Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is stepping down from his position, per an announcement from the DOJ Friday that surprised a lot of people.
Attorney General Bill Barr announced that President plans to nominate Jay Clayton — currently serving as head of the SEC — for the position. In the interim, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Craig Carpenito will serve as Acting SDNY U.S. Attorney.
Barr says in his statement, “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.”
The announcement garnered a lot of surprised reactions, most notably from former SDNY U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, and with people noting how Berman’s office has been involved in notable cases concerning associates of the president:
Why does a president get rid of his own hand-picked US Attorney in SDNY on a Friday night, less than 5 months before the election?
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) June 20, 2020
Let me be stronger here. Berman “stepping down” is bullshit. He was fired. https://t.co/mqd9VcYd00
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) June 20, 2020
This is highly irregular. Why the rush to get Geoff Berman out the door and cause disarray in three different offices at once? There’s a story here. What is it? https://t.co/fa0MrsYRqg
— Michael R. Bromwich (@mrbromwich) June 20, 2020
This is insane.
SDNY is the last bastion of DOJ independence and now even it has been breached. https://t.co/ecIy9F2Ur3
— Elie Honig (@eliehonig) June 20, 2020
The Bill Barr shell games continue. He pulled this same nonsense w/the DC US Attorney – pretending to have Trump nominate a US Attorney from Cleveland so he could install a lackey as Acting DC USA. He’s now playing the same game w/the NJ & SDNY USAs. This whole thing stinks. https://t.co/R7OMXQCWty
— Glenn Kirschner (@glennkirschner2) June 20, 2020
I guess now we know the answer to this question.https://t.co/Fr8s6HtwG8
— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) June 20, 2020
This is weird. I wouldn’t give up the SEC chairmanship to be US Attorney for SDNY. Especially in this administration. pic.twitter.com/cbEwbeB1Vt
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) June 20, 2020
Berman — who’s been investigating Giuliani and probed other Trump cronies — is stepping down as US Atty for the Southern District of NY. Barr’s replacing him with Jay Clayton.
Clayton’s been running the SEC and has never served as a federal prosecutor. https://t.co/yjYWdVkhR5
— Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) June 20, 2020
Berman's office has for months been investigating Rudy Giuliani for potential criminal violations of lobbying laws over his dealings in Ukraine.
Berman, of course, also ran the Michael Cohen investigation, which implicated Trump in federal crimes. https://t.co/mk2pekQJjE
— Chris Sommerfeldt (@C_Sommerfeldt) June 20, 2020