This is why you shouldn’t just recycle your 2005 Bush admin talking points.
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In any case, there would surely be some interesting questions during a Judiciary Cttee hearing…
And Berman keeps the office until Clayton is confirmed.
And there was no miscommunication. Barr attempted to say there would be an acting attorney until Clayton was confirmed…from the NY Times:
Mr. Barr also announced that on his recommendation, Mr. Trump had appointed Craig Carpenito, the current U.S. attorney for New Jersey, to serve as acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan while the Senate considers Mr. Clayton’s nomination. Mr. Barr said Mr. Carpenito’s appointment would be effective July 3.
And in a sign I might have been wrong about the Senate’s willingness to confirm Mr. Clayton, there is this, from the same NYT story…from Lindsay Graham:
Mr. Barr’s attempt to fire Mr. Berman received unexpected pushback from Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina and a close Trump ally.
Mr. Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee — which would approve Mr. Clayton’s nomination — suggested in a statement that he would allow New York’s two Democratic senators to thwart the nomination through a procedural maneuver.
He complimented Mr. Clayton but said he had not heard from the administration about his planned nomination.
In short- you’re wrong.
Perhaps if Mr. Trump got his act together and stopped having so many “acting” officials, he would be free to replace Mr. Berman with no legal fuss.
But he didn’t…so now he is in this bind.
And he may not get his way after all.
Perhaps it’s time to stop firing officials because he thinks they’re out to get him…or firing officials that are investigating his associates or even as it appears, his own officials…like Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Barr.
Again I will note the 10:00 on a Friday evening announcement…really great optics there.
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This is another one of those things Trumpsters will be stuck with forever.
Any time they try to act like they have some sort of moral high ground or start to pretend their core trait is anything but sycophancy, they’re going to be reminded of Rudy Guiliani and Donald Trump.
Forever.
This is their life. Imagine being a Trumpster. Oof.
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Already coming out this morning that Berman wouldn’t sign off a settlement involving the Turkish government bank and Barr went to New York to have a face to face with him over it.
Which ties in neatly with Bolton’s book revelation that Trump told Erdogan he would kill some SDNY investigations for him.
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And I didn’t know about what Graham said when I made my prediction about whether the Senate would confirm Clayton…so the odds I’m wrong perhaps went up.
nope, not wrong. According to the law he was appointed under, the President cannot appoint a new acting USA (seems quite unconstitutional in my view, but lets assume it’s okay). Why would he need to? Fire him and leave the office vacant. He serves at the pleasure of the President. Maybe you should revisit Marbury. Did you forget what its predicated on? Neither the Congress, nor a court, nor any law can prevent the President from exercising his constitutional authority over the executive.
The other fun part of the story:
The White House quickly announced that Trump was nominating the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission to the job, a lawyer with virtually no experience as a federal prosecutor.
Perhaps you’ve noticed, but the SEC has done somewhere between not and ■■■■ since Trump.
No experience as a federal prosecutor
^
.
Dear President Trump.
Yes please, oh please fire US attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman.
Pretty please.
.
.
.
.WW, PHS
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You can claim it’s unconstitutional if you want, but it applies to a special case…where the acting person was made permanent by a judicial panel.
The President had every opportunity not to let it get here, but once he did, it was out of his hands…with only him to blame for that.
Good lord. Resignation and replacement.
Allan
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The Trump Rationalization Machine is in full swing to justify Trump trying to fire yet another person who is investigating close associates/members of his administration.
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Let’s see if Trump now tries to fire Berman. If he does, it’s a sign of extreme desperation & coverup.
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I know it’s something you don’t like
But it’s a fact.
He was an acting uS attoney but by law he cannot be acting for more the 120 days.
Time limited exceeded.
“But Trump, who has said he prefers acting officials because he has more flexibility to replace them, never nominated anyone else to fill Berman’s post. A federal court in Manhattan therefore invoked a rarely used power to appoint Berman to the position permanently in April 2018, allowing him to remain in the post until the Senate confirms another appointee.
Steve Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, tweeted Friday that Berman is on firm legal footing to argue that he can continue to serve in his post until the Senate confirms his permanent successor under federal law governing vacancies.
Sorry his replacement must be confirmed by the senate.
Allan
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I suspect the Judges of the Southern District of New York would enjoin any attempt to fire Mr. Berman.
Until Trump nominates, the Senate confirms and Trump appoints (signs the commission) for a replacement, he simply has no statutory authority to fire Mr. Berman.
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Great thread. Thanks for all the details, everyone.
SDNY’s Geoff Berman went to work this morning. “I’m just here to do my job,” he told reporters who caught up with him outside SDNY offices this morning.
Berman:
“I issued a statement last night, I have nothing to add to that this morning. I’m just here to do my job.”
That’s some cojones right there… 
If it is the case that this is because the President promised to kill investigations into a Turkish Bank for violating Iranian sanctions as a political favor for Erdogan… the supporters still won’t care.
Well I mean, let’s be honest, he’s in a prosecutor’s dream situation, being able to stand up to power due to his superior knowledge of laws only like a thousand people on Earth care about.
Stories are saying that Barr first tried to promote him out of SDNY, offering him the Civil Division at Main Justice among others (that’s a big, big deal) but he said no. Then he’s been asking for his resignation after that, first on paper and then in person.
Berman had this one in his back pocket for awhile.
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The sooner you realize that Trump’s unwillingness to Senate confirm appointees has bitten him on the ass, because the four month limit on transitional appointments expired and the SDNY was forced to confirm him as the USA because Trump didn’t even bother to nominate anyone else, the happier you’ll be.
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