Federal Prosecutor Preet Bharara Fired After Refusing to Quit Job

Preet Bharara was fired after refusing to quit his job as federal prosecutor by the Trump administration. Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked 46 federal prosecutors to submit their resignations. Bharara tweeted this yesterday after receiving the news.

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.

— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) March 11, 2017

 
The Economic Times reports Bharara was nicknamed the “Sheriff of Wall Street” for prosecuting more than 100 finance executives for criminal activities, such as insider trading and for prosecuting several New York politicians for corruption. Bharara was appointed by former President Barack Obama.
 
On Friday, many media outlets reported Bharara had been asked to submit his resignation. This came as a surprise to many because Bharara had talked with President Trump about staying on as a federal prosecutor or US district attorney. Senior Democratic Party Senator Chuck Schumer reportedly recommended Trump to keep Bharara.
 
The Hill reports there might be connections to Bharara’s firing and investigations into President Trump. Last week, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a watchdog group, asked Bharara to investigate President Trump for foreign business deals, in regards to whether he had gotten benefits from foreign governments.
 
If Bharara were to find evidence of this, President Trump would be in violation of the Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution, which prohibits US officials from taking any money, including gifts and payments for services rendered, from foreign states without the consent of the Congress, the Washington Post reports.
 
The New York Times reports that Bharara’s office is overseeing an investigation into whether Fox News failed to alert shareholders of settlements with female employees who had accused Roger Ailes, Fox New’s former chief, of sexual harassment.
 
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