THREAD: the Geoffrey Berman firing is not complicated, and @RepAdamSchiff referred to the reason directly in an interview yesterday.

@SDNYNews have a criminal case against @RealDonaldTrump personally for campaign fraud. They plan on prosecuting him as soon as he leaves office. https://twitter.com/eliehonig/status/1276290267549663233

2/n They named him as "Individual-1," as an unindicted co-conspirator. Not unindicted because he is innocent, un-prosecutable because he is President. They may already have indicted him under seal on this, I don't know.

3/n a popular mythos has arisen from the Mueller confusion that you cannot indict the President. Exactly the opposite is the case; Bill Barr confirmed the President can be indicted, not prosecuted. *Bob Mueller* could not indict the President because of Special Counsel regs.

4/n were Mueller an ordinary prosecutor he could and would have indicted Trump, but the (terribly written) Special Counsel regulations forced him to get Barr's permission.

5/n Back to SDNY. Berman was under no such stricture. He can indict @realDonaldTrump under seal and prosecute when he leaves office. Others in the fraud include two people recently called back to the White House, Hope Hicks and - as we saw tonight - Client No. 3, @SeanHannity

6/n I do not know for certain why @SDNYnews didn't prosecute Hicks et al for their part in this, but my unsourced surmise is that they would find it hard to win the case while the evidence on Trump is classified qua President.

7/n I would therefore expect cc @glennkirschner2 that Hicks and others will be openly indicted when Trump is, and I fully expect they are already indicted under seal

8/n Bill Barr wants to make the @SDNYnews cases go away; those on Trump's eldest kids, and that on Trump, himself, Mr. "Individual One". That passage in Cohen's indictment was as good as an announcement they will charge Trump

9/n Bill Barr is here to obstruct justice at all costs. @gtconway3d was right to be proud of Ayres testimony against Barr, but Ayres was too kind to Barr. He is NOT doing this because of an ideological conception that the President can do no wrong. He freely accuses Obama /Biden

10/n Bill Barr is trying to get rid of @SDNYnews cases against @realDonaldTrump, @DonaldJTrumpJr, @IvankaTrump, @EricTrump and @JaredKushner. These all exist and are all at @SDNYnews. Barr is doing it because he is a criminal who used to work for @AlfaBank.

11/n We all make Bill Barr out as more complex than he is. A religious fanatic - no - he is self-indulgent and hedonistic. A lunatic wedded to an Imperial Presidency - NOPE - doesn't apply to Democratic Presidents. A common criminal trying to obstruct justice? YEP.

12/n @RepJerryNadler do not impeach Bill Barr, make a criminal referral on him for obstruction of justice to @FBI. I have no doubt Barr is already under investigation, but make it public. Barr deserves jail, and for the rest of his life. Ends.