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‘Proud immigrant’: Indian-origin US attorney gets personal on Twitter
Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor launched a new personal Twitter feed, and one of his first posts was a reference to decade-old “political interference” at the Department of Justice.
Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor launched a new personal Twitter feed, and one of his first posts was a reference to decade-old “political interference” at the Department of Justice.
US Attorney Preet Bharara started his latest social media feed last week by adding “USAtty” before his name in his previous handle to conform with new Department of Justice guidelines.
On his work Twitter site, he gave a shoutout to roughly 260,000 followers, urging them to follow his personal account: @PreetBharara. By late Tuesday afternoon, nearly 7,000 people had.
In his profile, the India-born prosecutor described himself as “Patriotic American & proud immigrant. Movie buff. @Springsteen fan.”
The outspoken Bharara, 48, was appointed to his job in 2009 by Democratic president Barack Obama and was kept on as US attorney after meeting with Republican President Donald Trump.
On Monday, the prosecutor wrapped humour around footage from The Associated Press of a Senate hearing that focused on whether federal prosecutors were fired for political reasons.
“This Senate hearing on political interference @ DOJ was 10 yrs ago today,” Bharara wrote. “Is that me in background? Boy I’ve aged.”
The prosecutor is known as tough on insider trading and public corruption, and he mixed humour with serious subjects in his first dozen tweets, just as he does in numerous speeches he delivers each year. His first re-tweet was of a follower who suggested all his tweets be commentary about Bruce Springsteen’s set lists.
“Not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all,” Bharara wrote.
As he watched the movie “Wall Street,” he sent along a quote from the film’s brash character Gordon Gekko, someone he had referenced at a news conference about insider trading years ago: “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works,” Bharara quoted Gekko, played by Michael Douglas, as saying before the prosecutor added his own observation: “Well, not always.”
