and that's what happened with jeff berman. jeff berman is not senate confirmed. jeff berman is appointed by the court. it sounds like he's taken the position -- he's taken the position that i'm appointed by the court, and i cannot be removed by anyone but the court. i think. unless and until there is a senate -- in my place. so i'm not going anywhere. so that's a kind of interesting standoff that you don't see quite often. >> right. it's going to be an interesting thing, don. yeah. that's what he's saying. >> hang on. hang on. evan, hold on. because, again, and you're right. i mean, preet, you know this playbook. so they're saying they can't fire him. so -- so -- so now what? what happens, now? >> now, you know, maybe there will be litigation. maybe there will be a game of chicken. it sounds like the game of chicken was tried. look. it makes no sense that you have an able, good, united states attorney, who had the respect of the office, jeff berman, in place. it's minutes before the administration, the term at least, is going to end. you claim you like him enough

berman and to promote mr. clayton. >> so he was involved. >> he was involved in the signoff capacity. >> my second question on testing with use of the president made that question tell mike comment

attorney, geoffrey berman. i am calling for a t three-prond investigation to find out what happened and why. amy: after a dramatic showdown, the trump administration has ousted the u.s. attorney in manhattan who led multiple prosecutions and investigations into allies of the president. we will look at the extraordinary measures taken by attorney general william barr to protect the president. then, as the u.s. death toll from covid-19 nears 120,000, president trump is facing condemnation for remarks made during a poorly attended campaign rally in tulsa, oklahoma. testingump: when you do to that extent, you are going to find more people, find more cases. so i said to my people, slow the testing done, please. amy: and amidst mass protests against racism and police brutality across the country, at men, f four black and one latinx, have been found hanging in public across the u.s. in recent weeks. we will speak to jacqueline olive, director of "always in season," a documentary that examines t the history of lynching

announced you're going to investigate why berman was fired.ngressional democrats including senator elizabeth warren have said that this is it, this is the last straw, attorney general bill barr needs to be impeached. you have not gone that far. do you think calls for his impeachment are premature? >> no. i don't think calls for impeachment are premature, any more than the calls for the president's impeachment are immature. but they are a waste of time at this point because we do know we have a corrupt senate which will not consider the evidence and the facts. so we're instead going to do what we have to do without that. and including barring $50 million from his own personal budget. >> you're calling every senate republican who voted to acquit president trump corrupt? >> i think in the sense of being corrupt against the interest of the country, yes. >> i want to ask you about new revelations in addition from this less redacted version of the mueller report that cnn was able to obtain through the freedom of information act. we learned that muel

attorney geoffrey berman.ou seem to be suggesting in statements you made since the firing that barr may be trying to impede an ongoing criminal investigation in the southern district of new york. which investigation? >> well, i think it's obvious that the number of investigations the southern district has been doing with reference to the president's associates, giuliani, the turkish investigation. we've seen a pattern of the president opposing -- of barr corruptly impeding all these investigations. so, this is just more of the same. >> you tweeted that you would like to invite, i guess, the now former u.s. attorney geoffrey berman to testify in front of your committee, the house judiciary committee committee, this week on wednesday. has he accepted your offer? will that happen this week? >> i couldn't hear your question. >> i'm sorry. you said that you invited geoffrey berman to testify in front of your committee on wednesday. has he accepted your offer? is that going to happen this week? >> well, we are havin

berman was hand-picked by president trump. under his leadership, berman's office has been investigating rudy giuliani and others. could that have something to do with it? >> i wonder, don, if there were some coincidence here about this process. one of the things that makes this so unusual and also predictable, we've seen over the course of the administration, the president really takes seriously at the pleasure of the president of the united states. what actually pleases him or his colleagues, his people that he's working with or that work under him in some capacity. one of the things that is so important about this, we talk about the morale of police departments across the country. the morale of the career prosecutors, but it also has an impact on the pry prioritization of other cases. and we have already seen what happened with the roger stone sentencing, et cetera. it makes a big impact, and i suspe suspect it's tied to the president being displeased with the investigations. >> laura, let me ask you this. evan talked about

