The Trump administration named former Arlington County Commonwealth’s Attorney Theo Stamos to be the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
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Ms. Stamos was appointed as the first assistant U.S. attorney in an office that has struggled to appoint a permanent leader.
The White House last year installed Lindsey Halligan, a former personal attorney of President Trump, to lead the Alexandria-based office, but federal judges in the state challenged her legitimacy and ultimately declared her appointment illegal.
It’s against the law to name two consecutive interim U.S. attorneys.
Ms. Halligan was installed to pursue criminal charges against former FBI Director James B. Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, two key foes of Mr. Trump, after her predecessor Erik Siebert refused to take the cases to court.
The Department of Justice removed Ms. Halligan in January, and the office’s executive assistant, Frank Bradsher, became the stand-in lead prosecutor until Ms. Thamos’ selection.
Bloomberg News first reported Ms. Stamos’ appointment. Ms Stamos and the Justice Department have declined to comment on her appointment.
Ms. Stamos served two terms as Arlington County’s top prosecutor until she was defeated in a 2019 Democratic primary by Parisa Dehghani-Tafti.
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Ms. Stamos worked in the Justice Department’s Office of Legislative Affairs from January 2020 to February 2022, and then in Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares’s office as a deputy to serve out the rest of his term.
Choosing Ms. Stamos is the Trump administration’s attempt at filling one of the largest federal offices in the nation.
U.S. attorneys require Senate confirmation, and the White House has labored to get its top picks approved in several states with two Democratic senators.
That’s because home-state senators can nix a U.S. attorney’s prospects by not submitting a blue slip voicing their support for the nomination. The Justice Department has accused senators of abusing the longstanding tradition to tank Mr. Trump’s preferred prosecutors.
Federal judges in blue states have responded by naming their own U.S. attorneys instead, but the White House has countered by quickly firing those selections.
Last week, the Trump administration canned Roger Rogoff from the U.S. attorney in Seattle in retaliation to judges moving to install him.
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