Oregon Attorney General Billy J. Williams, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump in November 2017, was among prosecutors across the country on Tuesday instructed to resign while the Biden government seeks to replace them.
“In a call from all US attorneys this morning, Interim Attorney General Wilkinson instructed most of the US prosecutors appointed by the presidency, including US Attorney Williams, to file resignations beginning February 28, 2021,” said Kevin Sonoff, an Oregon prosecutor’s spokesman.
“Our office is taking all necessary steps to ensure a smooth transition and will provide more information soon.”
The first US assistant attorney, Scott Asphaug, is expected to assume the role of acting acting chief prosecutor on February 28, before a new appointment is made.
“Until the US prosecutor’s nominees are confirmed, interim and acting leaders in the US prosecutor’s offices will ensure that the department continues to fulfill its critical law enforcement mission, vigorously uphold the rule of law and pursue fair and equitable administration. impartial justice for all, ”said Interim Attorney General Monty Wilkinson in a statement on Tuesday.
United States Senator Ron Wyden is working with United States Senator Jeff Merkley to appoint a selection committee to interview and recommend candidates for the position. They will then nominate the finalists to forward to the Biden government for selection, according to the two Democratic senators.
“The two senators thank Billy Williams for almost six years of service to Oregon in this post as the head of the state’s federal police,” according to a joint statement from the senators’ offices.
Among the names that emerged as potential successors to Williams:
- US assistant attorney Craig Gabriel, deputy chief of the firm’s criminal division, who has served as a federal prosecutor since 2007 and previously served in civil litigation and criminal defense for two law firms.
- Renata Gowie, head of the office’s civil division who had recently applied for a vacancy as a federal judge.
- Dwight Holton, a former US prosecutor in Oregon who previously worked as an assistant federal prosecutor in New York and Portland before running the nonprofit Lines for Life that works to prevent substance abuse and suicide.
- US Assistant Prosecutor Ethan Knight, a veteran federal prosecutor and former district attorney who ran unsuccessfully for the Multnomah County Prosecutor’s seat this year.
- Donna Maddux, who spent eight years as a federal prosecutor after working for the Oregon Department of Justice for 10 years, is just a few months in a new job as responsible for data privacy and cybersecurity law for a private company.
- Vivek Kothari, who works in civil litigation as an associate of Markowitz Herbold and was a co-founder of the Oregon Clemency Project last year. Previously, he spent five years as a federal prosecutor in Atlanta.
- John Hummel, who was elected district attorney for Deschutes County for the first time in 2014 and re-elected in 2018. Previously, he served as director of state and federal policies for the Oregon Primary Care Association.
Williams, 64, served as an interim US attorney after replacing Amanda Marshall in April 2015 before being nominated by Trump on November 17, 2017, and confirmed by the Senate in March 2018. He joined the US Attorney’s Office in October 2000 after serving as Deputy District Attorney for Multnomah County.
For the past month, Williams has sought to stay in office, requesting letters from supporters to send on his behalf while he expressed his desire to remain in the chair.
However, all Trump-era nominees confirmed by the Senate were asked to submit their resignations, except for two prominent prosecutors in Delaware and Connecticut who are overseeing the Trump-era investigations.
United States Attorney General of Connecticut, John H. Durham, will continue as a special attorney in investigating the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, but is being asked to resign as US Attorney General, according to The Hartford Courant. Delaware federal prosecutor David C. Weiss, whose office is conducting a tax investigation of Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, will remain in office.
It is common for new presidents to replace US attorneys, and Williams’ departure was anticipated a long time ago.
In recent years, Williams has clashed with Portland city officials.
His decision last year to retain the federal deputy of 50 Portland police officers, despite the city’s objection and the request to withdraw federal authority granted to local police, led to a lawsuit against the United States Department of Justice.
In July, he called this “meaningless political theater” for Portland city officials to bar local police from collaborating with federal police during the protests and asked local residents to demand that “violent extremists” stop trying to breach the fence placed around the federal court. He has also made rare accusations of federal civil disorder against more than a dozen people involved in last year’s demonstrations.
In February 2019, Williams called this a “logic-defying error” after the City Council voted to remove the Portland police from the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force.
When Williams took office for the first time, he oversaw the federal prosecution of Ammon Bundy and other leaders of the armed occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon for 41 days.
Bundy and six other defendants accused of the armed acquisition were acquitted in the trial in October 2016, found innocent for conspiring to prevent federal officials from doing their job through intimidation, threat or force. A second trial resulted in guilty verdicts on at least one felony charge against each of the other four defendants who played minor roles in March 2017.
– Maxine Bernstein
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