“I did not resign. Moments ago I was fired,” he tweeted on Saturday afternoon.
Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, was fired on Saturday afternoon, after he refused to resign, as instructed by the Trump administration on Friday.
“I did not resign,” Bharara tweeted at 2:29 pm on Saturday. “Moments ago I was fired. Being the US Attorney in SDNY will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life.”
Earlier multiple news organizations reported that Bharara had told some associates that he will not resign.
The Associated Press reported, quoting a “person with knowledge” of “Bharara’s actions,” that “he is not complying with Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ request to resign.”
By not resigning, the popular prosecutor, in effect, dared Sessions to fire him.
The Indian-born Bharara was one of the 46 Obama-appointed district attorneys President Trump on Friday afternoon.
Preet Bharara accepts Donald Trump’s request to stay on as US attorney in New York after Trump Tower meeting (December 1, 2016)
The Daily Beast was the first news outlet to report early Saturday that Bharara was defying the Trump order.
It quoted a federal law enforcement as saying that on Friday “Bharara told his section chiefs that he’d yet to submit the requested letter and may instead challenge [Attorney General Jeff] Sessions to fire him.”
The administration’s decision to seek Bharara’s ouster was a surprise, as Trump had asked him to stay on during their meeting in December prior to the inauguration.
Mayor? Or governor? Speculation about Preet Bharara’s next job has begun (March 11, 2017)
“The president-elect asked, presumably because he’s a New Yorker and is aware of the great work that our office has done over the past seven years, asked to meet with me to discuss whether or not I’d be prepared to stay on as the United States attorney to do works as we have done it, independently, without fear or favor for the last seven years,” Bharara told reporters after that meeting at Trump Tower.
Some Democrats were quick to attribute sinister motive to Bharara’s firing, with at least two hinting that his investigation of Fox News over its settlement of sexual harassment claims may be a factor.
Hillary Clinton ally David Brock tweeted on Saturday: “Make no mistake: the unexpected firing of Preet Bharara is bc of his Fox investigation and looking into Emoluments. Dangerous.”
Make no mistake: the unexpected firing of Preet Bharara is bc of his Fox investigation and looking into Emoluments. Dangerous.
— David Brock (@davidbrockdc) March 11, 2017
Former Hillary Clinton Press Secretary Brian Fallon echoed a similar line:
“While it is WH right to pick US Attys, sudden reneging on promise to keep Preet – amid high-profile probes – raises question of interference.”
While it is WH right to pick US Attys, sudden reneging on promise to keep Preet – amid high-profile probes – raises question of interference
— Brian Fallon (@brianefallon) March 11, 2017