White House press secretary Sean Spicer defended President Donald Trump’s mass dismissal of top federal prosecutors as standard practice.
The Justice Department on Friday asked for all remaining 46 U.S. attorneys to submit their resignations.
Manhattan federal prosecutor Preet Bharara had said after the election that Trump had asked him to stay on.
But he, too, was dismissed on Friday. Bharara was fired after refusing to turn in his resignation.
Trump had tried to call Bharara last week but the two men did not speak. Spicer said Monday “the president was calling to thank him for his service.”
It is routine for a new administration to ask for those resignations, though it usually happens at the start of the president’s term.
(AP)