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justice department. his message was unambiguous. it was time for me, jeffrey berman, the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york and lifelong republican, it was time for me to take one for the home team. he came into my office and closed the door, quote, you re not going to believe the conversation i just had with o callaghan, before sharing the details. the top leadership at doj wanted me to bring criminal charges against a private attorney who had once been president barack obama s white house counsel and they wanted me to bring those charges before election day. i said, you have got to be f ing kidding me. i wish, he said, but no. doj s rationale for this demand had nothing to do with evidence or law. o callaghan kept reminding him that our office had just prosecuted two high profile trump loyalists, republican congressman chris collins and crump s private attorney, michael cohen. he related that o callaghan told him bluntly, quote, it s time for you guys ....
that s how it starts. that s the very beginning. this was written by jeffrey berman who ran sdny in southern district of new york for half of trump s time in office. he was fired from that job at sdny and fired loudly in a way that made a difference. we ll have more on that in a second. that s important. but now since he is the former u.s. attorney, he has written this book. to put it in the public record how trump and his administration tried to force federal prosecutors to go after trump s political enemies to go after democrats, to help trump s allies. regardless of the law. regardless of the crimes committed or lack thereof. geoff berman was told to bring the prosecution before the midterm elections. told to do so because some republicans had been prosecuted and so now it was time to prosecute a democrat. he was told to even things out. berman refused to do it. he didn t bring that prosecution. so, yea rule of law for a second. what happened after geoff berman re ....
good to be back. it s great to you have here. do you remember the name brandan van grek? as i have memorable name. if not, the circumstance of which you first heard it? but if you are like me and the first time you heard the name brandon van grabbing is the first time you heard the word he is spee naj formerly associated with the presidency of donald trump. espionage as in the espionage act, not just spy movie stuff, as in u.s. law. we were only about four months in to the trump administration when the new york times was first to report that the then brand new trump administration had made a very unusual hiring decision that ultimately implicated the work of a veteran espionage prosecutor at the u.s. department of justice. it was very early on. may 2017. you think about that for a second, trump was inaugurated at the end of january. this was less than four months later in may of that year, less than four months into his presidency, we learned of the new york t ....
all a very, very good night. from all of our colleagues across the networks of nbc news, thanks for staying up late. i will see you at the end of tomorrow. let s do at home joining us this hour. it s great to have you here. do you remember the name brandon van grack? it s a very memorable name, so you might remember the sound of it. if not, the circumstance in which you first heard it. but if you are like me, in all likelihood, the first time you heard the name brandon van grack, it was the first time you heard the word, espionage, formerly associated with the presidency of donald trump. espionage as in the espionage act, as it not just spy movie stuff but as in u.s. law. but we are only about four months in to the u.s. trump administration in the new york times first reported that the then brand new trump administration had made a very unusual hiring decision that ultimately implicated the work of a veteran espionage prosecutor at the u.s. department of jus ....