Preet Bharara, the powerful Manhattan prosecutor who was among 46 US attorneys asked to step down late Friday, was fired on Saturday after he refused to resign, an order from attorney general Jeff Sessions. “I did not resign,” Bharara tweeted on Saturday afternoon. On Friday afternoon, attorney general Jeff Sessions told the prosecutors, nearly all appointed by Barack Obama, that they should resign from their posts. I have already spoken to Senator Sessions, who as you know is the nominee for attorney general. At the time he was asked to resign, Bharara was overseeing investigations into aides and associates of the Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, and the Democratic mayor, Bill de Blasio.

Source: The Guardian March 11, 2017 18:55 UTC