1/x Barr knows Berman’s investigations all involve sensitive matters touching Trump. With the presidential election less than five months away, cynics like me can be forgiven for thinking that this looks exactly like a housecleaning. Let's count the ways: bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
2/x: Berman’s team took down Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen for tax evasion, bank fraud and campaign finance violations involving hush money payments to two women who said they had sexual encounters with Trump.
3/x: More recently, Berman has been investigating Rudolph Giuliani for possibly violating lobbying laws related to work he’s done in Ukraine. (The same Ukraine that Trump tried to strong-arm into smearing Joe Biden, leading to Trump’s impeachment)
4/x: Berman’s office has already indicted two Giuliani associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, as part of the Ukraine grift.
5/x: Berman’s office has also been investigating whether Deutsche Bank — which has longstanding financial ties to Trump and the Kushners — complied with laws meant to stop money laundering.
6/x: I’ve detailed Trump’s links to Deutsche Bank previously, in 2018: bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
7/x: Berman has subpoenaed Trump’s inaugural committee as part of a probe into how the incoming president’s team spent more than $106 million raised for his inauguration.
8/x: Bolton’s forthcoming book contends Trump promised Turkey’s president, Recep Erdogan, he would block investigations into a Turkish state-owned bank, Halkbank. Yep, Berman’s office is investigating Halkbank, too.
9/x: Trump has chosen Jay Clayton, chairman of the SEC, to replace Berman. Clayton has never served as a federal prosecutor. Before heading the SEC, he practiced corporate law in the private sector. One of his clients was Deutsche Bank.
10/x: There’s also scant reason to trust Barr’s take on matters of the law any more. Because…
11/x: He misrepresented the conclusions of Mueller’s investigation into ties between Trump’s team and Russians trying to sabotage the 2016 election, saying Mueller found no evidence of collusion or obstruction of justice.
12/x: He’s publicly savaged federal prosecutors who had ample reason to investigate Trump and then launched a witch hunt to discredit them.
13/x: He’s tried to interfere with or undermine other high-profile cases involving Trump associates or appointees such as Roger Stone and Michael Flynn.
14/x: His office soft-pedaled its investigation of Trump’s maneuvers in Ukraine.
15/x: He supported the use of force to clear peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters from the streets outside the White House so Trump could pursue a photo op in front of a church -- and then dissembled about it.
16/x: Sorry for ranting about the rule of law on Father's Day morning, but my father, a lawyer, is in this column too: bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
