Basically, this episode reveals the extent to which an President with authoritarian impulses, who has worked continuously to challenge the independence of the justice system and try to force him to act in his own personal interests, is ready to act with impunity behind his Senate. liberation by fellow Republicans on charges of impeachment of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

Meanwhile the President has destroyed the top leadership of the FBI and the Department of Justice in a way that shows political motivation. He recently threatened to send regular troops to the streets to face anti-racism demonstrations. And he has done the cleaning up of the inspector general who is an independent supervisory officer in the government department.

A ‘Friday Night Massacre’?

The extraordinary event of Berman’s fate was the final disturbing echo of former Richard Nixon’s “Sunday Night Massacre”, when the then president ordered his attorney general to sack special prosecutor Archibald Cox at the height of the Watergate scandal.

On Friday night – the traditional dumping ground for controversial news – Barr issued a press release announcing Berman’s sudden resignation saying that he would be replaced by Jay Clayton, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who had never served as a prosecutor .

By itself, Barr’s move is surprising because the Southern District of New York is one of the most prestigious and independent prosecution sites and usually handles highly sensitive financial, political sensitive and terrorism cases.

The New York federal prosecutor’s office is also working on a number of cases referred to by Mueller when he completes his investigation into whether the Trump campaign is intentionally collaborating with Russian electoral interference operations. It named the President as “Individual-1” in his case against Cohen saying he directed campaign financial violations related to the payment of silent money to some women who said they had relations with Trump.

The Berman shooting attempt sparked another major fire in Washington with House Judicial Committee Chair Jerry Nadler, a New York Democrat, immediately announcing the hearing for Wednesday and inviting Berman to testify.

“America is right to expect the worst from Bill Barr, who has repeatedly interfered in criminal investigations on Trump’s behalf,” Nadler said in a statement.

CNN legal analyst Laura Coates said late on Friday that if it looks like Barr is facilitating actions that will “undermine wisdom … or continue any case, it adds another note to the fire for people who set fire to their problems with this attorney general and his inability. to improve or truly contribute to the moral and career abilities of prosecutors to do their work. “

Berman refused to leave

“I learned in a press release from the Attorney General tonight that I ‘resigned’ as the United States Attorney. I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position, which I have appointed by the American Judge. State District Court for The Southern District of New York, “Berman said.

“I will resign when the appointed presidential candidate is confirmed by the Senate. Until then, our investigation will move forward without delay or interference,” he said. Opportunities for a new US lawyer for the Southern District of New York were confirmed long before the election seemed slim and there was a possibility of a legal battle over Berman’s term.

CNN legal analyst Paul Callan said: “I think the President will have a lot of difficulty in forcing Mr. Berman out of the office because he came in strange circumstances.”

Berman’s reference to the investigation immediately raised the question of whether he spoke specifically about the department’s public works or to cases that might interest Barr and Trump specifically.

His defiance made the next step unclear, but at least spoke of the extraordinary chaos that had occurred in the Department of Justice under Trump which had intensified since Barr took over.

The government is discussing replacing Berman with Ed O’Callaghan, a senior official last fall, but the move was postponed after Guiliani’s colleagues accused by prosecutors Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, sources said.