attorney in the southern district of new york, a candidate for district attorney in neighboring westchesterounty. mimi, good to see you again, it's been a while. let's just remind our viewers of the relevance of the southern district of new york in general and specifically as it has to do with donald trump. >> hi, ali, great to see you. yeah, so the southern district of new york, as you said, has historically been the most independent u.s. attorney's office in the country. and in fact we know through reporting over the past several years, but particularly right before kind of the covid crisis hit, there was a lot of information coming out about investigations of trump, the trump organization, michael cohen, as you mentioned earlier was actually prosecuted in the southern district of new york and pled guilty there, and i think most recently the reporting was focusing on rudy giuliani and the possibility of campaign finance and possibly fraud schemes with some other individuals, you know. so it looked to me, it sounded to me just from public reporting like the southern district was circling t

attorney for the southern district of new york is resigning. jeffrey burman has run for sdny since 2018. investigating multiple members of trump's inner circle. the news coming, right after the doj dropped a new version of the mueller report, with less redactions. we're going to cover that, and all of these top stories, in the hour ahead, from a country in turmoil. so i want to begin tonight with the country's two major crises coming together tonight and tomorrow in tulsa, oklahoma, as conflict over race and politics meets. -- meets the coronavirus. and joining me now, john harwood and cnn political analyst ryan liza. good evening to both of you. i appreciate it. also, john, the president may be craving giant crowds with thousands of people. masks, optional. inside a closed arena. goes against the cdc guidelines, and even the white house is -- the white house's guidelines. i would say that the white house is in denial about the risk. but, at some point, it seems much more intentional than that. it is intentional deception. >> well, it's certainl

i was appointed by the judges of the district court of the southern district of new york. i will step down when someone is confirmed by the senate. is he saying fire me? >> no, i think it's more than that. he's saying essentially, you cannot fire me. i was presidentially appointed and confirmed by the senate. but when you fire someone, they have a limited term during which the acting can serve, after which the president has to nominate someone, or the chief judges appoint you. and jeff berman is not senate confirmed. he's appointed by the court. sounds like he's taking the position that i'm appointed by the court. i cannot be removed by anyone but the court, unless and until there's someone confirmed in my place. so i'm not going anywhere. that's kind of an interesting standoff that you don't see very often. >> and the interesting thing, don, that's what he's saying. >> hang on, hang on. >> -- by bill barr. >> evan, hold on. again, you're right, preet, you know this playbook. they're saying they can't fire him. so now what? what happens now? >> now, you know, maybe there w

berman's principal stance, the white house and doj chain of succession at the southern district of new york. to install u.s. attorney for new jersey in mr. berman's place. thankfully, due to his courage, the plan was afforded. mr. berman's deputy will take over the leadership of the southern district. and continue their important work. she is a fine reputation as a prosecutor and someone of integrity. people of integrity don't seem to be welcome in this administration. then the drg announcement that present intended to have jake clayton replace mr. 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 firi

that is also is something that the president is trying -- was trying to influence in the southern district of new york is desperately unclear here is why geoffrey berman was fired. those examples of the political influence that the president is trying to put on the southern district of new york certainly raised the possibility, if not the likelihood, that the president and the attorney general fired geoffrey berman for political reasons, to help the president's re-election. and that would be a desperately inappropriate reason to fire a u.s. attorney. and at the moment, no one has said anything about why geoffrey berman has been fired. >> you do make the point that the acting u.s. attorney for the soernl district of new york, one you know, is highly regarded. but the person that the attorney general wants to be the real, the next u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york has very limited, if any, prosecutorial experience. >> yes. i mean, this is yet another bizarre aspect of this story. when william barr announced that -- falsely -- that geoffrey berman had resigned, he said we intend to nomi

