Daily Beast: Bharara yet to resign, told section chiefs he may challenge Sessions to fire him

[highplainsdem]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/10/despite-trump-bharara-won-t-resign-yet.html

Preet Bharara, the crusading U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York who was asked to submit his resignation letter Friday, along with the 45 other U.S. Attorneys held over from the Obama administration, has yet to do so, a federal law enforcement official tells The Daily Beast.

Bharara—whose office is in the end stages of an investigation of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, about to begin the trials of two close allies of Governor Andrew Cuomo, and also appears to be investigating how Fox News structured settlements of sexual harassment and other claims brought by its employees—met with Donald Trump shortly after the election and was told that he would stay. Just this week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions assured him in a phone conversation that he’d remain atop the Southern District, according to the federal law enforcement official.

Since receiving the letter demanding his resignation Friday afternoon, Bharara has yet to speak to the press or to his full office. Friday evening, the law enforcement official said, Bharara told his section chiefs that he’d yet to submit the requested letter and may instead challenge Sessions to fire him.

The request for Bharara’s resignation came a week to the day after he’d started a personal Twitter feed where he’d Tweeted Monday: “This Senate hearing on political interference @ DOJ was 10 yrs ago today. Is that me in background? Boy I've aged.”

Bharara, then the chief counselor to Sen. Charles Schumer, helped lead the Senate’s probe into the midterm dismissals of eight U.S. Attorneys that in turn led to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

-snip-

[Trust Buster]

1. I just hope that ALL relevant info on the Orange Fraud gets surreptitiously copied before he leaves.

[pinboy3niner]

2. The White House confirmed that the Administration plans to accept Bharara's resignation

It sounds like they're determined to see him go, one way or another.

[highplainsdem]

3. I'm sure they are. But they can't accept his resignation until he resigns.

I'm checking for updates this morning, haven't seen anything yet that says he has resigned, so this Daily Beast report still stands.

[pinboy3niner]

4. I don't doubt the DB report, but it sounds like he'll be fired if he doesn't resign

That's what I meant by "one way or another."

[highplainsdem]

6. I agree competely. But his forcing Sessions to fire him will call attention both to the

investigations he's currently working on and those he's been asked to do, and to how unusual it is for him and his colleagues to be asked to resign with so little notice. I'm sure the WH is hoping he'll leave quietly.

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. Just found this, from The Hill:

Bharara reportedly met with Trump after the election and agreed to remain in his position during the Trump administration. Sessions also asked him to stay, the prosecutor told The New York Times.

According to an exclusive report by The Daily Beast late Friday, Bharara told his section chiefs that he’d yet to submit the requested letter and may instead challenge Sessions to fire him.

Bharara's office is working through an investigation of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and about to start the trials of two close allies to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/323537-obama-appointed-us-attorney-in-ny-refusing-to-submit

[yeoman6987]

8. As far as unemployment goes, it's better to be fired.

He's being smart with this.

[pinboy3niner]

9. I'm pretty sure that was not even CLOSE to being a factor for him. nt

[yeoman6987]

11. I'm not sure if he's rich or not

I understand it's not the focus but could be a consideration.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

12. Any lawyer with that job on their resume will have dump trucks full of money waiting at the door..

... when they walk out.


I doubt he is even considering unemployment. More like where does he want his beach house built.

[HoneyBadger]

5. Cuomo and de Blasio are benefitting from this

Preet is a shark.

[highplainsdem]

7. The Daily New is already suggesting that he could run against either of them:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/bharara-resignation-prompt-run-cuomo-de-blasio-article-1.2994950

[HoneyBadger]

10. If Gillibrand does not run in 2018 (because she is running in 2020), he could take her spot easily

I do not know about Cuomo's job, Preet is hated by the Albany political machine. NYC mayor is possible.

[highplainsdem]

13. kick

[highplainsdem]

14. More on this from the NY Daily News:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/bharara-stay-u-s-attorney-sessions-forces-article-1.2995175

Bharara’s Twitter account still listed him Saturday morning as the U.S. attorney. He has yet to make any public statement about the firing that came barely three months after a Trump Tower meeting where he was asked by the President-elect to stay on the job.

Sessions made the same request, Bharara told reporters after the Manhattan get-together.

Sessions, in a Thursday conference call with federal prosecutors, offered no hint of their impending doom, an NBC News report indicted.

“Happy hunting,” he told the group while signing off.

Bharara, who was born in India, was also the target of tasteless Twitter trolling from convicted felon Dinesh D’Souza — prosecuted by the U.S. attorney’s office.

-snip-

D’Souza was sentenced to five years of probation in September 2014 for using “straw donors” to make illegal campaign contributions to U.S. Senate candidate Wendy Long.

[HoneyBadger]

16. Trump fired the best US Attorney in his lifetime