It is a dismissal that goes very badly in the United States. President Donald Trump's decision to fire Geoffrey Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY, Southern District of New York), on Saturday, June 20, was seen as a serious attack on the against the American justice system.
“The president and the attorney general [William Barr, the equivalent of the Minister of Justice, note] have just called into question the very principle of impartiality of justice which is one of the foundations of democracy and distinguishes states - United authoritarian regimes ”, bitterly regretted 135 former members of the prosecutor's office of the southern district of New York, in an open letter published on Sunday.
In charge of the most important court cases in the United States
Geoffrey Berman is, in fact, not just a new name that is added to the long list of people sacked by Donald Trump after losing his confidence. Prosecutors in the United States for the southern district of New York are prominent figures in the political and legal landscape in the United States. James Comey, the former FBI director who has become one of Donald Trump's beasts, held this position, as did Preet Bharara, nicknamed the “scourge” or the “Sheriff” of Wall Street and who was the predecessor of Geoffrey Berman. Even Rudy Giuliani, when he was not yet Donald Trump's henchman, served as the U.S. attorney at the SDNY before becoming mayor of New York.
“It is a political position - all 93 prosecutors in the United States are appointed by the President - which is part of a path of excellence and is often used as a springboard for a prominent career,” summarizes Anne Deysine, specialist in the American political and judicial system at Paris Ouest Nanterre University and author of "The United States and democracy", contacted by France 24.
But Donald Trump and his attorney general, William Barr, didn't just attack a man, as influential as he was. By beheading the SDNY, they opened a front against an institution perceived by the judiciary as "the most powerful after the Ministry of Justice".
This office, located in Manhattan, "has a double reputation for being extremely honest and for tirelessly pursuing most of the heaviest and most important judicial files in the country," said Anne Deysine. The investigation of September 11, 2001, the dismantling of the New York mafia, the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, most of the cases of international corruption or insider trading on Wall Street are within its jurisdiction.
Prosecutors in the United States in the southern district of New York also like to emphasize their commitment to absolute independence from political power. So much so that the office has earned, in the legal community, the nickname “Sovereign District of New York”. “The only time Preet Bharara got really mad at me was when I referred to the Attorney General of the United States as my 'boss'. He replied very curtly that he was neither my boss nor his, even if on paper this is the case, "said Elie Honig, a former member of the SDNY office team, interviewed by Talking Feds, a podcast that deals with American judicial news.
Threat against the men and affairs of Donald Trump
Pugnacity, integrity and independence: a holy trinity which makes these New York prosecutors "the main threat to Donald Trump", had already estimated in 2019 Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey and longtime ally of the American president. The Trump Empire has, indeed, its seat in Manhattan, right in the jurisdiction of the office of the district of the south of New York.
In dismissing declared democrat Preet Bharara in February 2017, Donald Trump hoped to have found someone more understanding in the person of Geoffrey Berman. After all, this Republican had contributed financially to the successful campaign of the businessman.
But this lawyer has demonstrated that he has placed the values of the United States Attorney's Office above his loyalty to the President's party. Even Preet Bharara acknowledged that his successor had “perpetuated the tradition of independence and integrity of office”. Since his appointment, Geoffrey Berman has not been afraid “to attack the relatives and the financial interests of the Trump Organization”, notes Anne Deysine.
He sentenced Michael Cohen, the President's personal lawyer, to three years in prison after investigating fraud charges brought against Deutsche Bank, the German bank that loaned the tycoon hundreds of millions of dollars. real estate, and launched an investigation into the funding of the inauguration ceremony for Donald Trump. Proceedings have also been opened against Rudy Giuliani, accused of breaking the law by seeking to tarnish the reputation of Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
An ill-fired dismissal
The latest development, the investigation against the Turkish public bank Halkbank, suspected of having violated the American embargo on Iran, also seems to annoy Donald Trump. In his scandalous book on the president, John Bolton, the former national security adviser, maintains that the tenant of the White House would have assured in 2018 to the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, that he would stifle this affair. He would just have to put "his men" at the prosecutor's office in the southern district of New York, he said to the Turkish leader ...
So many sticks in the presidential wheels that would have finally decided Donald Trump to get rid of the powerful US prosecutor. But with William Barr, they got caught up in legal intricacies. It was, in fact, the Attorney General who announced, Friday, June 19, the resignation of Geoffrey Berman and his replacement by Jay Clayton, a lawyer without experience in the field of criminal procedure. "Nay!" Replied the New York prosecutor, assuring that he would not leave unless Donald Trump forced him.
An act of rebellion that propelled the face-to-face meeting between the New York Southern District attorney's office and the White House to the center of media attention. William Barr then assured that Donald Trump had decided on the dismissal, but the outcry aroused by this act of authority forced him to make a big concession. He had to accept that the interim, until the possible confirmation of the appointment of Jay Clayton by the Senate, be ensured by the assistant of Geoffrey Berman: a democrat with a reputation for integrity who should not facilitate the business of Donald Trump. "For now, Geoffrey Berman's resistance has worked, and Donald Trump and William Barr are stuck," concludes Anne Deysine. The President has managed to get rid of one threat ... to inherit another.
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