Attorney General Jeff Sessions has asked the remaining 46 US attorneys who served under the Obama administration to resign, the Justice Department announced Friday, describing the move as part of an effort to ensure a “uniform transition.”
The department said some US attorneys, as in prior transitions, already had left the department. Now, “the Attorney General has now asked the remaining 46 presidentially appointed US Attorneys to tender their resignations,” a spokeswoman said.
“Until the new US Attorneys are confirmed, the dedicated career prosecutors in our US Attorney’s Offices will continue the great work of the Department in investigating, prosecuting, and deterring the most violent offenders,” the statement added.
Department of Justice spokesperson Peter Carr told Fox News late Friday night: “The President called Dana Boente and Rod Rosenstein tonight to inform them that he has declined to accept their resignation, and they will remain in their current positions.”
However, no additional guidance was given on US Attorney General for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, who was appointed by then-President Barack Obama and assumed the role of Manhattan US Attorney in 2009. Bharara met with Trump in November and said after the meeting that he had agreed to stay on.
It is customary, though not automatic, for the country’s 93 US attorneys to leave their positions once a new president is in office. Incoming administrations over the past several decades typically have replaced most US attorneys during the first year or two.
Full Content: USA Today
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