Top Federal Prosecutor to Resign Ahead of Trump’s Inauguration

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams addresses the media in New York City on Nov. 2, 2023. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

One of the highest-profile federal prosecutors announced on Nov. 25 that he is stepping down before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said he will be leaving office on Dec. 13, about five weeks before Trump’s inauguration.

“Today is a bittersweet day for me, as I announce my resignation as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York,” Williams said in a statement. “It is bitter in the sense that I am leaving my dream job, leading an institution I love that is filled with the finest public servants in the world.

“It is sweet in that I am confident I am leaving at a time when the Office is functioning at an incredibly high level—upholding and exceeding its already high standard of excellence, integrity, and independence.”

The current deputy U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Edward Y. Kim, will become the acting U.S. attorney when Williams steps down.

The Southern District of New York covers New York City, the nation’s most populous city, and federal prosecutors there regularly bring high-profile cases.

One recent example is the prosecution of Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, who in 2023 was found guilty of fraud and money laundering after cheating investors out of money and was later sentenced to 25 years in prison. Another is the prosecution of Sung Kook Hwang, who was convicted of fraud over manipulating stock prices and subsequently sentenced to 18 years behind bars.

Williams is stepping down ahead of Jan. 20, 2025, when Trump is scheduled to be sworn in. Earlier this month, Trump said he is nominating former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton to serve in the position.

Williams, who was appointed by President Joe Biden in 2021, has been a law clerk for former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and Merrick Garland, the current attorney general, when Garland was an appeals court judge.

Trump in 2018 replaced Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, with Geoffrey Berman, under whom prosecutors brought cases against numerous figures, including Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen.

U.S. attorneys are Senate-confirmed positions.

Republicans are poised to take control of the Senate with a 53–47 majority in January. Some GOP senators, however, have publicly opposed some of Trump’s announced nominees. That resulted in one of Trump’s nominees, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), withdrawing from consideration for attorney general.