WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions abruptly asked the remaining 46 chief federal prosecutors left over from the Obama administration to resign on Friday, including Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who had been asked to stay on in November by then President-elect Donald Trump.

Although U.S. attorneys are political appointees, and the request from Trump’s Justice Department is part of a routine process, the move came as a surprise. Not every new administration replaces all U.S. attorneys at once.

A Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed the resignation requests included Bharara, whose office handles some of the most critical business and criminal cases passing through the federal judicial system.

Bharara met with Trump in Trump Tower on Nov. 30. After, Bharara told reporters the two had a “good meeting” and he had agreed to stay on.

On Friday, Bharara was unsure where he stood because he did not know if the person who contacted him about resigning was aware that Trump had asked him to remain in office, according to a source familiar with the matter.

It was not immediately clear if all resignations would ultimately be accepted.

A Justice Department spokesman said on Friday Trump had called Dana Boente, acting U.S. deputy attorney general, to decline his resignation.

Trump also called Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein, his pick to take over as deputy attorney general, to keep him in his post, the spokesman said.

CORRUPTION CRUSADER

Bharara, appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama in 2009, has pursued an aggressive push against corruption in state and city politics and is known for his prosecution of white-collar criminal cases. He also has been overseeing a federal probe into New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s fundraising.

In November, he announced charges against two defendants in connection with what he called a multimillion-dollar fraud and kickback scheme at Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc VRX.TO.

He has also brought dozens of successful cases against insider traders, including a $1.8 billion settlement and plea deal in 2013 with hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors LP.

His office has secured settlements with companies including General Motors Co (GM.N) and JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N); won several convictions and guilty pleas of former employees of Ponzi scheme operator Bernard Madoff; and prosecuted Suleiman Abu Ghaith, a son-in-law of the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Bharara’s priorities have often matched those set by Obama’s Justice Department, which potentially puts him at odds with the Trump administration.

Amid an increase in civil rights investigations nationally, for example, Bharara’s office joined a lawsuit that led to a settlement in 2015 aimed at reducing violence in New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex.

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said in a statement that he was “troubled” to learn of the requests for resignations, “particularly that of Preet Bharara.”

Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and Obama appointee, is expected to remain in his post according to a law enforcement official. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

As Schumer’s chief counsel, Bharara helped lead the investigation of the dismissals of U.S. attorneys in 2006 during the George W. Bush administration.

Robert Capers, U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, issued a statement saying he had been asked to resign. He said Bridget Rohde, the chief assistant U.S. attorney in that office, would take over his role in an acting capacity.

The Justice Department said on Friday: “Until the new U.S. attorneys are confirmed, the dedicated career prosecutors in our U.S. attorney’s offices will continue the great work of the department in investigating, prosecuting, and deterring the most violent offenders.”</s>Preet Bharara, the high-profile Manhattan federal prosecutor, said he was fired from his role as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York on Saturday.

The move comes, Bharara said via a tweet on Saturday, after he refused to submit a letter of resignation following Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ order to all 46 U.S. Attorney holdovers from Barack Obama’s administration to step down.

“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,” Bharara tweeted.

In November, Bharara met with President Donald Trump following his election. Trump, who was then President-elect, asked Bharara to remain in his role as U.S. Attorney, Bharara told reporters at the time.

FROM COINAGE: This Is How Much It Would Cost to Paint the White House (And More Crazy Facts)

“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 … whether or not I’d be prepared to stay on” and “I agreed,” Bharara said in November, according to the New York Daily News.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions is seeking the resignations of 46 United States attorneys who were appointed during prior presidential administrations, the Justice Department said Friday.

Many of the federal prosecutors who were nominated by former President Barack Obama have already left their positions, but the nearly four dozen who stayed on in the first weeks of the Trump administration have been asked to leave “in order to ensure a uniform transition,” Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said.

“Until the new U.S. attorneys are confirmed, the dedicated career prosecutors in our U.S. attorney’s offices will continue the great work of the department in investigating, prosecuting and deterring the most violent offenders,” she said in a statement.

It is customary for the country’s 93 U.S. attorneys to leave their positions once a new president is in office, but the departures are not automatic. One U.S. attorney appointed by President George W. Bush, Rod Rosenstein of Maryland, remained on the job for the entire Obama administration and is the current nominee for deputy attorney general.

