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Preet Bharara Links Firing to Trump Teams Helter-Skelter Incompetence
Nearly a month after he was fired by the Trump administration, Preet Bharara, the former United States attorney in Manhattan, remains mystified by the circumstances of his ouster, saying he had never been told why President Trump changed his mind about wanting him to stay on.
In his first interview since he was forced out, Mr. Bharara said this week that his firing was part and parcel of what he characterized as the chaos that has defined some of the administration’s decisions.
He called it “a direct example of the kind of uncertain helter-skelter incompetence, when it comes to personnel decisions and executive actions, that was in people’s minds when this out-of-the-blue call for everyone’s resignation letter came.”
Mr. Bharara, an appointee of President Barack Obama, was among 46 United States attorneys who were asked on March 10 to submit their resignations. The directive was not especially unusual; all presidents choose their own candidates for United States attorney positions, and invariably ask holdover prosecutors to leave.
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But Mr. Bharara’s inclusion in the request came as a surprise, since he had been asked on Nov. 30 by Mr. Trump, the president-elect at the time, to remain in his post.
Speculating about the reasons for Mr. Bharara’s firing became a kind of parlor game for a time in some legal circles, with questions about whether the president may have been trying to block investigations focused on his friends and associates. Those inquiries include one into the way Fox News handled payments related to sexual harassment accusations under Roger Ailes, its former chairman, and another focused on stock trades by Tom Price, Mr. Trump’s secretary of health and human services.
In his first interview since he was forced out, Mr. Bharara said this week that his firing was part and parcel of what he characterized as the chaos that has defined some of the administration’s decisions.
He called it “a direct example of the kind of uncertain helter-skelter incompetence, when it comes to personnel decisions and executive actions, that was in people’s minds when this out-of-the-blue call for everyone’s resignation letter came.”
Mr. Bharara, an appointee of President Barack Obama, was among 46 United States attorneys who were asked on March 10 to submit their resignations. The directive was not especially unusual; all presidents choose their own candidates for United States attorney positions, and invariably ask holdover prosecutors to leave.
Continue reading the main story
Related Coverage
But Mr. Bharara’s inclusion in the request came as a surprise, since he had been asked on Nov. 30 by Mr. Trump, the president-elect at the time, to remain in his post.
Speculating about the reasons for Mr. Bharara’s firing became a kind of parlor game for a time in some legal circles, with questions about whether the president may have been trying to block investigations focused on his friends and associates. Those inquiries include one into the way Fox News handled payments related to sexual harassment accusations under Roger Ailes, its former chairman, and another focused on stock trades by Tom Price, Mr. Trump’s secretary of health and human services.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/nyregion/preet-bharara-interview-trump.html
This is an interesting glimpse into the unfolding events leading up to Bharara's firing.
