ATTORNEY GENERAL/TRUMP PEOPLE/JEFF SESSIONS: “Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions asked Friday [3-10-17] for the resignations of dozens of politically appointed U.S. attorneys held over from the Obama administration, the Justice Department said.
Sessions wanted ‘to ensure a uniform transition’ to the Trump administration, spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in a statement.
‘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.
The order affects 46 U.S. attorneys; 47 others have already stepped aside. Ninety-three U.S. attorneys are the top federal prosecutors in 94 districts. (Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands share a federal prosecutor.)
It is not unusual for a new administration to seek the dismissal of political appointees, particularly those of a different party. In March 1993, then-Atty. Gen. Janet Reno sought the resignations of U.S. attorneys appointed by President George H.W. Bush, a move that sparked intense criticism from conservative commentators.
Attorneys general under Presidents Obama and George W. Bush generally tried to stagger departures over a few months.”
-Del Quentin Wilber, “Jeff Sessions asks 46 Obama-appointed U.S. attorneys to resign,” The Los Angeles Times online, March 10, 2017