June 21, 2020
From Senator Kirsten Gillibrand:
Addressing reports that President Trump will nominate SEC Chairman Jay Clayton for U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand issued the following statement: “I will not be complicit in helping President Trump and Attorney General Barr fire a U.S. attorney who is reportedly investigating corruption in this administration. Jay Clayton should withdraw his name from consideration immediately and remove himself from this sham. President Trump cannot be allowed to desecrate our nominations process further.”
Background: On Friday, downstate media outlets reported that U.S. Attorney General Barr announced that U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman was going to step down. This was followed by Berman making announcements in the press, that he had no intention of resigning. Afterwards, there were conflicting news stories that Barr stated that President Donald Trump had fired Geoffrey Berman, and Trump denied that he was involved.
