The House Judiciary Committee on Monday released the transcript of its closed-door hearing with Geoffrey Berman, the former US attorney for the Southern District of New York, who had been overseeing the prosecution of alleged criminal activity by several associates of US President Donald Trump.
Since taking office in 2018, Berman has overseen the prosecution of several Trump associates, including his former lawyer Michael Cohen and his current lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Berman also oversaw an investigation into disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who had ties to Trump and other prominent politicians. However, Berman was ousted from his position last month by US Attorney General Bill Barr, who said that Trump had requested that he be fired.
In his testimony, Berman said that he was taken aback by how Barr tried to replace him, stating according to the transcript that “the irregular and unexplained actions by the attorney general raised serious concerns for me.”
According to Berman, Barr asked him to resign his position so that it would “create an opening for SEC [US Securities and Exchange Commission] Chairman Jay Clayton to be nominated for US attorney for the Southern District of New York.”
“Why did the attorney general say that I was stepping down when he knew I had neither resigned nor been fired?” Berman asked rhetorically, while responding to questions from Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler (D-NY). “Why did the attorney general not tell me the actual reason he was asking me to resign instead of saying that it was to get Clayton into the position?”
House Democrats believe that Berman’s testimony may support their convictions that the Justice Department has been politicized by Barr, Axios reported.
In his testimony, Berman said that Barr warned he would be fired if he did not resign from his position and also said that getting fired “would not be good for [his] resume or future job prospects.”
In addition, Berman said that a news release issued by the US Department of Justice on June 19 that announced he would be stepping down was false. In response to that news release, Berman also released a statement on June 19, in which he wrote: “I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position, to which I was appointed by the Judges of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.”
Berman also noted during his testimony that he challenged his firing because his “sole goal” was to make sure that ongoing investigations he was overseeing “would go forward without disruption and delay.”
Berman also said that Barr’s request that he resign could be seen as a quid pro quo.
“You know, he wanted me to resign to take a position. I assume you could call that a quid pro quo. You resign and you get this, that would mean quid pro quo,” Berman said in his testimony.
When he was later asked to further clarify those comments, he said: “it could be seen as a quid pro quo, his offering me a job in exchange for my resignation.” According to Berman, Barr said that there was a job opening at the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.
Berman on June 20 agreed to step down after Barr agreed to let Berman’s top deputy, Audrey Strauss, take over the reins as acting US attorney for SDNY, instead of US Attorney for the District of New Jersey Craig Carpenito, whom Barr wanted to temporarily take over the position until Clayton could be confirmed by the US Senate.
