does geoffrey berman have the sense that that office is still under threat?he -- he believes that its independence is protected right now with ms. strauss. our job in congress every day until this is an ex-president is to be an ankle monitor on the president and conduct the oversight to make sure that there is not further wrecking balls taken to the department or this office and its investigations. >> and quick last word, congressman, on your reaction to the supreme court today upholding congress' right to issue subpoenas to the president for financial documents but clarifying the standards congress will have to use. >> the rule of law has once again been reaffirmed. we will move on and conduct our oversight, and the president is a little less powerful today, and that's a good thing for the american people. >> congressman eric swalwell, thank you very much for joining us tonight with your valuable report from what happened inside that room today. we really appreciate it. thank you. congressman eric swalwell gets tonight's last word. "the 11th hour" with brian

attorney geoffrey berman to resign, but only after geoffrey berman was able to force william barr tove geoffrey berman's trusted deputy in charge of the office. was william barr trying to stop the progress of some criminal cases in that u.s. attorney's office? and was the continued investigation of the sex crimes of donald trump's friend jeffrey epstein one of the things that william bar was trying to stop? today, the woman who some have described as the person who lured young girls into jeffrey epstein's home was arrested and charged with exactly that, with sex trafficking. the indictment was signed by acting u.s. attorney audrey strauss. "the miami hearald" reports tha the fact that the case is being handled by the office's public corruption unit, which typically handles investigations into misdeeds by public officials has raised questions among some legal observers about the scope of the current federal investigation. joining me now is joyce vance, a professor at the university of alabama school of law and an msnbc legal contributor. joyce, this one -- pretty much everything that

geoffrey berman, glowingly saying he did a nice job and then said he is stepping down, mr. onfirmed that was a lie. mr. berman had not stepped down. there was 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 whe

that's the top federal prosecutor in manhattan, geoffrey berman. tonight it's a different one. tonight the top federal prosecutor in new york that they've taken out is the u.s. attorney not for the southern district but for the eastern district of new york, which means he's the top federal prosecutor whose office is in brooklyn. they did the sdny u.s. attorney two weeks ago. tonight they've done the edny u.s. attorney as well. now, what's been going on in that office? lots of stuff. it's a big, powerful office with its fingers in lots of different pies of national significance. about a year ago, you might remember the associated press was first to report that that prosecutor's office had opened its own investigation related to president trump's inaugural committee. the a.p. reported that prosecutors working with a grand jury in edny had sent subpoenas to the inaugural committee, and the committee had complied. the office had also questioned tom bare rick, a close friend of president, major fund-raiser for the president, head of the president's inaugural committee. we don't know

use on geoffrey berman, the new york prosecutor in new york who is investigating, i don't have the investigate michael cohen but also investigating rudy giuliani, who were still trump's personal lawyer. a lot of questions the democrats are going to have for what you are about how fair he is, just the question of the politicization of the doj, which is at least in theory is supposed to be sort of an autonomous branch of government and the democrats feel that has eroded under william barr. he will get a curling up on capitol hill and will be a big event, but it will be fireworks but nothing real is expected to come out of that. there are investigations at the democrats are conducting but nothing really is expected to come out of it from a practical standpoint. william barrs job is not in jeopardy. there was talk of impeaching bar but democratic leaders, blows come has shot that gun. it's just too close to the election. they don't want to get back into the russian interference and the sorts of things. they don't want to return to impeachment is close to the elections just because it was so aliena

so geoffrey berman, bill barr saying he stepped down and five, ten minutes late, geoffrey berman saying, no, i didn't. those are the types of things that can undermine his credibility that you try to do first, and then you start to push him on other things that he's done, whether his credibility is already lacking, and even if he objects to what you're saying, he's somewhat objecting with very little credibility. >> let me pick up on a point that daniel goldman raised here, you have the knowledge of comparing the first attorney general jeff sessions with this one. some have described bill barr as acting like the president's personal attorney. have there been any major areas of difference? i think of the roger stone commutation as one, has there been any major areas of difference between the president and this attorney general that could be exploited now by the democrats in this line of questioning this morning? >> well, that's going to be a fairly subtle thing to try to do, i think. my perception is that in the last couple of months, that the -- the two have not been as close as they ha

