Thread: Obama-appointed US attorney fired by Trump after refusing to resign

Obama-appointed US attorney fired by Trump after refusing to resign



03/11/17 02:41 PM EST

Preet Bharara, one of the most high-profile federal prosecutors in the country, said Saturday he was fired from President Trump's administration after he refused to resign when asked by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

"I did not resign. Moments ago I was fired. Being the US Attorney in SDNY will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life," tweeted Bharara, who served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Preet Bharara ✔ @PreetBharara

I did not resign. Moments ago I was fired.
Being the US Attorney in SDNY will forever
be the greatest honor of my professional life.

11:29 AM - 11 Mar 2017

• 28,014 28,014 Retweets

Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente called Bharara on Saturday and informed him that Trump was firing him, CNN's Jake Tapper reported.

Jake Tapper ✔ @jaketapper Acting deputy Attorney General Dana Boente
just called US Attorney Preet Bharara and told
him President Trump was firing him.

11:36 AM - 11 Mar 2017

• 1,346 1,346 Retweets
• 1,548

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) heralded Bharara as an "exemplary U.S. attorney."

"His relentless drive to root out public corruption, lock up terrorists, take on Wall Street, and stand up for what is right should serve as a model for all U.S. attorneys across the country.

He will be sorely missed," Schumer said in a statement.

U.S. attorneys are normally replaced at the beginning of new administrations and Sessions on Friday asked 46 federal prosecutors appointed by former President Barack Obama to submit their resignations.

But the decision to ask for Bharara's resignation came as a surprise, as he reportedly met with Trump after the election and agreed to remain in his position after Trump took office.

Sessions had also asked him to stay, Bharara told The New York Times.

Multiple reports indicated that Bharara was refusing to resign. The Daily Beast reported late Friday that Bharara had told his section chiefs that he’d yet to submit the requested letter and may instead challenge Sessions to fire him.

Bharara built a reputation in New York by going after big banks and Wall Street. His office has been working through an investigation of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and was slated to start the trials of two close allies to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).

There are 93 U.S. attorneys in total. Sessions' request Friday that the Obama holdovers resign was meant "to ensure a uniform transition," DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement.

“As was the case in prior transitions, many of the United States Attorneys nominated by the previous administration already have left the Department of Justice," the spokeswoman said.
Schumer had said Friday in a statement that he was "troubled" by the Trump administration's request that Bharara and other U.S. attorneys from the past administration resign.

The Senate Democratic leader said in a statement that Trump "initiated a call to me in November and assured me he wanted Mr. Bharara to continue to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District."

"While it’s true that presidents from both parties made their own choices for U.S. Attorney positions across the country, they have always done so in an orderly fashion that doesn’t put ongoing investigations at risk. They ask for letters of resignation but the attorneys are allowed to stay on the job until their successor is confirmed," Schumer said.

"By asking for the immediate resignation of every remaining U.S. Attorney before their replacements have been confirmed or even nominated, the President is interrupting ongoing cases and investigations and hindering the administration of justice."

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, had also issued a statement criticizing the "abrupt firing" of federal prosecutors.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center sent Bharara a letter this week asking him to investigate Trump’s ties with foreign governments.

The message purportedly asked that Bharara probe whether Trump has received payments or other benefits from foreign governments through his business interests.

Updated: 4:45 p.m.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefi...er-refusing-to

Preet Bharara is the US Attorney that opened criminal investigation into Donald Trumps Charity.

Heck, I would of fired his ass on day 1

Oh hell yeah, good riddance to him. We need new blood in the US attorney's offices. They need to be used to do bigger and better things than what I've seen done. The greatest crimes in our country right now is illegal immigration and the drug cartels behind it, funding it, fueling it, marketing it, and financing it as well as fraudulent legal immigration and all those behind that. Yet, what have the US Attorney's offices done to help curb either one? Not a damn thing.

These US Attorneys were not prosecuting illegal aliens for years in the Obama administration so good riddance. We need Attorneys that uphold the laws of this country and protect American citizens. We also need US Attorneys that are loyal to Donald Trump and our current government not Obama ideals which were a detriment to this country.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions requested the resignations of Obama holdovers in the Department of Justice.

Predictably, the Dishonest Media went crazy.

