When FBI agents raided the office of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, they upended all of national politics. The raid could affect everything from the Russia investigation to the personal finances of the president himself. Ironically, it could also seal the fate of Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor.
While the raid was coordinated with the office of the special counsel Robert Mueller, the Wall Street Journal reports, it was executed by the FBI as part of a probe by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan.
Who is that attorney and why does it matter? He is Geoffrey Berman, and Trump can easily dust him under the rug as retribution. Berman, you see, holds his job on an interim basis, and is especially vulnerable, thanks to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
That junior Democratic senator from New York has blockaded Berman’s nomination, through the so-called “blue-slip” process, over concerns about his independence from Trump. Gillibrand was “deeply disturbed” as reports that Berman was personally interviewed by the president for the post which would include jurisdiction over the New York home, office, and real-estate empire of Trump.
As a result, Berman has been serving in the post on an interim basis beginning Jan. 5. The temporary appointment only lasts 120 days unless reappointed by a court or reappointed by the president. If that U.S. attorney isn’t given the nod, Berman is out on the street by May 6.
Thanks to Gillibrand’s baseless obstructionism, Trump wouldn’t even have to fire Berman to get rid of him. He could just let Berman’s temporary appointment expire in a few weeks.
And this is a problem. If Cohen was as dirty as Mueller worried, and if there is the long-sought after evidence of collusion, obstruction, or alien life forms, then it would be against Trump’s interest to let Berman oversee that investigation. It would serve his interest to find a patsy to serve on an interim basis.
Last January during the confirmation debate, Mary Jo White, the former top Southern District prosecutor, who Berman served under during the Clinton administration, said Berman had “independence and integrity.” That didn’t matter to Gillibrand as much as #resisting the president did. Whoops.
