Top US attorney general fired by Trump administration

Manhattan Attorney General Preet Bharara said he refused to resign at the request of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and was fired.

According toTelegraph, the above statement was made by Mr. Bharara on March 12, a few days after Mr. Sessions asked all federal attorneys appointed by Mr. Obama to resign.

Manhattan Attorney General Preet Bharara. Photo: Reuters

Fired despite being promised to be retained

Mr. Bharara shared on the pageTwitterpersonally, saying: “I refused to resign and shortly thereafter, I was fired.” According to Mr. Bharara, his time as Manhattan District Attorney “will forever be the greatest honor of my career, no matter what else I do.”

“One of the most important points about the judiciary is absolute independence and that is the “guiding principle” for my daily activities,” Mr. Bharara emphasized.

It is a common practice in the US for a series of Attorneys General of the previous Government to leave after the new Government takes power, although many US Presidents often do this in batches.

However, according to Mr. Bharara, he met President Trump in late 2016 (when Mr. Trump had just been elected) and was "approved to stay" by President Trump.

“At that point, President-elect Donald Trump—a New Yorker who understood the work we had done over the past seven years—offered to meet with me to discuss whether I could stay on for the rest of my term,” Mr. Bharara recalled.

We had a cordial meeting and I told him that I would certainly consider staying. Then I also spoke with Senator Sessions, who was nominated by Mr. Trump to be Attorney General. Mr. Sessions also asked me to stay. So I was hopeful that I could continue to work in New York.”

An illustrious career

During his seven years as Manhattan District Attorney, Mr. Bharara conducted numerous investigations into corruption in politics and on Wall Street.

At the time of his resignation, Mr. Bharara was directly overseeing the investigation of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's aides and staffers for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

In addition, Mr. Bharara's Prosecutor's Office has also opened an investigation into the news agency.Fox Newsfor allegedly failing to disclose to shareholders that it had settled a sexual harassment lawsuit involving its former CEO, Roger Ailes.

During his career, Mr. Bharara was particularly remembered for prosecuting former Republican Senator Dean Skelos on charges of financial fraud.

In addition, Mr. Bharara also brought to trial 120 criminals from a Bronx gang, this is also the largest organized crime prosecution in New York history.

Before being appointed by Mr. Obama as Manhattan Attorney General in 2009, Mr. Bharara worked for New York Senator Chuck Schumer, who is now the Minority Leader in the US Senate.

In his official statement, Mr. Schumer praised Attorney General Bharara as “a man who has worked tirelessly to root out corruption, catch terrorists, keep order on Wall Street, and stand up for what is right. Mr. Bharara is a role model for Attorney Generals across America and will be missed.”

Mass layoffs will cause chaos

Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond (USA), said that the most notable case of forcing US Attorneys to resign occurred in 1993 when US Attorney General Janet Reno asked a series of Attorneys appointed by former President George HW Bush (Bush Sr.) to resign.

According to Professor Tobias, mass resignations like this will leave the Prosecutor's Offices without a leader for a long time: "This is an act of disruption to the activities of the Prosecutor's Offices. Currently, no one has been appointed to replace the 46 Attorneys General who have just been forced to resign."

According to Professor Tobias, the Manhattan District Attorney's Office is "the leading office in the entire United States" with a very high level of independence: "Mr. Bharara's departure not only causes the Government to lose an important figure but also the continuity that the Government needs to maintain.

The US government will lose someone who can speak with complete independence on legal issues while still being able to cooperate well with local and federal justice agencies.”

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman also shared this view and criticized President Donald Trump's "abrupt and unexplained" decision that "has caused chaos in the federal government"./.

According to VOV