Washington Post: DOJ is investigating US prosecutor’s resignation in Atlanta

Washington Post: DOJ is investigating US prosecutor’s resignation in Atlanta

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The newspaper, citing people familiar with the matter, reported that Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s investigation appears incipient, noting that investigators have not spoken to Pak and the limits of the investigation remain unclear.

A spokesman for the inspector general’s office declined to comment when contacted by CNN. Pak declined to comment to the Post.

Pak, appointed by Trump who has worked at the office since 2017, abruptly left his job on January 4 as a US attorney for the Northern Georgia District, which includes Atlanta and Fulton County, citing “unforeseen circumstances” in a memo to staff . Pak’s departure came after a phone call the previous weekend when Trump lobbied Georgia Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” votes to overturn the state election, which he lost to President Joe Biden.
In the audio of the call obtained by CNN and reported for the first time by the Post, Trump is also heard making baseless statements about the state election and, at one point, when questioning the ballot audit, he tells Raffensperger: “You have your never-US Attorney Trumper “without mentioning a name. The comment seems to refer to Pak.

Trump, meanwhile, ordered a U.S. attorney from southern Georgia to take over the Atlanta office in an unusual move. The Justice Department said South Georgia District Attorney Bobby Christine, who has also been appointed by Trump and has been in office since 2017, will take over as interim chief in Atlanta, handling both roles. The assistant attorney general in the Atlanta office, Kurt Erskine, would normally have assumed the role of acting prosecutor, but was passed over.

Two people familiar with the matter told the Post in Thursday’s story that a call from a senior Justice Department official in Washington indicated to Pak that he should resign. Trump was furious at what he considered an insufficient department search for his baseless allegations about the election of Georgia and the nation in general, people familiar with the matter told the newspaper at the time.

As CNN previously reported, there were no credible allegations of any voting issues that would have impacted the election, as claimed by dozens of judges, governors, election officials, the Electoral College, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security and the Supreme US court.

Law firm Alston & Bird announced on Thursday that Pak would return to the firm in February as a partner in its Litigation & Trial Practice Group in Atlanta. Pak was previously a litigation associate at Alston & Bird and started his private practice career back in 2000, according to a company press release.
In the Justice Department statement announcing his resignation earlier this month, Pak said he was grateful to Trump for the opportunity to serve and thanked former attorney generals William Barr and Jeff Sessions.

“It was the greatest honor of my professional career to have been able to serve my fellow citizens as a US Attorney for the Northern Georgia District,” he said. “I did my best to be considerate and consistent and to provide justice to my fellow citizens in a fair, effective and efficient way.”

CNN’s Katelyn Polantz, Evan Perez, Chandelis Duster and Kelly Mena contributed to this report.

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