Trump Names Joseph Nocella Jr. as US Attorney for New York’s Eastern District

The Brooklyn Federal Courthouse in New York City on Sept. 24, 2021. Angus Mordant/Reuters

President-elect Donald J. Trump has named his choice for the U.S. attorney from the Eastern District of New York, Joseph Nocella Jr.

Trump announced the selection several weeks after the current U.S. attorney from the district, Breon Peace, announced he would resign on Jan. 10, leaving his deputy Carolyn Pokorny to serve as acting U.S. attorney.

“Judge Nocella has a strong record of bringing Law and Order to the incredible people of New York,” Trump wrote in a Jan. 6 post on Truth Social announcing the pick. He noted that Nocella was an assistant U.S. attorney in that same district during the early 1990s.

The president-elect’s selection is a Columbia Law School graduate and a judge in Nassau County. He was previously town attorney for Hempstead and, before that, Oyster Bay.

The district includes Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, along with King’s County in Brooklyn, Richmond County on Staten Island, and Queens County. New York City’s other two boroughs, Manhattan and the Bronx, fall within the Southern District of New York.

Peace, the outgoing U.S. attorney, was nominated for that role by President Joe Biden in August 2021. The Senate confirmed the New York University Law School graduate in October of that year by a voice vote. Peace replaced Robert Capers, who was nominated to the position by then-President Barack Obama in 2015.

“I look forward to the Office’s continued courageous commitment to pursuing justice, fairly and ethically, without bias, without fear or favor, and with compassion and empathy for our fellow human beings,” Peace said in a statement announcing his resignation.

United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace speaks during a press conference at the U.S. Attorney's office in New York on April 17, 2023. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

The former Cleary Gottlieb partner’s record includes prosecutions for $4 million in Medicare fraud, resulting in a guilty plea for pharmacy operator Albert Muratov. The district under his leadership also indicted Linda Sun, a former aide to Gov. Kathy Hochul, for allegedly acting as an agent of the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party.

In addition, in August of this year, Peace’s prosecution resulted in a guilty plea from former Congressman George Santos to charges of aggravated identity theft and wire fraud.

Peace also prosecuted a pro-Trump social media influencer, Douglass Mackey, for posts he made in the run-up to the 2016 election. Mackey was convicted of conspiracy against rights in 2023 and ultimately sentenced to seven months in jail.

“The defendant weaponized disinformation in a dangerous scheme to stop targeted groups, including black and brown people and women, from participating in our democracy,” Peace said in a statement after Mackey’s sentencing.