Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara became a household name in political circles when he famously refused to resign per Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s orders. Donald Trump subsequently fired Bharara, who later claimed he received an “unusual” series of phone calls from the then-president-elect several months before his dismissal.
Since then, Bharara has joined CNN as a senior legal analyst and has launched a new podcast, Stay Tuned with Preet, for WNYC. The first episode of the podcast dropped Thursday, and it doesn’t disappoint, for Bharara discusses additional details of his awkward encounters with Trump. “I will tell you one thing, now that it’s been some months,” the host begins from the top:
“I believe based on the information that we have on the president talking to Jim Comey relating to Michael Flynn, the information about the president talking to Jeff Sessions about the case of Joe Arpaio, and how he wanted both of those cases to go away — that had I not been fired, and had Donald Trump continued to cultivate a direct personal relationship with me, it’s my strong belief that at some point, given the history, the President of the United States would have asked me to do something inappropriate.”
While Bharara’s conclusion regarding what may have happened sans firing exists in retrospect, the very nature of his initial meetings and subsequent phone calls with Trump are discomforting. Soon after the election, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-New York) told the attorney Trump wanted to speak with him personally. During their first encounter, the president asked Bharara for his office and cell phone numbers. “It was odd, because as a general matter, presidents don’t speak directly to United States attorneys. It’s unheard of in my experience,” he recalls. “You know the number of times President Obama called me? Zero.”
Trump called Bharara for the first time on December 12th. The latter decided to return the call, which he describes as “unmemorable” and “genial,” as it seemed the president wanted to “cultivate a relationship.” The second call came on January 19th, the day before the inauguration, but Bharara chose to ignore it. He considered returning the call at a later date, and either recording or having someone else listen in on it, but decided such would be “a bridge too far.” Bharara remains convinced he is the only U.S. attorney, former or otherwise, whom Trump attempted to call directly. What’s more, he suggests, “Nobody knew that Donald Trump was calling me from the Oval Office.”
You can listen to the first episode of Stay Tuned with Preet below.
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