The former top federal prosecutor in Manhattan testified that Attorney General William Barr repeatedly asked him to resign before his firing, even though he was not “dissatisfied” with his work.
Geoffrey Berman, the former United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, was abruptly fired June 20 after initially refusing Barr’s requests to resign. He had been given the role on an interim basis by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions in January 2018 and then was appointed to the position by judges of the Southern District after 120 days passed without President Trump nominating a permanent U.S. attorney, as is prescribed by federal law.
The 60-year-old Republican, who was a volunteer on Trump’s transition team, detailed his discussions with Barr last month in a closed-door hearing with the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, claiming that Barr told him his failure to resign could damage his career.
“I told the attorney general that there were important investigations in the office that I wanted to see through completion,” Berman said, according to his prepared testimony. “The attorney general said that if I did not resign from my position, I would be fired. He added that getting fired from my job would not be good for my resume or future job prospects. I told him that while I did not want to get fired, I would not resign.”
Berman said he received an email from a member of Barr’s staff on June 18 asking to meet the next day at the Pierre Hotel in New York.
“I was not told the purpose of the meeting,” Berman said.
Berman said he met with Barr and the attorney general’s chief of staff for about 45 minutes in Barr’s hotel suite, where Barr told him that he wanted to “make a change in the Southern District of New York.” Berman said he was pressured to resign and take a position in the Justice Department’s Civil Division so that Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton could be nominated for the Manhattan job.
“I responded that I loved my job,” Berman said. “I asked the attorney general if he was in any way dissatisfied with my performance as U.S. attorney. He said that he was not at all dissatisfied.”
Berman said he told Barr that Clayton was not qualified for the position because he was never a federal prosecutor and had no experience in criminal law. He also said he was uninterested in resigning or overseeing the department’s civil division.
But Barr repeatedly pressed Berman to take the civil division position, Berman said, telling him it would be “a good resume builder.”
“He said that I should want to create a book of business once I returned to the private sector, which that role would help achieve. He also stated that I would just have to sit there for five months and see who won the election before deciding what came next for me,” Berman said.
According to Berman, Barr asked him if there were other jobs in the administration he would consider, and he said no. Barr then asked for Berman’s cell phone number so Barr could call him after he had time to think about the offer. Berman told him his position would not change.
After he left the meeting, Berman said he consulted with private attorneys in case he was fired.
Berman said he had a three-minute phone call with Barr later that night in which Berman said his decision was still the same, but he wanted to have a final conversation with Barr about the matter after the weekend.
“He refused my request to call me on Monday and said that he would call me the next day, Saturday, June 20,” Berman said. “He did not give me a specific time for the call. That is the last time I spoke to the attorney general or anyone on his staff.”
Hours after their final phone call, the Justice Department issued a news release saying Berman would be “stepping down.” Berman released his own statement saying he had not resigned and had no intention of doing so. Barr released another statement the next day saying Berman had been fired by Trump.
Berman said he decided not to litigate his firing after he learned that his deputy, Audrey Strauss, would become acting U.S. attorney until a permanent successor was confirmed.
Under Berman, the Manhattan attorney’s office has prosecuted a number of cases related to Trump, including his former longtime attorney Michael Cohen.
Berman did not speculate in his prepared remarks whether he thought Barr had ulterior motives for removing him.
