Attorney General Sessions Asks 46 Obama Appointed U.S. Attorneys' Resignation

On Friday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked the remaining 46 U.S. attorneys from the Obama era to hand in their resignation to ensure a “uniform transition.”  

According to the Justice Department, some of the U.S. attorneys has already left their roles.

“As was the case in prior transitions, many of the United States Attorneys nominated by the previous administration already have left the Department of Justice,” said Sarah Isgur Flores, DOJ spokeswoman. “The Attorney General has now asked the remaining 46 presidentially appointed U.S. Attorneys to tender their resignations.”  

Only 46 of the 93 U.S. attorneys remain from the Obama Administration.

“Until the new U.S. Attorneys are confirmed, the dedicated career prosecutors in our U.S. Attorney’s Offices will continue the great work of the Department in investigating, prosecuting, and deterring the most violent offenders,” said the DOJ in a statement.  

U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara had met with President Donald Trump in November and after the meeting, he announced he planned to stay on. The New York Times reported that Sessions also requested that he stay on.

However, in the DOJ statement no exceptions were given. Trump will decide if he will accept all of the resignations though.  

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that he was “troubled to learn of reports of requests for resignations from the remaining U.S. Attorneys, particularly that of Preet Bharara.” 

He also expressed concern over having career prosecutors take over the attorney generals’ roles in the transition.

“While it’s true that presidents from both parties made their own choices for U.S. Attorney positions across the country, they have always done so in an orderly fashion that doesn’t put ongoing investigations at risk. They ask for letters of resignation but the attorneys are allowed to stay on the job until their successor is confirmed,” said Schumer.

“By asking for the immediate resignation of every remaining U.S. Attorney before their replacements have been confirmed or even nominated, the President is interrupting ongoing cases and investigations and hindering the administration of justice.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. expressed similar criticisms.

“I’m surprised to hear that President Trump and Attorney General Sessions have abruptly fired all 46 remaining U.S. attorneys,” said Feinstein.

“In January, I met with Vice President Pence and White House Counsel Donald McGahn and asked specifically whether all U.S. attorneys would be fired at once. Mr. McGahn told me that the transition would be done in an orderly fashion to preserve continuity. Clearly this is not the case. I’m very concerned about the effect of this sudden and unexpected decision on federal law enforcement.” 

While democrats voice their complaints about the “mass firing,” they are forgetting that Sessions himself was almost immediately fired (on March 23, 1993) when President Bill Clinton took office.

“The Attorney General’s actions are not uncommon. Many past presidents and their AGs have asked for the resignations of U.S. attorneys they were tasked with overseeing. In 2006 George W. Bush was attacked by liberals for firing seven U.S. attorneys. He was hardly the first. Both Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan fired a list of attorneys when they came to office. President Obama also cleaned house but at a slower pace, replacing many of the 94 U.S. attorneys one at a time instead of starting with a mass firing,” writes Breitbart.

Author’s note: Trump is first and foremost a business man and this is one of the many ways he plans to clean house. This transition is evitable, so why prolong it? We would expect nothing less of our change agent president.

Editor’s note: Despite the outrage from Democrats and the press, many presidents have done the same thing, including Bill Clinton.