Val Demings Grills Barr on Ouster of U.S. Attorney: ‘Alarming Pattern’ Against People Investigating Trump Associates

Congresswoman Val Demings (D- FL) grilled Attorney General Bill Barr over the ousting of U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman Tuesday.

To recap: Barr had announced in a surprise Friday night statement last month that Berman — the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York — would be stepping down. That was soon followed by a stunning statement from Berman that said, “I learned in a press release from the Attorney General tonight that I was ‘stepping down.'”

Berman ultimately decided to step down the next day. More recently Berman told the House Judiciary Committee, “The attorney general said that if I did not resign from my position I would be fired. He added that getting fired from my job would not be good for my resume or future job prospects. I told him that while I did not want to get fired, I would not resign.”

Today, Demings brought up the chain of events that led to Berman agreeing to step down.

“As a former police detective, I have solved many cases based on patterns of behavior, and there is an alarming pattern I believe tha’is developing. It appears, Mr. Barr, every time a U.S. Attorney investigates the ident or those close to him, he or she is removed or replaced by one of your friends. You have removed U.S. attorneys in the eastern district of New York, the District of Columbia, the eastern district of Texas. On June 19th, you announced Mr. Berman would be stepping down. And let me just be clear. When you told America that Mr. Berman was stepping down, did Mr. Berman tell you he was stepping down?”

“No,” Barr said. “But ‘stepping down’ is the language that I’m told…”

“Okay, he did not tell you that,” Demings said.

“No, but it’s the language we usually use to leave flexibility as to whether the person is doing it on their own,” Barr responded.

Demings brought up comments from Rudy Giuliani at the time to the New York Daily News:

Giuliani, who held Berman’s job in the late 1980s, said he had not heard from Trump why he fired the fed.

But he suggested the reason may lie in the fact that Berman’s office got involved in what he described as baseless investigations.

“If tt wasn’t true, if you didn’t remove Mr. Berman because he was overseeing investigations of the president and those close to him, why would the president’s personal attorney think that?” Demings asked.

Barr responded, “If he said that, that’s nonsense.”

Demings directly asked him at one point, “Have you in any way attempted to influence or interfere with any investigation in the southern district, including the investigations I just mentioned?

“I have not interfered in any investigation. I have raised questions on occasion about certain matters. But as far as I am aware, the office was satisfied with the resolution,” Barr said.

You can watch above, via Fox News.