Barbara McQuade

attorneys.

That's pretty typical and even expected.

I had actually planned to leave myself at the end of April to come work at the University of Michigan by that time.

But it was a very abrupt way to end the tenure of president.

I think it was something like 47 remaining U.S.

attorneys who'd been appointed by President Obama.

And to me, that was just not good government.

On a Friday afternoon in March of that year, I started hearing from colleagues around the country that they had been fired.

Our public affairs officer came into my office and told me how sorry she was.

And I said, what are you talking about?

And she said, oh, they've just announced, the Justice Department has just announced that all of the Obama U.S.

attorneys have been.

asked to resign.

But we had just days before been told by the new Attorney General Jeffrey Sessions that we would be allowed to leave when our successors were named so as to promote an orderly transition of power.

And suddenly something irked

President Trump, I know Preet Bharara, the U.S.

attorney in the Southern District of New York, thinks it was his failure to return his phone calls that got him angry and got him fired and then and all the rest of them, too.

So I don't know how that happened, but it just struck me as an example of putting public spite ahead of what was in the best interest of the American people.

Yeah, it's not uncommon for somebody to be told you must resign.

And I suppose in some ways that's a face-saving way out to resign.