Playing politics
Obama-appointed prosecutor fired after refusing to resign
New York U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was fired by the Trump administration Saturday after he refused to resign at the request of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who on Friday asked for the resignation of 46 Obama-appointed district attorneys in the Justice Department.
It is routine for incoming administrations to ask these attorneys, who are political appointees, to step down, though Sessions' request was unexpectedly abrupt, and some attorneys reportedly were not privately informed before the public statement. So far, Bharara is the only attorney to refuse to resign when asked.
"Today I was fired from my position as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York," Bharara said in a statement posted on Twitter. "Serving my country as U.S. Attorney here for the past seven years will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life, no matter what else I do or how long I live."