Attorney General Bill Barr responds to SDNY U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman who announced his refusal to leave his position last night:

…”Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he has done so.”…

Shorthand: You’re fired.

As we noted last night all the right resistance members have gone bananas. However, despite all the pearl-clutching, there’s no doubt in my mind Barr has this well in hand.

UPDATE 6:30pm ET: Geoffrey Berman Responds:

Common sense would tell us the attorney general knows House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler is attempting to have him impeached.  AG Bill Barr would not make any controversial personnel move -that provides Nadler ammunition- without having every angle of the removal covered.

First Review The Backstory –  Next step, remember there is a ton of background material around these moves that connects to a much larger DOJ review.  CTH has written some of the aspects on a TWITTER THREAD HERE, I’m not going to go too deep again.

Out of an abundance of caution; and knowing there are resistance members who review CTH analysis; CTH is not going to get too specific about the most likely strategy AG Bill Barr is using here.  However, that said,… and with some cautious optimism to enhance my professional skepticism,… there is a clear play at the front of these moves.

How was AG Bill Barr ever going to bring the background DOJ material to the forefront?

How does the AG present material to the public when he knows the resistance agenda is going to be to frame him as being politically motivated?

AG Barr knows the motive of Nadler is to diffuse the damning material from the DOJ investigation by shouting that Bill Barr is doing the bidding of President Trump.

Traditional approaches will not work in this highly partisan era.  Even the most stunning evidence of prior DOJ/FBI politicization and misconduct will be obfuscated by media around the Nadler narrative.   Taking the initiative to hold a press conference, to release investigative findings, will not work.

AG Barr needs a mechanism to bring the material to the public square.

AG Barr needs the initiative to originate within the opposition.

There’s no better mechanism than by using the Br’er Rabbit approach…. “don’t throw me into the briar patch” etc.

The AG can, likely has, achieved this mechanism by baiting Democrats and media into framing him as being political.  Reacting to the demands, Barr then releases his investigative findings as an outcome of accusations against him; while simultaneously saying it wasn’t his idea to bring this stuff to the surface, but he is being forced to by the false narrative(s) framed to impugn his motive.

This approach captures the attention of the public and positions political and media opposition in a way they can’t accuse Barr of improper motive because it is their claims and accusations that have driven the need for sunlight.  The opposition are the initiators.

The Democrats and Media will have thrown Br’er Barr into the briar patch, and now Barr is forced to explain all of the background material so that everyone can understand.

In combination with a series of DOJ and FBI personnel moves that are timed to conclude on Friday, July 3rd,… Barr has a previously scheduled interview with Maria Bartiromo tomorrow, Sunday June 21.

The Friday night removal of SDNY Geoffrey Berman, appears timed to ignite exactly what has taken place in the last 24 hours… and the pre-scheduled interview looks purposeful.

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