I wanted to be a prosecutor - a criminal lawyer - because there's nowhere where the stakes are higher, where you can wake up every day and believe in what you're doing.

Unfortunately, from what I can see from my vantage point as the U.S. Attorney here, illegal insider trading is rampant and may even be on the rise.

That's an incredibly serious thing if people think that the president of the United States can tell heads of law enforcement agencies, based on his own whim or his own personal preferences or friendships, that they should or should not pursue particular criminal cases against individuals. That's not how America works.

From coast to coast, the FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission have ensnared people not only at hedge funds, but at technology and pharmaceutical companies, consulting and law firms, government agencies, and even a major stock exchange.

I do my job. I love my job. It's the best job I ever had. And it's probably the best job I will ever have. And I serve at the pleasure of the president. That's true of President Obama. That will be true of President Trump. And if and when a president decides that they want to replace me, I'll ride off into the sunset.

I'm a big fan of meat.

I eat almost no lunch. I have a big dinner but I don't have a big lunch.

In some respects, inside information is a form of financial steroid. It is unfair: it is offensive it is unlawful and it puts a black mark on the entire enterprise.

Securities fraud generally and insider trading in particular should be eminently deterrable crimes.

I just want to apologize in advance that I don’t have enough subpoenas for all of you.

I would like to think that the level of aggressiveness in law enforcement will remain the same, when you're talking about things like keeping the markets fair and government honest. I don't foresee any departure from that, unless I'm missing something big.

History has shown that one cannot legislate a culture of integrity. And yet, one of the paramount responsibilities and challenges of corporate leadership is to ensure such a culture.

The aggressive use of wiretaps is important: It shows that we are targeting white-collar insider-trading rings with the same powerful investigative tools that have worked so successfully against the mob and drug cartels.

We have witnessed the most educated, successful, and monied professionals in the country put their companies - not to mention their own liberty - at risk by engaging in flagrant and foolhardy illegal conduct.

I spoke bluntly about what I had seen in a little over a year as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. To the apparent surprise of many in the room, I observed publicly that insider trading appeared to be rampant.

I don't eat green things, no vegetables.