i mean remember that we're talking about the southern district of new york, which is often called the sovereign district of new york because of its independence. all u.s. attorneys' offices have some. the southern district frankly has more. and mr. berman remembers not just the michael cohen case, donald trump's attorney that the office prosecuted. he had recused himself. but there's also chris collins, who was, you know, suspected of insider training, who was a close trump ally. we know that they had subpoenaed documents for trump's inaugural committee. there was just one investigation after another, and of course one of the big ones is also whether rudy giuliani, another defense attorney for donald trump and former u.s. attorney for the southern district, was being investigated as well, it appeared, possibly including failing to register as an agent for foreign governments. this is a very long list of trump allies that the southern district pursued or was pursuing. and as we know from this president, loyalty is what he demands, and the justice that he seeks is just for himself. and

attorney for the southern district of new york. i think jeffrey berman was stepping down after 2 1/2 years of u.s. service as attorney for the southern district. and then only hours later, jeffrey berman saying, stepping down? not me. saying he had learned about that from the press release and adding in his own statement, i have not resigned and have no intention of resigning my position to which i was appointed. what happens next is an open question as we head into this weekend but we know there's intense interest from lawmakers, including the house judiciary committee, who has invited berman to appear on the hill as early as this week. kendis? >> we expect to see the president, josh, at some point today. do you have a sense, no idea whether he will stop at the cameras but i believe he's leaving for oklahoma later this afternoon? >> that's right. we may see him as he departs the white house to get on marine one to head to that rally in tulsa. if not, we could hear a whole lot from the president, potentially, about this and other to

attorney for the southern district of new york. some house democrats say they have questions about that. >> well, it's my hope at some point the judiciary committee will hear from the former u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, mr. berman, because i think he has a lot to say about a continuing pattern of chaos, crisis and corruption that we have seen from the trump administration. >> but lettuce begin with the la -- let us begin with the rally and how they're dealing with the 235 fallout. in tulsa, our reporters, and josh letterman at the white house. josh, start with you. last night the president claimed he directed a slowdown of testing. how is the administration responding? >> reporter: trump's advisers are brushing it off as a joke or a light-hearted moment with one adviser saying the president made these remarks in jest as way to point out what the president used as the ridiculous way that the news media has covered the coronavirus pandemic. but we should point out, joshua, for the family of the, some 120,000 am

attorney for the southern district of new york. emonstrates just how powerful a president of the united states can be, in terms of, at his or her whim, just removing individuals. and the fact that donald trump continues along this very corrupt path should make us all very, very worried about what we're in for in the coming months. and particularly, in this very dangerous period in the fall. during election season and between election day and inauguration day. i think this just demonstrates that donald trump and william barr will stoop to whatever depths they need to, in order to carry out their own personal agendas. >> our friend claire mccaskill's been listening in to this conversation. and, claire, i want to bring you in, specifically on the director's point about what to expect. mike schmidt pointed out that donald trump has spent much of this year firing watchdogs, inspectors general, people that usually don't become household names. this is more brazen than that. firing the u.s. attorney for sdny. attempting, i guess, for a few

it has been a while since the southern district of new york has sort of been at the center of the trumpry. can you just take us back to everything that is still, as far as we know, under investigation by that office? >> well, the big thing that that office was looking at were the connections between rudy giuliani, these two gentlemen that were working for him, and the efforts to pressure the ukrainian government around these investigations that the president wanted. if you remember, there were these arrests that occurred. i guess it was maybe 6 months to 12 months ago in which these associates were wrapped up, the ones that were working for giuliani, were wrapped up in regards to this lobbying campaign in ukraine. and what that was for the president was yet another example of how that office was, in his eyes, going after him. the original sin for the president here is the michael cohen investigation, the investigation that went on in 2018 into the president's lawyer and fixer, who had made these payments, arranged these payments before the election in order to silence a woman who was ma

that case was in the southern district of new york. what bolton says in his book is that attorney general william barr in fact tried to interfere in that case at the president's request. but the prosecutors in the southern district of new york wouldn't be messed with, and so that prosecution went ahead. soon after those excerpts became public, barr then launched an effort to secure a legal injunction against bolton's book. he tried to get a judge to order all the copies of bolton's book out of circulation. he tried to get a judge to order that bolton's book should be retrieved from all the bookstores it had been sent to and all the reviewers it had been sent to and all the news organizations it had been sent to. that effort to try to get a judge to do that with bolton's book, that effort failed obviously. it was bizarre that they even tried it. then in short order, the trump administration lost two major cases at the supreme court, one right after the other on lgbt civil rights and then on daca, the dreamers case. that dreamers case the

