John Bolton claims Donald Trump told Turkey's President Erdogan he would intervene in a Southern District of NY investigation of a state-owned Turkish bank - as fired US attorney Berman leaves his office after being forced out

John Bolton has claimed Donald Trump told Turkey's President Erdogan he would intervene in a Southern District of New York investigation of a state-owned Turkish bank. 

In an interview with ABC set to air Sunday the former National Security adviser said the move 'did feel like obstruction of justice to me'. Bolton, promoting his tell all memoir, said he had 'never heard any president say anything like that. Ever.'

His comments were recorded before Geoffrey Berman, head of the Southern District of New York attorney's office, was fired Saturday. His removal sparking uproar and triggering an inquiry by Democratic lawmakers.

Exclusive DailyMail.com pictures show Berman, known for probing allies of Trump, leaving his office for the final time Saturday. He had been in the role 2018.   

Bolton alleges that Trump sought to cut a deal to stop federal prosecutors in New York from investigating whether Halkbank violated U.S. sanctions against Iran in order to free an American pastor imprisoned in Turkey.

Six weeks after the pastor's release, Bolton writes that on a call with the Turkish president 'Trump then told Erdoğan he would take care of things'. 

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In an interview with ABC John Bolton claims Trump told Turkey's President Erdogan he would intervene in a Southern District of NY investigation of a state-owned Turkish bank

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Geoffrey Berman, the former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, after leaving his office for the last time on Saturday 

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Exclusive DailyMail.com pictures show Berman, known for probing allies of Trump, leaving his office for the final time Saturday. He had been in the role 2018

Asked about those claims Bolton told ABC: 'What Erdogan wanted was basically a settlement that would take the pressure off Halkbank. And the president said to Erdogan at one point, 'Look, those prosecutors in New York are Obama people. Wait till I get my people in and then we'll take care of this'.

'This idea that you give Erdogan and his family, who use Halkbank like a slush fund -- in exchange for, what, some hope down the road of some other kind of treatment for Trump or the country -- was very troubling.' 

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The Room Where It Happened portrays Trump as a president solely motivated by re-election efforts with a penchant for misconduct - including agreeing to back off criminal probes as 'personal favors' to certain dictators that make up a foreign policy characterized by 'chaos' and aimed at the president's personal benefit

The episode Bolton describes occurred in December 2018, months after Berman assumed the role of U.S. attorney. 

Acknowledging the prosecution of Halbank has continued Bolton said: 'I don't think I know enough about all the circumstances, but I tell ya, it did feel like obstruction of justice to me.' 

Bolton's tell all memoir, The Room Where It Happened, portrays Trump as a president solely motivated by re-election efforts with a penchant for misconduct. 

Allegations included agreeing to back off criminal probes as 'personal favors' to certain dictators that make up a foreign policy characterized by 'chaos' and aimed at the president's personal benefit.

Set to be released on June 23, the book also contains a claim that Trump pleaded with Chinese President Xi Jinping to boost U.S. food purchases, describing it in terms of his own election. Trump regularly touts a deal to pause the China trade war as one of his chief accomplishments.

Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who in the book is portrayed by Bolton as being disloyal to and dismissive of the president, has also waded in calling Bolton a ‘traitor who damaged America by violating his sacred trust with its people.’  

EXPLOSIVE CLAIMS MADE IN BOLTON'S BOOK:   

• Trump agreed to 'back off' criminal probes as 'personal favors' to dictators
• Told Chinese President Xi Jinping he should go ahead with building camps the regime was constructing for Chinese Uighurs
• Put Jared Kushner in charge of several foreign policy matters 
• Spent part of Osaka summit 'pleading with Xi to ensure he'd win' reelection by buying US crops'
• Believed Finland was part of Russia
• Said invading Venezuala was 'cool' and said the nation was 'really part of the United States'
• Made it a 'high priority' to get Mike Pompeo to hand a copy of Elton John's 'Rocket Man' to North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-Un
• Did not know Great Britain was a nuclear power
• Defended Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the killing of Jamal Khashoggi to distract attention from Ivanka Trump using her personal email 
• Postponed removing the US from the Iran deal so Melania Trump could announce her Be Best campaign 
• Claimed he was going to be nominated for a Noble Peace Prize for his North Korea summit
• Said he always broke up with women he dated because he didn't like being dumped
• Referred to his former UN.Ambassador Nikki Haley as a 'c***' while Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump wanted her to replace Mike Pence 

Berman discovered his job was in jeopardy via a press release late Friday from Attorney General Bill Barr saying the prosecutor was stepping down.

The top prosecutor responded that he had 'no intention' of quitting, and that his office's 'investigations will move forward without interruption.'

But Barr sent him a letter Saturday saying Trump had agreed to fire the official 'as of today.'

