WASHINGTON – Interim Attorney General Monty Wilkinson asked the remaining Trump era prosecutors in a conference call on Tuesday to withdraw later this month, according to a Justice Department official at the summons, paving the way for the transition to a new leadership under the Biden administration.
While it was routine for new governments, Wilkinson’s request that the US Attorneys for the Trump administration leave for a period of weeks contrasted with the demand by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions without warning in 2017 that Obama-era officials to resign immediately.
Wilkinson’s decision echoed the transition processes of the Bush and Obama governments, and was in line with the Biden administration’s overall strategy of restoring executive rules.
United States prosecutors, the main federal prosecutors in the Department of Justice offices across the country, are usually political nominations made by presidents. When former President Donald J. Trump’s nominees leave office, their positions will be filled by interim employees, most often career promoters of those positions, until their replacements are confirmed, the department said in a statement on Tuesday. .
“We are committed to ensuring a seamless transition,” said Wilkinson in the statement. “Until the US prosecutor’s nominees are confirmed, acting and acting leaders in the US prosecutors’ 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. “
The Justice Department said that about a third of the nation’s 94 attorney offices were already being overseen by interim or interim leaders, and that President Biden would announce his nominees later.
His confirmations will follow those of Judge Merrick B. Garland, Biden’s nominee for Attorney General, whose confirmation hearing is not expected to begin until February 22, according to an informed person.
This week, Mr. Wilkinson also addressed questions about who will lead the investigations that pose political challenges to the Biden government and his hope to restore the Justice Department’s image of impartiality.
He allowed John H. Durham, who will present his resignation as a US attorney in Connecticut, to remain in the department as a special lawyer summoned to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, according to a senior Justice Department official.
Since spring 2019, Durham has been investigating whether any Obama administration officials broke the law by examining the potential ties of Trump’s campaign to Russia, a job that Trump predicted would end in criminal charges against a series of high-ranking former officials. . Although these charges did not happen, former Attorney General William P. Barr secretly appointed Mr. Durham to serve as a special attorney last fall, almost guaranteeing that the investigation would continue after Mr. Trump stepped down.
Wilkinson also asked David C. Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware appointed by Trump, to stay and continue to oversee the investigation of tax fraud in Biden’s son Hunter, the official said.
Dozens of U.S. prosecutors appointed by Trump resigned in the weeks before and after the election, leaving 57 leaders from the country’s federal prosecutors’ offices, nominated presidentially and confirmed by the Senate.
Wilkinson instructed all of them, except Weiss, to resign from February 28, according to the department official who was on the call.
Michael R. Sherwin, the US attorney in Washington, will step down, but will remain with the Department of Justice to oversee the extensive investigation of the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill by a pro-Trump crowd, according to officials informed of his situation. He is likely to work outside the Justice Department headquarters in Washington, but the timing of his shift is unclear, an official said.
The investigation has its own political dimensions, as it focuses on whether Trump’s supporters have committed crimes and supports the Democrats’ case for Trump’s impeachment.
The investigation has already resulted in numerous criminal charges, including a handful of conspiracy charges. Investigators and counterterrorism experts hope it will continue to produce evidence about far-right groups and individual extremists, many of whom have declared their loyalty to the former president.