new reaction to growing violence in u.s. cities and the controversial firings of the u.s. attorney southern district of new yorkou that live just as soon as it happens. plus, fireworks on capitol hill over president trump's fourth of july plans. why some lawmakers are urging him to reconsider. >> the white house announcing president trump and first lady melania trump will host a salute to america on july 4th at the white house with music, military demonstrations, and a fireworks, this despite pushback from ten democratic lawmakers in maryland, virginia, and washington, d.c., who wrote a letter to administration officials last month given the current covid-19 crisis, such an event would needlessly risk the health and safety of thousands of americans. further, this event would come at the cost of millions of taxpayer dollars while we are facing an unprecedented economic downturn due to the pandemic. this is a trap to get trump to not celebrate the fourth of july so they can accuse him of being un-american. >> that's right. going along with what kennedy just said, everything is partisan to these people. everything

attorney in the southern district of new york. e fact that the administration seemed willing to put in another person, who is now the head of the ftc with no prosecutorial experience suggests the issue was they didn't have the right man in the right job at the right time. >> john? >> well, you know, i think it would be surprising to me that any u.s. attorney in the southern district of new york -- i think the context tells us a lot. we said on a sunday when barr had written his summary of the mueller report, which misled the nation to the findings. from that moment forward, we have the amoral trump and his corrupt mouthpiece barr working against the investigation of his president, both in terms of victimizing those who did the investigation, trying to transfer prosecutors in the case, and the most recent examples, of course, are stone and after that, of course, flynn, and now we have this instance in an office where they're investigating cohen, his lawyer, rudy, his lawyer, the inaugural committee. we have the deutsche bank in that

setbacks on the supreme court, with the john bolton book and this matter under way with the southern district of new yorkmeanwhile, there are, as you can see only the right side of your screen, protesters. we will continue our coverage of this. that does it for me tonight. you can catch me back here tomorrow morning from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. eastern on my program, velshi. coming up, my colleague nicolle wallace continues the coverage here on msnbc. good night. es just because of an accident. cut! is that good? no you were talking about allstate and... i just... when i... accident forgiveness from allstate. click or call for a quote today. accident forgiveness [shouting]tate. [clapping and shouting] [cymbals clanging] [knocking] room for seven. and much, much more. the first-ever glb. get 0% apr financing up to 36 months on most models, and 90-day first-payment deferral on any model. no uh uh, no way come on, no no n-n-n-no-no only discover has no annual fee on any card. [♪] when you have diabetes, managing your blood sugar is crucial. n-n-n-no-no try boost glucose control. the patented blend is clinically

attorney in the southern district of new york issued his statement saying he did not resign and had no intention to resign. this underscores some of the tensions that have existed between barr, the justice department, and berman at sdny. berman has investigated many individuals with close ties to the president, including michael cohen, former personal attorney, and he is continuing to investigate rudy giuliani, the president's current attorney. and giuliani, for his efforts, working to dig up dirt in the ukraine. berman's office has brought indictments against two of giuliani's associates, lev parnas and igor fruman. he's been asked before about whether main justice has tried to interfere in any investigations and, in particular, into the giuliani investigation. here's what berman told reporters in march. >> the southern district of new york has a long history of integrity and pursuing cases and declining to pursue cases based only on the facts and the law and the equities without regard to partisan political concerns. my primary commitment is and has been to maintain those core values

