Trump administration orders resignation of remaining Obama-era US attorneys

All 46 US prosecutors leftover from the Obama administration have been ordered to resign, including Preet Bharara of Manhattan, who was asked in November by then President-elect Donald Trump about staying on the job.

The request was formally delivered by Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Friday, who called the process a "uniform transition."

Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores issued a statement, saying, "Until the new U.S. attorneys are confirmed, the dedicated career prosecutors in our U.S. attorney's offices will continue the great work of the department in investigating, prosecuting and deterring the most violent offenders," according to the Associated Press.

The 46 Obama holdovers represent about half of all 93 US attorneys. The other 47 prosecutor positions have already been filled by the Trump administration, as the Obama administration US attorneys left as Trump took the White House.

It is customary that US attorneys leave their positions when a new administration arrives. In 1993, President Bill Clinton requested all 93 US attorneys resign the same day.

President Barack Obama kept US attorney Rod Rosenstein of Maryland, who was appointed under the Bush administration. Now Rosenstein is the nominee for deputy attorney general under Sessions.