Why Bill Barr Got Rid of Geoffrey Berman This is how an authoritarian works to subvert justice.

[BigmanPigman]

JUNE 21, 2020 By Paul Rosenzweig

This is how an authoritarian works to subvert justice. He purports to uphold the forms of justice (in this case, the formal rule that the attorney general and the president exercise hierarchical control over the U.S. attorneys) while undermining the substance of justice. In the Flynn case, for example, Barr has asserted an absolute, unreviewable authority to bring and dismiss cases at will—a power that, even if legally well founded, is a subversion of justice when misused.

Barr may want Berman out so that he can use his newly enhanced control to dismiss or short-circuit all of the pending cases in Manhattan that implicate Trump or his associates. We know those are many. We know that Trump’s various organizations, including his inauguration committee, are under investigation. We know that Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani is under investigation. We know that Trump’s bank, Deutsche Bank, is under investigation.

In addition to the behavior already mentioned, we might identify his attempt to protect Trump’s tax records from disclosure, or the way he distorted the true contents of the Mueller report. Barr’s actions are more like those of a consigliere to Don Trump than those of an attorney general of the United States, working for the American people.

Even that characterization is too kind to Barr. The attorney general’s apparent goal is to turn the Department of Justice into an arm of the president’s personal interests. He seems to have no regard for the department’s independence, and is doing long-term damage to the fabric of American justice.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/06/why-bill-barr-got-rid-geoffrey-berman/613339/

[sprinkleeninow]

1. ....

I find myself more and more distraught. And I don't want to be.

[elleng]

2. But media on the trail(s,)

so I feel a little better (now, a la All the President's Men.)

[sprinkleeninow]

3. I simply have never ever ever. Ever.

They're doing six ways from sunday to wreck us.

[elleng]

4. yes they are.

[sprinkleeninow]

5. Blatant "in your face" and none of them give a good goddamn.

Divine Intervention is what's needed.

[2naSalit]

8. Actually, what we need is to stand up to them

and not just let them run roughshod over us and our country. We need to stand our ground and deny them power, period. It's really up to us.

[ronatchig]

10. As long as Devine(Ned or Ted?)

Has a rail and a good supply of tar and feathers.
I'm ready to give em a ride they will not forget!

[sprinkleeninow]

13. I'll take any Devine or Divine at this stage.

Saturday shpiel koo-koo, Sunday more koo-koo, Monday blah blah blah koo-koo, now into Tuesday.

It simply cannot last. His mouth runneth over majorly and continually.

I'm not in charge, but sometimes a human seem to be redemption-less. You gotta wonder.

[dalton99a]

6. Kick

[mr_lebowski]

7. But her emails. Also ... Loretta Lynch and the Tarmac ... it's pretty much the same thing ...

[2naSalit]

9. I think that this time around...

Everyone who is already committed to a Biden vote aren't even listening to the bs being used against him because it doesn't matter. The thing is, there is no substance to their claims and most everyone knows it.

[sprinkleeninow]

14. Wait. The latest is Obama should be charged with treason.

So very fricken embarrassing, distressing, unnerving to realize who is presently the so-called leader of the free world, of our nation.

[Kid Berwyn]

11. Deutsche Bank

We don’t want any of our nosy coppers snooping in any of our money laundering business that we promised our pal Putin would remain our little secret with the demented dotard Donnie.

[mr_lebowski]

12. They've already been sanctioned and had heavy EU fines imposed

for laundering Russia's money in the past.

I'm sure they'd like to avoid a US version as well, however.