On Friday evening, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman of the Southern District of New York — a key figure in the investigations against President Donald Trump’s business associates — announced he was stepping down, and Attorney General William Barr put forward as his replacement Jay Clayton, a lawyer who has represented one of Trump’s major creditors.

The development triggered immediate outrage and suspicion on social media, with commenters warning it was another step to the destruction of the rule of law.