The Justice Department is considering replacing the US attorney in Brooklyn with a senior department official close to Attorney General William Barr, officials briefed on the matter said.
On Thursday, Richard Donoghue, the US attorney for the Eastern District of New York, told his staff he’d be stepping down to move to Washington as the Justice Department’s principal associate deputy attorney general, a powerful position that acts as a gatekeeper to investigations across the country, a spokesman for the office, John Marzulli, told CNN.
The most recent principal associate deputy attorney general, Seth DuCharme, is now being considered by department leadership for the top role in the Brooklyn office, where he had built his career as a prosecutor.
The job swap discussion comes as Barr has drawn outrage for his management of politically significant cases, which was heightened last month as he forced out the US attorney in Manhattan, Geoffrey Berman, after the two clashed over prosecutions sensitive to the White House. The changeover in the neighboring district of Brooklyn, however, involves two men who are said to be favorites of the attorney general and are set to remain in senior positions within the department.
RELATED: In Texas, questions grow about a lesser-known US Attorney ousted by Attorney General Barr
The Brooklyn post wields significant influence by virtue of its jurisdiction and recently has investigated individuals close to President Donald Trump, including Tom Barrack, who chaired the President’s inaugural committee. Barrack was interviewed last year and, according to his spokesman, was told prosecutors had no further questions for him. Barrack has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
In February, the Justice Department tapped Donoghue to supervise all agency investigations related to Ukraine in a move that gave Washington officials more oversight into an area of interest that had become a political minefield.
It’s not clear if the authority over the Ukraine investigations will remain within the Brooklyn US attorney’s office if Donoghue were to move out of the position.
A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment for this story.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have been investigating the actions of Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, including his efforts to oust Marie Yovanovitch, then-US ambassador to Ukraine, and push for an investigation into Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, who had done business in the country. Berman’s handling of the case and the way he kept Barr at arm’s-length as it proceeded had fueled mistrust between the men ahead of his firing last month, CNN has reported.
Barr has said that the reason that Berman was removed was to make room for Jay Clayton, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who had inquired about the job.
DuCharme served as a counselor to Barr for national security and criminal matters before being promoted to the senior position in the deputy attorney general’s office last year. Before his time in Washington, DuCharme was a longtime career prosecutor in the Brooklyn office, where he later led the criminal division.
The mechanics behind the swap remain unclear and could be complicated by federal vacancies law, as evidenced by the chaotic transition last month at the Manhattan US attorney’s office. Under office protocols, Donoghue’s deputy, first assistant US attorney Mark Lesko, would succeed him.
Both Berman and Donoghue assumed their positions initially in an interim capacity after an appointment from the attorney general, and their roles were later made permanent by the federal judges in their district.
In Manhattan, Berman had initially refused to leave after Barr said publicly that he would be “stepping down” and named another senior prosecutor from outside the district to replace him temporarily. Berman was eventually fired by the President, but his role was filled in an acting capacity by his deputy, instead of Barr’s handpicked successor.