A Justice Department spokesman, Peter Carr, said that President Donald Trump has asked Rosenstein and Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente to stay on.

“The president called Dana Boente and Rod Rosenstein tonight to inform them that he has declined to accept their resignation, and they will remain in their current positions,” Carr said in an email late Friday.

During the Clinton administration, former Attorney General Janet Reno sought the resignations of the U.S. attorneys appointed by former President George H. W. Bush in 1993, when Sessions was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.

Tim Purdon, a former U.S. attorney for North Dakota in the Obama administration, recalled that Obama permitted Bush appointees to remain on until their successors had been appointed and confirmed.

“The way the Obama administration handled it was appropriate and respectful and classy,” he said. “This saddens me because many of these people are great public servants and now they are being asked to leave.”

U.S. attorneys are federal prosecutors who are nominated by the president, generally upon the recommendation of a home-state senator, and are responsible for prosecuting federal crimes in the territories they oversee. They report to Justice Department leadership in Washington, and their priorities are expected to be in line with those of the attorney general.

Sessions took perhaps a veiled swipe at their work in a memo earlier this week, saying that prosecutions for violent crime have been on the decline even as the number of murders has gone up. The demand for resignations seems a way to ensure he will have a team of new federal prosecutors more likely to share his agenda.

It was not immediately clear when each of the prosecutors would resign, or if they all actually will. And the request for resignations doesn’t necessarily mean Sessions plans to accept all of them. In November, Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan, said that he’d been asked by Trump to stay on and that he intended to.

Montana’s U.S. Attorney Mike Cotter said he received a phone call from Boente telling him “the president has directed this.”

“I think it’s very unprofessional and I’m very disappointed,” he said. “What happened today on Friday, March 10, that was so important that all Obama appointees who are US attorneys need to be gone?”

“I gotta write that (resignation) letter. It’s going to be a one-liner,” he added.</s>FILE - In this March 6, 2017 file photo, Attorney General Jeff Sessions waits to make a statement at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office in Washington. Sessions is seeking the resignations of 46 United States attorneys who were appointed during the prior presidential administration, the Justice Department said Friday, March 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions is seeking the resignations of 46 United States attorneys who were appointed during prior presidential administrations, the Justice Department said Friday.

Many of the federal prosecutors who were nominated by former President Barack Obama have already left their positions, but the nearly four dozen who stayed on in the first weeks of the Trump administration have been asked to leave "in order to ensure a uniform transition," Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said.

"Until the new U.S. attorneys are confirmed, the dedicated career prosecutors in our U.S. attorney's offices will continue the great work of the department in investigating, prosecuting and deterring the most violent offenders," she said in a statement.

By Friday evening, U.S. attorneys around the country — including New Jersey, Rhode Island, Minnesota and Montana — had publicly announced their resignations.

It's fairly customary for the 93 U.S. attorneys to leave their positions after a new president is in office, but the departures are not automatic and don't necessarily happen all at once.

One U.S. attorney appointed by President George W. Bush, Rod Rosenstein of Maryland, remained on the job for the entire Obama administration and is the current nominee for deputy attorney general in the Trump administration.

A Justice Department spokesman, Peter Carr, said late Friday that President Donald Trump has asked Rosenstein and Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente, who has served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to stay on.

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The action was similar to one taken in 1993 by then-Attorney General Janet Reno, who soon after taking office sought the resignations of the U.S. attorneys appointed by President George H.W. Bush. At the time, Sessions was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama.

Tim Purdon, a former U.S. attorney for North Dakota in the Obama administration, recalled that President Barack Obama permitted Bush appointees to remain on until their successors had been appointed and confirmed.

"The way the Obama administration handled it was appropriate and respectful and classy," Purdon said. "This saddens me because many of these people are great public servants and now they are being asked to leave."

U.S. attorneys are federal prosecutors who are nominated by the president, generally upon the recommendation of a home-state senator, and are responsible for prosecuting federal crimes in the territories they oversee. They report to Justice Department leadership in Washington, and their priorities are expected to be in line with those of the attorney general.