berman before.e discussed the ousting of preet bharara and here we are again, discuss thing regarding mr. berman. first, have you had any communication with him recently? >> i haven't. i have not, not since this happened, no. >> when is the last time you did have communication? >> oh, i don't know, sometime in the last -- probably right before the pandemic. >> yeah. so you guys talk. you know him. and i hope you don't mind me starting the interview out like a deposition. that's what you taught me. >> i haven't been in a deposition lately, so fire away. >> so unlike most americans, you do have contact with her we amr, you ran that office. on a skalt cale of zero to ten scandal off the level, how do you view based on what's happened with the public information. >> somewhere between 10 and 12. the best case scenario for doj is to say that this looks really bad. the worst case scenario is exactly what it looks like, which is trying to subvert the independence of the southern district. >> wow. that's big

berman is the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york whose office, as "the new york times" writes, quotes, purr pseudoone case after another that has wrankled the president and his allies, putting his former personal lawyer in prison and investigating his current one. we'll get to that ongoing saga, the conflicting versions of events from trump and his justice department and questions surrounding what on earth would have precipitated such an extraordinary 24 hours of maneuveri maneuvering. we'll start in tulsa with the breaking news today. nbc news learned that six members of trump's team who worked on the preparations for tonight's maga rally tested positive for coronavirus. at least two are members of the united states secret service. the trump campaign saying that quarantine procedures were immediately implemented and a source familiar with the matter telling nbc news that contact tracing has already begun. the source adds that the advance team has been on the ground in tulsa for about a

attorney jeffrey berman. leading off our discussion tonight is congressman adam schiff of california. he's the chairman of the house intelligence committee. chairman schiff, thank you very much for joining us tonight. i want to begin with this u.s. attorney situation in manhattan. as you watched this unfold this weekend, as a former u.s. attorney yourself, and this is a presidency that might only have months left in it, it is very strange to see any u.s. attorney replaced in this timing on the calendar. what were you watching as this drama unfolded? >> well, first, lawrence, in the interest of full disclosure, i was an assistant u.s. attorney. i appreciate the promotion. i think you're absolutely right. this stinks to high heaven this effort to push out this independent u.s. attorney from an office known for its independence and replace him in the last few months, the presidency, with some golfing buddy of the president's who has no prosecutorial experience. so, you know, i think what's going on is quite clea

moments after barr announced that geoffrey berman was stepping down, berman himself denied resigning, insisting he has no intention of leaving. cnn caught up with him earlier today. >> i have nothing to add to that this morning. i'm just here to do my job. >> cnn's kara scannell joining us now. you are learning more about a conversation that barr and berman had on friday? >> yeah, that's right, fred. we learned that, according to sources, yesterday attorney general barr spoke with geoffrey berman. he had offered berman a position in the main justice, washington, d.c.'s, a position in the civil division. then what we understand is that berman had told him that he was not interested in that position, but berman was left with the impression that this was the first of possibly several conversations. barr did not, quote, fire him during that conversation. so then later that evening around 9:00 last night, the department of justice issued a press statement in which bill barr says that geoffrey berman is stepping down, and he announced that the president plans to nominate someone else to tak

attorney geoffrey berman. you seem to be suggesting in statements you made since the firing that barr may be trying to impede an ongoing criminal investigation in the southern district of new york. which investigation? >> well, i think it's obvious that the number of investigations the southern district has been doing with reference to the president's associates, giuliani, the turkish investigation. we've seen a pattern of the president opposing -- of barr corruptly impeding all these investigations. so, this is just more of the same. >> you tweeted that you would like to invite, i guess, the now former u.s. attorney geoffrey berman to testify in front of your committee, the house judiciary committee committee, this week on wednesday. has he accepted your offer? will that happen this week? >> i couldn't hear your question. >> i'm sorry. you said that you invited geoffrey berman to testify in front of your committee on wednesday. has he accepted your offer? is that going to happen this week? >> well, we are hav

berman refused to step down friday after barr issued a surprise statement announcing berman resigned, a move berman said never happened. on saturday morning barr sent a letter to berman saying because he refused to step down the president had fired him and replaced him with an assistant u.s. attorney. berman is an experienced federal prosecutor and former defense attorney and also an active republican. he donated $5400 to president trump's campaign in 2016, worked on the president's transition team, and was a former law partner of trump lawyer rudy guiliani. berman was first appointed to the influential position of u.s. attorney in 2018 after his predecessor was fired after he refused to resign. the same thing has now happened to berman. after initial concerns over his past association with trump berman continued the southern district's tradition of independence. >> politics does not enter into our decision making on charging a case. we bring a case when the case is ready to be brought. >> reporter: the office has overseen prosecutions of high profile figures in trump's orbit includin