according to the time line, this is a geoffrey berman s.d.n.y. case. this case has been in the works for a while. is it fair to say ha? >> that's right, this case has clearly been in the works for a while. and there were questions of whether or not -- it's also worth mentioning that there were federal prosecutors in florida who basically let epstein slip from their grips in 2009, that there had been investigators, both investigators in florida and fbi officials who had been investigating him for a long time and starting to piece together the puzzle of his predation and other potential coconspirators in 2009. and the feds in florida had basically let him slip away, enter into a pretty sweetheart plea deal. and it was really remarkable to watch new york come back, you know, just last year with a really strong case against him. and it's worth noting that that actually followed some pretty incredible reporting that julie brown and her colleagues at the "miami herald" did. this was another case where the government officials had failed to hold this person a

the attorney general initially called by the committee after the explosive ousting of geoffrey bermans. attorney for the u.s. southern district of new york. with us now is carol lamb, she served in the george w. bush administration and she is now an msnbc legal analyst. good to have you with us. big day tomorrow, let's set the scene a little bit and get your thoughts on what type of questions congressmen and women may be asking the attorney bill barr about federal agents. >> this was prompted by the dismissal of jeff berman in the southern district of nortew yor where his office had a number of investigations ongoing about the president's circle or the president's associates including rudy giuliani and rudy giuliani's associates. and so the timing of that dismissal, highly problematic. it is almost as if -- almost as if the attorney general took the playbook from the saturday night massacre and the dismissal of u.s. attorneys, 13 years ago, which i was one and said, that sounded look a good idea, let's do it again. a terrible idea, and it is not playing out very well politically for t

that hard shove back from geoffrey berman, the u.s. attorney in the southern district of new york, it didn't succeed in keeping berman in his job. they still forced him out. but it did succeed in keeping bill barr from installing his own puppy dog there the way he did in d.c. what geoff berman's bravery and pushback did in sdny is that it at least heensured that berman' own deputy got to take over in that office to ensure some continuity. still, though, geoff berman's out. so d.c. u.s. attorney's office, gone. geoff berman at sdny, gone. now tonight, it's the other one. it's the last one. the other u.s. attorney in the eastern district of new york. now, with this guy, attorney general bill barr tried the same trick that he tried with the other two. in all three of these cases, he's offered these u.s. attorneys some sort of dubious, maybe, possible promotion slash lateral move. at least he's offered some other job in the trump administration as a sort of enticement if they would just give up the u.s. attorney's office and let barr take o

attorney geoffrey berman work, the president has not attempted to interfere in these decisions on the contrary he has told me from the start. he expects me to exercise my independent judgment. are also facing a barrage of questions from democrats on its handling of the use of force against protesters in lafayette square protests in portland and the issue of police brutality you seem to have a difficult time understanding systemic racism. >>an institutional racism that has plate. so many the attorney general pushing back saying monuments need to be protected. >>the need for law and order and police should not be demonized. >>the demonization of the police is not only unfair and inconsistent with the principles all people should be treated as individuals but gravely injurious to a knee her city communities. i'm darryl forges reporting us attorney's office and that war zone forecast hi mabrisa rodriguez standing by with a look at our micro climates but theresa. >>hey there vicki and we'll only warmed up to 62 degrees in downtown san francisco, thanks to the return of that marine layer wa

he issued a press release that said that geoffrey berman was stepping down.s out that, in fact, he didn't know it and there was no communication about that. and he still persists in that. instead of admitting that he was caught in a lie he said, well, he was stepping down, he just didn't know it yet. he didn't know that he had been pushed. same thing with regard to tear gas in lafayette square. he says there was no tear gas used. well, he fails to mention there was pepper spray used which is a chemical irritant. so he's very carefully in the words that he chooses to make them literally true but figuratively false. >> very careful. having been exposed to both tear gas and pepper spray a few times in the last couple of months, they are both very difficult for someone to take. barbara, good to see you. thank you, as always. barbara mcquade is the former united states attorney for the eastern district of michigan. thank you for being with us tonight. >>> when we come back, the trump administration sets a new standard for incoherent coronavirus messaging, but one

