Trump administration’s new AG gets to work
News on 11 Mar 2017
News on 11 Mar 2017
US president Donald Trump’s recently appointed US Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, has followed US new administration tradition by asking 46 US Attorneys to hand in their resignations, triggering wide speculation in the industry on the possible implications and consequences of new enforcement chiefs at state level, and what their approach to gambling in general may be.
Inevitably, the name of Preet Bharara came up again – the leader of the New York enforcement team that took down Pokerstars, Absolute Poker and Full Tilt in April 2011, still known as Black Friday in the industry.
Earlier reports suggested that Trump had asked Bharara to remain in post as the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, but some media reports Friday suggested that his name was among those that Sessions has asked to step down.
The White House was non-committal on the issue when approached by media organisations.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer appears to believe that Bharara is on the way out, releasing a statement in which he commented:
“I’m troubled to learn of reports of requests for resignations from the remaining US attorneys, particularly that of Preet Bharara, after the president initiated a call to me in November and assured me he wanted Mr. Bharara to continue to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District.
“While it’s true that presidents from both parties made their own choices for U.S. Attorney positions across the country, they have always done so in an orderly fashion that doesn’t put ongoing investigations at risk. They ask for letters of resignation but the attorneys are allowed to stay on the job until their successor is confirmed.
“By asking for the immediate resignation of every remaining US attorney before their replacements have been confirmed or even nominated, the president is interrupting ongoing cases and investigations and hindering the administration of justice.”
Before his appointment as a US Attorney seven years ago, Bharara served as chief counsel to Schumer, and played a major role in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the politically motivated firings of United States attorneys by the Justice Department under President George W. Bush.
The New York Times also appeared convinced that Bharara had been targeted, suggesting that he would be temporarily succeeded by his deputy, Joon H. Kim, a longtime prosecutor and former head of the office’s criminal division.
The newspaper additionally reported that the United States attorney for New Jersey, Paul J. Fishman, has confirmed his resignation as requested, along with Robert L. Capers in Brooklyn.
US media reported that there was an air of irony about the Sessions instructions to resign this week, noting that many years ago he was in the same vulnerable US Attorney position in Alabama and was asked to resign following a change in presidential administration.