moments after barr announced that jeffrey berman was stepping down, berman denied resigning, insisting he has no intention of leaving. and then cnn caught up with him just moments ago. >> i have nothing to add to that this morning. i'm just here to do my job. >> here to do his job. cnn's kara skinell joining us now. what more can you tell us about what is going on here? >> geoff berman has been doing that job since 2018. while he's been u.s. attorney for the southern district, his office has investigated multiple cases that have ties to the president. they investigated and prosecuted michael cohen, trump's former personal attorney. they also have investigated his company, the inaugural fund created for the inauguration. they also are investigating rudy giuliani, the president's personal attorney, and his activities that he was doing in ukraine on behalf of the president. they also indicted two of giuliani's associates who helped him in that effort. so many investigations by the southern district of new york that have touched the trump administration and donald trump personally. that ha

berman, and berman came out of the same law firm as rudy giuliani. but legal professionals have come to respect berman because he started a lot of investigations, many of them touching on the president and his associates. and because he has not been approved by the senate, a panel of judges in new york renewed his appointment as attorney general. and he's smoupposed to remain i office until the senate confirms a new agttorney general. i think if berman insists on staying in office, the president is going to have a difficult time forcing him out, unless, of course, he gets the senate to approve a replacement. >> hey, paul, let's take a few steps back and fill in the context here as we watch the chapters of this spill out into the late evening of what was announced that was not true. the response from berman. and then let's add in what will we've watched for the last couple of months, the president then firing or reassigning inspectors general across several departments. what do you see in front of you when we look at the fuller context? >> well, i thi

berman. as a senator from new york i will not return of the slope. mr. clayton's nomination. but regardless, jake clayton should withdraw his name from consideration and refused to be accomplished to thech same. he appears to be no legitimate motive for firing mr. berman which leaves the obvious question, when the trying to remove him for a corrupt motive. where is because mr. berman, and the southern district of new york while pursuing criminal investigation into president trump's and his associates. the president certainly has a pattern of firing government watchdogs who are investigating hisnd misconduct. we need an immediate top to bottom investigation into what transpired with the plot to dismiss mr. berman. tso i've demanded that the offie of professional responsibility to the department of justice work with the justice department inspector general to determine whether there were corrupt motives for the dismissal and if so, discipline the officials involved. no matter who they are, or h

attorney berman. berman wasn't interested and believed according to a source familiar with their meeting that there would be continued conversations. just about two hours later at 9:00 on friday, bill barr issued a press release saying berman was stepping down and said the u.s. attorney in new jersey was temporarily taking over oversight of the new york office. now, this caused a lot of confusion and consternation then about two hours later berman comes out with a statement saying he's not resigning and no intention of resigning. he showed up the next day, our cameras caught up with him and he said he was there to do his job. later yesterday afternoon before 4:00, bill barr sends a letter to geoffrey berman saying that instead of doing his job as public service, he was causing a public spectacle. barr asked the president to remove berman from office. he said the president has and he's effectively firing berman in this letter. it was after that, that geoffrey berman said he would resign, that was in pa

berman and to promote mr.layton. >> so he was involved. >> he was involved in the signoff capacity. >> my second question on testing with use of the president made that question tell mike comment in just. the vice president said it was made in passing. on the president himself was just by a reporter an hour ago he did not say he was just joking when he said that he told officials to slow down the testing. >> kayleigh: the president used that opportunity to extol the fact that we have done more than 25 million tests, we are finding more people because we are doing more testing. >> why is that funny? you don't have to answer this, the media has never called at ung flu. >> kayleigh: the media and your network specifically have repeatedly used the term china virus add wuhan virus. gone on to derive the president is somehow using a term that they themselves have never used. we can go through cnn's history. i would be more than happy to go through cnn's history. on february 9th you guys talked about the wuhan corona