attorney general geoffrey berman has schedule is scheduled to appear at a closed door hearing of the house judiciary committee this week next week excuse me byrne served as a u.s. attorney ernie in new york's southern district and prosecuted cases involving a number of president trump's associates, including his former personal lawyer and fixer michael cohen former was fired last month after he initially resisted attorney general william barr's requests for him to resign. well after months of searching fbi agents arrested delaine maxwell the former girlfriend and longtime associate accused trafficker jeffrey epstein federal prosecutors are charging that swell with 6 counts of connection with the ongoing federal investigation into epstein and his accomplices investigators say that for at least 3 years max will help them recruit groom and ultimately of these victims sometimes as young as 14 years old. these charges we announced today are the latest result. >>or destination into epstein and the people around him who facilitated his abuse of minor victims, combating the exploitation of c

attorney geoffrey berman a trump appointee and the naming of j. clay who's currently the head of the securities and exchange commission didn't they bomb go at it could've been handled much better although in today's environment where everything that the administration does is going to be looked at by many in the media in the worst possible light i'm not sure they can you know do anything without being criticized but i do think it could have been handled better the timing of it and how the public the public word was put out i think it could've been handled lot better but ultimately of course any u.s. attorney particularly an acting u.s. attorney in which mr berman wise serves at the pleasure of the president and if the president through the attorney general asks the person to step aside they really ought to merely have no choice but to do so you have it in the middle of an apparent investigation of trump's friends. doesn't paint a pretty picture does it. well mike i say the timing of the timing could have been a lot better if in fact the administra

. >> geoffrey berman, the former, he testified before congress that the attorney general's plans to replacee unprecedented, unnecessary and unexplained. tell us what's really going on here. why was berman forced out of his role? >> i wish i knew. berman, i understand from his testimony today, himself was not able to identify the precise reason. what we do know is there's been a pattern and practice on the part of this attorney general to interpose himself in cases, which cases even though there are hundred of thousands of cases winding their way through the justice system, on the cases that effect a personal associate of the president, whether it's michael cohen or roger stone or michael flynn. and perhaps he wanted somebody more malleable in this other district and we'll wait to see what testimony brings to light. >> we certainly will. thanks for joining us. more news just ahead. i give to shriners hospitals for children because i want to be a part of something amazing. - i know my gift to shriners hospitals for children makes a difference in the lives of children. - our support gives kids

attorney geoffrey berman on friday night. we sat here. did an entire hour on it. he has fired inspectors general on a friday. so this move, shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. it is a pattern. and from -- from their point of view, why not keep doing it, over and over, if they can get away with it? >> thus far, it's been consequence free. you are definitely right about that friday-night pattern. i mean, i don't think anybody announc announces something they're superproud of at 9:00 p.m. on a friday night. i think there is an obvious pattern there. also, this one's a little different than the others because we fwheed to be thinking about -- maybe it's just my mindset as a prosecutor. but we need to be thinking about the federal statute against bribery. okay. bribery is exchange of an official act, a pardon by a president obviously is an official fact. and if prosecutors can prove the thing of value here was shutting roger stone up, then, you could have a bribery charge. there's other evidence out there the president just thought the case was unjust. but he's bee

attorney geoffrey berman on a friday night. well sat here, did an entire hour on it.e pardoned sheriff joe arpaio on a friday. he has fired inspectors general on a friday. so this move to commute roger stone, a self-proclaimed difficulty trickster shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. it is a pattern. and from their point of view, why not keep doing it over and over if they can get away with it? >> yeah, don, thus far it's been consequence-free. you're definitely right about that friday night pattern. i don't think anybody announces anything they're super proud of at 9:00 p.m. on a friday night. thing is an obvious pattern there. also, this one is a little different than the others because we need to be thinking about maybe it's just my mind-set as a prosecutor, but we need to think of the federal statute against bribery. bribery is exchange of an official act pardoned by a president obviously is an official act in exchange for a thing of value. and if prosecutors could prove that the thing of value here was shutting roger stone up, then you could have a bribery cha