berman in the southern district of new york, they have been investigating rudy giuliani and under bermanthe sdny indicted two giuliani associates and do you believe any of that has anything to do with the timing of the firing? >> it's all speculation. it may be, it may be if the of the united states and bill barr are fed up with anybody who doesn't tow the party line. we've been hearing reports from some time that they're not happy with jeff berman. we have the book by john bolton that just came out in which donald trump himself personally said to president erdogan of turkey, don't have my people at sdny yet and intensely aware of the fact that the president wanted someone loyal to him, it's unusual to do that to someone you yourself interview like jeff berman. it may be a combination of those things, it may be a specific case. i don't think we know or will know. funny thing is at the end of the day, if trump cared about that, he didn't accomplish anything because jeff berman's own handpicked number two looks like she's taking over the office and i don't think that anything with respect

attorney in the southern district of new york. was aappointmeppo by the trump administration but was reupped and confirmed by the court in the southern district of new york. his argument is because he was appointed by that court, he can only be removed by that court unless there's a senate confirmed replacement which, of course, there isn't and won't be any time soon. this is a legal question that if bill barr proceeds in trying to remove berman from office, it could work its way all the way up to the supreme court and we'll see how they are willing to bless, overlook or stop what i thempg is a blatantly corrupt act by the administration. >> we shall see. it is interesting, but interesting in a bad way. matthew miller, kyle cheney, thank you for your time. >>> actress and activist, this is going to be fun, will join me live. s and activist, this is going to be fun, will join me live these are real people, not actors, who've got their eczema under control. with less eczema you can show more skin. so roll up those sleeves. and help

attorney for the southern district of new york is frustrating trump's effort to get the sec chair, claytonl that job. derek: the effort to get rid of the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york was kind of bungled at the start of the weekend. now, jay clayton, the fcc chairman, we have a report that says clinton was surprised and dismayed by the uproar about his spot. some friendsre are and allies of clayton who are trying to suggest that maybe you don't want to actually go forward with this. certainly, democrats are suggesting he re-think whether or not he wants to go forward to it. so, that is a complicated situation. the southern district of new york, that is probably the most key district in america. you are talking about what covers manhattan, so you are talking about what covers the trump organization, and a lot of trump stuff. about whatuestions the trump administration was investigating, because people saw this removal come out of nowhere. questions about what is going on , certainly that some of clayton's close advisers are saying, withdraw from consideration, stay at

attorney for the southern district of new york was stepping down. but that man, geoffrey berman, says he did not resign. and he has no intention of doing so. during his tenure, by the way, berman's overseen the prosecution of michael cohen, president trump's former personal attorney. and jeffrey epstein's office currently examining rudy giuliani and his associates. >> let's bring cnn's kyra skinel, this occurs late on a night, when the news dumps typically go into the weekend when they don't want you to see so late in the evening. >> that's a pattern that we've seen with a number of high-profile cabinet a resignations in the administration. it occurred around 9:00 late last night, when attorney general said that berman would be resigning. and then geoffrey berman said he did nature resign and did not intend to resign. until then, our investigation will move forward without delay or interruption. i cherish every day that i work with the men and women of this ohio to pursue justice without fear or favor. and intend to ensure that this office's importan

attorney for the southern district of new york. he was investigating president trump's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, and some of his associates. and what we saw over the last 24 hours was a remarkable sequence. last night the attorney general bill barr announced that berman was resigning. berman a short time later put out a statement saying no thanks, i'm not actually resigning, i'll stay put. today barr sent berman a letter saying that president trump fired him. just a short time later trump literally said on camera and i quote, i was not involved. and then this evening berman finally announcing he will be leaving his position in the southern district of new york. with me now to discuss cnn national security analyst sam vinigrad and cnn legal analyst joey jackson. the question out there the administration hasn't really answered what is behind this firing. we know the southern district of new york is the office that prosecuted trump's former personal lawyer michael cohen and named him an unindicted coconspirator. do you think that

