Podcast
The Rachel Maddow Show
The book was cited across three episodes to illustrate the internal battle between the Southern District of New York and the Trump Justice Department, with the author himself providing detailed accounts of political interference. Hosts highlighted how it documented attempts by senior officials to halt investigations into campaign finance and hush‑money matters, underscoring the vulnerability of the justice system. The discussion conveyed strong endorsement of the book as a frontline view of DOJ corruption.
Episode: The real DOJ corruption scandal at the heart of Tr...
In his book, Berman, who was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, described Trump's attempts to influence the investigation into Michael Cohen and other campaign finance violations.
while Michael Cohen had pleaded guilty, our office continued to pursue investigations related to other possible campaign finance violations.
When Bill Barr took over as Trump's U.S. Attorney General in February 2019, six months after Cohen's guilty plea, Barr not only tried to kill the ongoing investigations, but incredibly he suggested that Michael Cohen's conviction on campaign finance charges should be reversed.
Attorney General Barr summoned my deputy, Rob Kuzami, who was overseeing the Cohen case, in late February to challenge the basis of Cohen's guilty plea, as well as the reasoning behind pursuing similar campaign finance charges against other individuals.
Mr. Kuzami was told to cease all investigative work on the campaign finance allegations until Maine Justice determined there was a legal basis for the campaign finance charges to which Cohen pled guilty, and until Barr himself determined there was a sufficient federal interest in pursuing charges against others.
The directive Attorney General Barr gave Kuzami, which was amplified that same day by a follow-up call from Barr's deputy, was explicit. Not a single investigative step could be taken, not a single document in our possession could be reviewed.
Episode: NYDA probing Trump payment to Stormy Daniels despi...
It was discussed in the context of Trump's appointees interfering with the SDNY investigation into the hush money case, specifically mentioning how Trump's DOJ attempted to remove allegations about Trump's role from court documents.
the first time Maine justice--even though I was not overseeing the Cohen case, I still had to deal with other issues involving it, all of them deriving from the same source, Maine justice and its attempts at interference.
consistent with DOJ guidelines, we first submitted the information to the public integrity section at Maine justice. They signed off.
He asked why the length he wanted to know. He argued that now that Cohen is pleading guilty, we don't need all this description of the crime.
it quickly became apparent that it wasn't the overall length or detail of the document that concerned him. It was any mention of individual one.
I've tried not to make assumptions about the motivations of Barr or anyone else. I am a lawyer trained to deal in fact. But Barr's posture here raises obvious questions.
Episode: Former U.S. attorney details Trump, Barr efforts t...
It details how the Department of Justice under Donald Trump tried to force the U.S. Attorney's Office in SDNY to pursue politically motivated investigations that would benefit the president, which Berman refused to do.
It demonstrates what Trump is capable of and what he's likely to do. And it also provides a frontline view of just how vulnerable our justice system is.
I wanted people to understand the full scope of the outrageous and improper political interference by Trump's Justice Department in the cases of the Southern District of New York.
our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption. I intend to ensure that this office's important cases continue unimpeded.
Trump turned the department into his own personal law firm.
I never speculated about the specific reasons Bill Barr wanted me out. As an attorney, I avoid allegations that do not yet have the facts to support, that I do not yet have the facts to support.