The lawyer representing President Trump in the Russia investigation reportedly bragged to friends and colleagues that he was behind the firing of former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
“This guy is going to get you,” Marc Kasowitz told Trump about Bharara, ProPublica reported Tuesday.
The news organization noted that people familiar with Kasowitz say he can be known to exaggerate his exploits.
Presidents do have the power to fire or ask U.S. attorneys to resign. But Bharara announced weeks after the election that Trump asked him to “stay on” as U.S. attorney for the Southern District in New York during a meeting at Trump Tower.
“We had a good meeting. I agreed to stay on. I have already spoken to Sen. [Jeff] Sessions, who is as you know is the nominee to be the attorney general. He also asked that I stay on, and so I expect that I will be continuing to work at the southern district,” Bharara said in November.
In early Mach, Trump asked Bharara and 46 other U.S. attorneys to resign. Bharara refused and was fired on March 11.
Bharara’s office had been conducting an investigation into Tom Price, Trump’s secretary of health and human services, at the time.
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren suggested in a series of tweets that Bharara had been fired in part because he “had authority over Trump Tower.”
Trump has yet to nominate anyone to fill the vacant position. Edward McNally, a partner at Kasowitz’s law firm, has been floated to replace Bharara.
Kasowitz, who has represented Trump for more than a decade, has also said in private conversations that the president asked him to be attorney general, ProPublica reported.
“Sheesh, I haven’t even had my covfefe yet,” Bharara responded to the report, mocking Trump’s infamous Twitter typo.
Sheesh, I haven’t even had my covfefe yet. https://t.co/50v0h1I3uF
— Preet Bharara (@PreetBharara) June 13, 2017
