The acting U.S. attorney general for the Northern District of Georgia who was appointed by then-President Donald Trump resigned from his position, a spokesman announced Monday.
Former local prosecutor and magistrate court Judge Bobby Christine was tapped by Trump on Jan. 4 to lead the Atlanta U.S. Attorney’s Office amid the former president’s failed attempts to overturn election results in Georgia. Christine, who is also the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of Georgia, replaced Byung J. “Bjay” Pak after his sudden resignation on Jan. 4, according to the Washington Post.
Christine will remain as the U.S. attorney in the Peach State’s Southern District, a position to which Trump appointed him in 2017, a spokesman told the outlet. Kurt Erskine, who had been Pak’s deputy, will take over the Northern District in Atlanta on an acting basis, a spokesman for the office said.
The Justice Department previously informed employees that President Biden’s administration asked Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys who kept their positions following the Jan. 20 inauguration to stay “for the time being.”
Trump’s move to bypass Erskine raised concerns among some DOJ officials about whether the decision was sparked by Trump’s push to challenge the results in Georgia, a state he lost to Biden, even as courts and election officials rejected claims of fraud in the election.
Pak resigned after Trump’s call to Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in Georgia, in which Trump asked him to “find” the 11,780 votes needed to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state. The former president contended the difference in votes could be made up in his favor if elections officials audited signatures of 250 to 300,000 ballots in Fulton County.
The Washington Post reported people familiar with the matter said a senior DOJ official convinced Pak to step down earlier this month. Pak remained vague in the explanation for his abrupt departure offered to colleagues, citing “unforeseen circumstances.” Upon Christine’s appointment, he told members of his staff on Jan. 12, “There’s just nothing to” the claims of voter fraud.
DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz is conducting a broad investigation into the events surrounding Pak’s resignation and additional reviews as to whether any current or former department officials attempted to “alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.”
U.S. attorneys often vacate their positions before or around the time a new president is expected to take office in an effort to provide a president-elect time to appoint new prosecutors. Several others serving in the role, including U.S. Attorneys Russell Coleman, who represented the Western District of Kentucky; William McSwain, who served the Eastern District of Pennsylvania; and G. Zachary Terwilliger of the Eastern District of Virginia, announced their resignations throughout the month of January, clearing the way for the Biden administration to select its replacements.
