Why would President Trump want to remove the US Attorney for the SDNY 5 months before an election?
A concerned US citizen tries to make sense
On Friday evening, June 19th, 2020, the US Attorney General’s office announced that Geoffrey Berman was stepping down as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) effective immediately. Now in an age when the Trump administration has made it modus operandi for the hiring and firing of prominent political and judicial positions, specifically on Friday nights (IG Linick and IG Atkinson), this may seem just like any other removal from office since his tenure began in 2016. But is it?
As of this writing, Geoffrey Berman has stated that he isn’t stepping down and wasn’t told of his removal at all but was notified when the press release went out. Berman made clear he intends to stay until a Presidential appointed nominee is approved by the Senate.
So no, this isn’t ‘normal’. Even for the Trump administration.
Let’s briefly look at the SDNY and it’s history to understand it’s importance. According to the website “The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York encompasses the counties of New York, Bronx, Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Dutchess, and Sullivan and draws jurors from those counties. The Court hears cases in Manhattan, White Plains, and Poughkeepsie, New York.” Why is this important? This court oversees prosecution for the financial capital of the world with the US Attorney for SDNY unofficially being known as the sheriff of Wall Street. The court has a history of prosecuting some of the most landmark cases in US history. From hearing cases on the sinking of the Titanic to dismantling the Sicilian mafia. And in more recent times sending Micheal Cohen, Trump’s former attorney, to prison for 3 years for a litany of illegal activities that may have also indicted the President. Those allegations are still under investigation and could lead to actual jail time for anyone else involved.
The Southern District… has already started the paper trail, issuing subpoenas. A sweeping request for documents related to donations and spending by the inauguration committee for President Trump. How the committee raised and spent $107 million on events during the inauguration. — patch.com
Trump has a history of replacing anyone that either doesn’t follow his lead or, more often than not, tries to hold his office accountable for its actions and pursues legal recourse. Now in the case of Micheal Cohen, Berman recused himself during the proceedings and had no direct involvement. Essentially Berman removed himself from the equation so that Trump couldn’t pressure him to stop the allegations against Cohen from going forward. Officially Berman has never given a reason as to why he recused himself.
This is eerily similar to when former Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigations after which he was fired and replaced with William Barr.
But Berman has stayed where he is even after Cohen was sentenced to prison while the SDNY has continued to pursue other cases against Trump and his cohorts. So why now?
Let’s look at who Attorney General Barr has said will serve in the interim, Craig Carpenito, until the nominated permanent replacement, Jay Clayton, can be approved. Carpenito is the current US Attorney for New Jersey and has strong ties to former Governor Chris Christie which may make him sympathetic to Trump even though Christie has fallen out of favor.
Jay Clayton is the current SEC Chairman, has no prosecutorial experience and, has instead represented the interest of Wall Street banks for 20 years before being appointed SEC Chairman. According to an article on Politico, Clayton is a ”well-connected Wall Street lawyer who represented and advised a number of major companies, including Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Deutsche Bank and UBS”. Clayton has made a point to ease restrictions on Wall Street and allow large financial institutes more leeway with less government oversight. And although there’s nothing illegal in all of this, it does put Trump in a place of high favor with very powerful financial institutions. And also puts Clayton in a position of extreme influence over a district court pursuing multiple proceedings against Trump and his current attorney, former New York Governor Rudy Giuliani.
As for why now, we are 5 months from a Presidential election of which the outcome is very uncertain. As long as he is President he’s in a position to help anyone that can benefit from an administration bent on removing governmental authority over private industry. And, more immediately, if Trump were to lose he would no longer be able to claim immunity from prosecution as a sitting US President. And proceedings like the ones being pursued by the SDNY can take years to bring to bear.
For more on what Trump might be fearing from the SDNY you can read these articles:
