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Jay Clayton, Would-Be Prosecutor, Says He’s Focused on His Current Job - The New York Times

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Jay Clayton is not withdrawing his nomination as the next federal prosecutor in Manhattan, but he doesn’t plan to give up his day job as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission anytime soon.

“I recognize that the nomination process is multifaceted and uncertain, and it is clear the process does not require my current attention,” Mr. Clayton said on Thursday during previously scheduled testimony on Capitol Hill. “In short, I am fully committed to and focused on my role at the S.E.C.”

Mr. Clayton’s nomination last Friday to be the next United States attorney for the Southern District of New York set off a controversy as soon as it was announced by Attorney General William P. Barr.

Mr. Barr’s announcement said Geoffrey S. Berman had stepped down from the position. Mr. Berman issued his own statement saying he had not resigned, but agreed to leave the next day after Mr. Barr notified him in a letter that President Trump had fired him.

On Thursday, Mr. Clayton was speaking at a hearing held by a subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services on the economic impact of the coronavirus. The questions veered from that topic, and he said he had “deep personal respect” for the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan but did not intend to discuss the matter further.

Members of the committee, however, pressed Mr. Clayton about the unusual circumstances of his nomination, which some Democrats have suggested was part of an attempt by the Trump administration to interfere in the work of an office that has investigated several of the president’s associates.

Mr. Clayton said the possibility of succeeding Mr. Berman first came up in discussions with Mr. Trump and Mr. Barr the weekend of June 12, although he said he’d been interested in returning to New York for some time.

Mr. Clayton’s nomination to take over one of the premier law enforcement jobs in the country is a long-shot bid. New York’s two senators — including the minority leader, Chuck Schumer — strongly oppose his nomination and asked him to withdraw last weekend.

Senator Lindsey Graham, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has indicated that he would honor the tradition of requiring that a nominee have the approval of the senators from the state with the vacancy. Without so-called home state support, it is hard to see how Mr. Clayton will even get a Senate hearing, especially with less than five months until the presidential election in November.

Representative Brad Sherman, Democrat of California, opened the subcommittee hearing on Thursday by saying that Mr. Clayton should heed Mr. Schumer’s advice and withdraw. Mr. Sherman said that by remaining in the nomination process Mr. Clayton had “weakened his gravitas” at the commission.

Rep. Maxine Waters, the committee’s chairwoman, pressed him about remaining at the helm of the S.E.C. while being considered for the prosecutor job.

“I am deeply concerned while your nomination is pending that President Trump and Mr. Barr may interfere with your ability to run the S.E.C.,” said Mrs. Waters, Democrat of California.

Ms. Waters said she wanted to make sure that Mr. Clayton would not use his position at the commission to curry favor with Mr. Trump. Mr. Clayton said he would not, and added that he would seek counsel from the department’s ethics officer on any potential conflicts.

Even without the strange circumstances of the announcement, Mr. Clayton was an unlikely nominee because he has never worked as a prosecutor or litigator. Mr. Clayton, a respected corporate lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell before becoming the head of the S.E.C. in 2017, is known in legal circles for his negotiating skills in the boardroom — not the courtroom.

The White House has said the decision to nominate Mr. Clayton was intended to find another job for Mr. Clayton in order to accommodate his request to be closer to his family in New York.

Mr. Barr in his letter on Saturday had suggested that Mr. Berman and Mr. Clayton could have traded places and traded jobs.

Mr. Berman’s dismissal raised speculation by some in Congress and in the legal community that Mr. Trump and Mr. Barr were trying to punish him for overseeing investigations into a number of Mr. Trump’s associates. More than 130 former federal prosecutors from Manhattan signed a letter objecting to Mr. Berman’s firing.

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