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

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.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/business/jay-clayton-sec-sdny.html