Yesterday’s standoff between Attorney General William Barr and the interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman, whom Barr was trying to fire, was only one of today’s significant stories. Last night, Barr announced Berman was “stepping down.” Berman retorted he was doing nothing of the sort and that Barr had no authority to fire him. This morning, Berman showed up for work. Then Barr wrote Berman a letter saying he was “surprised and disappointed by the press statement you released last night…. Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he has done so.” Barr gave no reason for the firing.
— Read on heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-20-2020
