A U.S. attorney being replaced by the Trump administration is refusing to step down, in possible defiance of the law.
“I learned in a press release from the attorney general tonight that I was ‘stepping down’ as United States attorney. I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position,” Acting U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in a statement late Friday.
“I will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate,” he added.
President Donald Trump is planning to nominate Jay Clayton, who currently chairs the Securities and Exchange Commission, to serve as Berman’s replacement, Attorney General William Barr said hours earlier.
Trump also appointed Craig Carpenito, currently the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, to serve temporarily in the position Berman held while the Senate considers Clayton’s nomination.
The appointment will be effective July 3, Barr said in a statement. He also said that Berman was “stepping down.” Barr didn’t include a reason for the shakeup.
According to U.S. law, each U.S. attorney is subject to removal by the president.
“POTUS, but not Barr, can remove him,” Marty Lederman, a Georgetown University law professor, said in a social media statement.
However, some legal experts say because Berman was appointed as an interim U.S. attorney in 2018 by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a different statute guides the procedure.
Referencing a separate portion of U.S. code, University of Texas at Austin law professor Stephen Vladeck said on social media, “There’s a pretty good argument that” Berman “gets to keep serving in that post until the *vacancy* is filled (through Senate confirmation of a permanent successor).”
Experts pointed to a 1979 memo (pdf) from the Office of Legal Counsel, which produces opinions about what the White House can legally do. The memo says the president can remove U.S. attorneys, regardless of how the attorneys gain their positions.
Queries sent to the Department of Justice, the White House, and Berman’s office weren’t immediately returned.
During his time in office, Berman led the prosecution against sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, before Epstein committed suicide in jail. He has not brought charges against any of Epstein’s associates despite widespread calls to do so.
Berman has also probed several people who were once close to Trump, including Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, and Rudy Giuliani, the president’s current lawyer.
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) in a statement accused Barr of wrongdoing on Trump’s behalf.
Berman, he said, is welcome to testify at a committee hearing on the topic on Wednesday.
From The Epoch Times
