WTF Is Going On In The Georgia US Attorney's Office?

And how can Donald Trump make it worse?

Well, it’s 2021, and everything is still on fire. But while we all wait to see if Mike Pence burns down the electoral college before the Proud Boys burn down DC, we ought to spare a moment’s anxiety for the Northern District of Georgia, where the president just fired U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak.

As first reported by TPM, Pak had planned to leave his post on January 20 when Biden is inaugurated. Instead, he abruptly tendered his resignation on Monday due to “unforeseen circumstances.” This came just one day after the publication of the infamous phone call where Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.”

The timing could be coincidental, although Trump did refer to Pak in the call as “your never-Trumper U.S. attorney there.” Maybe Trump just fired Pak, whom he nominated to the position in 2017, out of sheer vindictiveness.

But perhaps there’s something else going on here.

We’ve already seen the recently departed Bill Barr try to Saturday Night Massacre the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York by announcing that Geoffrey Berman had resigned and SEC Chair Jay Clayton would be taking over. Berman hadn’t, and, thanks to Barr’s antics, Clayton didn’t. That office has a pending investigation involving Trump’s attorney/fixer/public spectacle Rudy Giuliani.

Similarly, D.C. U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu was unceremoniously forced out, supposedly for a post at Treasury, only to find her nomination yanked in short order. In her absence, Barr installed his buddy Timothy Shea, and the prosecution of Michael Flynn mysteriously vanished.

And in July, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Richard Donoghue, was abruptly transferred to Main Justice, trading jobs with Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Seth DuCharme, a close Barr ally. That office is, or was, investigating irregularities in the Trump inauguration.

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There’s clearly precedent for the Trump administration installing cronies in key Justice Department positions to cover the president’s ample flank. And here, as TPM reporter Tierney Sneed was first to note, Trump seems to have taken a personal interest in the running of this particular U.S. Attorney’s Office. Bypassing the career official who would normally take over, Trump personally installed Bobby Christine, the sitting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, to run the Northern District concurrently.

“On January 4, 2021, by written order of the President, Bobby was named Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia,” according to Christine’s DOJ bio.

Which is not normal. Why is the president so concerned with putting his guy in charge just 15 days before he leaves office? The right-wing echo chamber thinks that Brad Raffensperger is going to be arrested for recording the call, on which Trump agitated repeatedly for the prosecution of a Georgia election worker whom he believes triple-counted the same batch of 18,000 ballots. At the same time, Trump has been caught on tape trying to force the state’s governor and secretary of state to falsify election results. All of which is an alarming backdrop to the sudden departure of the top prosecutor.

Maybe it’s nothing. But maybe it’s not, so we better pay attention.

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Bypasses Top Career Prosecutor To Name New Acting US Attorney In Atlanta [TPM]

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Elizabeth Dye lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.