--- title: Time 100: Preet Bharara Has No Plans to Enter Politics description: Preet Bharara said he is not considering a run for office, shutting down speculation about his own political ambitions canonical: https://time.com/4753553/preet-bharara-politics-plans-time-100-gala/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-26T03:11:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-07-21T07:15:05.922Z article:section: Politics og:title: Preet Bharara on Why He's Still Figuring Out His Next Career Move og:description: He talked about why he won't go into politics at the TIME 100 Gala og:url: https://time.com/4753553/preet-bharara-politics-plans-time-100-gala/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdfbdf58b04b80ee7/6988caa6a988cac8456bbed2/preet-bharara.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: NY: Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara delivers John Jay Ise og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Preet Bharara on Why He's Still Figuring Out His Next Career Move twitter:description: He talked about why he won't go into politics at the TIME 100 Gala twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdfbdf58b04b80ee7/6988caa6a988cac8456bbed2/preet-bharara.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Preet Bharara on Why He’s Still Figuring Out His Next Career Move  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 26, 2017 3:11 AM UTC  Preet Bharara, Former U.S Attorney for the Southern District of New York, delivering the annual John Jay Iselin Memorial Lecture in the Great Hall of Cooper Union in New York City on April 6, 2017. Preet Bharara, Former U.S Attorney for the Southern District of New York, delivering the annual John Jay Iselin Memorial Lecture in the Great Hall of Cooper Union in New York City on April 6, 2017.Albin Lohr-Jones—Sipa Press/AP  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Apr 26, 2017 3:11 AM UTC [Preet Bharara](http://time.com/4699086/us-attorney-preet-bharara-fired/) said he is not considering a run for office, shutting down speculation about his own political ambitions by repeating a line he’s used in recent weeks. “I have no plans to enter politics in the same way that I have no plans to enter the circus,” he said at the TIME 100 Gala on Tuesday, [reiterating a line](http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/06/preet-bharara-speaks-at-cooper-union-first-since-firing.html) from a speech he made earlier this month. “And I mean no offense to the circus.” As for what’s next, Bharara said he’s still trying to figure that out. “I didn’t surrender my law license, my voice or my convictions,” he said. “So I still want to — if I can — educate people about the issues I care about, raise awareness, point people in directions, motivate people to care about our country. So I’ll figure that out.” Bharara, who has been critical of Trump’s Justice Department, also expressed concern about the [93 unfilled U.S. attorney positions](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/a-month-after-dismissing-federal-prosecutors-justice-department-does-not-have-any-us-attorneys-in-place/2017/04/18/d94c4bd0-2442-11e7-b503-9d616bd5a305%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.9c302636b471) in the [Trump Administration](http://time.com/4751511/surgeon-general-vivek-murthy-donald-trump/). “I don’t know that there’s been a time in modern history when there has been literally no Senate-confirmed United States attorney in the country,” he said. “That’s unusual, probably not for the best.” [Bharara was fired](http://time.com/4699086/us-attorney-preet-bharara-fired/) from his role as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York in March after he refused to submit a letter of resignation on the request of Attorney General [Jeff Sessions](http://time.com/4752856/jeff-sessions-hawaii-pacific-island-travel-ban/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4753553/preet-bharara-politics-plans-time-100-gala/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4753553/preet-bharara-politics-plans-time-100-gala/"},"headline":"Preet Bharara on Why He’s Still Figuring Out His Next Career Move","datePublished":"2017-04-26T03:11:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:15:05.922Z","description":"He talked about why he won't go into politics at the TIME 100 Gala","url":"https://time.com/4753553/preet-bharara-politics-plans-time-100-gala/","keywords":["TIME 100","TIME 100","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdfbdf58b04b80ee7/6988caa6a988cac8456bbed2/preet-bharara.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdfbdf58b04b80ee7/6988caa6a988cac8456bbed2/preet-bharara.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"NY: Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara delivers John Jay Ise","caption":"NY: Former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara delivers John Jay Ise","creditText":"Albin Lohr-Jones—Sipa Press/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4753553/preet-bharara-politics-plans-time-100-gala/","name":"Preet Bharara on Why He’s Still Figuring Out His Next Career Move"}}]}] ```