Fired by Trump, former Attorney Bharara launches podcast

[August 08, 2017]  By Joseph Ax

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Preet Bharara, the former U.S. Attorney in Manhattan who became a scourge of Wall Street wrongdoers before President Donald Trump fired him in March, will soon have a new outlet to voice his criticism of the White House: a podcast.

The 48-year-old is launching the weekly show "Stay Tuned With Preet," in partnership with WNYC Studios, a subsidiary of New York Public Radio. The podcast will be produced by Some Spider Studios, a media company owned by Bharara's brother, Vinit, where Preet Bharara became an executive vice president earlier this year.

The podcast's title is a nod to one of Bharara's favorite responses when he was asked at news conferences about ongoing investigations. Bharara "will offer commentary on our judicial, political and cultural systems," according to a release from Cafe, Some Spider's news and entertainment website.

The former prosecutor has already been doing plenty of that on Twitter since he was unexpectedly fired. Trump had originally asked Bharara to stay on as the country's most prominent U.S. attorney following Trump's election win last year.

"I understand @realDonaldTrump may have called the White House a 'dump,'" Bharara wrote a few days ago on the social media site, following news reports that Trump had disparaged the presidential residence. "That's not in the top 500 things to be outraged about. Seriously."

In more than seven years as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Bharara became known for prosecuting high-profile cases involving Wall Street insider trading, public corruption and terrorism.

Former U.S. attorney Preet Bharara listens during former FBI Director James Comey's appearance before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 8, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein

After his firing, Bharara told ABC News in an interview that Trump had made "unusual" phone calls to him that left him uncomfortable, given the traditional separation between the White House and the Department of Justice.

In addition to working at his brother's company, Bharara signed a book deal in June with Alfred A. Knopf and has taken a position as distinguished scholar in residence at New York University's law school.

Bharara has long said he is not interested in seeking public office, though speculation about his political ambitions was widespread even before he was fired.

(Reporting by Joseph Ax; editing by Daniel Wallis, G Crosse)

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