Top New York Prosecutor Leaves Job After Standoff With Barr

The man hand-picked by the White House as the top federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York is out, after a series of claims and counter-claims even more convoluted than President Donald Trump's dismissal of his predecessor in 2017.

The unusual standoff between Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman ended Saturday when the prosecutor agreed to leave his job with an assurance that investigations by the prosecutor's office into the president's allies would not be disturbed.

The announcement ended increasingly nasty exchanges between Barr and Berman. Although Barr said Trump had removed Berman, the president told reporters: "That's all up to the attorney general. Attorney General Barr is working on that. That's his department, not my department." Trump added: "I wasn't involved."

The whirlwind chain of events began Friday night, when Barr announced that Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, had resigned. Barr offered no explanation. The White House announced that Trump was nominating Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton, a well-connected Wall Street lawyer with virtually no experience as a federal prosecutor, for the job.

Hours later, Berman issued a statement denying that he had resigned and saying that his office's "investigations would move forward without delay or interruption."

Saturday, Barr issued a letter saying he had expected to continue speaking with the prosecutor about other possible positions within the department and was "surprised and quite disappointed" by his statement.

The administration's push to cast aside Berman comes three years after it cast aside Preet Bharara.

Marc Kasowitz, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer in the Russia investigation, boasted to friends and colleagues that he played a central role in Bharara's ouster.

At the time of Bharara's firing March 11, 2017, Bharara and the Southern District were conducting an investigation into Trump's secretary of health and human services, Tom Price, over spending $1 million of government funds on private flights. Price resigned in September 2017.

One of the nation's top districts, the Southern District has tried major mob, financial crimes and terrorism cases over the years and is investigating Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Berman agreed to leave his job with an assurance that investigations by the prosecutor's office into the president's allies would not be disturbed.

New York Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand suggested Saturday that Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton shouldn't take the job. Traditionally, a state's senators have the right to determine if a nomination will be brought to the Senate floor.

"I will not be complicit in helping President Trump and Attorney General Barr fire a U.S. attorney who is reportedly investigating corruption in this administration," Gillibrand said in a statement to the media. "Jay Clayton should withdraw his name from consideration immediately and remove himself from this sham. President Trump cannot be allowed to desecrate our nominations process further."