The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
U.S. Attorney Daly resigns
Trump administration asked for 46 resignations
NEWHAVEN>> U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly resigned Friday as part of a national purge that saw Attorney General Jeff Sessions ask all 46 remaining Obama adminis- tration U.S. Attorneys across the United States to submit their resignations, effective immediately.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Gustafson will be the acting U.S. attorney, Daly said in a news release. Daly’s resignation was effective immediately, she said.
“It has been a great honor and privilege to serve as Connecticut’s United States attorney. In fact, it has been a gift of a lifetime,” Daly said in the release.
“I am extremely proud of the tremendous accomplishments of the men and women of this office during my tenure,” she said. “I applaud their tireless work holding our most violent offenders accountable, protecting our children and our environment, standing up for our most vulnerable victims, and not hesitating to stand up to the powerful.
“Together, we also built bridges and trust with communities,” Daly said in the release. “I hope all of this work continues to thrive. The people of Connecti- cut will be in excellent hands with Acting U.S. Attorney Mike Gustafson and the more than 100 career employees of the office who dedicate themselves to always doing what is right and just.”
A spokesman for the Connecticut U.S. Attorney’s Office said Daly would not immediately comment beyond what was in her statement.
U. S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D- Conn, a former U.S. attorney, blasted President Donald Trump’s administration for what he called Daly’s “firing” — using considerably less delicate language.
“I am deeply saddened and surprised that the Trump Administration has fired Deirdre Daly, one of our nation’s most capable, experienced and dedicated federal prosecutors,” Blumenthal said in a release. “Deidre Daly is a consummate career law enforcement professional whose intellect and integrity, experience and expertise make her a model United States attorney
He called the timing of the action “particularly surprising when no one has been suggested to replace her or the other ... U. S. attorneys who have been fired. This sweeping discharge of top prosecutors can only undermine vigorous efforts to combat organized crime, drug dealing, public corruption, hate crimes, es- pionage, and other crimes that threaten public safety and national security.”
Blumenthal served as the U. S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut between 1977 and 1981.
The U. S. Attorney’s Office is charged with enforcing federal criminal laws in Connecticut and representing the federal government in civil litigation. The Connecticut office included about 63 Assistant U. S. attorneys and 52 staff members in offices in New Haven, Hartford and Bridgeport.
The Washington Post reported that U.S. Department of Justice officials said that the announcement told all U. S. attorneys to “tender their resignations,” which means that Sessions conceivably could choose to keep some in place.
A Justice Department spokeswoman suggested that the action was not unusual, the Post reported.
“As was the case in prior transitions, many of the United States attorneys nominated by the previous administration already have left the Department of Justice,” Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement reported by the Post. “The Attorney General has now asked the remaining 46 presidentially appointed U. S. attorneys to tender their resignations in order to ensure a uniform transition.”
Flores said that until new U. S. attorneys are confirmed, career prosecutors in each of the nation’s 94 U. S. attorneys’ offices will oversee cases. No new U. S. attorneys have yet been nominated by the Trump administration, the Post reported.
Flores said a that similar step was taken at the beginning of the Clinton administration. Sessions himself was asked to resign as the U. S. attorney in Alabama in March 1993 by Clinton’s attorney general, Janet Reno.
But President George W. Bush’s administration and President Barack Obama’s administration both eased U. S. attorneys out gradually while officials sought replacements, the Post reported.
Justice officials told the Post they could not say whether Preet Bharara, the fiercely independent U. S. attorney in Manhattan, would be forced to resign.
In November, Trump personally met with Bharara and asked him to stay on, as did Sessions, the Post reported. Bharara, who was born in India and brought to the United States as a child, heads one of the highestprofile U. S. attorney’s offices in the country.
Yet on Friday, Bharara received the same call from the Justice Department as the other U. S. attorneys did, people familiar with the matter told the Post. Those people said acting deputy attorney general Dana Boente, who made the calls, told Bharara the Obama holdovers were being asked to leave. There was, however, some confusion as to whether the administration had specifically decided Bharara, despite the earlier conversations about staying on, should go.
A White House official told the Post that the president did not accept the resignation of Boente as U. S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Boente was made acting attorney general in January by Trump after he fired acting attorney general Sally Yates, an Obama administration holdover, when she refused to defend his first travel ban executive order. Boente became acting deputy attorney general when Sessions was confirmed and sworn in.
The president also did not accept the resignation of Maryland’s U. S. attorney, Rod Rosenstein, who has been nominated to take over as deputy attorney general but needs to win Senate confirmation, the Post reported.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said that by asking for the immediate resignation of every remaining U. S. attorney before replacements have been nominated, “the president is interrupting ongoing cases and investigations and hindering the administration of justice.’’
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D- Calif., the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she had met with Vice President Pence and White House Counsel Donald McGahn in January and “asked specifically whether all U. S. attorneys would be fired at once, the Post reported. “Mr. McGahn told me that the transition would be done in an orderly fashion to preserve continuity. Clearly this is not the case. I’m very concerned about the effect of this sudden and unexpected decision on federal law enforcement.”
Connecticut U.S. Attorney Deirdre M. Daly announced her resignation Friday, effective immediately, according to a release.