White House: Geoffrey Berman wasn’t fired over investigations into Trump associates

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Monday said former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman was not fired because of his role in overseeing investigations into associates of President Trump.

“No, he was not,” Ms. McEnany said. “This will not disrupt the cases being handled by the district, which will proceed as normal.”

The president is tapping Jay Clayton, the current Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, to replace Mr. Berman as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, which is one of most high-profile prosecutor positions in the country.

“Mr. Clayton wanted to go back to New York City, we wanted to keep him in government, and therefore he was given the position at SDNY,” Ms. McEnany said when asked why Mr. Berman was fired.

Mr. Berman on Saturday announced he was stepping down from his position after Mr. Trump fired him.

He had vowed to stay on the job late Friday after Attorney General William P. Barr announced his firing, which set up a temporary standoff between the two offices.

Democrats are demanding an investigation, speculating that the administration was trying to oust Mr. Berman in order to quash investigations that are tied to Mr. Trump or his associates.

“We are hopeful” that the U.S. Senate will confirm Mr. Clayton to the post, she said.

“No investigation will be affected by this, as was made clear by Attorney General Barr,” she said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham signaled that he would await sign-off from New York’s Democratic senators — Sen. Charles E. Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand — before proceeding with the confirmation process.

That doesn’t appear imminent, as both Mr. Schumer and Ms. Gillibrand have called on Mr. Clayton to withdraw his name from consideration.

“I will not be complicit in helping President Trump and Attorney General Barr fire a U.S. attorney who is reportedly investigating corruption in this administration,” Ms. Gillibrand said. “President Trump cannot be allowed to desecrate our nominations process further.”