and now berman is saying he is going to leave. has the actual authority to fire a court-appointed u.s. attorney which was the case for berman? >> well, wolf, one thing is clear. barr himself, the attorney general, did not have the authority to fire him on his own. so, overnight, what the attorney general said in a letter is we got the president to do it. and under a 1979 opinion from the justice department's office of legal counsel which is sort of the in-house lawyer for the justice department, the justice department said the president himself does have the power to fire a court-appointed u.s. attorney. that's not a supreme court ruling. no one really knows how binding it is. but geoffrey berman decided to honor the firing by the president himself which is what barr said in his already. what makes this so bizarre and what makes the incompetence of the justice department so clear is that the president, as you pointed out, said, well, i had nothing to do with it. well, late in the day, the president's aide said, well, actually he d

jeffery berman issued this statement that i love. he said, our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption, and whether jeffery berman is there come monday or not, that will be the case. that is the statement t, and th made me proud as an sdny alum. >> in barr's letter, he says it is well established that a court appointed u.s. attorney is subject to removal by the president. he cites a court case, u.s. vs. solomon, saying it recognizes that the president may at any time remove the judicially appointed united states attorney. what do you think? is this firing legally sound? >> well, we're about to figure that out, i think. but i don't think the answer is clear cut at all. definitely the attorney general cannot fire a u.s. attorney. now, the president, the answer is maybe. as evan said, typically, u.s. attorneys are nominated by the president and then confirmed by the senate. but donald trump did not go that route with the sdny and other districts. instead, they went this alternate route where they were appointed by

attorney geoffrey berman. a federal prosecutor overseeing several cases following the president's allies, including rudy giuliani. it was the dramatic end to a standoff that began with a late-night move by attorney general william barr to oust him, but berman showed up at work this morning any way. here's abc's trevor ault. >> reporter: tonight, president trump firing perhaps the most powerful u.s. attorney in the country after his public standoff with attorney general william barr. this morning, geoffrey berman defiantly arriving at his new york office -- >> i'm just here to do my job. >> reporter: after the attorney general announced in a friday night press release that berman was stepping down. that was news to berman, who in his own statement declared, i have not resigned and have no intention of resigning my position. vowing, our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption. under berman, the southern district of new york led probes into several people with direct ties to president trump

attorney berman had resigned.hank goodness that geoff berman has the integrity and the courage, which is short supply in this administration, to stand up very quickly and say in writing i did not resign and i'm not going anywhere. so why -- first of all, why is bill barr trying to get rid of him and why was bill barr lying about it? he knew he couldn't get away with just firing him. i don't know if he thought berman would just be quiet about it, but thankfully -- and i think this has to go stated, because it's unusual for people to stand up and speak the truth in this administration and geoff berman did. and the other thing that's really notable to me about this whole situation is not only that it, again, was done abruptly in the middle of the night with bill barr lying about it, but why are they in such a hurry to get rid of berman? because even if there was some legitimate argument that he could be replaced, why are you not waiting until a senate confirmed u.s. attorney can come in? why are you putting in an act

in this case, berman was a temporary appointment. he wasn't sent by trump by the judges on the court. there is an open legal question if trump or particularly barr have the authority to fire him. as far as why the trump administration wanted him gone? we still don't know. we know a few days ago we learned from john bolton in his new book that president trump according to bolton tried to interfere into the investigation that berman's office was conducting into a turkish bank that had been alleged to have violated iran sanctions and trump had wanted to interfere in that as a favor to turkish president erdogan. alex. >> is it true that berman found out via the release from bill barr's office? it caught him unawares? >> reporter: that's what berman says. he learned about this from a press release. we can tell you, alex, from speaking to sources at the u.s. attorneys office in manhattan that other justice department officials and officials within his office were caught off guard by this. they did not see this coming so late on a friday ni

eric: jeffrey berman is the u.s.r new york southern district, that's considered preeminent u.s. attorney's office in the nation. you know, giuliani once held the job before elected mayor of new york in 1993. well, the current occupant, mr. berman is pushing back because the administration announced last night that she's resigning and setting potential standoff with the justice department. berman says, nope, i'm not leaving, berman overseeing several probes of allies of the president including mr. giuliani says ain't going anywhere until the senate approves and then gets my successor, so what is this all about, fox news contributor, brad blakeman, former assistant to george w. bush. brad, let me start with you, you know what critics are saying that president and barr are politicizing prosecutions, an attempt to derail the investigations that include not just giuliani but trump campaign financing or reporter probe into super pac, deutsche bank that did business with the trump organization and the administration is tryi

