What is the problem with the US Attorney position in the Southern District of New York? Shortly after PDJT took office, PDJT decided to replace Preet Bharara as the US Attorney in SDNY. There is nothing unusual about an incoming President replacing US Attorneys. After all, they are political appointees and serve at the pleasure of the President.
In March 1993 President Bill Clinton had Attorney General Janet Reno fire 93 of the 94 U.S. Attorneys appointed by the prior administration. In 2009, President Obama asked for the resignation of all George W. Bush-appointed U.S. Attorneys. He replaced virtually all of them. Nary a word was spoken about this. It was treated as nothing out of the ordinary.
Replacing US Attorneys does not interfere with ongoing investigations. The moment a U.S. Attorney leaves, the next highest-ranking member of that office—usually a career prosecutor—takes over until a new U.S. Attorney is confirmed by the Senate. All investigations and prosecutions continue.
When Bharara was asked to resign, he refused. So, he was fired. Bharara decided to make a media event out of the fact that he was being fired. Perhaps, he was trying to solidify his street creds with those on the far left. Or was there another reason?
Subsequent to Bharara firing, Joon Kim, the Deputy US Attorney in SDNY served as acting US Attorney for ten months. AG Sessions then appointed Geoffrey Berman as interim US Attorney. Such appointments normally are limited to 120 days. Prior to the expiration of the interim assignment, the court for SDNY appointed Berman as US Attorney.
Can the court do this? The answer is yes. 28 U.S.C. § 546(d) provides:
So, Berman served as US Attorney for a bit over two years. During this time, the Senate did not confirm a replacement. Recently the AG decided it was time to get someone new in that position. Berman was asked to move to another job within the administration. He refused rather publicly and then he was fired.
Why replace Berman now? This will definitely be a bit complicated. Multiple sources indicate that Berman refused to sign a letter criticizing Mayor de Blasio for not allowing religious services.
Paul Mirengoff noted:
And before the free speech people get all riled up, Berman was free to refuse to sign a letter he disagreed with. However, since the letter reflected a policy priority of DOJ, his refusal should have been accompanied by his letter of resignation. Each US Attorney has a level of independence to pursue the mission of justice. However, that does not extend to ignoring the enforcement priorities of the AG and the President.
Is there more to this story? There may very well be.
Berman appears to be enmeshed in the Ukraine controversy. As reported at Just The News,
“The memos show that well before Ukrainian prosecutors reached out to Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s lawyer, in 2019 to talk about the Bidens and alleged 2016 election interference they first approached Berman’s office in New York in October 2018 via another American lawyer.
The memos show Little Rock, Ark., lawyer Bud Cummins, a former U.S. attorney himself, reached out at least five times in October 2018 to Berman seeking to arrange a meeting with then-Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko.
Lutsenko, who emerged as a key figure in the impeachment scandal, wanted to confidentially share with federal prosecutors in New York evidence he claimed to possess that raised concerns about the Bidens’ behavior as well as alleged wrongdoing in the Paul Manafort corruption case.”
Cummins said that after his initial contacts, he never heard from Berman again. Berman’s office never contacted Lutsenko. Instead, Berman would eventually indict two associates of Rudy Giuliani on campaign finance and other charges. This came about as a result of their activities helping Giuliani publicize the Ukraine prosecutors’ concerns. All this makes it look like that Berman is a card-carrying member of the Deep State. This would mean that the US Attorney’s office in the SDNY is a Deep State entity.
I postulate that it is impossible that Barr and Trump did not know this. Berman’s insubordination in refusing to sign the letter to de Blasio gave Barr the excuse to remove Berman.
If PDJT is to drain the swamp, SDNY must be aligned with him on issues of justice. There is no doubt that much of the chaos and mayhem we are seeing are funded by well-healed people who want complete control over the country. New York is the financial center of the country, if not the world. A strong US Attorney in SDNY (Giuliani was one) is a must if the controls of government are ever to be returned to the people. It seems that Barr and PDJT have taken another step in the right direction.