WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Jeff Sessions is seeking the resignations of 46 United States attorneys who were appointed during prior presidential administrations, the Justice Department said Friday.
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 New Jersey, Rhode Island, Minnesota and Montana — 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.
Full story at Yahoo News.
ERIC TUCKER and SADIE GURMAN.
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