Yesterday, Sessions asked the 46 U.S. Attorneys who had not yet resigned to submit resignation letters. Bharara refused to submit the letter, and now he's fired.
Interestingly, Bharara started his personal Twitter account on March 3. Did he have advance notice this was coming, and would soon be Twitter-less without the U.S. Attorney's account? Perhaps. Here's the latest:
President Donald Trump reached out through a secretary to Manhattan’s top prosecutor two days before he was fired by the Justice Department, but the two men never spoke.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (buh-RAH’-ruh) reported the call to the Justice Department and it was agreed he shouldn’t speak directly to Trump. That’s the latest twist in the unusual dynamic between Trump and the high-profile prosecutor who’s made public corruption a favorite quest.
Also, I wonder why it was okay to talk to Trump about his job after the election and before Jan. 20 but not after Jan. 20.
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York submitted his letter yesterday. So "El Chapo" gets a new prosecutor in charge. (The case was being co-prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, but he resigned a few weeks ago, and the Justice Department's Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Division in Washington, who I assume will be staying on.)
The only two U.S. Attorneys known not to be fired as of now are Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, who Trump nominated to be #2 at Justice, and Virginia U.S. Attorney Dana Boente, who took over as Acting Deputy AG when Sally Yates was fired.
Yes, every President replaces U.S. Attorneys. But in recent administrations, it was not done all at once. There are sensitive and complex pending investigations and prosecutions going on in various offices around the country that these Attorneys have been in charge of.
Who will Trump name to replace him? I would bet he'd name Giuliani's favorite partner, Marc L. Mukasey who follows him wherever he goes, to either the SDNY or EDNY slot. Mukasey was at Giuliani and Bracewell, and when Rudy left for Greenberg Traurig, so did he.
The more I think about it (which admittedly, hasn't been much), I think Bharara knew the day he set up his personal Twitter account he was leaving. There's something missing from the story that Trump called but they never spoke.
