U.S. attorney general Sessions seeks resignations of 46 attorneys

PanARMENIAN.Net - Attorney General Jeff Sessions is seeking the resignations of 46 United States attorneys who were holdovers from the Obama administration, the Justice Department said Friday, March 10, according to The Associated Press.

Many of the federal prosecutors who were nominated by former President Barack Obama have already left their positions, but the nearly four dozen who stayed on in the first weeks of the Trump administration have been asked to leave "in order to ensure a uniform transition," Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said.

"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," she said in a statement.

By Friday evening, U.S. attorneys around the country — including in New Jersey, Rhode Island, Minnesota and Arkansas — had publicly announced their resignations.

It's fairly customary for the 93 U.S. attorneys to leave their positions after a new president is in office, but the departures are not automatic and don't necessarily happen all at once.

One U.S. attorney appointed by President George W. Bush, Rod Rosenstein of Maryland, remained on the job for the entire Obama administration and is the current nominee for deputy attorney general in the Trump administration.

A Justice Department spokesman, Peter Carr, said late Friday that President Donald Trump has asked Rosenstein and Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente, who has served as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, to stay on.

U.S. attorneys are federal prosecutors who are nominated by the president, generally upon the recommendation of a home-state senator, and are responsible for prosecuting federal crimes in the territories they oversee. They report to Justice Department leadership in Washington, and their priorities are expected to be in line with those of the attorney general.