preet bharara speaks with reporters at trump tower wednesday in new york. | ap photo/evan vucci by colby hamilton 11/30/16 06:59 pm est the consensus among most legal observers and former federal prosecutors was that there was little chance manhattan u.s. attorney preet bharara would ultimately stay on under president-elect donald trump's administration. that consensus was proved wrong on wednesday, when bharara met with trump at his midtown office tower and said after that the president-elect had asked him to continue on as u.s. attorney, and that he intends to do so. story continued below <u+201c>the president-elect asked, presumably because he's a new yorker and is aware of the great work that our office has done over the past seven years, asked to meet with me to discuss whether or not i'd be prepared to stay on as the united states attorney to do the work as we have done it, independently, without fear or favor for the last seven years,<u+201d> bharara told reporters assembled in the lobby of trump tower, according to a pool report. <u+201c>i agreed to stay on,<u+201d> he continued. bharara has made a major name for himself for his political corruption investigations, where he's already won big convictions. his investigation into former senate majority leader dean skelos resulted in an eight-count conviction and a five-year prison sentence for the nassau county republican; his investigation into former assembly speaker sheldon silver led to a seven-count conviction and twelve-year prison sentence for the manhattan democrat. and just this month, a federal grand jury handed down indictments against former members of gov. andrew cuomo's inner circle, joe percoco and alain kaloyeros. what hangs over his decision to stay on, though, are his office's investigations that are still ongoing. those, at a minimum, appear to include one into whether donors to mayor bill de blasio's campaign received favors from the city. bharara<u+2019>s old boss, sen. charles schumer, who is slated to be the senate democrats<u+2019> leader, said in a statement wednesday that the president-elect had also reached out to him about bharara staying on last week and that he said he <u+201c>would be all for keeping him on the job.<u+201d> <u+201c>i am glad they met and am glad preet is staying on. he<u+2019>s been one of the best u.s attorneys new york has ever seen,<u+201d> schumer said. part of what surprised some about bharara likely staying on is that the protocol has been, generally, when a new presidential administration comes into power, u.s. attorneys appointed under the previous administration of the other political party tender their resignations and are replaced. <u+201c>news that preet has been asked to stay did come as somewhat of a surprise, because the sdny u.s. attorney job is an important position that i think a lot of republican former prosecutors would want, but it's a very welcome surprise for those who care about public corruption issues," said jennifer rodgers, the executive director of the center for the advancement of public integrity at columbia law school. there are, of course, exceptions. in manhattan, mary jo white, who most recently served as chairwoman of the security and exchange commission before announcing she was stepping down days after trump<u+2019>s victory earlier this month, served as u.s. attorney first under former president bill clinton and then for a year under former president george w. bush. she departed at the start of 2002. the legal community may not have expected bharara to get asked to stay, but observers said they weren<u+2019>t at all surprised he said yes. <u+201c>i<u+2019>m not surprised preet would agree to stay on, because it<u+2019>s clear he enjoys the job. he<u+2019>s had a very distinguished run since he was confirmed a number of years ago,<u+201d> said kelly currie, who served as interim u.s. attorney before robert capers took over last year in brooklyn. trump<u+2019>s decision to ask bharara to stay was applauded by former federal prosecutors. <u+201c>i think it<u+2019>s a great development,<u+201d> said alan vinegrad, who served as interim u.s. attorney in brooklyn from 2001 to 2002. <u+201c>i think he<u+2019>s widely respected and admired for the work he<u+2019>s done. i think it<u+2019>s positive that the new administration has asked him to stay on, even though there<u+2019>s a difference in the political party than when preet was appointed.<u+201d> vinegrad, like many others, saw trump<u+2019>s request for bharara to remain u.s. attorney as bolstering the work done by the office on public corruption in new york state. <u+201c>it<u+2019>s outstanding news,<u+201d> said assemblyman steve mclaughlin, a republican from suburban troy and an outspoken critic of cuomo. <u+201c>as we continue to drain the swamp here in new york, there<u+2019>s been nobody more effective than preet bharara. while i<u+2019>m sure it ruined the governor<u+2019>s day, it certainly made mine. it<u+2019>s a great move by the president-elect.<u+201d> bharara hasn't been shy about calling out what he sees as a culture of corruption in state government. <u+201c>we<u+2019>re as busy as we ever were, maybe busier,<u+201d> he said after unveiling the complaint against percoco and kaloyeros in september. <u+201c>this is big-time stuff and goes to the core of how i think state government operates." but observers are quick to point out that this doesn<u+2019>t mean that, had trump opted not to keep bharara, whomever took over would have been seen as a boon for city and state officials currently or prospectively in bharara<u+2019>s crosshairs. the reality is that, whomever heads up the southern district office, the day-to-day operations move on a continuum, even as administrations come and go. currie noted that he served as a prosecutor under clinton, bush and lastly under president obama. while the priorities at the department of justice may shift, making those changes on the ground was <u+201c>like turning a battleship.<u+201d> <u+201c>it takes a while to really see the impact,<u+201d> he said. but a clear impact of bharara staying is that his particular kind of leadership on public corruption issues will remain in place, even if the work of the line assistants would have gone on largely as it had before if he<u+2019>d been replaced. <u+201c>it signals the longstanding tradition that the mission of u.s. attorneys and u.s. attorney<u+2019>s offices and, really, the department of justice is not a political one. the mission is to fairly enforce the laws and to do justice,<u+201d> currie said. <u+201c>in terms what that means for the priorities of that office and preet<u+2019>s priorities, there<u+2019>s a lot to be said for continuity<u+2026>having someone stay in place obviously suggests that the priorities of that office are going to remain consistent with what we<u+2019>ve seen over the last number of years.<u+201d> -- additional reporting contributed by jimmy 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bharara plans to stay on under trump, pleasantly surprising legal community
colby hamilton