Leading House Dem Thinks Something Smells About Dumping Of One U. S. Attorney (VIDEO, TWEETS)

By
Darrell Lucus
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On Saturday, the Justice Department raised a lot of eyebrows when it fired Preet Bharara, the respected U. S. Attorney for New York’s Southern District–centered around Manhattan and the Bronx. Bharara refused to resign when Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked for the resignations of 46 U. S. Attorneys who were holdovers from the Obama administration, leading to the firing. On Sunday, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee mused that Bharara’s head rolled in hopes of derailing a potential investigation into President Trump.

Congressman Elijah Cummings stopped by ABC’s “This Week” to discuss Bharara’s ouster. Watch a clip here.

While discussing his meeting with Trump earlier in the week, Cummings conceded that the president has the right to fire U. S. Attorneys. However, Trump had previously asked Bharara to stay on–which made Cummings wonder what prompted Trump to reverse course. He had at least one theory–it could potentially be related to the numerous scandals surrounding Trump.

On Wednesday, three watchdog groups–Democracy 21, Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington, and the Campaign Legal Center–asked Bharara to investigate whether payments from foreign governments to Trump’s real estate empire were still flowing into Trump’s pocket. If that were true, it would potentially violate the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which bans federal officials from taking money or gifts from foreign governments. Bharara would have theoretically had jurisdiction, since the Trump Organization is headquartered in Manhattan.

One of the signatories, CREW chairman Norman Eisen, a former ethics counsel to Obama, acknowledged that it was very unusual to ask a U. S. Attorney to investigate a president. However, he said, “having a president with these conflicts is also unprecedented.” Eisen, along with CREW vice chairman and former Bush 43 ethics counsel Richard Painter, led the charge to shine the light on Trump’s stratospheric conflicts of interest. They even went as far as to argue that the Electoral College should not have rubberstamped Trump’s election without assurances that he would take steps to ensure he would comply with the Emoluments Clause.

According to The New York Times, Trump’s assistant called Bharara on Thursday to tell him that the president wanted to chat. Bharara refused, citing longstanding protocols governing the White House’s contact with federal prosecutors. On Saturday, deputy attorney general Dana Boente called Bharara and asked him for his immediate resignation. Bharara was dumbfounded, since Trump himself asked him to stay on in November.

Hours later, Bharara announced on his newly created personal Twitter account that he had been fired.

Cummings mused that Bhahara’s ouster “might have something to do with” the prospect of an investigation. He said that there was “an air of distrust” from the current administration, and as a result, “there are a lot of questions that need to be asked” about the circumstances of Bharara’s ouster.

Trump wasn’t the only high-profile target of a Bharara investigation. He was also reportedly looking into Fox News Channel over settlements it paid to former employees who alleged longtime chairman Roger Ailes sexually harassed them.

Even if Bharara’s firing had nothing to do with a potential investigation, the manner in which it was handled is curious at best. According to NBC News, neither Bharara nor the other U. S. Attorneys who were pushed out had any inkling this was coming. As late as Thursday, Sessions had spoken with them on a conference call and told them, “happy hunting.”

It came as no surprise that Democrats at both the state and national level were outraged at Bharara’s ouster. Elizabeth Warren, for instance, went on an epic tweetstorm to blast the decision.

Warren wasn’t kidding about how Bharara was respected on both sides of the aisle. One of his top priorities was fighting corruption–and he was not afraid to put elected officials from his own party in his sights. At the time of his firing, he was investigating several officials in the administration of New York City mayor Bill de Blasio.

That’s why a number of elected GOP officials in New York state were outraged that Trump wanted Bharara out. Among them was state assembly minority leader Brian Kolb.

https://twitter.com/GOPLdrBrianKolb/status/840606962551271424

As was Republican state assemblyman Steve McLaughlin, who even tried to start a social media campaign to get Sessions and Trump to change their minds.

So once again, we find ourselves in the position of asking questions about this president that we should never have to ask.

(featured image courtesy David Shankbone, available under a Creative Commons-BY license)

Darrell Lucus
Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.

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