[direwolf]

Originally Posted by MissTeeks

Just another normal day in the US:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1274178463881146370

More on this story. So much blatant corruption.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/19/polit...ton/index.html

Berman's rebuttal came about an hour after the Department of Justice announced Trump intends to nominate Jay Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who has never been a prosecutor.

A Justice Department official told CNN that Berman was offered other positions at Justice, including the head of the civil division, where assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt abruptly announced his departure this week. Berman declined. Barr asked Berman to resign in an in-person meeting in New York on Friday, the source said.

A second source with knowledge of the matter said Berman was asked to resign and refused.

Berman's unexpected exit is likely to draw scrutiny inside the US attorney's office and among career prosecutors. He had been the US attorney for Manhattan since 2018, and under his leadership, his office prosecuted Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen, is investigating top Trump confidante Rudy Giuliani and indicted the former New York mayor's associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman.

The timing of the move, announced shortly before 10 p.m. ET, immediately raised questions about the circumstances regarding Berman's departure.

Preet Bharara, a CNN senior legal analyst who was fired by Trump as US attorney for the Southern District shortly after Trump took office in 2017, told CNN's Don Lemon that the late-night announcement was a "highly irregular thing to do ... when there are all sorts of investigations swirling around."
"The President, his associates, there may be anger about the way that some of the prior investigations were conducted, with respect to his former lawyer Michael Cohen and others," he added.

And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the "late Friday night dismissal reeks of potential corruption of the legal process. What is angering President Trump? A previous action by this U.S. Attorney or one that is ongoing?"

Before Clayton was nominated to the SEC post by Trump, he was a corporate lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell. If confirmed, Clayton would be the first non-prosecutor to lead SDNY.

Barr and Clayton have known each other for years, the Justice official said, and Clayton was planning to leave to go back to NY. He expressed interest in the SDNY job, the Justice official said, and Barr agreed.