Ousted NY prosecutor tells panel Barr 'urged' him to resign

Source: Associated Press


Lisa Mascaro, Ap Congressional Correspondent
Updated 2:32 pm CDT, Thursday, July 9, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — The ousted U.S. attorney who was leading investigations into President Donald Trump's allies told the House Judiciary panel on Thursday that Attorney General William Barr “repeatedly urged” him to resign in a hastily arranged meeting that sheds light on the extraordinary standoff surrounding his departure.

Geoffrey Berman, the former federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, is providing the committee with a detailed account behind closed doors of three days in June as he was pushed out, according to his opening statement obtained by The Associated Press.

Berman said Barr, over a 45-minute session at the Pierre Hotel in New York, “pressed” him to take on another position at the Justice Department — heading up the Civil Division — so the administration could install Jay Clayton, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, to the top job in Manhattan.

“I told the attorney general that I was not interested,” Berman told the panel.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/article/House-to-interview-fired-NY-prosecutor-probing-15395871.php