Jeff Jensen, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, announced on Thursday that he will resign Dec. 30 after three years in the role.
“Jeff Jensen brought unparalleled experience to the position of United States Attorney as a former FBI Special Agent, Assistant United States Attorney, and private attorney. Since his first day in office, Jeff’s mission has always been the same: to save lives,” Attorney General William Barr said in a statement. “The extraordinary number of federal prosecutions initiated during his tenure are a testament to that mission.”
Jensen will be replaced by U.S. Attorney Sayler Fleming, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Such a departure is commonplace at the end of an administration; it comes about a month before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
The Missouri prosecutor made headlines earlier this year after Barr appointed him to review the case against former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn pleaded guilty to knowingly making false statements to the FBI but later said he was innocent and was set up by the bureau.
Following his deep-dive review and the discovery of a tranche of new documents that Flynn’s lawyers deemed exculpatory, Jensen determined that “continued prosecution of this case would not serve the interests of justice” and recommended that the Justice Department seek to drop the case.
“Through the course of my review of General Flynn’s case, I concluded the proper and just course was to dismiss the case,” Jensen wrote. “I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed.”
Although the presiding judge in the case resisted dismissing it, President Trump pardoned Flynn in November.
As St. Louis’s top prosecutor, Jensen also backed Barr’s federal anti-crime initiative, which involved sending more than 100 federal officers to the city for two months this summer to police areas in northern St. Louis and assist the city’s homicide task force. The program led to more than 600 arrests and more than 200 weapons being seized. Officials said that 274 defendants were charged in federal court.
“Jeff was always willing to serve,” Barr added. “He did so admirably and was the epitome of professionalism. The Department benefited greatly from his sound judgment and broad perspective. It is my pleasure to call him my colleague and friend. I wish him the best moving forward.”
