Biden Administration to Ask Dozens of Trump-Appointed U.S. Attorneys to Resign

Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson plans to ask holdover U.S. attorneys appointed by former President Donald Trump to resign, officials familiar with the matter said, as the Biden administration moves to put its stamp on the Justice Department.

Exempt from the decision, however, are two top prosecutors overseeing politically sensitive inquiries, including Delaware U.S. attorney David Weiss, whose office is conducting a criminal tax investigation into President Biden’s son, Hunter, a senior Justice Department official said.

Another prosecutor, 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, while relinquishing his position as Connecticut’s U.S. attorney, the official said. Former Attorney General William Barr named him special counsel in October. He announced the decision in December.

The Justice Department official said the resignation request applies to 56 U.S. attorneys, but their departures aren’t expected to be immediate. Justice Department officials have scheduled a Tuesday conference call with U.S. attorneys to discuss the transition, two officials said.

It is not clear whether the request also applies to Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney in Washington, who has been overseeing the sprawling prosecutions stemming from the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

The move also comes as Mr. Biden’s nominee for attorney general, federal circuit Judge Merrick Garland, awaits his yet-to-be-set confirmation hearing.