BALTIMORE — President-elect Donald Trump has picked a slew of Cabinet appointees and is expected to turn his attention to state appointees in the coming weeks, including U.S. attorneys.
While there is no requirement to replace the current U.S. attorney for Maryland, Erek Barron, U.S. attorneys over the past fifty years have typically been ordered or asked to tender their resignations when a new president is elected, said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond. Law school. An exception was U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein of Maryland, who was first nominated by Republican George W. Bush in 2005 and remained in office during Barack Obama’s presidency until becoming deputy attorney general under Donald Trump in 2017.
Tobias does not expect a similar remnant here.
“My sense of this administration is that they will likely order or ask the current U.S. attorneys appointed by Biden to resign,” Tobias said. “From everything they’ve said… they want to clean things up at the Department of Justice. So we’ll see what they do.”
Barron, who was nominated by President Joe Biden, declined to comment for the story.
Among those interested in the U.S. attorney position are Maryland attorney Andrew White, who has worked on lawsuits involving high-profile political figures, including former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, and hundreds of state and federal cases during his decades-long career, and former Maryland representative and private attorney Dan Cox, who also campaigned as the Republican candidate for governor in 2022.
Previous experience
White’s previous experience includes serving as senior litigation counsel to President Bill Clinton’s independent counsel during the investigation into Clinton’s relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. He also represented former Mayor Catherine Pugh, who pleaded guilty in 2019 to federal conspiracy and tax evasion charges. White previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Maryland.
Cox was endorsed by Trump for his governorship. This year, he lost the 2024 Republican primary for Maryland’s 6th Congressional District. As an attorney, he recently joined a lawsuit against the U.S. government involving an MS-13 gang member who pleaded guilty to the murder of a 20-year-old woman, Kayla Hamilton, after she illegally crossed the U.S. southern border .
Cox has been criticized in the past for questioning the results of the 2020 election. He told The Sun that it is important that elections are “transparent” and that if he is elected U.S. attorney, he will “ensure that everyone has access to vote and that everyone knows that their right to vote will be equally respected.” ‘
When asked whether White or Cox would be considered for U.S. attorney in Maryland, a spokeswoman for the Trump-Vance Transition team said in an emailed statement that Trump is “making decisions about who will serve in his second administration. These decisions will be announced as soon as they are made.”
‘A very good lawyer’
White’s time at the US Justice Department overlapped in the late 1990s with that of Rosenstein, who later served as US deputy attorney general under Trump.
“He’s a very good lawyer,” Rosenstein said of White. “He is very charismatic, so he works well with colleagues and witnesses, and gets along well with judges… and looks at things not only from an intellectual perspective, but also from a practical perspective.”
Having a long career in Maryland also means White has “a lot of ties to the entire community,” Rosenstein added. White declined comment for the story.
Making communities ‘safe again’
Cox told The Baltimore Sun that he would be honored to be selected for the U.S. attorney position and that he plans to “make America safe again.” He pointed to the state’s problems with sex trafficking and criminal gangs, including MS-13.
“I intend to work with the county attorney and the city state attorney to do everything I can in the office to ensure that we attack those cartels and that we keep our streets and our communities safe again.” for everyone,” he said.
Annapolis-based attorney Ed Hartman said he met Cox during their “COVID fights” — lawsuits against various COVID-19-related government mandates — including Cox’s challenge to former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s executive orders that restricted the company’s operations and limited other activities to prevent the spread of the virus.
Later, Hartman represented Cox’s gubernatorial campaign in its challenge to the Maryland State Board of Elections over the early counting of mail-in ballots, which election officials said was necessary to meet certification deadlines and which Cox argued was unconstitutional. An appeals court sided with the board.
“I know him to be an honorable man, willing and able to act on behalf of all Marylanders,” Hartman said in an email about Cox.
There are a few key characteristics that make an effective U.S. attorney, said Rosenstein, who was tasked with interviewing U.S. attorney candidates during Trump’s first term. These include legal expertise, federal court experience, established reputation in the legal community, management skills, and public relations proficiency.
“Because it is a political appointment, people who get the job often have political connections. And that’s fine, but it’s very important that the people you consider for these jobs meet all the necessary criteria,” Rosenstein said.
______
