The firing of New York prosecutor Preet Bharara from and by the Department of Justice (DOJ) "lit up" Senate Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer over the weekend, questioning the decision made by Trump's White House -- which also included the firing of 45 other prosecutors -- aided by the view that the firing looked more like a purge.

Blasting News reported on the firings suggesting that they were driven by pressure from Trump's allies playing an influential part in removing members of the opposition. Page Six suggested it was his friendship with Trump nemesis, Vanity Fair Editor-In-Chief Graydon Carter, who referred to Trump as a "short-fingered vulgarian" in the 80's.

The New York Times initially reported that a White House official said the firings were "emblematic" of the chaotic transition process but they also claimed that Bharara's firing was connected to his relationship with Chuck Schumer, who has become a willing target of the trump administration for leading Senate opposition against him.

Schumer connection and internal threat?

Preet Bharara's relationship with Schumer goes back to when he worked for him before the Senator recommended him to Barack Obama for his first term as president. Its also been widely reported that Bharara was asked by the now Attorney General Jeff Sessions and President Trump to remain in his position during a meeting at Trump Tower last November.

The notifications to resign were sent out on Friday, but Preet Bharara was immediately fired for refusing. Initial reports also suggested that the Obama-era prosecutor was likely removed due to his reputation for prosecuting insider trading crimes, as he was contacted by watchdog groups in the same week, asking that he investigate Trump for being in violation of the emoluments clause.

To delay pending investigations

It should be noted that many felt that President Trump's executive order to defeat the Dodd-Frank bill which was initially designed to hold Wall Street bankers accountable after the 2008 Mortgage Crisis, would reopen the floodgates of corruption by big banks. But many have also brought up Trump's "drain the swamp," slogan which many reports have said that if anyone could, it would be Preet Bharara.

One Republican New York Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin (who also supports Trump's slogan) took to the President's social networking "stomping grounds" to plead with the DOJ for the firing.

Along with Schumer, Senator's Elijah Cummings and Elizabeth Warren focused on the fact that those firings are preventing investigations from the DOJ to continue until replacement prosecutors step in. Cummings said he believed this was intentional and Warren went to Twitter to warn The President about the "purge."

New York Times reporter Benjamin Weiser who wrote several articles on Bharara recently was interviewed on NPR's "All Things Considered" Monday, where he also stated similar reasons many felt he and other prosecutors were fired.

Trump supporters have also responded to the firings on Twitter in the same fashion of Trump's allies who might have influenced the decision, who said his administration should "purge" the government of "treasonous Liberals" and "deep state saboteurs." One Trump supporter's response to a Blasting News report fell in line with that sentiment.

The question now is: "what's next for Preet Bharara?" The prosecutor himself tweeted after his firing that he knew "what the Moreland Commission must have felt like," a group that was created to investigate corruption but disbanded after a year.

The New York Times reported on Andrew Cuomo's interference into the independent body in 2013 which led to an investigation by Bharara. Many feel this is "code" for how the prosecutor might retaliate against Trump, along with the suggestion that he should run for public office. The investigation did not find any wrongdoing and he also downplayed any interest in getting into politics.
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