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NOW: AG Barr says in a letter to Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman that Trump has now officially fired him, and that's that, rejecting any argument by Berman that a judicial appointment means he can't be removed.

Previously: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Barr to Berman: "Unfortunately, with your statement of last night, you have chosen public spectacle over public service."

Note that Barr's letter changes the succession plan from last night — deputy US atty Audrey Strauss will take over as acting US atty buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Berman's statement last night 100% ruled out any kind of voluntary departure, but wasn't totally clear on what Berman would do if Trump directly fired him. He said: "I will step down when a presidentially appointed nominee is confirmed by the Senate." buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Barr bristled at what he viewed as the implication in Berman's statement last night that Berman needed to stay on in SDNY to make sure cases were handled appropriately. "This is obviously false," Barr wrote.
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
One of many things to note about Barr's letter — Barr says he and Berman discussed moving Berman to another role, incl. head of the SEC. The head of the SEC, Jay Clayton, who has never been a federal prosecutor, is ... who Barr wants to take Berman's job buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
What does Trump have to say about Manhattan US Attorney Geoffrey Berman? He doesn't explicitly confirm that he fired him when asked about it, saying it's up to Barr: "I'm not involved."
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
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Zoe Tillman
@ZoeTillman
BREAKING: The US Supreme Court has ruled the Trump administration violated federal law when it rescinded the DACA program supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf…
Roberts writes the 5-4 decision: "Here the agency failed to consider the conspicuous issues of whether to retain forbearance and what if anything to do about the hardship to DACA recipients." The case is remanded back to DHS "so that it may consider the problem anew."
This outcome is similar to what happened in the census citizenship question case — in both cases, Roberts wrote for the majority of the court that the Trump admin *could* in theory do what they were trying to do, but that officials had gone about it in an unlawful way
Read 6 tweets
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Zoe Tillman
@ZoeTillman
Good morning from my dining table, where I'll be listening to DC Circuit arguments this morning in Michael Flynn's case — he's asking the court to cut off Judge Emmet Sullivan's inquiry into DOJ's decision to drop the criminal case against Flynn.

Prev: buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Flynn's lawyer Sidney Powell is up first. She begins by arguing that the DC Circuit must stop Judge Sullivan's "intrusion" into the exec branch's sole power to decide whether to dismiss a case and that the district judge has "has no authority to do anything further in the case."
The first Qs come from Judge Robert Wilkins, who brings experience with all of this - he was a district judge before he was confirmed to the DC Circuit. He asks how Powell can argue Sullivan has no role when SCOTUS said courts can review of these types of dismissal motions by DOJ
Read 30 tweets
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Zoe Tillman
@ZoeTillman
Some takeaways from the brief filed by John Gleeson, the former judge tapped to argue why DOJ shouldn't be allowed to drop Michael Flynn's case. He writes that DOJ's explanations "are so irregular, and so obviously pretextual, that they are deficient"
assets.documentcloud.org/documents/6940…
This is the latest case where Trump's tweets show up to potentially cause problems for DOJ. Gleeson writes the tweets make clear Trump "is personally invested in ensuring that Flynn’s prosecution ends, and has deep animosity toward those who investigated and prosecuted Flynn"
Gleeson notes that there were other ways the Trump admin could have helped Flynn that no court would have authority to interfere with (for ex: a decision *not* to bring charges, or a presidential pardon). But once charges were filed, the court became a player, he argues
Read 5 tweets

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