berman's replacement. it would have to be the senate or the district court, again, is actually written by justice samueo l alen he was at the justice department in the mid- 1980s. >> sreenivasan: mr. berman is in a court-appointed position. let's go backwards in this sort of history of this here. this spot hasn't had a senate- confirmed appointee in a number of years. >> that's right. and so it's almost like a spot that's remained vacant. and there were many concerns about the fact that mr. berman was potentially associated with mr. trump in a wain which he was then installed into the position. so ths ist a person who's being thought of as being rogue or, you know, democratically appointed, if you want to tnk about it in those terms. he was put in place by the president, after the president specically interviewed him for the job, which is also very unusual. so much so thatar. berman aclly had to recuse himself from one of the investigations that potentially implicate presi and that's the strange limbo situ

he told us jeffrey berman will be stepping down and an hour later jeffrey berman said no i'm not.nt to applaud jeffrey berman for taking that stand. >> few things that people are proud of happen after 9:30 on a friday night. [ laughter ] >> risky conversation. >> let me take this angle. you know, the attorney general has announced that he's stepping down. of course we know berman says he isn't. could the ag name an acting u.s. attorney come monday morning? the guy walks in and then takes the job. >> right. this much is clear. the attorney general does not seem to have that authority under. federal law. but, there's an open question that nobody knows the answer to as to whether the president can do just that. jeffrey berman came into the job under weird circumstances. normally a u.s. attorney is nominated by the president confirmed by the senate. but the president didn't do that for berman or several u.s. attorneys around the country. so then the law says it's up to the judges. so because of that, there's a way to look at the law that says keon lie be replaced by a fully confirmed

move, berman said never happened on saturday afternoon arsenal letter to berman saying that becausee refused to step down the president had fired him and replaced him with an assistant us attorneys is an experienced federal prosecutor and former defense attorneys. he's also an active republican. he donated $5400 to president trump's campaign in 2016, working president transition team. it was a former law partner of trump lawyer rudy giuliani fern was first appointed to the influential position of us attorneys in 2018. after his predecessor preet bharara was fired after he refused to resign as the same thing has now happened berman after initial concerns over his past associations with trump. berman continue the southern district tradition of independents politics does not enter into our decision-making. >>on the charging a case. we bring a case when the case is ready to be brought. >>the officers overseeing prosecutions of high-profile figures in trump's orbit, including his former lawyer michael cohen from 10 of chris collins and 2 associates of giuliani. friday night berman said o

berman and fired mr. berman. everybody works at the pleasure of the president. ♪ drnear 50-year lows. one call to newday usa can save you $2,000 every year. and once you refinance, the savings are automatic. thanks to your va streamline refi benefit, at newday there's no income verification, no appraisal, and no out of pocket costs. activate your va benefit now. one call can save you $2000 every year. because the tempur-breeze° transfers heat away from your body. so you feel cool... night after night. during the tempur-pedic summer of sleep, save $500 on all tempur-breeze mattresses. are made with farm grownalpedic apples as the first ingredient. and key nutrients you want. so you can have a daily multivitamin free of stuff you don't want. one a day natural fruit bites. a new way to multivitamin. they get that no two people are alike and customize your car insurance so you only pay for what you need. what do you think? i don't see it. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ >> late fri

it was jeffrey berman's u.s. attorney's office that prosecuted donald trump's lawyer and fixer michael cohen and that federal prosecution caught the eye of the manhattan district attorney, and that led to today's supreme court ruling that crushed donald trump legally and will lead to the manhattan district attorney obtaining donald trump's tax returns in a criminal investigation. and, so, we are holding in our hands tonight a historic ruling by the united states supreme court on what is a relatively small and simple body of law governing subpoenas involving the president of the united states, and we have this new supreme court ruling tonight thanks entirely to a person whose name does not appear anywhere in the supreme court case. the name of the case is donald j. trump versus cyrus vance jr. to subpoena donald trump's tax returns in a criminal investigation of donald trump. the district attorney and the grand jury are investigating whether donald trump committed tax fraud in the closing weeks of the 2016 preside

