Some short-lived high drama involving the refusal of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara to resign after being asked to do so along with 46 other Obama-appointed attorneys: short-lived because President Trump has, in short order, fired him. There's nothing unusual about the administration's request that these attorneys resign, but it is unusual for one of them to refuse. This story is still developing, but I am guessing Bharara's refusal is connected to his previous statements in November that President Trump and Jeff Sessions had asked him to continue in his position. Indeed, the Washington Post is reporting that Bharara was confused as to whether the request for mass resignations applied to him.

As this article details, Bharara has gone after Republicans and Democrats alike during his tenure as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. I'm particularly gratified by his willingness to take on New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has always rubbed me the wrong way, and whose presidential ambitions fill me with a foreboding for the sake of the Democratic Party; the party needs new blood, not someone whose advisors have been accused of bribery. And indeed, it is not beyond the realm of possibility, as Josh Marshall notes in this post at Talking Points Memo, that Trump's initial impulse to retain Bharara is related to the fact the attorney has been going after New York Mayor Bill DeBlasio's fundraising practices (the TPM post is worth reading for its overview of the possibilities around why this firing played out like it did).