Fret Berrara was the most well known U S attorney in the country, often referred to as the Sheriff of Wall Street. His aggressive prosecution of insider trading in Wall Street, corruption gamed in fame, and his war on political corruption kept him there. Along with successful prosecutions of banks, terrorists, arm dealers, and more. Berrara clearly enjoyed being in the media spotlight, and his press conferences announcing major prosecutions always
featured at least one memorable sound bite. As the defendants in this case have now learned the hard road. They may have been pretty a lot of confidential information, but there was one secret they did not know, and that is that we were listening. The bids were rigged and the results were preordained. Companies got rich and the public got bamboozled. They will not be riding out into the sunset to live in luxury off the spoils of their
fraudulent scheme. During the transition, President Trump asked Barrara to stay on as U S Attorney and meeting at Trump Tower. So it came as a surprise when Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday abruptly asked for the resignations of forty six U S Attorneys appointed by President Obama, and Barrara was included among them, but Bararra refused to resign and then tweeted from a personal account on Saturday that he'd been fired. The abrupt change by Trump and new Facts
caused a controversy that is nowhere near over. Our guests are both former federal prosecutors, Robert Mint's a partner Mcarter and English, and Carrie Cohen, a partner Morrison Forrester bob There is a distinction, though it may seem trivial, between resigning at the president's request and forcing the president to fire.
You explain what the difference is, I'm sure, June Um. Basically, all the U S. Attorneys around the country serve at the pleasure of the president, and its typical for there to be a change in office when there is a
change in administration. So what has happened in the past is that when a new president comes in UM, particularly from a different political party, that the existing U S. Attorneys are expected to at some point submit their resignations so that the new president can make up whatever appointments he or she feels is appropriate. Uh. There have been some instances where people in the Department of Justice have refused to submit their resignations when requested, and that forces
the Department of Justice to to fire them. That has generally happened not when they are trying to hold onto their jobs or just fighting with the fact that it's time for them to leave, but really a situation where they are trying to make a statement of on principle, where they believe they're being asked to do something that they cannot do for legal or principal reasons, and although they know the result will be the same that they will lose their job, they believe this is now speaking broadly,
but in most instas, the individuals believe that if they resigned there somehow complicit in enforcing some type of policy that they that they disagree with, so they forced the Department of Justice the Attorney General to fire them rather than submit their resignation willingly carry This situation is a little bit unusual in that it was widely publicized that President Trump had asked pre Berar to stay on, and now you have the Justice Department asked him to resign.
Him refusing to do so. Is the president's change of my apparent change of mind here good enough reason for somebody like berrar to say, I just refused to submit
my resignation. I think this is a unique circumstance where pret was specifically asked by this president if he would stay on, was asked to tell the media at Trump Tower that he was asked to stay on, and then you know, abrupt change of course a few months later, which gives I think the public a sense what would change your mind and intervening months and is worried some to the public because of course politics should not play any role in the Justice Department and in choosing U
S attorneys. There's also the point being made that Trump place to call to Barrara on Thursday, which Barrara refused to take because of ethical guidelines prohibiting the president from speaking directly to the U S. Attorneys. Finally, the President did not respond as to what that call was about when asked by the press, and finally, on Sunday, a spokesman for the president said Trump just wanted to thank
him and wish him luck. But Barrara has indicated in a statement to The New York Times that he was skeptical of that We're going to be discussing that coming up on Bloomberg law, what impact that call had and what new suspicions it may have led to. Some members of Congress have been speculating about the reason Trump decided
to fire Barra. We'll hear what the ranking minority member on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee had to say why he thought at the by Pre Barrara was let go by the Trump administration because he was in a position to potentially investigate President Donald Trump. And Barrara's dismissal also led to Twitter. Twitter a lot of tweets from one of the Senators, and she said that Senator Elizabeth Warren tweeted that it was about pre having authority over
Trump Tower. There are all kinds of questions being raised about the firing of former Manhattan US Attorney Pre Barrara by President Trump on Saturday. A letter from several watched organizations sent to Barrara on Wednesday requested the U. S Attorney look into whether Trump had violated the Constitution's Emolument's clause by benefiting from foreign business deals. The Trump Organization has its main offices in New York City, giving Barrara jurisdiction.