geoffrey berman, attorney for southern district of new york, he went and testified before the committee. i understand you were briefed on that testimony. he briefed in closed door testimony to the house judiciary committee a pressure campaign led by attorney general william barr to get him to leave his post as one of the nation's most powerful federal prosecutors in the 48 hours before he was fired. berman said on two occasions that he refused to resign contrary to a statement the justice department released at the time. in an effort to get him to leave, the attorney general offered him several other high-profile jobs. does this indicate to you that bill barr is corrupt? and if he is, what might the judiciary committee do about that? >> well, what it indicates to me is that barr is consistent. i think that his corruption he testified to in his confirmation hearing. he's the personal attorney, personal defender, personal fighter of the president of the united states. i think his corruption, unfortunately, goes throughout the department. i just feel so bad for those career officers, caree

attorney geoffrey berman had been heading up investigations into epstein's co-conspirators. trump had been a longtimeme frid of j jeffrey epstein. duke energy and dominion energy have canceled plans to build the atlantic coast pipeline, in a major victory for indigenous and environmental activists who have opposed the project since it was announced in 2014. the 600-mile pipeline would have carried fracked gas from west virginia to north carolina, passing under the appalachian trail in virginia's george washington national forest. and those are some of the headlines. this is demomocracy now!,, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. as many mark this fourth of july weekend by staying homee to stop the growing spread of covid-19 president donald trump hosted two back-to-back events in south dakota and at the white house over the weekend, where he stoked racial divisions, attacked black lives matter protesters, defended statues of colonizers and white supremacacists, and f falsely claiaimed that 99%9% of cocorons cases in the uniteted statates e "harmlesess."

geoffrey berman spoke to the house judiciary committee today for its investigation into alleged politicizatione department. attorney general william barr is disputing that characterization. he tells abc news he would like to hear some examples of what he called "unrighteous cases." the federal judge hearing the criminal prosecution against national security adviser michael flynn is appealing and appeals court decision to dismiss the case. judge emmet sullivan wants to get entire court of appeals for the district of columbia circuit to review last month's ruling directing him to drop the flynn case. the so-called hearing. refusing to sign off on the request to dismiss the charges of lying to the fbi. flynn who pleaded guilty says the fbi entrapped him. former presidential attorney and fixture michael cohen is back in federal custody tonight after objecting to abandon on media content or writing a book as part of terms for home confinement agreement. meeting with parole officials when u.s. marshals shackled him and took him away, even though he said he would drop his objection and sign the agree

attorney geoffrey berman and other instances where he says the attorney general has politicized the department of justice and that's why he's bringing him before the committee today. >> it's part of a clear and dangerous pattern of conduct that began when mr. barr took office and continues to this day. mr. barr's actions make clear that in his department of justice, the president's allies get special treatment. the president's enemies are targeted for extra scrutiny and the needs of the american people and the needs of justice are generally ignored. mr. barr's practice of abusing the department to shield the president and his allies goes back to the beginning of his tenure at the doj. when the special counsel had completed his investigation, the attorney general mischaracterized the special counsel's findings and he did so on the president's behalf. among other deceptions, mr. barr pretended that compelling evidence of obstruction of justice, including evidence that the president may have lied directly to the special counsel, simply did not exist. mr. barr's deception seems blatant. but don't

there's the firing of geoffrey berman, the intervention into the roger flynn and roger stone cases, the undermining of the russia investigation. the shiny object is what is currently going on. it is important and it is real and they will get into it. but the portland stuff will also take center stage. >> all right, daniel, thank you. we'll come back to you after. we'll get opening 125i789s now from the chairman and the ranking members and then attorney general bill barr. >> -- minor car accident on the way in this morning. everyone is fine except perhaps the car, but it did cause significant delay. i thank the attorney general and the members for their patience and flexibility. we will now begin. before we begin, i want to acknowledge -- want to note we are joined this morning by the distinguished majority leader, the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer. leader hoyer has long recognized the need for vigorous congressional oversight of the executive branch under both parties, and we appreciate his presence here today as we question the attorney general. before we begin, i would like to re

