Scott Fallon

The (Bergen County, N.J.) Record

TEANECK, N.J. — Less than two days after President Trump ordered him and 45 other U.S. Attorneys to immediately resign, Paul Fishman said Sunday the timing of the order was “abrupt and shocking” and complicates the transition to a successor.

Speaking to a gathering of 440 Muslim leaders, politicians and law enforcement officials at the Glenpointe Marriot in Teaneck, Fishman said he expected to be asked to leave his post in New Jersey within a few months. Instead he only had a few hours on Friday evening to turn in his resignation.

“A transition period would have been a lot better,” Fishman said in an interview with The Record after his speech. “I knew this job wasn’t mine forever. It shouldn’t be in any event and the president has the power, authority and opportunity to appoint U.S. Attorneys who would serve him and I fully expected that process would take place over a couple of months. I just didn’t think we would be given seven to nine hours.”

Trump’s surprise resignation order on Friday to all of the remaining federal prosecutors nominated by President Obama was “to ensure a uniform transition," Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said.

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The order is not unprecedented. All 93 U.S. Attorneys are political appointees and serve at the pleasure of the president. Attorney General Janet Reno demanded the resignations of all U.S. attorneys in the early days of the Clinton administration.

Still Fishman said it could have been handled better.

Fishman found out about the resignation request Friday evening after he arrived back in New Jersey from a speaking engagement in Florida. Upon landing he found he had a message to call the acting Attorney General Dana Boente, who Fishman has known for years and considers a friend.

“He told me he had been asked to call me to submit my resignation and I did,” Fishman said. He said he wasn’t given a detailed explanation.

Since he is the only member of his office leaving, Fishman said ongoing investigations and prosecutions will continue without interruption. They will now be overseen in the interim by his first assistant Bill Fitzpatrick, a career prosecutor, Fishman said.

His departure comes just before his most high profile case comes to the conclusion: the sentencing of two former aides to Gov. Chris Christie in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal scheduled for Wednesday.

Fishman, a Montclair resident, held the post for more than seven years, longer than any other federal prosecutor in the state since the 1960s.

In his 10-minute speech at the American Muslim Union’s Annual Community Lunch on Sunday, Fishman said Trump’s order was especially “disrespectful” to the career prosecutors who held the top spot at their respective offices and were asked to resign.

Fishman said in speech that he often worked with Muslim leaders to develop a better trust between law enforcement and the community. He got a bit choked up as he thanked them for “making me a better prosecutor” and received a standing ovation when he was done.

After the speech, he said the swift end to his federal career makes it needlessly difficult for his successor to develop connections with groups like the American Muslim Union.

“The thing that I think is unfortunate is that you can see by today’s event that a lot of the job of the U.S. Attorney is outward facing in terms of building relationships in the law enforcement community, in communities of color, religion,” Fishman said to The Record. “It would have been an easier transition if we had time to setup a process to introduce people in the office so we could continue the dialogue in a way that would be smoother.”

Fishman was praised by many at the lunch. Muslim men and women approached Fishman and thanked him for his outreach efforts to their community.

Col. Rick Fuentes, the state police superintendent, credited Fishman for running an effective team of investigators and prosecutors as well as going beyond the usual functions of a U.S. Attorney. “Anytime I went to a community event, he was always there,” Fuentes said.

Fishman’s high profile colleague, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara of the Southern District of New York, refused to resign Friday and was instead fired. Trump had asked Bharara in November to continue in his post but then reversed that decision abruptly.

Fishman, who has yet to speak to Bharara about his decision, said he had didn’t consider refusing Trump’s request.

“The president asks for your resignation and under those circumstances I felt it appropriate to hand it in,” he said.

Follow Scott Fallon on Twitter: @NewsFallon