This dispute happens as the attorney general continues to face these accusations that hes politicizing d. O. J. Thats right, victor. Good morning. This turn of events last night began with a statement from bill bar, the attorney general, saying that jeffrey burmen, the u. S. Attorney for the Southern District of new york had agreed to step down and that he was being replaced. About two hours later, Geoffrey Berman issued an extraordinary statement saying that he did not resign and he does not intend to resign. Here is what he said. He said, i will step down when a president iallyappointed nominee is confirmed by the senate. Until then, our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption. I cherish everyday that i work with the men and women of this office to pursue Justice Without fear or favor and intend to ensure that this offices important cases continue unimpeded. Now, theyre at a standoff right now, but this does come as there are questions about bill barr and whether some of the actions hes taking is to undercut cases or undercut the Justice Department by bringing politics into their cases. There was talk that barr was going to replace bermen last fall, but then bermans office indicted two giuliani associates. That would have made it seem too politic political. Barr himself, characterizations of the Mueller Report and earlier this year, him stepping into the sentencing of roger stone. At the time, back in march, Jeffrey Berman in new york was asked if bill barr had interfered in the giuliani investigation. Here is what he said. The Southern District of new york has a long history of integrity and pursuing cases and declining to pursue cases based only on the facts and the law and the equities without regard to partisan, political concerns. My primary commitment is and has been to maintain those core values. And thats how our office is opera operating. Thats how jeff berman is behaving right now, saying he will not resign until there is a senateconfirmed position. Christi, victor . Response from the democrats, what are you hearing . Last night, jerry nadler said he would welcome Jeffrey Berman to testify next week. Chuck schumer, the Senate Minority leader, is issued a statement where he said the late friday night dismissal reeks of potential corruption in the legal process. What is angering President Trump . A previous action by this u. S. Attorney or one that is on going . So raising questions again about the motivations behind this attempt or first step toward a firing . Christi, victor . Thank you so much. Thank you. A former homicide prosecutor in new york and cnn legal analyst with us now. Paul, so good to see you again. We know that sndy is regarded as one of the most independent prosecutorial offices in the u. S. With that said, what power does berman have to fight for his position . Berman is in a remarkably strong position because he essentially was appointed by the District Court judges of the Federal District that he sits in. That happened because trump never submitted his name for approval to the senate. So the judge has stepped in and said there are on going investigations and they renewed his appointment. Now, he cannot be replaced until the Senate Approved trumps choice for the job, which is the head of the s. E. C. , jay clayton. But in order to get him approved, youve got to have senate hearings. And thats going to open up testimony from berman about embarrassing trump investigations that are on going, the Michael Cohen cooperation, issues that came up in the john bolton book about a turkish bank under investigation, all kinds of embarrassing things could come up during these hearings. Yeah. Thats really the question of why and why now. The bolton book not in everyones hand, but some people are getting copies of it. And that line about the president potentially interfering according to an accusation from bolton in an erdogan investigation related to a bank. Yes. I think thats of particular embarrassment. Of course, a lot of the things going on in the bolton book have to do with trump doing things to help his Political Campaign and not the United States. One of those things supposedly was a promise to the turkish president that when he got all the obama people out of the Justice Department he would be able to quash an investigation into a turkish bank regarding iranian sanctions. Now, all of the details about this may come out during Senate Approval hearings of his new appointee, jay clayton. And this creates a problem for trump and gives, i think, berman a lot of leverage to remain in position as u. S. Attorney for the Southern District. Paul, i understand that you noticed a correlation between what we see happening now and something that happened during the Nixon Administration. What is it that you noticed . Well, this is interesting because, you know, this has never happened before. You have to go back really to the Nixon Administration when robert morganthaw later became the District Attorney of manhattan. He had been appointed by democrats and nixon was trying to force him out. He refused to resign. Much as berman is doing. Now, eventually he did resign, but thats the last. You have to go that far back to the Nixon Administration to see a u. S. Attorney refusing the order of an attorney general and a president to resign. So we take a look back at precedent here, lets take a look ahead now. The significance of jay clayton, someone who i learned this morning does not have prosecutorial experience now potentially leading up sdny. Yeah. Very unusual. Hes a corporate lawyer, comes from a big wall street law firm, sullivan and cromwell. Hes the guy in charge of the s. E. C. He has no criminal prosecutorial experience. Especially for this u. S. Attorney position in the Southern District which prosecutes organized crime, terrorists, white collar criminals, sophisticated white collar schemes because its in charge of wall street. So, normally you want to see an experienced criminal prosecutor in that job. Clayton has no criminal prosecutorial experience. And that could be a problem at his confirmation hearings which well see. How is berman regarded, paul . Well, you know, berman was a guy who came in with a lot of skepticism. He came out of the same law firm that giuliani was out of, greenberg and trout. And there was a thought that he was too close to trump. People were suspicious of him. But hes turned out to be a sterling u. S. Attorney. And a lot of the u. S. Attorneys in manhattan who were skeptical i think have felt him to be an honest and dedicated prosecutor willing to go after whatever administration happens to be in office. Now, remember, hes the guy who prosecuted Michael Cohen. He also prosecuted Michael Avenatti who at the sometime was a popular guy in democratic circles. So hes been sort of a nonpartisan prosecutor of both sides of the aisle. I think he earned the respect of lawyers throughout new york. Whats the potential impact on the doj beyond just this office . Well, i think that this causes a lot of embarrassment for the department of justice because in the area of political investigations, the doj has always tried to create sort of an independent unit within all of the offices the guys who prosecute and the women who prosecute politicians tend to be career prosecutors and they try to wall them off really from political aspects of the department of justice. And now, the department of justice is starting to just look like a political