attorney geoffrey berman backfiring. barr claiming trump wanted him gone only for trump to later say, and i quote, i was not involved. then, just hours before the rally, six of president trump's campaign staffers doing advanced work on the event, stetesting positive for coronavirus. and then the crowd size at the rally. president trump failing to fill the arena after bragging that 1 million people were trying to attend his rally. entire sections had empty seats. almost no one was in the overflow area. we haven't even mentioned some of the content of his speech. there's lots to get to this hour. let's begin with ryan nobles. he's at the b.o.k. center. a shocking headline. president trump telling the crowd he wants to slow down on coronavirus testing in the middle of a pandemic. >> reporter: yeah, boris, the president touched on a lot of topics here tonight. he made a little bit of news on many fronts. we'll get to that point you made on testing in just a second, but we should also point out tonight the president went afte

berman to testify.re are issues about his testimony in terms of prejudicing prosecutions, so that may limit that. we'll have to see. >> i just want to -- i know that you're limited in terms of what you can say, and i'm limited in terms of what i can articulate about my frustrations on this. but at the top of the show i went through this list of all of the different prosecutions that have happened at sdny just since president trump has been a candidate that all touch on him, a number of which appear to be ongoing or were potentially looking at superseding indictments for people or existing cases for more people who are connected to the president, including his personal lawyer mr. giuliani, who has recently resurfaced, is becoming part of the re-election campaign. i'm very worried given what we've seen from attorney general barr about the way he's intervened in ongoing investigations and ongoing prosecutions to undo things on behalf of the president. and because other people in the justice department resp

berman confirmed that was a lie. mr. berman had not stepped down.as an agreement between the two men at 7:00 p.m. to talk the following day. so this was a bungled attempt to take out mr. berman on a friday night, late, so the news media maybe might miss it. but he had what i think is very credible is mr. berman had something in mind. not his own job, but the incredible pursuit of justice and the rule of law. and so he said, i will not resign, you'll have to fire me. and what i insist upon is that you go by process and put in my first deputy, audrey strauss. so i think it is impressive his patriotism, his sense of duty, he wasn't trying to save his job, and he called out the attorney general for yet again, this is one of dozens and dozens of examples of the attorney general lying to the american public. >> i believe the attorney general is scheduled in the next i believe it is -- i want to say within two weeks, in front of your committee. >> yes. >> regardless -- let's not speculate whether this is going to happen, assuming it does happen, what could

berman will be removed.arently he did not jump so bill barr said he is to be pushed as of today. what do you make of that? >> this is a pattern of practice that continues with the administration. bill barr has proven himself time and time again that he's more interested in many being a political loyalist for donald trump than he is to be independent attorney general with commitment to the rule of law. friday nights, they tend to do these on friday nights, in the middle of the night, trying to remove people doing their duty and replace them with loyalists. attorney general bar continues to be a dangerous person, as does the president. we have to make sure to bring light to this pattern. >> i wonder how you view it in light of the fact the president does have the power to choose u.s. attorneys. this is something that is typically, typically in the purview of the president. >> sure. past presidents, republicans and democrats, have used their power responsibly, consistent with the rule of law. they put people in

they took berman out and tried to put in the u.s.rney from new jersey to sit in as the acting until their new selection could be confirmed because they didn't want berman's deputy to run that office in the same way berman had. also, historically, we know anderson, this is the way this administration is. if you are someone who becomes identified by the president as an enemy of his, either because you tell the truth or because he feels that you're running the risk of exposing something he doesn't want exposed, you get fired. it didn't just happen to me. we seen it happen to half a dozen i.g.s in front of the entire united states. it is the way they move. they eliminate threats, fire people and try to destroy them publicly. i sincerely hope that doesn't happen to mr. berman now. >> andrew mccabe, thank you and apologies for the technical problems. >>> we're getting reports the white house is asking reporters to evacuate from the white house. kaitlan collins joins us. what is going on. >> reporter: anderson, we were inside the whoit houi

