The Wrong Justice Department Official Lost His Job This Weekend

The title above is that of a today’s New York Times op-ed by former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, who himself was fired by Trump for  repeatedly demonstrated integrity. Bharara commented on the ham-handed firing of the current holder of that office, Geoffrey Berman, a Republican and donor to the Trump campaign, who chose to be faithful to his oath of office and the rule of law, a concept so foreign to Trump that he has almost insuperable difficulty imagining that others would give it any thought. The firing was conducted by Barr and Trump in a way that would be surprising if it had occurred in any other administration: Each asserted that the act was instigated by the other.  

Bharara’s op-ed is masterful in its clarity and its temperate tone and language. Mindful of the principle that writers should avoid excess words, he didn’t name the Justice Department official who should have lost his job,