Ex-US Attorney Preet Bharara, fired by Trump, joins New York University's law school

Former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whom President Donald Trump fired earlier this month, will join New York University's law school on April 1 as a distinguished scholar in residence, the school announced on Tuesday.

In a statement provided by the school, Bharara said he was honored to join NYU, and welcomed the opportunity "to continue addressing the issues I so deeply care about - criminal and social justice, honest government, national security, civil rights, and corporate accountability, to name a few."

Bharara was fired by Trump on March 11 after refusing to step down. He had been among 46 U.S. attorneys who were told to submit their resignations a day earlier.

The firing was a surprise because Bharara had told reporters in November that Trump had asked him to remain in the job.

As the chief federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, which includes Manhattan, Bharara oversaw several notable corruption and white-collar criminal cases, as well as prosecutions of terrorism suspects.

A graduate of Harvard University and Columbia Law School, Bharara has been a frequent visitor to NYU, the law school said in the statement.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Nathan Layne in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa Von Ahn)