Preet Bharara last year. On Friday, Mr. Bharara was asked to step down along with 45 other United States attorneys.

WASHINGTON (Diya TV) — Preet Bharara, the Manhattan federal prosecutor who was asked by President Trump to remain at his post shortly after the election, was fired Saturday after he refused to tender a resignation letter. Friday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that he was asking 46 US Attorneys including Bharara to resign

Bharara’s dismissal capped off an extraordinary showdown which pitted a political appointee who was named by Trump’s predecessor, against the president, after he declined an order to submit his resignation.

“I did not resign. Moments ago I was fired. Being the US Attorney in SDNY will forever be the greatest honor of my professional life,” Bharara wrote on his Twitter account Saturday morning. He established the account only two weeks ago.

Bharara was among the 46 holdover appointees from former president Barack Obama who were called by the acting deputy attorney general on Friday and told to immediately submit resignations and plan to clear out of their offices. However, Bharara, who met with the then President-elect at his Trump Tower offices in November.

Bharara said he was asked by Trump to remain in his current post at the meeting, he told reporters afterward.

Before the firing, one of New York’s top elected Republicans voiced support for Bharara on Saturday.

“Good for Preet, he is doing the job he was appointed to do!” Assemblyman Brian M. Kolb, the State Assembly minority leader, wrote on Twitter.

The Southern District of New York, which Bharara has represented since 2009, encompasses Manhattan, Trump’s home before he was elected president, as well as the Bronx, Westchester, and other counties north of New York City.