Power Play: Biden to Fire Trump US Attorneys
The Justice Department is expected to ask a host of U.S. attorneys appointed by President Donald Trump to tender their resignations, CNN reported Monday.
The request come come as soon as Tuesday, the cable news network said.
It also noted that the turnover was expected to omit top prosecutors in Connecticut and Delaware. They happen to be overseeing delicate, politically fraught investigations dating back to the Trump administration, a senior Justice official told CNN.
On Monday night, acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson called to ask Delaware's U.S. Attorney David Weiss to remain; he happens to be at the helm of the tax probe of Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son, whose troubles were an issue in the recent presidential election.
John Durham, tapped by Trump-era Attorney General Bill Barr to reinvestigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe that led to Trump's first impeachment, will also continue his work, CNN said. However, it's anticipated that Durham will exit as U.S. attorney in Connecticut, the Justice official is reported as saying.
The resignation request is expected to apply to 56 U.S. attorneys tapped by Trump and confirmed by the Senate, all told. CNN said officials have set a call with U.S. attorneys around the country to discuss the transition period.
Unknown is precisely when the resignations would go into effect or how long the transitional period will go.
As the network reported, such a changeover is not uncommon, but can be politically touchy. In 2017, Trump Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked 46 Obama-appointed U.S. attorneys to take their leave.
There is, of course, some evidence of a Biden administration distrust toward Trump appointees: His White House, for instance, named a career Justice Department official acting attorney general while it waits for the Senate to confirm Merrick Garland, the president's nominee.
Another who may stay on for a while under Biden, said the news network: Michael Sherwin, acting U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., who is overseeing the probe of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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