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 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 trying to move berman out, give him the hook so they can quash those investigations, do you buy that? >> no, i don't. i think this is a political play by democrats. i guess

now that he's taken this action i wouldn't be surprised to hear some leaks out of the southern district of new york about some of the investigations that are ongoing and particularly those that may touch on the president so i think that bears out a lot of information the southern district of new york has that might be harmful to the president and that is going to certainly reflect on him but in many other ways people have all along decided how they feel about trouble his firing bermond will not probably bother any of his core supporters like the people who are going to his rally this evening those people seem to think that trunk should have his loyalists in place and basically you can do no wrong this is a greater problem for moderates and independents but over the course of the past couple of months polling has shown those people are drifting farther and farther away from not just based on it terminations but because of this response to the i.r.s. and also. about. melanie sloan their former federal prosecutor speaking to us from great to get your insights here on out of there melanie thank you. we

i want to bring in a former federal prosecutor with the southern district of new york. a few things here. first, it's inconceivable that an attorney general would dismiss the attorney for the southern district of new york, the most important and most powerful of the districts in the united states, without the president's knowledge or understanding. the president seemed to suggest this had nothing to do with him. >> and that's shocking that barr would -- that trump would say that, because it's not even so much that it's inconceivable. it's not legally possible. i think most people, almost all people, would agree in order to remove a u.s. attorney like geoffrey berman, the president has to do it. barr does not have that power. >> so here's the question that i think a lot of people are left with. preet bharara was removed from office. geoffrey berman ultimately comes in. what's the problem with geoffrey berman as far as trump and barr are concerned? >> that's the troubling question. because by all appearances, geoff berman has been doing a knockout job in the southern distr

this would make him the first non pros cu non pr non prosecutor to lead the southern district of new york. tom, give us -- the southern district of new york is different than other districts. >> reporter: that's right, ali. it's a district that because of its ties and connections to the financial markets here in new york, the fact that the stock exchanges are based within its district, the fact that the feder federal reserve bank is within its district they have the ability to bring cases of financing terrorism worldwide, worldwide financial cases. so i think it's an office that has typically prided itself as being the sovereign district of new york meaning it has autonomy. it's an office that brought the cases they saw fit. oftentimes they do it and tell the justice department headquarters about it afterwards or just before they're about to announce. it's an office that has normally an awful lot of independence, ali. >> geoffrey berman, you described him as having a bag the size of a small car. rachel maddow asked if he said he has no intention of stepping down, who is making the decisio

that's something that the president is trying to influence in the southern district of new york. what is unclear is why geoffrey berman was fired. those examples of the political influence that the president is trying to put on the southern district of new york, certainly raised the possibility, if not the likelihood, that the president and the attorney general, fired geoffrey berman, for political reasons, to help the president's re-election. that would be a desperately inappropriate reason to fire a u.s. attorney. at the moment, no one has said anything about why geoffrey berman has been fired. >> jeffrey toobin for us there. >>> president trump's rally is smaller than expected. but health officials were worried. why experts fear it could become a superspreader. >>> also ahead, we take you to spain, where the country is opening up borders and lifting the state of emergency. a live report. achoo! ...do your sneezes turn heads? try zyrtec... ...it starts working hard at hour one... and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. zyrtec muddle no more. >>> president tr

we get the southern district of new york is a vitally important part of the justice department.h all kinds of cases ranging from wall street fraud, counterterrorism, sex trafficking. it's a hub where truly huge cases go through. but clearly the u.s. attorney knows he serves at the pleasure of the president. and clearly the president knows he can just kind of flick jeffrey berman aside without saying it to the world. so none of this makes sense to me. >> well, what we're told is that, basically, jay clayton, the chairman of the securities and exchange commission, made it known to the president that he wanted to return to new york, that he was stepping down from his position as running the s.e.c. and he was interested in the u.s. attorney's office job and that the president said, fine. and, you know, that's the way politics goes. jeffrey berman is -- then would be moved out and clayton would be moved in and that would be that. that's apparently, as sophisticated as it gets. but, you know, as you've been talking to your guests about whether this looks good or bad, that apparently w

chairman clayton, in, the united states southern district of new york was forced out of the position by president trump and attorney general barr. actions appear to be a continuation of the efforts to squash any intend to hold the enablers accountable. the southern district of new york has been instrumental in conducting independent investigations into the associates and the trump organization in currently investigating. an institutional with substantial financial times to president trump. in light of these actions i am deeply concerned that while this post is pending, president trump and the attorney general may try to interfere with your ability to independently oversee the securities and exchange commission and serve as wall street's cop on the beat during the global health pandemic. i don't think that matter requires the attention. >> i don't think it requires my attention at this time and i intend to devote my full attention to the commission. >> so you will continue to serve as the chair while you await the confirmation and you will not step down or step aside or have someone t

