Report: Justice Department does not have any U.S. attorneys in place
More than a month after Attorney General Jeff Sessions directed U.S. attorneys from the Obama administration to immediately resign, none of them has been replaced, according to The Washington Post.
“We really need to work hard at that,” Sessions said after he was asked Tuesday about the vacancies, according to the report.
He suggested that the Justice Department can rely on career acting U.S. attorneys for the time being, but the Post reports that acting U.S. attorneys would not have the same authority when they work with law enforcement, the report said.
Altogether, there are 93 unfilled positions for U.S. attorney, the report said, which are among hundreds of critical jobs open in the administration.
Preet Bharara was one of the U.S. attorneys who was fired last month and one of the most prominent. The former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said that he never resigned, and was instead fired. Sessions sought the resignations of 46 U.S. attorneys who were holdovers from the Obama administration.