Sessions took perhaps a veiled swipe at their work in a memo earlier this week, saying that prosecutions for violent crime have been on the decline even as the number of murders has gone up. The demand for resignations seems a way to ensure he will have a team of new federal prosecutors more likely to share his agenda.

Friday's announcement came months after Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan and one of the most prominent federal prosecutors, said he'd been asked by Trump to stay on and that he intended to. Bharara's office declined to comment Friday.

Montana's U.S. Attorney Mike Cotter said he received a phone call from Boente telling him "the president has directed this."

"I think it's very unprofessional and I'm very disappointed," he said. "What happened today on Friday, March 10, that was so important that all Obama appointees who are U.S. attorneys need to be gone?"

"I gotta write that (resignation) letter. It's going to be a one-liner," he added.

Associated Press writer Matt Volz in Helena, Montana, contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show that it's fairly customary for the 93 U.S. attorneys to leave their positions after a new president is in office, not that it's not customary.</s>Jeff Sessions asked 46 chief federal prosecutors left over from the Obama administration to quit.</s>U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has asked 46 U.S. attorneys who were appointed by President Barack Obama to resign.

Robert Capers, who served in the Eastern District, which includes Long Island, was among the U.S. attorneys asked to resign. He released this statement late Friday afternoon.

“This afternoon, I was instructed to resign my position as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, effective March 10, 2017. It has been my greatest honor to serve my country, New York City and the people of this district for almost 14 years, with the last 17 months serving as United States Attorney. Bridget M. Rohde will continue the great work of this office as Acting United States Attorney.

It was not clear if U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara was asked to resign. President Donald Trump asked Bharara to stay on in January.

The Eastern District includes Nassau and Suffolk counties as well as Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.</s>WASHINGTON (CNN) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions has asked for the resignations of 46 US attorneys, igniting anger from officials who say they were given no warning about their dismissals.

The Justice Department announced the firings Friday afternoon, and many prosecutors had not been formally notified or even told before they were fired, according to a law enforcement source. Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente was in the beginning stages of calling each US attorney individually to tell them they had to resign when the DOJ issued a statement.

A law enforcement source charged that “this could not have been handled any worse” because there was little warning. Many prosecutors found out through media reports that they had to resign today.

A Justice Department spokeswoman explained that forced resignations are a matter of course when turning the agency over to a new administration.

“As was the case in prior transitions, many of the United States attorneys nominated by the previous administration already have left the Department of Justice. The attorney general has now asked the remaining 46 presidentially appointed US attorneys to tender their resignations in order to ensure a uniform transition,” Justice Department spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores said.

It is common for administrations to ask holdovers to step down, but what is less common is the abruptness of Friday’s announcement. Two sources familiar with the Justice Department tell CNN they were unsure for some time whether such an action would happen and had been looking for some type of announcement — but received radio silence.

“There was not any particular clarity from the Justice Department as to what the future held for the US attorneys” until now, one source said.

But the Justice Department argues that the agency will continue to function as normal.

“Until the new US attorneys are confirmed, the dedicated career prosecutors in our US attorney’s offices will continue the great work of the department in investigating, prosecuting, and deterring the most violent offenders,” Flores said.

A list of the US attorneys asked to resign was not immediately available. But one of them is the high-profile US attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, according to a Justice Department official. Bharara met with President Donald Trump at Trump Tower after the November election and told reporters that Trump had asked him to stay on, and that he agreed to do so.

Resignations from two prosecutors, acting deputy attorney general Dana Boente and his permanent replacement, Rod Rosenstein, were declined by Trump, according to a DOJ spokesman.

Ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee Dianne Feinstein said she was “surprised” and “concerned” by the news of the firings, saying the actions contradict what she was told by the Vice President and other administration officials.

“In January, I met with Vice President Pence and White House Counsel Donald McGahn and asked specifically whether all U.S. attorneys would be fired at once,” the California senator said in a statement. “Mr. McGahn told me that the transition would be done in an orderly fashion to preserve continuity. Clearly this is not the case.”

The law enforcement source said it is understood that it’s customary for a new administration to ask for resignations, but “you don’t tell them to clean out their desks the same day effective midnight tonight. There are people traveling on official business — are they supposed to turn into their cell phones today? Can they come into their office tomorrow to check email?”