Liberals said there’s something bad behind this. They said Trump must be wanting to stop corruption investigations. They said this is an affront to everything everyone holds dear.

Here’s one example about Preet Bharara from CNN:

CNN‏Verified account
@CNN
Preet Bharara is known for his fierce pursuit of insider trading and corruption cases. Now, he's out. http://cnn.it/2nb974P


The problem is: Firing U.S. Attorneys is a normal thing.

It’s a normal thing to replace U.S. Attorneys. Every President does it.

Every one.

Because Liberals have such short (and selective) memories, here’s a video report about when Bill Clinton told Janet Reno to fire all 93 U.S. Attorneys in one day (via Cernovich):

(video may be seen at the source link)

See the glee on their faces?

Bill Clinton and Janet Reno were proud to remove George H.W. Bush’s U.S. Attorneys.

In fact, here’s the letter they sent to Jeff Sessions, who was then a U.S. Attorney:

Dinesh D'Souza‏Verified account
@DineshDSouza
SO STOP CRYING BHARARA: This is the letter Sessions got when he was booted by the incoming Clinton administration


But now the shoe is on the other foot. Trump is firing Liberals’ favorite U.S. Attorneys.

And Liberals cry, “Foul”?

More hypocrisy from Liberals. Sad!

Here’s what Mike Huckabee had to say:

Pamela Moore‏
@Pamela_Moore13
Sad times for libs.. Donald Trump keeps his promise & #DrainingTheSwamp! Firing Obama's Sneaky Preet Bharara & Sally Yates! #SaturdayMorning


He’s right!

http://americanlookout.com/flashback...one-day-video/

Looks like a good move to me.

Actually, I would like to see Pres. Trump to tell his department heads to cut personnel by 20% across the board with the exception of ICE.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) heralded Bharara as an "exemplary U.S. attorney."

Sure, he did things like this after Dinesh's films exposed obama & hillary....
It’s very personal for Dinesh D’Souza! US attorney Trump fired is responsible for putting him prison

March 13, 2017 | Carmine Sabia

Conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza is not among those angered by the firing of former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara.

That’s because Bharara was the prosecutor that was responsible for helping make D’Souza a convicted felon and serving 8 months in prison on charges of election fraud.

And D’Souza did appear on “Fox & Friends” on Monday where he lambasted Bharara as “ruthless and very deceitful.”

“No American has ever been convicted for prosecuted, let alone locked up, for doing what I did,” D’Souza said before explaining how Bharara did it. “He took a series of cases, all involving corruption, and altered the facts of those cases to conceal the corruption to try to con the judge into sending me to federal prison.
“It didn’t really work but it is a window into the soul of Preet Bharara.”

D’Souza said Bharara is a “media darling” because of grandstanding as he did this week when he forced President Donald Trump to fire him.

“When I was in confinement Bharara was kind of laughing (and) now that he’s unemployed I’m kind of laughing,” he said.
(video clip at link)

http://www.bizpacreview.com/2017/03/...-prison-458636

Originally Posted by nntrixie

Looks like a good move to me.

Actually, I would like to see Pres. Trump to tell his department heads to cut personnel by 20% across the board with the exception of ICE.

Trump Eyes Federal Staffing Cuts of 20 Percent


By Jason Devaney | Tuesday, 17 Jan 2017 11:28 AM

President-elect Donald Trump is looking to trim some of the government's fat in the form of sizable spending and staffing cuts.

According to the Washington Examiner, some of the spending cuts for individual departments could reach 10 percent and staffing cuts could be as high as 20 percent.

The Examiner cites sources that say "landing teams" at some cabinet agencies are already working on the plan. The spending cuts would likely come from discretionary spending, not things like Medicare, Social Security, or other mandated programs.

Staffing cuts may be spread out over four years via attrition and hiring freezes, the Examiner notes.

Trump has vowed to slash government spending in order to bring down the deficit and also add more budget dollars to the Department of Defense. He is working to bring down defense costs, too, however, by way of negotiating with defense contractors.

Part of Trump's plan to reduce spending involves the penny plan, which would cut back certain agencies' budgets by 1 cent for every dollarspent over several years.

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Trum.../17/id/768969/

Oh, is this for real!!

Honestly, I haven't seen this before.

It does make sense, though.

Next year, he can cut back 20% more.

Preet Bharara is an immigrant from India.