Trump’s Pick for No. 3 Post at Justice Dept. Withdraws From Consideration

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/us/politics/jessie-liu-us-attorney.html

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WASHINGTON — Jessie K. Liu has withdrawn herself from consideration for the No. 3 spot at the Justice Department, the department said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, President Trump planned to nominate Ms. Liu, who currently is the United States attorney for the District of Columbia, as associate attorney general, who is the department’s third-ranking official and oversees the civil division.

The job would have given Ms. Liu broad oversight over civil rights, antitrust and environmental matters, and she would have supervised the Justice Department division that acts as the government’s law firm in civil matters.

Ms. Liu dropped from the running because the Senate Judiciary Committee objected to her nomination, said a department spokeswoman, Kerri Kupec.

Senator Michael Lee, Republican of Utah, led the opposition to Ms. Liu’s nomination, on the grounds that she was not a conservative enough choice, according to a law enforcement official with knowledge of the debate.

The position of associate attorney general has been open, and without a nominee, since Rachel L. Brand left that post in February 2018 to become general counsel at Walmart. It is not clear whether Mr. Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr have another contender in mind for the job.

Mr. Barr expressed dismay over Ms. Liu’s decision.

“She has been an outstanding United States attorney and would have made an outstanding associate attorney general,” Mr. Barr said in a statement. “I have zero doubt she would have faithfully executed my priorities and advanced my rule-of-law agenda.”

Mr. Barr announced that he would instead appoint her to lead the attorney general’s advisory committee, which counsels the attorney general on policy, procedure and management matters that affect federal prosecutors.

Mr. Barr said he gave Ms. Liu the post so she could “play a broader role in the department.”

As the United States attorney for the District of Columbia, Ms. Liu leads more than 300 prosecutors and oversees some of the most politically fraught investigations in the country.

In recent months, prominent cases that the office has handled have touched on foreign influence, including the prosecution of Maria Butina, who pleaded guilty last year to helping Russia gain political clout in the United States. The office is also considering whether to bring charges against Gregory B. Craig, who served as White House counsel in the Obama administration, over violations of foreign lobbying statutes.

Ms. Liu replaces Richard Moore, the United States attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, as the head of the advisory committee. Mr. Moore will remain on as an adviser.