arm of the trump administration. And i think thats very disturbing to the country and to a lot of laurs who are seeing the reputation of the department of justice being smeared by the way its being run. Paul callan, appreciate your knowledge and sharing this morning. Take good care. Thank you. Thank you. Getting back on the campaign trail is the president s focus today. We know that supporters are already waiting. Take a look at these live pictures from tulsa. They have been in line, some of them, overnight. Tonights event is moving forward despite this rising coronavirus case count in oklahoma and in neighboring states such as texas. And of course theres the advice of Health Experts from tulsa to his own administration saying, please, do not do this without masks, without social distancing. Lets start with cnns sara westwood. She is following this from the white house. Sara, whats the expectation of what were going to see here tonight . I understand that the Campaign Supporters call this a celebration. Thats right, victor and christi. The president billing this tonight as a really big night. And it is. The campaign is looking at this as something of a reboot for his reelection effort, which is more of less stalled over the past three months. The president has not held a rally since before the country shut down for coronavirus and Campaign Aides and advisers recognize that the Political Landscape has really shifted in that time and really moving away from President Trump, they recognize. For example, that his path to reelection could be narrowing because of the economic downturn and the racial tensions that weve seen in this country and whats been perceived according to the polls its reflected that the president s efforts have not been received well by a number of americans. So that is a problem that the Campaign Hopes to address by getting the president back out there on the road. He can push his message that the country is reopening for business and that is something that the campaign is retooling his message around now what was his strongest case for reelection, the booming economy has all be disappeared because of the coronavirus. There are still risks to the president holding this rally, though, as Public Health officials have been saying for weeks leading up to this event, the president himself acknowledged that in an interview with the wall street journal earlier this week. I want to read you a key part of the interview. The wall street journal asked President Trump what happens if your supporters get sick at one of these rallies . Trump responded, well, people have to know, yes, you do. Its tiny. You know its a very small percentage. There the president acknowledging the near certainty that some people in this setting could contract coronavirus. The campaign is taking a number of measures to try to mitigate this. Theyre going to have Hand Sanitizer stations. Conducting Temperature Check and hand out masks, but its not mandatory that people wear them. In fact, the tone for that could be being set at the top. I want you to take a listen to White House Press secretary yesterday saying that she would not personally be wearing her mask at the rally. Its a personal choice. I wont be wearing a mask. I cant speak for my colleagues. Why wont you wear a mask . Is it sort of a personal, political statement . Is it because the president would be disappointed in you if you dont wear a mask . Its a personal decision. Im tested regularly. I feel its safe for me not to be wearing a mask, im in compliance with cdc guidelines which are recommended but not required. Local Officials Say as many as 100,000 people could be convenes near the bank of Oklahoma Center tonight, 20,000 inside the arena alone. The president will depart for tulsa later this afternoon from the white house, victor and christi. Sarah westwood, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Lets go to Martin Savidge now. He is in tulsa. Martin, good morning to you. Tulsa county has the most confirmed covid19 cases in oklahoma. The worry is that this could be a super spreader event. What are the people behind you, are they planning to do at this rally . Will they wear the mask . Will they try to create some distance . Good morning, victor. Good morning, christi. Pictures probably can tell you the answer to that maybe more than my words. This is the crowd right at the front of the line. By the way. Of people waiting to get in through the security gates and eventually they hope to get in to the rally itself. Some of these people have been in line for a week now. Thats right. Since last saturday. You may notice not a whole lot of masks being worn by anybody. And you may also notice that theres really not a whole lot of social distancing thats taking place. So, this line gives you an indication maybe of what to anticipate for this evening. They arent concerned. I talked to many people here. Their Health Concerns are not about covid. They realize the potential is there, but theyre not worried. Here are some of those we spoke with. I dont mind going into the arena with the pandemic and the spikes because thats the beautiful thing about our country. I know that i am fully taking on the risk of possibly encountering, you know, or being exposed to it, but as an american, thats my right. It doesnt worry me that much because i have my health. So, i was never really worried about it in the first place. If i think everyone keeping Hand Sanitizer around them a little bit and do this a little bit right here, you know, i think it will be all right. Wear the masks. Wear the masks. Sarah westwood mentioned the numbers. 20,000 will be able to get into the center. Still, 20,000 people packed in there for hours at a time, Health Officials know that there will be people who will have coronavirus. Thats just by the sheer numbers. You do the math. And so, undoubtedly it is going to spread inside of that facility and then once people leave and go back to their respective homes and communities and many have come from all over, theyll be taking that kind of medical souvenir with them. That is, of course, the real concern for Health Officials here. Maybe not for those attending, but the worry is that this event by itself could spread coronavirus far and wide. Well see in the next couple of weeks as potentially those numbers continue to increase. Martin savidge, live there in tulsa. Thank you. Still ahead, well get reaction from two oklahoma leaders from opposite sides of the aisle on tonights rally. Their thoughts on the Health Concerns and what they hope to hear from the president. And a growing number of local officials all over the country are requiring residents to wear face masks. As you just saw, obviously there are some that are reluctant. Theres a florida mayor who says he is about to sign an order mandating them. Unscreen . Yes. Neutrogena® ultra sheer. Superior protection helps prevent early skin aging and skin cancer with a clean feel. Its the one. The best for your skin. Ultra sheer. Neutrogena®. And still going for my best. Even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib. Not caused by a heart valve problem. So if theres a better treatment than warfarin, i want that too. Eliquis. Eliquis is proven to reduce stroke risk better than warfarin. Plus has significantly less major bleeding than warfarin. Eliquis is fdaapproved and has both. Whats next . Reeling in a nice one. 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