By hiring Christine, Trump bypassed the prosecutor who would normally take over as a replacement in the event of an emergency or a sudden surge, the first assistant to the US attorney, Kurt Erskine.
A White House spokesman referred questions about the move to the Justice Department.
Trump’s inauguration of a new leader in the US attorney’s office in Georgia’s largest city comes as he continues to criticize the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation for failing to act aggressively against what he argued as unfounded fraud. rampant in the November elections in Georgia and other undecided states.
Georgia election officials have refuted Trump’s claims in detail. In addition, ex-attorney general Bill Barr said last year that he saw no evidence of widespread fraud that could have affected the outcome of the election. Barr refused to appoint a special lawyer to investigate these allegations before resigning last month.
US prosecutors are usually replaced after a change in presidential administration and some leave before the formal transfer of power. Pak was expected to remain until the day of the inauguration.
Pak’s resignation and Christine’s assignment were first reported by the Talking Points Memo, which cited an internal memo from Pak attributing his hasty departure to “unforeseen circumstances”. In the middle of Tuesday morning, the “Meet the US Attorney” web page that used to contain Pak’s biography simply said “it will be added soon”.
Pak’s resignation came a day after the release of an explosive audio recording of a phone call in which Trump rebuked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, repeatedly raising illusory allegations of electoral fraud and insisting that the Republican official change the count. of votes to show that Trump won.
At one point on the call, Trump seemed to denigrate a federal prosecutor in Georgia, saying, “You are with your U.S. attorney who was never a Trumper.” Trump did not appear to name anyone, but some Pak associates believe the president may be referring to him.
Last June, Barr made an embarrassing attempt to remove the United States attorney in Manhattan, Geoffrey Berman, and replace him as a representative with the United States attorney in New Jersey, Craig Carpenito, who was seen as one more loyal to Trump. Although Berman was chosen by the government to take the role as an actor, he was never formally nominated for the role.
The reshuffle sparked outrage among prosecutors in Berman’s office, some of whom had investigated Trump, his companies and his allies over campaign funding allegations and other issues. Barr finally gave up on the plan to install Carpenito and allowed the first assistant to the United States attorney general in Manhattan, Audrey Strauss, to take over as an actor.