Corruption

Fired U.S. Attorney Was Investigating Fox News

Written by SK Ashby

Trump asked for the resignation of dozens of U.S. attorneys over the weekend including Preet Bharara, the attorney for the Southern District of Manhattan.

According to New York Magazine's Gabriel Sherman, who has done excellent reporting on the wider Fox News scandal, Bharara was closing in on Fox executives for conducting illegal surveillance of their employees, among other things.

It's not normal to fire a U.S. attorney in the middle of an investigation, especially after a federal grand jury has already been convened, and the short-list of Bharara's possible replacements isn't raising suspicion so much as it's blowing an air-horn.

The probe, according to sources, is looking at a number of potential crimes, including whether Fox News executives broke laws by allegedly obtaining journalists’ phone records or committed mail and wire fraud by hiding financial settlements paid to women who accused Roger Ailes of sexual harassment. Sources told me that prosecutors have been offering witnesses immunity to testify before a federal grand jury that’s already been impaneled. [...]

“They’re really worried,” one source close to the network said. Another insider said that Fox News executives considered the investigation “political” because Bharara had been appointed by Barack Obama. Which is why, for Murdoch, it must be a relief that Bharara’s replacement could be an ally. According to the Times, Trump’s short list to replace Bharara includes Marc Mukasey — who just happens to be former Fox News chief Roger Ailes’s personal lawyer.

When it's this obvious, what more needs to be said?

Politicization of the Justice Department under George W. Bush and Alberto Gonzalez may look quaint by the time the Trump regime is finished. It's extremely important for Democrats to regain control of Congress so they can push back against a corrupt executive branch.