Scoop: Former Manhattan prosecutor blasts Trump and Barr in new book
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Geoffrey Berman. Photo: Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images
Geoffrey Berman, who was fired by President Trump as the top Manhattan federal prosecutor, will be out Sept. 13 with a memoir, "Holding the Line," that charges Trump with trying to undermine the office's integrity.
Why it matters: Trump tapped Berman for U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York — an office that has historically moved independently of the White House — after firing Preet Bharara.
"Almost immediately, Berman found himself pushing back against the Trump Justice Department's blatant efforts to bring weak cases against political foes and squash worthy cases that threatened to tarnish allies and Trump himself," says Penguin Press, the publisher.
- "When Bill Barr became Attorney General, Berman hoped and believed things would get better, but instead they got much worse. The heart of 'Holding the Line' is his never-before-told account of the lengths ... Berman had to go in preserving" the office's independence.
The book also covers the Southern District's casework under Berman, "including taking down notorious sex traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Nygard, Big Pharma executives, and vicious criminal syndicates, and repatriating Nazi-looted art."
- Berman, now with the law firm Fried Frank, was represented by Michael O'Connor and Robert Barnett of Williams & Connolly.