he wants to hear from berman.emocrats -- is congress -- are all of us going to hear from berman, and soon? >> that's an open question. we don't know the answer to that. what we do know, though, is that the house judiciary committee will be having a very interesting hearing this week. they're bringing in, for what i believe is the first time under the trump administration, a career prosecutor, a career lawyer from the justice department who currently works there, who's been working at a very high level and who says he's going to testify about politicization. this person is named john elias. he was the chief of staff in the department's powerful antitrust division. he's currently a lawyer in that division still. and he says he's going to be testifying about improper -- or he's indicated he's going to be testifying about improper political interference, so i can guarantee you that berman is going to be keeping an eye on that hearing to see how the house judiciary committee handles this very sensitive and potentially

and now berman is out of a job. trump fired him, but told reporters the ouster was barr's call. >> that's his department, not my department. but we have a very capable attorney general, so that's really up to him. i'm not involved. >> reporter: now that he's gone, what happens next is anyone's guess. evan mcmorris santoro, cnn, new york. >>> now former u.s. geoffrey berman said in a subsequent statement saturday he would leave his office effective immediately. that was as you saw after attorney general william barr sent him a letter saying that president donald trump had removed him. >>> president trump stirred up controversy at a campaign rally talking about the coronavirus. ahead hear why his comments on testing have health officials worried. >>> also, we take you live to spain where the country is opening most of its eu border and lifting its state of emergency. we'll have a live report from the madrid airport. these folks, they don't have time to go to the post office they have businesses to grow customers to ca

berman's refusal aggravated mr.o already regarded berman as obstinate and divfficult to work with. we turn now to chuck rosenberg. a career with doj that spanned more than two decades. he's an msnbc legal analyst. so, chuck, as a u.s. attorney how much autonomy did you feel you had, how much were you checking in with the home office, another way of asking you, how not normal is this story out of new york? >> this story out of new york is not normal. it was very fortunate. i had adult leadership, brian, i had tremendous autonomy. there are times i wanted to consult with headquarters. but never once, brian, never once did headquarters interfere in our work. and so what you're seeing out of new york is both unusual and deeply troubling. >> i want to read you a quote from "the new york times," a fell fellow former u.s. attorney, as attempted power plays goes this was an abject failure and further to undermine the credibility of both the attorney general and the president, said a former federal prosecutor. so, what happe

and now berman is out of a job. trump fired him, but told reporters the ouster was barr's call. >> that's his department, not my department. but we have a very capable attorney general, so that's really up to him. i'm not involved. >> reporter: now that he's gone, what happens next is anyone's guess. evan mcmorris santoro, cnn, new york. >>> now former u.s. geoffrey berman said in a subsequent statement saturday he would leave his office effective immediately. that was as you saw after attorney general william barr sent him a letter saying that president donald trump had removed him. >>> a u.s. federal judge has ruled that former u.s. national security adviser john bolton can publish his contentious white house memoir against the wishes of the trump administration. but the ruling says the book entitled "the room where it happened" does contain classified information and bolton could be held criminally liable. that had president trump claiming victory. >> we had a very good decision in the john bolton book case. and

but berman declined. in his letter, the attorney general acknowledged the offer and said he thought they were still in discussions about it. a justice official says the decision to fire berman was not related to any investigation that he was overseeing. major. >> garrett: nikole killion, thank you. there will be more about tulsa, policing, and fired u.s. attorney berman tomorrow morning margaret brennan's guests include acting homeland security secretary chad wolf, virginia democratic senator mark warner, and jide zeitlin, c.e.o. of tapestry, a fortune 500 company. public monuments linked to slavery continue to fall. overnight, the only statue of a confederate general here in washington, d.c., was toppled, then set on fire. in raleigh, north carolina, crowds cheered as two statues on a confederate monument near the state capital were pulled down. and in san francisco, protesters tore down a statue of francis scott key. the man who wrote the national anthem also owned slaves. this historical reckoning is n

attorney geoffrey berman. do you have any concerns about at least the appearance here with the attorney general firing somebody who was overseeing an investigation into the president's personal lawyer? >> i don't honestly. i think president trump actually hired mr. berman and he fired mr. berman. everyone at the doj works at the pleasure of the president. that's number one. number two, there's no indication that whatever is being investigated will not continue to move on. >> will you track and see? right now his deputy is taking over, audrey strauss. there's no guarantee she wouldn't be replaced. how important to you is it that shows investigations continue without any interference from washington? >> i don't know that anyone has any evidence in what's in those investigations. as far as i can tell there's no indication that those investigations would stop. i would say that jay clayton the person who has been confirmed by the senate as the fcc head is in line to take over that position. he's a straight shooter.