attorneys and the trump adminis >>most of us attorney geoffrey berman is scheduled to appear at a closed door hearing of the house judiciary committee next week that's according to a congressional aide berman served as the u.s. attorney in new york's southern district and prosecuted cases involving a number of president trump's associates, including his former personal lawyer and fixer michael cohen byrne and was fired last month after he initially resisted attorney general william barr's request for him to resign. his appearance next week will be the latest event in a highly publicized feud between the former u.s. attorney ernie and the trump administration in consumer news tonight home depot is changing the way it sells rope after some people reportedly made. >>new says out of this pooled rope. the home improvement retailer says it's taking way spools of rope and instead of selling pre cut rope in links that are most commonly sold in a statement a home depot spokesperson said the company will not tolerate hate symbols in its stores. apple is closing 30 of its stores nationwide again. t

attorney just recently, geoffrey berman, leaving. as he left he said i will make sure that the cases that are ongoing in this office will continue. this was one of the biggest ones and certainly a victory i'm sure for them today in announcing these charges, andrea. >> and we should just remind, of course, that jeffrey epstein died in custody. what's the status of that? did they ever determine whether any of his jailers were involved? not to throw a curve at you. but i know you've been all over this story. >> reporter: no, there were some criminal charges against some of the prison guards for basically just not doing their duty on the job. there were question marks about the suicide by hanging, that was the determination by the coroner here in the city, a lot of people questioning whether that actually took place. but the coroner very definitive that he took his own life in that shocking death. following his suicide, there was a lot of pressure put on this office to go after epstein's accomplices, and certainly ghislaine maxwell is at

geoffrey berman had be leading probes of president trump's associates when he was forced out.told lawmakers that attorneye ral william barr offered him another posion, to leave of s own accord. afterward, democratic committee chair jerry nadler was sharply citical. >> the attorney general repeatedly attempted to entice berman to step down voluntarily, even after berman made clear that his leaving would disrupt certain sensitive cases. we don't kw yet if the attorney general's conduct is criminal, but that kind of quid pro quo gets awfully close to bribery. >> woodruff: attorney general barr goes before the committee later this month. eriff's investigators in southern california confirmed today that a black man, found hanging in a tree, committed suicide. thesa robert fuller suffered from mental illness. the discovery of his body in palmdale last month sparked a d otest. his family has sller would never have taken his own life. the trump administration today banned three senior chinese communist party members fromen ring the u.s. they are accused of subjecting uighurs and other

attorney there, geoffrey berman, said, no, i am not resigning. you are going to have to force me out if you want me out. and by the way, you're lying to the public about what is going on here and i'm not letting you get away with it. it didn't succeed in keeping berman in his job. they still forced him out. but it did succeed in keeping bill barr from installing his own puppy dog there, the way he did in d.c. what geoff berman's bravery and pushback did in sdny is that it, at least, ensured that berman's own deputy got to take over at that office to ensure some continuity. still, though, geoff berman's out. so d.c. u.s. attorney's office. gone. geoff berman and sdny. gone. now, tonight, it's the other one. the last one. the other u.s. attorney in the eastern district of new york. now, with this guy, attorney general bill barr tried the same trick that he tried with the other two. in all three of these cases, he's offered these u.s. attorneys some sort of dubious maybe, possible promotion/lateral move. at least, he's offered some other job in the

attorney geoffrey berman is testifying behind closed doors.was fired by president trump last month following a clash with attorney general barr over federal oversight. >>> and in the state of florida, the new epicenter of the coronavirus crisis, officials reported nearly 9,000 additional new cases today. the positivity rates for tests

attorney geoffrey berman is testifying behind closed doors. berman was fired by president trump last month following a clash with attorney general barr over federal oversight. >>> and in the state of florida, the new epicenter of the coronavirus crisis, officials reported nearly 9,000 additional new cases today. the positivity rates for tests over the past week is almost a shocking 20%. joining me is my co-anchor for the next two hours, katy tur. katy, i enjoyed a little bit of a break, but i missed our time together. what are we watching with the presidential race right now? >> i certainly missed you, chuck. we're following something of a split-screen moment in the battle ground state of pennsylvania. vice president pence will campaign in malvern next hour before addressing philadelphia police this evening. his speech coming during a national conversation over police reform. joe biden will unveil his much-anticipated economic recovery plan to metal workers in dunmore, pennsylvania. biden is expected to focus on american manufacturing and infr

