Attorney General Bill Barr seems to view himself as some kind of personal errand-runner for the president. Last Friday, the latest debacle revealing Barr’s political fealty to Trump unfolded when the corrupt AG began an eventually successful campaign to pressure Geoffrey Berman out of his position as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. (Berman’s office has carried out multiple Trump-related investigations, which may have weighed on the Trump team’s animosity towards him.) During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union this weekend, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) had only condemnation for Barr, and he also condemned the complicit Republicans in Congress who’ve refused to do anything about the Trump administration’s abuse of power.
Nadler insisted:
‘We’ve seen a pattern… of Barr corruptly impeding all these investigations, so this is just more of the same.’
He added:
‘I don’t think calls for [Barr’s] impeachment are premature any more than calls for the president’s impeachment were premature, but they are a waste of time at this point because we know that we have a corrupt Republican majority in the Senate which will not consider an impeachment no matter what the evidence and no matter what the facts, so we’re instead going to do what we have to do without that — including barring $50 million from his own personal budget.’
Host Jake Tapper followed up with the question of whether Nadler was calling every Senate Republican “corrupt” who voted against convicting Trump at the end of his impeachment trial, and Nadler insisted that “in the sense of being corrupt against the interests of the country, yes,” he was calling them corrupt.
Check out video of Nadler’s appearance on CNN below:
House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler says calls for the impeachment of AG Bill Barr are “a waste of time at this point because we know that we have a corrupt Republican majority in the Senate which will not consider an impeachment no matter what the evidence” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/9GACiXIvDO
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) June 21, 2020
Amidst the tumult over Barr’s antagonism of now former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, Nadler has already invited Berman to testify, although it’s not clear if or when the former official may do so. Nadler specifically invited Berman to a House Judiciary Committee hearing scheduled for this week covering the topic of the politicization of the Justice Department.
Nadler shared on Twitter:
‘America is right to expect the worst of Bill Barr, who has repeatedly interfered in criminal investigations on Trump’s behalf. We have a hearing on this topic on Wednesday. We welcome Mr. Berman’s testimony and will invite him to testify.’
America is right to expect the worst of Bill Barr, who has repeatedly interfered in criminal investigations on Trump’s behalf. We have a hearing on this topic on Wednesday. We welcome Mr. Berman’s testimony and will invite him to testify. https://t.co/SpVYzLhANR
— Rep. Nadler (@RepJerryNadler) June 20, 2020
After Berman was, in fact, successfully pressured off the job, Nadler added on Twitter that the now former official “has earned a moment to catch his breath” and “has an open invitation to testify before the Committee.”
Mr. Berman, who resisted Attorney General Barr until a trusted deputy was in place before stepping down, has earned a moment to catch his breath. He understands that he has an open invitation to testify before the Committee. 2/2 https://t.co/gQxnGgVNYE
— Rep. Nadler (@RepJerryNadler) June 21, 2020
Berman’s firing proceeded in quite a brazenly corrupt fashion. Friday evening, Barr issued a statement claiming that Berman was resigning, but Berman promptly issued his own statement insisting that he was doing no such thing. Barr then tried to get the president involved, claiming that he’d gotten Trump to fire Berman directly. At that point, Berman agreed to leave his post and be replaced by his deputy — although after that, Trump claimed to reporters that he was “not involved,” although the president may have been simply incompetently lying.
