Garland need not sweat the bar set by Barr
A book by former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman of the Southern District of New York describes troubling Justice Department actions. Credit: AFP via Getty Images/Johannes Eisele
Attorney General Merrick Garland has an elementary public-relations approach to investigating the actions of private citizen Donald Trump and associates: Be professionally restrained, promise little, leak nothing, let court filings speak, and ignore the suspense and speculation.
The standard narrative surrounding President Joe Biden’s Justice Department plays up how sensitive it is to probe the doings of an ex-president — whether regarding improper possession of classified documents or unheard-of attempts to retroactively rig the last election.
The flip side is that Garland & Co. would have to try very hard not to come out of this looking better than their departmental predecessors.
Eyewitness accounts keep surfacing, even at this late date, about Trump’s ham-handed efforts in office to use the U.S. Justice Department to help friends, target foes, and fend off troubles of his own.
This week, a loyally Republican lawyer, ex-U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman, describes those dubious priorities in his widely-publicized book titled “Holding the Line.”
Once again, the national legal drama described by Berman is centered in lower Manhattan, headquarters of the once-revered Southern District of New York where Trump named him to replace U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whom the president fired.
Berman says his office was prodded by higher-ups to go after John Kerry, the former secretary of state. Trump canceled the nuclear deal Kerry helped negotiate with Iran. Around that time, according to Berman, Trump made his legal fatwa against Kerry clear via nasty insinuations on Twitter. Berman says he reviewed the matter, and found no case. After a year, the Kerry inquiry was sent instead to a Maryland prosecutor who reached the same conclusion, Berman says.
Compare that to a case for which Trump had lawyers Rudy Giuliani and former AG Michael Mukasey intervene with Turkey president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressing interest. The mission, as widely reported at the time, was to somehow resolve a case Erdogan wanted dropped against Turkish gold trader and accused money-launderer Reza Zarrab.
Despite the meddling, Zarrab ended up pleading guilty — ironically — to charges involving the funneling of billions of dollars to Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.
When Lawrence-raised former Trump attorney Michael Cohen faced trouble over hush money to former Trump “friend” Stormy Daniels, Justice Department officials tried to remove allusions to Trump in the charging papers, Berman says. Later, Attorney General William Barr looked to have Cohen's conviction reversed.
Cohen, who served time on federal charges, reacted with outrage, saying his old boss had "weaponized" the department with Berman in tow. Now, the Senate Judiciary Committee under chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is investigating, and Cohen warns Berman on Twitter: "I predict you will get yours as @SenatorDurbin pursues your unethical and illegal actions."
Other backlash has followed against Berman's after-the-fact whistle-blowing.
"Mr. Berman should've immediately disclosed what he knew to the public, and certainly should have provided all of these details during his 2020 congressional testimony," said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause/NY. "It is not acceptable for public officials to hoard valuable information — about possible illegality — in order to cash in on it, when their first obligation must be to the people they're sworn to serve."
Berman has said he faced rules against discussing pending cases in testimony and the book had to be officially vetted. Anyway, he has now rolled on Barr, who essentially rolled on Trump in the Jan. 6 House probe. And the Trump-Barr legacy of a low bar at Justice grows.
Columnist Dan Janison's opinions are his own.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