you saw him fire geoffrey berman, the new york prosecutor, who investigated michael cohen and was investigatingudy giuliani, trumps personal lawyer. trump's personal lawyer. be a lot ofl questions the democrats will have for attorney general barr. the doj is theory, supposed to be an taunus branch of government -- anna taunus branch of government. butill be fireworks, nothing real is expected to come out of that. there are investigations the democrats are conducting, but nothing is expected to come out of it from a practical standpoint. william barr's job is not in jeopardy. there was talk of impeaching barr, but nancy pelosi has shot that down. it is just too close to the elections. they do not want to return. centristhave candidates they want to send to washington and they do not want to put them in the place of having to talk about these sorts of things, especially during the pandemic intercession. lillis, we thank you. heard him mention the former congressman john lewis lying in state at washington. yesterday come the civil-rights trip acrosshis last yound pettus bridge, where -- afterere u

geoffrey berman, the former u.s.pportunity to talk with him. and prince andrew was dodging that request to be interviewed. it may be that he is only a witness and not a subject or a target, but this, no doubt, touches some people who have positions of power, and that could explain why the involvement of the public corruption unit, or could be others as yet unknown. i think four names i'd be looking at immediately are not public officials, but enablers, as maya was talking about, who look at the non prosecution agreement that was negotiated with the southern district of florida back in 2008. you'll see the names of four individuals that jeffrey epstein specifically wanted to protect. those are very likely to be people who were enablers, recruiters. i'd want to get to the bottom of their role. and i think that this case is not done being charged yet. >> i want to turn to you, joyce. barbara brought up berman and his bankrupt firing. do you see any connection here with the dismissal of berman and the epstein case? >> so

attorney geoffrey berman and other instances where the attorney general has politicized the department of justice and that is why he's bringing him before the committee today. effort to remove mr. berman as part of a clear and dangerous pattern of conduct. actions have made clear that the president's allies get special treatment. the presidents enemies real and imagined are targeted for extra scrutiny and the needs of the american people are ignored. his practice of using the department to shield the president and his allies goes back to the beginning of his tenure at the doj. last year when the special counsel had completed his thestigation, when he had report in hand but the public couldn't read it, the attorney general blatantly mischaracterized special counsel's findings on the president's behalf. he pretended that compelling evidence of obstruction of justice including evidence that the president may have lied directly to the special counsel simply did not exist. his deception seems blatant, but don't take my word for it. the special counsel wrote to mr. barr directly to complain

attorney geoffrey berman testifying before the house judiciary committee and saying he was told by attorneym barr if he did not resign, he would be fired people remember last month he was fired his office was looking into a number of trump associates and he was let go from his job. what did you make of his testimony just coming out and saying it, that i was pressured to leave? >> this is a remarkable story, willie, that we need to keep our eyes on, even with everything else that's going on. berman testified behind closed doors to the house judiciary committee but he released a brief written opening statement and even in those brief comments, berman clearly stated he was pressured by the attorney general to resign for political reasons and when he did not agree to resign, in fact, he thought he and barr were on track to have conversations over the weekend. the attorney general released a statement that was a flatout lie saying that berman had resigned. so i'm old enough, unlike you, to remember a time when the political firings of nine u.s. attorneys led to the overthrow of an attorney gener

to rationalize the misrepresentation his department made previously about the depa are tour of geoffrey berman general with respect to the comment they made regarding the white house fully cooperating with the special council's investigation when we know that is inconsistent with the facts. at the end of the day, my concern and the concern of so many of my colleagues is that the attorney general really has functioned more like the president's personal lawyer as opposed to being the chief law enforcement officer of the united states. while yesterday's hearing was contentious, it was important for the american people to get a sense of some of the ways in which the department is being politicized and ultimately i don't think the attorney general really represented, you know, himself well with respect to answering those particular questions. you know, it will be the american people's judgment as to deciding the veracity of his answers and whether or not they were full in context. >> congressman, you were in that room for all five hours of the attorney general's testimony. did anything he say chang