Administrations have the right to replace and nominate US attorneys. President Bill Clinton, for instance, dismissed dozens of US attorneys in his first year of office.

In mid-March 2001, President George W. Bush’s attorney general said he was transitioning most of the 93 US attorneys before June of that year.

President Ronald Reagan replaced a majority of his administration’s US attorneys within his first two years in office.

The news came as Trump’s administration was raising alarms about interests within the administration working against the current White House.

“I think that there’s no question when you have eight years of one party in office, there are people who stay in government — and continue to espouse the agenda of the previous administration,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Friday. “So I don’t think it should come as any surprise there are people that burrowed into government during eight years of the last administration and may have believed in that agenda and may continue to seek it.”

Spicer’s remarks were in response to a question about the existence of the “deep state,” a phrase meant to suggest non-elected individuals controlling the work of the federal government.</s>U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday asked for the resignations of the 46 remaining United States attorneys in the country who had been appointed by the Obama administration, and Robert Capers, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District, which includes Long Island, promptly resigned.

The status of the more prominent U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, was less clear Friday night, but signs pointed to an unexpected end for a celebrated tenure that made him the scourge of both Wall Street fraudsters and crooked New York politicians.

When asked if Bharara, also a Democratic appointee, had been asked to resign, Sarah Isgur Flores, Sessions’ chief spokesperson, said in an e-mail: “The request for U.S. Attorneys to tender their resignation applies to all Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorneys.”

That appeared to contradict previous accounts that President Donald Trump had asked Bharara to stay on and he had agreed. Asked about the apparent contradiction, Isgur Flores said: “I’d refer you to the White House if you’re asking about any statements from the president.”

Friday night, the Justice Department said that Trump was not accepting two of the resignations — Rod Rosenstein of Maryland, who had been nominated as Sessions’ top deputy, and Dana Boente of Virginia, currently acting as deputy attorney general.

But the statement made no reference to Bharara, and earlier a White House official, asked if Bharara and others might still be reappointed, said, “All 46 U.S. attorneys have received their letters of resignation and they are being treated the same.”

Bharara got a call asking him to resign from Justice Department officials Friday morning, according to a source.

One source familiar with the situation said Bharara’s office “thought everything was fine until this morning.”

Bharara, 48, an Indian-American who took over the office in 2009, became a celebrity figure in New York after a series of high-profile investigations and prosecutions of Wall Street traders, politicians, terrorists and cybercriminals.

Under his leadership, the Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office convicted former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, and former Senate Republican Dean Skelos. A one-time top aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Joseph Percoco, is expected to go on trial this year, and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has been under investigation for a year.

There are 93 U.S. attorneys who supervise federal prosecution and law enforcement in their districts. Each is appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.

An incoming administration is understood to appoint U.S. attorneys of their choosing.

In announcing the request for the resignations earlier in the day, Isgur Flores said: “As was the case in prior transitions, many of the United States attorneys nominated by the previous administration already have left the Department of Justice.”

“The attorney general,” she continued, “has now asked the remaining 46 presidentially appointed U.S. attorneys to tender their resignations in order to ensure a uniform transition. Until the new U.S. attorneys are confirmed, the dedicated career prosecutors in our U.S. attorney’s offices will continue the great work of the department in investigating, prosecuting, and deterring the most violent offenders.”

Capers, the United States attorney for the Eastern District, said in a statement: “This afternoon, I was instructed to resign my position as United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, effective March 10, 2017. It has been my greatest honor to serve my country, New York City and the people of this district for almost 14 years, with the last 17 months serving as United States Attorney.”

Until a new U.S. attorney is confirmed for the Eastern District, Capers said his chief assistant, Bridget M. Rohde, “will continue the great work of this office as acting United States attorney.”

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer said in a statement he was “troubled to learn of reports of requests for resignations,” particular Bharara’s.

“By asking for the immediate resignation of every remaining U.S. attorney before their replacements have been confirmed or even nominated,” Schumer said, “the president is interrupting ongoing cases and investigations and hindering the administration of justice.”

While not having as high a media profile as Bharara, Capers, a career prosecutor, has had a number of notable cases in his district, which also covers Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.