Congressman Elijah Cummings told ABC there could be a connection to the firing of Barrara, no doubt about it. When they asked about my ments of clause and possible violations of it, and and uh the U S Attorney's relationship to that. I think that had perhaps something to do with it. He wasn't a loan. Senator Elizabeth Warren tweet at Donald Trump's personal Twitter account freet Barrara had authority over Trump Tower, and you can't fire the rule of law.
You can't shut down ongoing investigations by career prosecutors. We've been talking to two former federal prosecutors, Repert Mints of McCarter and English and Carrie Cohen of Morrison Forrester Bob, what's your opinion of the of the reaction that this
was about possible investigations? And Barrara himself said something in a tweet about I know what what the Morland Commission must have felt like, I can I think at this point we don't really know the reason for Mr Berra's refusal to submit his resignation, and it's it's really pure speculations to suggest that this has anything to do with
trying to influence or interfere with any ongoing investigation. I think further that generally what happens is once the u S Attorney steps down on an interim basis, the second in command, who is somebody who is intimately he or she is intimately involved in running the office, is generally a career prosecutor themselves, takes over running the investigation, and then on the line prosecutors who are on the ground, who are really running the day to day operations of
these investigations, will go on. So I think it's a misperception out in the public that the removal of the U S Attorney could in any way influence or is likely to influence these investigations. And my experience, these are career people who run them, who make the day to day decisions. The final call does go to the u S Attorney, but in this case it's generally somebody who is also very experienced, unlikely a career prosecutor who is
upping in on an interim basis. Carrie, one of the odd things about this was how quickly it seems to have happened. I mean, if it's been reported that the Attorney General meant with all the U S attorneys last week wished them happy hunting shortly but not too long before all they were all asked to resign, and that after that, President Trump apparently tried to call pre Barra.
Um Mr Berrara didn't take the phone call because of he talked to Main Justice and was told that it would violate ethical guidelines as he suspected for him to talk directly to the President, and he didn't take the call. And the White House is now saying that President Trump was simply calling to offer his congratulations on on good
work done and wish him well. What what is it that we should take from all With this sort of very quick timeline and then the President trying to call pre Barra before this all happens, I'm not sure we should take much from any of that at all in terms of drawing conclusions. It would all be speculation. But to add on too, something we just talked about on the show, which is especially true in the Southern District of New York, where the career prosecutors follow the facts
wherever they lead. That is the strong tradition and history of that office. So I wouldn't expect sort of going forward, anything to change with respect to how they conduct themselves in their ongoing investigations or in you know, their ongoing cases where they're in court on trial or disappearing in court. That will continue. The acting U S Attorney is June Kim, he was pre deputy. He's been in the office a
very long time. I expect him to continue exactly the same path as pre so I think for the foreseeable future, you're not going to see any change. And in addition, that office has a very strong tradition of presidents appointing someone to serve as U S Attorney who has served previously in the in that office, either as a line assistant or as a supervisor. So you know, going forward, it's are important to look at who if that tradition continues.
I would expect the southern districts of New York to continue. And it's very long tradition of following the facts without fear or favor wherever those facts will lead. Bob Elizabeth war and Senator Elizabeth Warren and Patrick Leahy both indicated that because of the way this firing was done and came out of nowhere, though no one questions that the president has the authority to do and other presents have
done it because it came the way it did. That they're going to be a lot tougher on the U S Attorneys and questioning them when they come up for confirmation. Is that likely to cause problems? No, I don't think
so at all. I think that's exactly their role. UM. The U S Attorney appoint these are are nominated um by the President, but they have to be confirmed by the Senate, and I think the sentators are intentled to ask whatever questions that he or she feels are appropriate to ensure that there is the degree of independence that has traditionally been the earmark of all the U S.
Attorney's offices around the country. UM. The practice that of removing U S Attorneys has typically been done over time, but in other instances, for example, in when President Clinton came in, johanet Reno did ask for the immediate resignations of all the sitting US Attorneys and that instant as well. So it's happened both ways, and I think the important thing is that the independence of the U S. Attorney
in the Department of Justice be maintained. And I'm sure that the appointments will be quality appointments, and of the Senate will um use their discretion and exercise their authority in questioning the appointments. We'll have to leave it at that. Thank you both for being on Bloomberg Law. That's repert Men's a partner McCarter in English, and carry co on
apartner Morrison Forrester. Coming up on Bloomberg, the Trump administration is trying to stop the groundbreaking lawsuit brought by twenty one children against the federal govern from an overclimate change. This is Bloomberg