A DOJ spokesperson said of Bolton's claims: 'There was no discussion of 'personal favors' or 'undue influence' on investigations, nor did Attorney General Barr state that the President's conversations with foreign leaders were improper. 

'If this is truly what Mr. Bolton has written, then it seems he is attributing to Attorney General Barr his own current views -- views with which Attorney General Barr does not agree.'   

The fast-intensifying crisis surrounding Berman's firing has pitted the government against much of Washington's legal community and has apparently set Barr against Trump, who denied any involvement in the case.

In his letter, circulated widely by US media, Barr accused Berman of having 'chosen public spectacle over public service' through his defiance.

Berman -who later confirmed in a statement he would be leaving 'immediately' - finds himself at the center of the latest controversy in what Democrats have characterized as the politicization of the Justice Department under Barr.

The veteran prosecutor had overseen the prosecution of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and probed advisor Rudy Giuliani's efforts to discredit the president's political opponents.

But Trump, speaking to reporters ahead of a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, denied sacking Berman -- further adding to the confused messaging coming from the administration.

'That's all up to the attorney general... He's working on that, that's his department, not my department,' Trump said. 'I'm not involved.'

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Berman discovered his job was in jeopardy via a press release late Friday from Attorney General Bill Barr saying the prosecutor was stepping down

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Bolton, right is currently promoting his tell all memoir about his time working with Trump, left

Berman, a Republican who held a position in Trump's transition team and was once a law partner of Giuliani, has pursued cases against tycoon sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell last year.

He has also investigated two associates of Giuliani accused of campaign finance violations and helping dig up dirt on Trump's election challenger Joe Biden as part of the Ukraine scandal over which Trump was impeached.           

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer urged the Justice Department's inspector general to launch an investigation into 'blatantly corrupt DOJ interference.'

Meanwhile Jerry Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, accused Barr of repeatedly interfering in 'criminal investigations on Trump's behalf.'

The committee said in a statement it would 'immediately open an investigation into this incident, as part of our broader investigation into Barr's unacceptable politicization of the Department of Justice.'

Two whistleblowers are scheduled to testify Wednesday on 'why Barr's attempt to fire Mr Berman is part of a larger, ongoing, and wholly unacceptable pattern of conduct,' the statement added. 

The Trump administration has in recent months fired or demoted inspectors general for the Pentagon, the intelligence community and the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as a senior health official who questioned Trump's promotion of unproven drug therapies for COVID-19.

State Department inspector general Steve Linick was removed last month after running a misconduct probe into Washington's top diplomat and steadfast Trump ally Mike Pompeo.

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Bolton alleges Trump, pictired, sought to cut a deal to stop federal prosecutors in New York from investigating whether Halkbank violated U.S. sanctions against Iran

Meanwhile Barr has been accused of repeatedly acting as Trump's personal lawyer instead of in the interests of the public following the Justice Department's intervention in several cases involving Trump allies.

More than 1,000 former department officials signed a statement calling for Barr's resignation over his interference to get a lighter sentence for longtime Trump friend Roger Stone.

Since then Barr has been berated for his department's decision to drop the case against Trump's first national security advisor Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying about his Russia contacts to the FBI. 

'I learned in a press release from the Attorney General tonight that I was `stepping down´ as United States Attorney. I have not resigned, and have no intention of resigning,' he announced in a statement shortly after 11 p.m. Friday. He showed up for work Saturday morning, telling reporters he was doing his job.

He explained he was appointed by Manhattan federal judges and wouldn't budge until a successor was confirmed by Congress.

'Our investigations will move forward without delay or interruption,' he promised.

Barr waited until midafternoon Saturday to respond in a way that mimicked what happened to Bharara.

'Unfortunately, with your statement of last night, you have chosen public spectacle over public service,' Barr wrote a day after meeting Berman in Manhattan and offering him other jobs. 'Because you have declared that you have no intention of resigning, I have asked the President to remove you as of today, and he has done so.'

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Set to be released on June 23, the book also contains a claim that Trump pleaded with Chinese President Xi Jinping to boost U.S. food purchases, describing it in terms of his own election. Trump regularly touts a deal to pause the China trade war as one of his chief accomplishments

By dinnertime, Berman had said he would leave his job, saying in light of Barr's decision to 'respect the normal operation of law' and ask the deputy U.S. attorney to step in, he'd go immediately.

Since Berman was appointed in early January 2018 by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, his job security has always seemed precarious. A few months into his work, Manhattan judges appointed him permanently because Trump never formally nominated him.

Although he was recused from the prosecution of Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen, he proceeded with other probes surely drawing interest from the president, including an insider trading prosecution of the first member of Congress to endorse Trump in 2016 and probes of Trump's inaugural fundraising and efforts abroad on the president's behalf by Giuliani.