Among them most recently, the prosecution of of MS-13 gang members for a series of brutal murders including that of two high school girls; the conviction of the Suffolk Police Chief James Burke for orchestrating the cover-up of his beating of a man who stole a duffel bag from his SUV; and the indictment of the Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano on corruption charges. That case is awaiting trial.</s>WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions is seeking the resignations of 46 United States attorneys who were appointed during prior presidential administrations, the Justice Department said Friday.

Many of the federal prosecutors who were nominated by former president Barack Obama have already left their positions, but the nearly four dozen who stayed on in the first weeks of the Trump administration have been asked to leave “in order to ensure a uniform transition,” Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said.

“Until the new U.S. attorneys are confirmed, the dedicated career prosecutors in our U.S. attorney’s offices will continue the great work of the department in investigating, prosecuting and deterring the most violent offenders,” she said in a statement.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Friday that she was surprised by Sessions' action.

"Under previous administrations, orderly transitions allowed U.S. attorneys to leave gradually as their replacements were chosen," the senator said in a statement. "This was done to protect the independence of our prosecutors and avoid disrupting ongoing federal cases."

The independence of federal prosecutors is especially important now that Sessions has recused himself from any investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to Russia, Feinstein said.

"That’s why many of us have called for the appointment of a special prosecutor," she said.

She said she met with White House Counsel Donald McGahn in January and was told "that the transition would be done in an orderly fashion to preserve continuity."

"Clearly this is not the case," Feinstein said. "I’m very concerned about the effect of this sudden and unexpected decision on federal law enforcement."

It is customary for the country’s 93 U.S. attorneys to leave their positions once a new president is in office, but the departures are not automatic. One U.S. attorney appointed by President George W. Bush, Rod Rosenstein of Maryland, remained on the job for the entire Obama administration and is the current nominee for deputy attorney general.

Tim Purdon, a former U.S. attorney for North Dakota in the Obama administration, recalled that Obama permitted Bush appointees to remain on until their successors had been appointed and confirmed.

“The way the Obama administration handled it was appropriate and respectful and classy,” he said. “This saddens me because many of these people are great public servants and now they are being asked to leave.”

U.S. attorneys are federal prosecutors who are nominated by the president, generally upon the recommendation of a home-state senator, and are responsible for prosecuting federal crimes in the territories they oversee. They report to Justice Department leadership in Washington, and their priorities are expected to be in line with those of the attorney general.

Sessions took perhaps a veiled swipe at their work in a memo earlier this week, saying that prosecutions for violent crime have been on the decline even as the number of murders has gone up. The demand for resignations seems a way to ensure he will have a team of new federal prosecutors more likely to share his agenda.

It was not immediately clear when each of the prosecutors would resign, or if they all actually will. And the request for resignations doesn’t necessarily mean Sessions plans to accept all of them. In November, Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan, said that he’d been asked by Trump to stay on and that he intended to.

Montana’s U.S. Attorney Mike Cotter said he received a phone call from Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente telling him “the president has directed this.”

“I think it’s very unprofessional and I’m very disappointed,” he said. “What happened today on Friday, March 10, that was so important that all Obama appointees who are US attorneys need to be gone?”

“I gotta write that (resignation) letter. It’s going to be a one-liner,” he added.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>Attorney General Jeff Sessions has fired 46 corrupt U.S. attorney’s appointed by the Obama regime, the Justice Department confirmed on Friday.

U.S. attorneys are normally replaced at the beginning of new administrations. Of the 93 U.S. attorneys, 46 remain from the past administration, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Sessions asked for the federal prosecutors to resign “in order to ensure a uniform transition,” DOJ spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement.

“As was the case in prior transitions, many of the United States Attorneys nominated by the previous administration already have left the Department of Justice,” the spokeswoman said.

The call for resignations applies to Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, the New York Times reported.

The move is a surprise, as Bharara reportedly met with Trump after the election and agreed to remain in his position during the Trump administration. Sessions also asked him to stay, the prosecutor told The New York Times.

This is a great move by Sessions. Obama’s shadow government is doing everything they can to undermine President Trump. The quicker Trump and his administration remove all people who are loyal to Obama, the quicker they drain the swamp.
United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions requests the resignations of 46 Barack Obama-era chief federal prosecutors, including United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, who was previously told to stay on by then President-elect Donald Trump in November.