attorney for the southern district of new york was stepping down.aid the president nominated somebody else for his position and berman would be leaving the office on july 3rd. two hours later jeffrey berman issued an extraordinary statement which he said he did not resign and he was not resigning. i want to read a portion of it. he said i will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the senate. until then our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption. i cherish every day i work with the men and woman of this office and tend to ensure this office's important cases continue unimpeded. that statement a nod to this issue of political interference or is bill barr advancing the agenda of the president. you know, the "new york times" noted in their reporting that the president had noted he discussed aides recently he wanted to remove jeffrey berman. we've seen this since michael cohen was charged and when he pled guilty and implicated the president in the campaign finance scheme. this has been brewing for a wh

so in the end the southern district of new york, which those of us in new jersey and the other 93 districtsthe sov vern district of new york. everything i know about audrey strauss is she'll be an independent voice leading the southern district of new york. today they're at least as well if not better than led by geoffrey berman. >> the president had some defeats in the supreme court over the past week of course on the gay rights decision and then on daca. how significant is that daca decision, cecelia? >> it's huge. it was a bombshell with the chief justice deciding with the liberals on the bench. the president is in a really tough spot. he said overnight that he plans to refile the case. he said everything is going to work out for the young people, but then went on to insult them saying they're not so young anymore. here's the reality right now. 86% of people in the country support giving the daca recipients, people brought to this country as young children illegally by their parents. with this overwhelming public support the president has to make this judgment as to whether go forward an

of new york, thank you so much for your time. we really appreciate it. i want to bring in the previous u.s. attorney for the southern districtyork who president trump fired in 2017, preet bharara, also a cnn senior legal analyst. good to see you. you just heard my interview with chairman nadler. what was your reaction to what he had to say? >> well, a couple reactions about what is going to happen going forward. i understand that jerry nadler has asked the former u.s. attorney, geoffrey berman to come testify. i don't know that he will do that. and i don't know actually how much he will have to say. after i was fired lots of people wanted to ask me questions about what ongoing investigations i might've been overseeing to try to make a connection between those relationships to the trump administration and to trump himself and the firing. my policy was, and i think the standard operating procedure is not to talk about ongoing investigations even when you leave office. so i don't know how much progress you're going to make with respect to trying to get an answer to that question. with respect to the comment about bill barr, i l

so many investigations by the southern district of new york that have touched the trump administration and donald trump personally. that has led to a lot of tensions. the president has not been happy with berm nan that position and bill barr has both in the sdny cases and other matters including michael flynn and roger stone, there were cases raised by some of bill barr's activities about whether he is interfering in certain investigations. earlier this year in march, geoffrey berman was asked by a reporter whether bill barr is interfering in the investigation involving giuliani. let's hear what he said. >> the southern district of new york has a long history of integrity and pursuing cases and declining to pursue cases based only on the facts and the law and the equities without regard to partisan political concerns. my primary commitment is and has been to maintain those core values and that's how our office is operating. >> this standoff does continue. the big question is, does the president fire geoffrey berman today or in the coming days, or does he let berman stay in the position

attorney for the southern district of new york democrats are crying foul and the white house is respondinghere's stephanie gosk. >> reporter: democrats calling for an investigation into the sudden firing of u.s. attorney geoffrey berman chuck schumer writing a letter to the department of justice inspector general. >> over the past two days this sordid plot by president trump and attorney general barr to oust a well respected attorney in public view. >> reporter: the shakeup happened late friday william barr announced in a press release berman would be stepping down. berman quickly responding he had no intention of resigning. u.s. attorneys are appointed by the president who can remove them at any time 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 t

