U.S. ATTORNEY BALKS AT FIRING ATTEMPT

WASHINGTON» The Justice Department moved abruptly Friday to oust Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan overseeing key prosecutions of President Donald Trump’s allies and an investigation of his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. But Berman said he was refusing to leave his post and his ongoing investigations would continue.

“I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning, my position,” Berman said. His statement came hours Attorney General Bill Barr said Berman was stepping down from his position.

The standoff set off an extraordinary clash between the Justice Department and one of the nation’s top districts, which has tried major mob and terror cases over the years. It is also likely to deepen tensions between the Justice Department and congressional Democrats who have pointedly accused Barr of politicizing the agency and acting more like Trump’s personal lawyer than the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.

Barr offered no explanation for the move in the statement he issued late Friday. The White House quickly announced that Trump was nominating the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission to the job, a lawyer with virtually no experience as a federal prosecutor.

Hours later, Berman issued his own statement saying he had learned that he was being pushed out through media report.

Bond denied for officer who killed Rayshard Brooks.

ATLANTA »A judge on Friday denied bond for the former Atlanta police officer who has been charged with felony murder and other crimes after fatally shooting Rayshard Brooks in the back after Brooks fired a stun gun in his direction.

Judge Jeffrey Frazier found probable cause exists to detain Garrett Rolfe for the slaying of Brooks outside a Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta, court records show. Rolfe is white. Brooks was Black.

Navy upholds firing of captain.

WASHINGTON » The two senior commanders on a coronavirus stricken aircraft carrier didn’t “do enough, soon enough,” to stem the outbreak, the top U.S. Navy officer said Friday, a stunning reversal that upheld the firing of the ship’s captain who had pleaded for faster action to protect the crew.

Capt. Brett E. Crozier and Rear Adm. Stuart Baker, commander of the carrier strike group, made serious errors in judgment as they tried to work through an outbreak that sidelined the USS Theodore Roosevelt in Guam for 10 weeks, said Adm. Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations.

The Crozier decision was a surprise since Gilday recommended the captain be restored to his command less than two months ago after an initial inquiry.

U.S. troops in Afghanistan reduced to 8,600, general says.

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN » The United States has reduced the number of troops it has in Afghanistan to 8,600 in accordance with a preliminary peace deal with the Taliban, a top American general said on Thursday, even as other aspects of the plan to end the war have faced setbacks and delays.

At the peak of the nearly two-decade war, there were more than 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.