On December 22, 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of Corey P. Ellis to serve as the Interim United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina. Ellis will be sworn in on January 10, 2022. He recently served as the acting director of the Executive Office for United States Attorneys. On October 28, 2020, he appeared on the NAFUSA webinar along side then chair of the AGAC, and now NAFUSA member, Erin Nealy Cox. He is presently serving as chief of staff for FBI Director Christopher A. Wray.

Previously, Ellis served in several leadership roles in the Department of Justice, including as chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein. Ellis was also the first assistant in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina. While an assistant U.S. attorney, he handled a wide range of criminal investigations, including public corruption, white collar fraud, securities fraud, and cybercrime. Ellis began his career as a prosecutor in the district attorney’s office in Hendersonville, North Carolina and has tried more than 100 jury trials.

Ellis received his undergraduate degree from Brown University and his law degree from the University of Memphis School of Law.

Tom Wales

The Department of Justice announced on Monday, October 11, 2021, that the reward for information to help solve the assassination of Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Wales in 2001 has been increased to $2,523,000. Of that amount, $523,000 has been pledged by the NAFUSA Foundation. The announcement was made Monday morning during a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of Wales’ murder is his Seattle home. In addition, the Department announced it was returning control of the investigation to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Seattle. Wales was shot while sitting at a computer in the basement of his home.

Monday’s action by the Justice Department followed a meeting last week when all the living former United States Attorneys in the Western District of Washington (Mayor Jenny Durkan, Mike McKay, John McKay, Brian Moran, Jeff Sullivan and Annette Hayes) met with Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco to discuss the need to keep the investigation active and open. The Department responded with an increase of $1M in the reward and a lifting of the recusal of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District. Mike McKay is a former president of NAFUSA and for many years served as the president of the NAFUSA Foundation. In that capacity, Mike led the effort to raise $523,000 in pledges and to continue to encourage this long standing effort to bring justice to this terrible crime.

On July 21, 2021, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland formally updated the Justice Department’s governing communications between DOJ and the White House.

“The success of the Department of Justice depends upon the trust of the American people,” wrote Attorney General Garland. “That trust must be earned every day. And we can do so only through our adherence to the longstanding Departmental norms of independence from inappropriate influences, the principled exercise of discretion, and the treatment of like cases alike.”

Click here to read the entire memorandum:

attorney_general_memorandum_-_department_of_justice_communications_with_the_white_house_july_21_2021

On May 25, 2021, the Senate confirmed Kristen Clarke as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights. The vote was 51-48. Clarke started her career as an attorney in the Civil Rights Division. She has been most recently the president and executive director of the National Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Law and has served as the head of the Civil Rights Bureau at the New York Attorney General’s Office. She earned her law degree from Harvard University.

On Tuesday, April 20, 2021, the United States Senate overwhelmingly (98-2) confirmed Lisa Monaco to serve as Deputy Attorney General. She served in the Department of Justice for fifteen years, spending the majority of her time as a career federal prosecutor and eventually being appointed Associate Deputy Attorney General; Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General; and the first woman confirmed as Assistant Attorney General for National Security. She has also served as Counsel and Chief of Staff to then-FBI Director Robert Mueller and White House Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor. She earned her Juris Doctor at the the University of Chicago Law School.

On Wednesday, April 21, Vanita Gupta was confirmed by the Senate as Associate Attorney General in a close 51 to 49 vote, when Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska broke ranks to be the only Republican to vote yes. Gupta has served as the Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights in the Obama Administration. She has been the president and chief executive officer of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights Civil Rights Coalition. She earned her Juris Doctor at New York University.

On April 12, 2021, President Biden nominated Kenneth Polite to serve as the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s criminal division. Polite served as the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana from 2013 to 2017. He joined Morgan Lewis’ global disputes and investigations team as a partner in Philadelphia in July 2018.

Monty Wilkinson

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced on March 22, 2021, that former acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson has been appointed as the Director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys (EOUSA). Wilkinson previously served as the Director of EOUSA from 2014 until December 2017, and prior to that as its Principal Deputy Director and Chief of Staff.

