US Attorney Preet Bharara, who was recently fired by Donald Trump, rejected a call by the president two days before getting sacked, an American law enforcement official says.
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York declined to take the call and instead contacted the Justice Department to ask for permission to talk to the president but he was denied, the official told Reuters in a Sunday report.
Bharara then called back the person facilitating the contact with Trump, asserting that he would not talk to him without permission from the Justice Department.
Why Bharara’s dismissal matters
The Justice Department, which is led by Trump-appointed Attorney General Jeff Sessions, called on Bharara and 45 other federal prosecutors, appointed by former President Barack Obama, to resign on Friday.
Bharara refused to follow suit as he had been specifically asked by Trump in November to remain Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor.
Despite that, upon his…