Barr replaces top Brooklyn prosecutor.

Attorney General William Barr, who removed the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan two weeks ago, has now extracted another New York prosecutor, Richard Donoghue, from his job as U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn.

Donoghue informed his staff by email Thursday that he had accepted an offer from Barr to become the principal deputy attorney general of the Justice Department, effective July 13, according to John Marzulli, a spokesman for the Brooklyn office.

Donoghue had been tapped by Barr in February to oversee all Justice Department investigations involving Ukraine after President Donald Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for his conduct in the Ukraine pressure campaign and acquitted in the Senate. That included overseeing an investigation of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, who was at the center of an effort to pressure the Ukrainian government to open up an investigation into Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian energy company.

Seth DuCharme, who is leaving the principal deputy’s job in Washington to return to Brooklyn, where he had been a prosecutor earlier in his career, is considered to be a likely candidate to take Donoghue’s job, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Donoghue’s promotion comes after Barr’s attempt to lure Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, to a senior level position in Washington, blew up into a public spat. Once Berman was out of the way, Barr planned to replace him with Jay Clayton, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

But Berman refused the overtures. On June 19, Barr announced Berman’s resignation, only to have Berman issue a statement later that evening saying he had not resigned, but planned on continuing his work. The issue was resolved over the weekend when Barr informed Berman that Trump was firing him. In keeping with Justice Department protocol, Berman’s first assistant, Audrey Strauss, was promoted to acting U.S. Attorney, until a permanent replacement is confirmed by the Senate.

It was learned Friday by The Associated Press that Berman will sit down with the House Judiciary Committee next week for a closed-door interview as the panel investigates politicization in the Justice Department.

Berman will appear in person for the transcribed interview July 9, according to a person familiar with the meeting who requested anonymity because it hasn’t yet been announced.