Former President Trump’s Justice Department pushed for a criminal investigation of former Secretary of State John Kerry
The push for an investigation of Kerry was one of several instances in which Trump’s Justice Department pressured the U.S. attorney’s office
to take action against the then-president’s critics, according to Geoffrey Berman, the former U.S.
attorney for the Southern District of New York. Berman was fired by Trump in June 2020
In May 2018, the Justice Department told Berman’s office it would be investigating Kerry’s Iran-related conduct,
Berman details in his new book “Holding the Line,” out Tuesday, according to the Times
The request came days after Trump publicly attacked Kerry on Twitter over the Iran nuclear deal,
which he helped negotiate as head of the State Department in the Obama administration, Berman said.
“The conduct that had annoyed the president was now a priority of the Department of Justice,” Berman wrote, according to the Times
The case was similarly shuffled around to another U.S. attorney’s office after Berman declined to prosecute.