what difference does it make who runs the southern district of new york? the sovereign district of new york, one of the most important prosecutors in the country. there are ongoing investigations about rudy giuliani and others, as we know. the integrity and independence of the person is absolutely crucial. the fact that he resigned voluntarily means it probably won't be a supreme court case. but it's very, very important that the senate looks closely at his successor before they confirm anyone, because it's a very important position. >> prove son jeffrey rosen of the gw school of law and the national constitution center in philadelphia. nehra hack. rashad robinson, president of color for change. glad to have all of you with us, thank you very much. and thank you also for making time for us on msnbc. if you can make a little more time, stick around, join us later for a discussion i moderated about how black lives matter and lgbt pride intersect. do set your dvr for "pride and protest" tonight at midnight eastern, 9:00 pacific. i'm joshua johnson. stay safe,

attorney for the southern district of new york. >> yeah, if that ever happens. bout your oversight of what's happening with these relief funds, the billions of dollars that have been handed out by the treasury? we now discover today that a lot of dead people got checks from the treasury because the treasury did not bother to check social security records about who is alive and dead with social security numbers. what other oversight discoveries are you trying to get? >> well, it's really important that we get full transparency into the paycheck protection program because this was $650 billion. that was one of the largest single relief bills we gave. we have been pressuring for six weeks now. i have been pushing and pushing for full transparency, and we have been making progress slowly with pressure on secretary of treasury mnuchin. but today we learned that $38.5 billion in paycheck protection loans were returned by businesses. why would businesses return those loans? perhaps because they shouldn't have been applying for them in the first place. but for every loan

new york who has investigated a number of the president's associates. moments after the justice department announced that jeffrey berman, the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, was stepping down, berman himself denied resigning and insisted he has no intention of leaving. cnn's cara joins with more on this. what can you tell us about the u.s. attorney versus the attorney general spat here? >> yeah, fred. so this unfolded late last night with the u.s. attorney general saying that the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, jeffrey berman, had agreed to step down. and berman came out very forcefully in extraordinary statement saying he had not resigned and did not intend to resign. berman has been leading the u.s. attorney's office in the southern district of new york as it has engaged in a lot of investigations close to the president. they investigated and prosecuted michael cohen. they were looking into the trump organization. they also were investigating the president's inaugural fund and brought charges against rudy giuliani, the president's personal attorney's associates. they're also investigating rudy giuliani. a lot of these i

attorney for the southern district of new york, jeffrey berman. the attorney general of the united states lied to the country on friday night. that is how this story began, and it is a very important beginning. there is no other way to describe what the attorney general said. it was a lie. the attorney general put out a press release saying that president trump intended to nominate a new u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york, and the press release said, quote, i thank jeffrey berman, who is stepping down after two and a half years of service. and then jeffrey berman put out a press release saying, quote, i learned in a press release from the attorney general tonight that i was stepping down as united states attorney. i have not resigned. i have no intention of resigning my position to which i was appointed by the judges of the united states district court for the southern district of new york. and with that press release, jeffrey berman blocked the trump/barr plan to install an acting u.s. attorney to replace jeffrey berman. jeffrey b

attorney for the southern district of new york. thank you both for being with us. start with you, betsy. we mentioned this office, the united states attorney's office for the southern district of new york has been investigating close associates of the president. is there any indication that that played any role here? >> if that played a role, then the entire berman/barr situation was an abject failure. when the attorney general, bill barr, announced that he was firing geoff berman, he also announced that he would pick an unusual person to replace him. he said he was going to replace him with another u.s. attorney, craig, who's an ally of chris christie and currently working a full-time job as the u.s. attorney for the district of new jersey. however, when berman said, heck no, i'm not stepping down, by the time he and barr were able to somehow rectify their differences, barr conceded that rather than having him come in, a different person would temporarily take geoff berman's job. that different person is his first assistant, a woman who is viewed very much as not

news. a standoff between bill barr and powerful u.s. attorney who investigated a number of president's associates. >> the justice department announced the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york resigning. during his tenure, he handled several high profile cases. the prosecution of michael cohen, president trump's former personal attorney jeffrey epstein as well. office is currently investigating rudy giuliani and two of h

