BY SCOTT LEFFLER
scott.leffler@allwnynews.com
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| Preet Bharara |
NEW YORK — U.S. Attorney from the Southern District of New York was fired from his position after refusing to resign, he announced this afternoon via Twitter.
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
Bharara was one of 46 Department of Justice prosecutors asked to resign on Friday as part of an ongoing house cleaning to remove Obama holdovers from the new government administration.
Bharara made a name for himself after he personally carried the torch of several corruption investigations that were shut down by the Andrew Cuomo administration when it closed the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, saying its job was done. He won convictions against the top legislative leaders in the Senate and Assembly — Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Speaker Sheldon Silver — in separate corruption cases, resulting in their removal from office.
The removal of prior administration’s prosecutors is not unusual, but it had been reported that then-President-Elect Trump had met with Bharara and asked him to stay on. The reason for the reversal is not currently know.