1/ Am I the only one who sees what Barr did here? Berman implied that he was being fired because Barr wanted to shut down "investigations." Barr falsely says Berman implied they want to stop "cases now pending." 
2/ A criminal *investigation* is not the same thing as a pending case. "Cases now pending" means an indictment has been obtained and a criminal case has been filed. It is a matter of public record; you can see the names of the accused and all the filings and orders on PACER.
3/ A criminal investigation, is, or is supposed to be, secret. In this context, it could mean an the AUSA is working with the FBI in a criminal investigation could mean it's moved on to a grand jury proceeding by the AUSA.
4/ A criminal case involving politically connected actors cannot be shut down without inviting blowback and scrutiny, as in Barr's meddling in Stone's sentencing and attempt to drop the Flynn case. Because it's a matter of public record.
5/ An investigation, by contrast *can* be quietly shut down because it's already secret. There will be leaks, but leaks can be denied and become just one more drop in the firehose of lies absent a whistleblower complaint, which they will smear and threaten and chill.
6/ When it comes to Trump criminality, all roads lead to the SDNY-the tax evasion conspiracy known as "the Trump Organization", Giuliani and his criming and Ukrainian contacts, the Trump 2020 Campaign, the Deutsche Bank thing, all in NYC.
7/ It's why Trump tried to suborn, and then fired, Preet Bharra. It's why he left the position unfilled so long, the SDNY judges exercised their power to appoint Berman as an interim AUSA.
8/ Because Trump couldn't find anyone stupid enough and crooked enough to risk their law license and freedom shutting down criminal investigations to protect him who had the credentials to get confirmed and not get blue-slipped by Schumer and Gillibrand.
9/ So now Barr tries to sea lion Berman out of the office and illegally appoint an interim successor pending confirmation of a picked man and old chum with no AUSA experience. He had to know it was high risk and had a high chance of failure. So why?
10/ Well, when Barr lied about what Berman said (and how very reminiscent of the Barr Letter, his first significant public act, this was) he told us: because there are current *investigations* in the SDNY that Trump, Barr or both are suddenly frantic to shut down ASAP.
11/ Could be they feared an indictment would get filed before the 60 day pre-election blackout period. Barr had, and still has, the ability to postpone indictments until September, but there would be leaks and they would create a firestorm.
12/ More likely however, the sudden urgency is due to fear of indictments by the Biden DoJ. They want to shut down investigations now, and have the trail go cold and, if possible, records "lost" and- if it's Ukraine related, witnesses involved in fatal accidents-before 1/20/21.
13/ Does Barr's verbal legerdemain protect him from criminal or ethical sanction? No, we've seen repeatedly that Barr always tries to lie in a way that lets him give an answer other than a flat admission when confronted with the evidence and asked "and that was a lie, wasn't it?"
14/ I'm not a psychologist, but to me it's the habit of Catholic school boy scarred by a thousand unpleasant trips to the confessional booth, a habitual behavior developed to enable him to tell himself he didn't really tell a lie he has to confess to Father Whoever.
15/ Pop psychoanalysis aside, however, Barr is telling us, in unmistakable language that he tried to fire Berman to kill investigations that are ongoing and that we likely only know by hints and supposition. Campaign finance, tax evasion, Ukraine criminality, sexual assault...
16/...bribery, graft, mob ties, ties to the GRU, purely Jared-related corruption and malfeasance. Who knows? The well of Trumpian corruption runs deep. So many possibilities. But it would be just like Trump and his idiot spawn to only now think on the danger if they lose.
17/ Who knows if Barr tipped them off to something they didn't know about. It would be consistent with his behavior or if Barr cooked this scheme up himself hoping it would work or if it was another example of him proving his loyalty by following stupid orders he knows will fail?
18/ Doesn't matter. What matters is that we know what this was about because Little Billy Barr told on himself by substituting a strawman implicit accusation for the one Berman actually made.
