Preet Bharara: ‘Absolutely evidence’ to begin obstruction case against Trump

“I think there is absolutely evidence to begin a case,” Bharara, who was fired by Trump in March as the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

“It’s very important to be clear that no one knows right now whether there is a provable case of obstruction. There is also no basis to say there is no obstruction.”

In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, Bharara spoke publically for the first time since his firing. He firmly sided with former FBI Director James Comey, who is engaged in a dispute with Trump over the nature of conversations they had related to the Russia investigation.

Comey testified to Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday that Trump said he hoped the FBI would drop its investigation of Mike Flynn, the president’s first national security adviser.

In a news conference Friday, Trump, meanwhile, said he would be “glad” to tell his side of the story to Mueller. He said he would “100 percent” be willing to testify under oath that he never told Comey he hoped the FBI would stop investigating Flynn.

“The president seems to have a reputation of saying things that are not true,” Bharara said. “Most people would side reasonably with James Comey.”

Bharara went on to describe three seperate phone calls he had with Trump while he was president-elect and president, all initiated by Trump. Bharara, who said former president Barack Obama had never called him before, said Trump’s phone calls made him feel “a bit uncomfortable.”

“It appeared he was trying to cultivate some kind of relationship,” Bharara said.

Bharara said he was fired by Trump 22 hours after he refused to return a phone call from the president — the third and last time the president had tried to call him.

“To this day, I have no idea why I was fired,” Bharara said. “It doesn’t bother me. I am living a great life very happily.”