the dismissal letter? The U.S. Attorney whose vires was being challenged had been an interim appointee, like Berman, for six (6) years. A regularly appointed and confirmed USA’s term is for four years.

    On the other hand, Puerto Rico is not New York, or at least not the greater part of it.

    nk (1d9030)

  13. The problem with Clayton is this: he has no experience as a prosecutor,but does have experience as a lawyer for Deutsche Bank.

    A couple of days ago, a 20-year old amateur day-trader from a neighboring suburb committed suicide because he woke up owing $730,000 to Robinhood, his online DIY brokerage service. I know there had been regulatory curbs put on that by Clinton and/or Dubya so such things would not occur. Was the deregulation Clayton’s doing? Also, is such deregulation the reason for Wall Street’s paper wealth?

    nk (1d9030)

  14. Berman refused to leave when his replacement was going to be political appointee Craig Carpenito. He agreed to leave when Barr said Strauss would get the position.

    But for how long…

    “I’m fired. I’ll leave. I win.”

    Very Walrus Gumbo. 😉

    DCSCA (797bc0)

  15. Try rereading the posts until you understand, rcocean.

    DRJ (aede82)

  16. Robinhood has a problem with how they post some of their options trades clearing (as well as allowing people with no real credit access to large margin accounts). So you’ll have a series of options that trade and payment credit hasn’t settled, so the UI will continue to show a balance that doesn’t reflect the actual balance.

    It allows the same kind of silly day trading that ruined people in the dotcom bubble.

    Colonel Klink (Ret) (305827)

  17. Amen, Pat.

    I very much want to know who lied: DJT or Barr. It matters. My money is on DJT.

    By the bye…did anyone see the signing ceremony for the immigration EO which was promised for today?

    Congrats to the Biden supporters who messed with the distribution of tickets to the rally. Good on the folks who decided to stay away out of caution for the virus.

    However…it is a truly horrible thing that there were those who did not come out of fear that they would not be safe from insurgents. We can not have a free election if the electorate votes out of a sense of personal fear. Of course, the irony is that back in the day, blacks faced that very issue in too many places.

    Ed from SFV (f64387)

  18. And it seems it let itself get trolled by a whole bunch of Democrats who registered for the Tulsa rally solely for the sake of making Trump look a fool.

    I confess I’m a bit skeptical about this.

    There are no secrets on the internet or social media. I don’t see how it could have been organized without somebody shooting their mouth off and word leaking out.

    If, as has been alleged, teenagers were involved? Yeah, right.

    Dave (1bb933)

  19. Also, if Trump had gotten just a few thousand more Oklahomans to turn out, and filled the place, the huge number of tickets requested would have made him look good and played into the narrative he was trying to create.

    It seems more plausible that Trump’s cultists – perhaps even with encouragement from the campaign – were the ones who inflated the ticket numbers.

    Dave (1bb933)

  20. These are words that I never thought would spring from my keyboard: It was the TikTok teens and K-pop stans that did it, that sabotaged attendance at Trump’s rally.

    TikTok users and fans of Korean pop music groups claimed to have registered potentially hundreds of thousands of tickets for Mr. Trump’s campaign rally as a prank. After the Trump campaign’s official account @TeamTrump posted a tweet asking supporters to register for free tickets using their phones on June 11, K-pop fan accounts began sharing the information with followers, encouraging them to register for the rally — and then not show.

    It’s hard to say how many of those actually registered and then didn’t show up, but now Trump has some other group to b*tch about. Those meddling teens.

    Paul Montagu (d27749)

  21. Ack. Wrong thread.

    Paul Montagu (d27749)

  22. RCocean, said

    And I’m still not clear why the AG can’t fill an acting AG spot with who he wants.

    Generally they can. AFAIK

    What makes this one different is that Berman was appointed by the Justices of the SDNY to serve until the senate confirms the replacement. That’s different from “serve at the pleasure of the AG” The law directed them to do this because after Sessions appointed him as acting USA his name was never submitted for Senate confirmation.

    In timeline form

    1. Trump admin removes previous USA.
    2. Trump interviews Berman.
    3. Sessions appointed Berman as acting USA.
    4. Trump admin fails to get Berman approved, AFAIK there wasn’t a problem. The Trump admin is just incompetent.
    5. As legally required the Justices must appoint a USA if one isn’t confirmed after a certain time. They pick the man Trump selected.

    Does that clear it up?

    Time123 (235fc4)

  23. Nice info about Berman

    Berman had worked on Trump’s transition team and as a law partner of Rudy Giuliani, the president’s ally and personal lawyer.

    Over the next two years, Berman showed a surprising independent streak as leader of the prosecutors in New York known for handling some of the nation’s highest-profile white-collar crimes.

    Time123 (457a1d)

  24. Kicks just keep getting harder to find…

    Colonel Haiku (2601c0)

  25. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally whose panel oversees U.S. attorney nominations, said he had not been consulted by the move and would follow Senate tradition by essentially giving New York’s two home state senators veto power over the nomination.

    For those who needed a prediction, from somebody who knows, that next term Biden will be President and Democrats will control the Senate.

    nk (1d9030)

  26. Holy lolz. Does Patterico only talk to himself and a few doltish sycophants at this point? This is genuinely, straight up laughable analysis.

    AG Barr: “Berman is resigning.”

    Berman: “No, I will stick around.”

    Patterico: “Barr is a cretinuous liar whose mother smells of elderberries and he has no power to fire Berman.”

    Barr: “You’re fired, and we are locking you out of the building.”

    *Berman leaves*

    Patterico: “I was right and Berman won”!!!

    Scalito (0f0d4f)

  27. Anytime someone says “so & so resigned” and so & so says “haha no I didn’t,” so & so won.

    Leviticus (823118)

  28. Harem politics.

    nk (1d9030)

  29. The White House has now admitted that Trump lied when he said he was not involved in Berman’s firing.

    Dave (1bb933)

  30. His involvement was merely in a “sign-off capacity”. LOL!

    norcal (a5428a)

  31. Spin City indeed

    norcal (a5428a)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0972 secs.