of new york, thank you so much for your time. we really appreciate it. i want to bring in the previous u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york who president trump fired in 2017, preet bharara, also a cnn senior legal analyst. preet, good toe see you. you just heard my interview with chairman nadler. what was your reaction to what he had to say? >> well, a couple reactions about what is going to happen going forward. i understand that jerry nadler has asked the former u.s. attorney, geoffrey berman, to come testify. i don't know that he will do that. and i don't know actually how much he will have to say. after i was fired lots of people wanted to ask me questions about what ongoing investigations i might've been overseeing to try to make a connection between the fact of those investigations, the relationships to the trump administration, to trump himself, and the firing. my policy was, and i think the standard operating procedure is not to talk about ongoing investigations even when you leave office. so i don't know how much progress you're going to make with respect to trying to get an answer to that question. w

attorney for the southern district of new york who has been overseeing investigations into some of trump's associates. we'll talk to two veterans of the southern district of that huge story unfolding. >>> you'll be able to buy a new copy of john bolton's book tomorrow after a judge rules the administration's attempt to block the book release is denied. somebody released bolton's book on twitter, also. there you go. good morning, it's monday june 22nd. we have white house reporter jonathan lemire, political reporter for "the washington post," robert costa, the moderator of washington week on pbs. senior political correspondent david drucker. also a contributing writer at "vanity fair." >>> what the trump campaign hyped would be a raucous return to the campaign trail for president trump turned out to be a major disappointment for the campaign. while they boasted they would fill the bank of oklahoma center that seats more than 19,000 people. the tulsa fire marshal tells nbc news that 6,200 supporters filled the general section of the arena. tim murtaugh blames small numbers on the radical pro

my position, to which i was appointed by the judges of the united states district court for the southern district of new york. i will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the senate. the president plans to nominate jay clayton to take over the office in manhattan u.s. attorney. berman's office has been overseeing a number of sensitive cases, including the investigation into the president's personal attorney, rudy giuliani. evan perez, cnn, washington. >>> jennifer rogers is a former federal prosecutor for the southern district of new york. she is a senior legal analyst, joining me from san diego, california. thanks for coming on. >> thank you. good to be here. >> another firing on a friday night. this has happened before from this administration. what do you make of it? >> it's not prisurprising they would try to get rid of jeff berman in manhattan. it's not astonishing. first, he was removed without his consent. he issued his own statement, about half an hour after bill barr's press release, saying i did not resign and i will not resign. berman is saying, until there's a senate-

there is nobody coming to be the southern district of new york u.s. attorney that doesn't get blue slip return. that is the policy of the committee. that will not change. >> appreciate that. >> yeah, well, that is just -- >> thank you. >> you don't need to thank me. that is just a fair way to do business. as to the number two in southern district of new york, i have all of the confidence in the world she'll continue to do her job in terms of firing mr. berman, there is certainly the ability to do so and it was use and if somebody suggested it was done inappropriately we'll call mr. horowitz and let him look at it. but we're going to keep talking about china and with that i think senator holly, is that right? you want senator holly to go ahead. senator holly, are you there? senator holly is not there. okay. senator lee. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. thanks for holding this hearing. china has what we might describe fairly as a long and very disturbing history of civil rights abuses, including civil rights abuses against its own citizens. this is

this is the southern district of new york. 's sometimes referred to as attorneys as the supreme district of new york. it is where some of the most sophisticated and complex cases arise, certainly within the financial sector but in this case in the back yard of donald trump. it's the district that's been responsible for the conviction of michael cohen, donald trump's attorney, a case in which donald trump was named as an unindicted co-conspirator, in that case where cohen was convicted. it's also the district that had the epstein case. it's the district that has rudy giuliani, that has several of the characters around the president's impeachment. this is a move by donald trump to delay the investigative authority of the southern district of new york. it is corrupt. whether or not this was a direct call by barr or by the president doesn't really matter. this is a corrupt administration and the who us should open impeachment hearings into the attorney general. >> don callaway, this is a republican former member of congress saying