Rudy Giuliani said he was unaware that President Trump would fire Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, whose office is reportedly investigating his foreign business dealings.
Giuliani, who is Trump’s personal lawyer, told radio host John Catsimatidis that he found out about Berman’s firing when a reporter from the New York Times called him to ask him about it.
“I didn’t find out about it until late Friday night when the New York Times called me, so I’m not on the inside of this decision,” Giuliani said on Sunday. “It apparently was made by the White House. It says that somehow [the Southern District of New York] is investigating me. Look, that’s a 1-year-old story.”
“I haven’t heard anything from them in a year. I have no evidence that they are investigating me. They never subpoenaed a document. They never talked to any of my banks or business associates, so I think that’s a malicious story put out by an unnamed source,” Guiliani said.
As Democrats raise concerns about the firing, Guiliani emphasized the president has free reign to fire U.S. attorneys.
“On the other hand, the president has the right to remove any U.S. attorney he wants to, anytime he wants to. Mr. Berman was only an interim appointment. So I don’t understand why he’s so surprised that they’d want to put in a permanent appointment. There have been a lot of issues. The president has a right to have the person he wants there,” Giuliani said.
Berman is a former law partner of Giuliani, a former New York City mayor who also was Manhattan’s U.S. attorney in the 1980s.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said Saturday his panel will “immediately” initiate an investigation into Berman’s ouster. The New York Democrat also has invited Berman to testify on Attorney General William Barr’s “improper politicization” of the Justice Department at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
Under Berman’s leadership, his office had reportedly been investigating the business dealings of Giuliani, including whether he failed to register as a foreign agent. Berman emphasized the independence of his office in March when asked if the Justice Department had interfered in its investigation of Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two now-indicted associates of Giuliani.
Barr said Deputy U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss would become the acting U.S. attorney until Berman’s successor is in place.