but jeffrey berman says he didn't resign. and he has no intention to resign. >> during his tenure, jeffrey per hand has overseen investigations in to michael cohen and rudy giuliani. >> this dispute also comes as the attorney general is facing the accusations that for some time now we look at what we have been before the release of twite mueller report and roger stone. >> reporter: good morning. i mean this is the latest example of that. the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan has a reputation for being one of the most independent u.s. attorney offices. they brought the case against michael cohen as you noted. they are investigating rudy giuliani and what he was doing in ukraine on behalf of the president. so, you know, the move here on a friday night to announce that jeffrey berman the u.s. attorney of manhattan is stepping down when he's not agreed to that, is another, another example where people are going look and say was this politically motivated, of it because of these investigations that were under way. this unfolded

attorney berman to show up.e will. >> today a judge denied the trump administration's request to block john bolton's new book. one of the things that he alleges is that the president told turkish president back in 2017 that he would help end an investigation by the sdny of a turkish bank by replacing people in that office. he also alleges that he asked china for help winning re-election. to democrats in the house need to subpoena john bolton? >> we're going to be exploring all those options and the case with the turkish bank is another example where the allegation is you have a bank breaking the law. the southern district for new york is investigating it, and all of a sudden we see the u.s. attorney try to be fired and that raise suspicions that either bill barr or donald trump is trying to stop that investigation. and we have to get to the bottom of it. >> is there any reason not to suspect john bolton at this point? >>? in my opinion, there's no reason not to subpoena him. we should subpoena him and bill barr

>> if you look at the language of the order that appointed berman by the courts -- now, remember, berman was appointed by jeff sessions. his 120-day period expired, an then the courts stepped in and ordered him to continue as southern district district attorney. if you look at the order, it says he shall serve until the president appoints a new united states attorney so when he was summarily fired in this way, berman's argument was, well, this didn't comply with the order. under the language of this order, i stick around until the president appoints and the senate confirms somebody new. it was only really a thread to pull on because at the same time, the attorney general cited a case in his letter back to berman, which correctly probably holds that the president still retains that power to hire and fire the u.s. attorney. >> so now because of all this and not just because of this, you know, but barr's history in general, you have the house judiciary chair, jerry nadler essentially saying he believes that the attorney general deserves to be impeached, but he thinks it's going to be a wast

berman quickly responding he had no intention of resigning. u.s. attorneys are appoin the president fired berman on saturday the white house says it was just a personnel move, designed to find a position for outgoing s.e.c. chairman jay clayton. >> barr was working on a smooth transition. when berman chose to respond in the way he did he came to the president and the president agreed and fired this individual, mr. berman. >> president trump appearing to distance himself from the decision on saturday. >> we have a very capable attorney general so that's really up to him i'm not involved. >> reporter: the surprise move led to democratic accusations that the white house was trying to obstruct ongoing investigations in new york's southern district an office that's looked into president trump's closest allies in the past, including personal attorneys rudy giuliani and michael cohen. but clayton is unlikely to be confirmed by the senate before november's election. the acting u.s. attorney now is audrey strauss, a registered democrat who was berman's depu

berman, i would bring in mr. berman's former deputy, rob khuzami, who's now no longer there.o resigned because of the infiltration by william barr. there's a lot of politicization going on in the department of justice. it is shameful. and there are many witnesses who can speak to it. you can build an investigation and a case up to bill barr and then you call bill barr in and let him respond to the other testimony. >> what about the status of those investigations now that berman has been removed? i know the deputy will be taking over, which is actually a win as far as berman is concerned. that is something that he wanted. but what happens in the investigations? >> they should continue apace. that is the tradition of that office. [ inaudible ] remained in office for a number of months. i was there at the time. and everything continues as normal. and that's what i would expect to happen. and that's why jeff berman undoubtedly insisted that he -- that audrey straus, the deputy take over, and not the u.s. attorney in new jersey, who may come in with a different view of these inves