US attorney who was investigating Trump's lawyer replaced in surprise move

In a surprise move, the US Justice Department said on Friday that it was replacing Geoffrey Berman (above), the US attorney in Manhattan whose office has been investigating Rudolph W Giuliani, the personal lawyer of US President Donald Trump.

US Attorney General William Barr said in a press release late on Friday evening that Trump intends to nominate Securities and Exchange Commission chairperson Jay Clayton (photo) to replace Berman as head of the Southern District of New York.

Since being appointed to the post in January 2018, Berman has not shied from taking on powerful figures in Trump's orbit.

He oversaw the prosecution of Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal lawyer, indicted two Giuliani associates, and launched a probe into Guiliani in connection with his efforts to dig up dirt in Ukraine on Trump's political adversaries.

While the Senate considers Clayton's nomination, Trump has appointed Craig Carpenito, currently the US attorney for the District of New Jersey, to serve as the acting US attorney for the Southern District, Barr said in his statement.

Berman, who served on Trump's transition team, could not immediately be reached for comment. Berman had replaced Preet Bharara, who was himself fired soon after Trump became president.

Bharara said the timing and manner of the move to replace Berman was strange.

"Why does a president get rid of his own hand-picked US attorney in SDNY on a Friday night, less than five months before the election?" Bharara wrote on Twitter.

Clayton, a former Wall Street lawyer seen as a bipartisan consensus-builder during his time leading the SEC, also could not immediately be reached for comment.

- Reuters

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