Preet Bharara tweets about Moreland Commission after firing
Preet Bharara, who says he has been fired as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, appeared to compare his situation to a commission that was created in New York in 2013 to investigate public corruption but was abruptly disbanded the following year.
Bharara announced on his personal Twitter account Saturday that he was fired from his job and that he did not resign. His ouster came after Attorney General Jeff Sessions had requested that all U.S. attorneys nominated by President Obama resign on Friday. Bharara had served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York since August 2009.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo created the Moreland Commission in 2013 to investigate public corruption, but the New York Times reported in 2014 that Cuomo interfered in the independent body by monitoring and directing its work. Cuomo shut down the commission in 2014, which then led federal prosecutors like Bharara to investigate Cuomo’s role in its closure.
Eventually, Bharara announced in early 2016 that his office didn’t find sufficient evidence to prove a federal crime had been committed.
“After a thorough investigation of interference with the operation of the Moreland Commission and its premature closing, this Office has concluded that, absent any additional proof that may develop, there is insufficient evidence to prove a federal crime,” he said in a statement at the time. “We continue to have active investigations related to substantive inquiries that were being conducted by the Moreland Commission at the time of its closure.”
