The highest prosecutor for the nation’s capital, who spearheaded the Justice Division’s (DOJ) investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol assault, stated Monday he’ll resign simply days earlier than President-elect Trump’s inauguration subsequent month.
U.S. Legal professional for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves introduced in a press launch he’ll step down from the publish on Jan. 16, 4 days earlier than Trump is about to return to the White Home.
“Serving as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has been the honor of a lifetime,” Graves stated. “I am deeply thankful to Congresswoman [Eleanor] Holmes Norton for recommending me; to President Biden for nominating me; and to Attorney General [Merrick] Garland for placing his trust in me.”
A profession prosecutor, Graves joined D.C.’s U.S. legal professional’s workplace in 2007 and served in a number of roles earlier than being sworn in as high prosecutor on Nov. 5, 2021.
His tenure has largely been outlined by the Jan. 6 Capitol assault, which Garland has stated yielded one of many “largest, most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations” within the Justice Division’s historical past.
Graves’s workplace has charged greater than 1,500 defendants accused of taking part within the riot, their prices underpinned by tens of hundreds of hours of video and photograph proof, cellphone knowledge and eyewitness testimony. Of these defendants, 996 individuals have pleaded responsible, and 255 individuals have been convicted by a jury or decide.
Trump has stated that one in every of his first actions in workplace will likely be providing pardons for a few of the defendants within the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol.
The assertion saying Graves’s departure listed prosecutions in opposition to local weather activists focusing on “priceless artwork and an original copy of the Constitution” and Gaza battle protestors who assaulted legislation enforcement and destroyed federal property among the many workplace’s different efforts to “defend democracy.”
Beneath Graves, the workplace indicted members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with a hack-and-leak operation in opposition to Trump’s marketing campaign and individually charged a murder-for-hire plot focusing on former nationwide safety adviser John Bolton and others.
“Because politically motivated violence and destruction rip at the fabric of our society, Mr. Graves made federally prosecuting such crimes a priority,” stated the press launch saying Graves’s departure.
Graves’s workplace additionally oversaw the most important monetary seizure in DOJ historical past, when legislation enforcement recovered $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency stolen through the 2016 hack of Bitfinex, a digital forex alternate.
Trump has not but introduced his choose for the U.S. legal professional’s workplace in D.C., although he has introduced alternatives for different key DOJ posts.
Former Florida Legal professional Basic Pam Bondi was tapped to function his legal professional basic, and two of his private legal professionals — Todd Blanche and Emil Bove — have been chosen for the company’s second and third highest-ranking positions. One other private lawyer, D. John Sauer, was picked to function U.S. solicitor basic, the DOJ’s fourth highest-ranking spot.