During his career with the Department of Justice, Wilkinson has served as Counselor and Deputy Chief of Staff to the Attorney General, as an Associate Deputy Attorney General, and as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Human Resources and Administration. He also held senior management positions for nearly a decade in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. Mr. Wilkinson started his career at the Department of Justice as a trial attorney in the Criminal Division.

Norman Wong, who has been serving as the Acting Director of EOUSA since January 20, 2021, will return to his position as Principal Deputy Director. “Norm Wong has served at EOUSA with distinction for a number of years and provided exemplary leadership to the U.S. Attorney’s Offices as Acting Director over the past seven weeks,” said Attorney General Garland. “Norm’s commitment to public service is exceptional and I thank him for his service.”

“I look forward to working with Monty again as I did 25 years ago when I was the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General,” said Attorney General Garland. “Monty ensured that the Department continued to work and to honor its proud traditions during the leadership transition between new administrations. The Department is fortunate to have Monty back at EOUSA and I am confident he will help continue to build upon our many successes in enforcing our country’s laws, bringing criminals to justice and ensuring equal justice under the law.”

In the photo below, Monty shares an elbow bump with AG Garland on the Judge’s first day as Attorney General at Main Justice.

On March 10, 2021, Merrick B. Garland was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as the Attorney General of the United States, by a vote of 70-30.

On February 18, 2021, more than 150 former United States Attorneys and other senior Department of Justice officials signed a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee supporting President Biden’s nomination of Judge Garland. The signers have served in 46 states and the District of Columbia under both Democratic and Republican Administrations.

Urging Senate confirmation of Judge Garland, the letter states:

On February 8, 2021, a bipartisan letter from over 100 former Unites States Attorneys who served over the  past six decades was delivered to Chairman Durbin and Ranking Member Grassley in support of President Biden’s nomination of Lisa A. Monaco for Deputy Attorney General.

 

Ms. Monaco’s record of service and accomplishment makes her ideally suited to serve as Deputy Attorney General. We applaud President Biden for nominating someone of such caliber: a dedicated public servant who is universally heralded for her legal acumen, her strong analytical and leadership abilities, her integrity and humility, and her utter dedication to the rule of law and to the independence and excellence of the Justice Department. We give her nomination our unqualified endorsement, and we urge the Judiciary Committee and the United States Senate to promptly confirm Ms. Monaco as the next Deputy Attorney General of the United States.

Click here to review the letter and a list of signatories: Monaco USA Letter 02.08.21

Monty Wilkinson

On February 9, 2021 Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson announced that continuing the practice of new administrations, President Biden and the Department of Justice have begun the transition process for the U.S. Attorneys.

“We are committed to ensuring a seamless transition. Until U.S. Attorney nominees are confirmed, the interim and acting leaders in the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices will make sure that the department continues to accomplish its critical law enforcement mission, vigorously defend the rule of law and pursue the fair and impartial administration of justice for all,” said Wilkinson.

According to the Office of Public Affairs, earlier this year, nearly all presidential appointees from the previous administration offered their resignations, though U.S. Attorneys and U.S. Marshals were asked to temporarily remain in place. Prior to the beginning of this U.S. Attorney transition process, approximately one-third of the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices were already led by acting or interim leadership.

The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times reported that Wilkinson plans to ask the remaining holdover U.S. Attorneys appointed by President Trump to resign. Exempt from the decision, however, are two top prosecutors overseeing politically sensitive inquiries, including U.S. Attorney David Weiss, whose office is conducting a criminal tax investigation into Hunter Biden. John Durham is expected to remain as a special counsel overseeing a wide-ranging inquiry into the origins of the FBI’s 2016 Russia investigation, He was appointed to that position by former Attorney General William Barr in December, 2020. Durham is expected to step down as the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut.

NAFUSA has welcomed 17 new members from the Trump Administration, including three life members. More are expected as the transition continues.