by MM_Dandy » Sat Jun 20, 2020 11:15 pm
Don't forget that he is also completely incompetent, and embraces utter incompetence for his own sake.
The freaking Attorney General announced that the Acting US Attorney of the Southern District of New York, Geoffery Berman had resigned. Berman was investigating Giuliani and, if I recall correctly, irregularities in Trump's taxes. However, Berman then said, "No, I didn't, and I intend to remain in my position until the Senate has approved my replacement." At some point later, Barr realizes that he actually doesn't have the authority to fire Berman, but the statues could be read to say that the President does. So, he presents a self-signed letter to Berman saying that the President has fired him. When asked about it, the President said "I didn't have anything to do with it." Unfortunately, Berman has decided to step down, anyway. In his statement, Berman opens with "In light of Attorney General Barr's decision to respect the normal operation of law..." despite there being evidence that he has most definitely not respected the "normal operation of law."
One tiny bit of silver lining, though, is that it sounds like Berman's replacement is not a sycophantic toady.
EDIT: I missed that part that Barr and Trump are hoping to appoint current chairman of the SEC Jay Clayton, whereas Berman's resignation specified that Assistant US Attorney Audrey Strauss would be the new US Attorney. Most importantly, Strauss, like Berman, will only be the acting US Attorney. So, the upshot is that Barr and Trump will still get their guy as soon as he's approved by the Senate. It should also be noted that while Clayton doesn't exactly seem to be a complete Trump ass-kisser, his experience seems to be in corporate law, rather than criminal law. Which brings us back to "Why the hell was any of this necessary in the first place?"