New York.- U.S. President Donald Trump announced this Saturday that he will nominate lawyer James McDonald as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, after reporting the day before that Jay Clayton, who held the position until now, will become the country’s new Director of National Intelligence.
Trump made the announcement in a post on his Truth Social platform, in which he highlighted that McDonald was an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and served as Director of Compliance at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission during his first term.
Furthermore, the head of state emphasized that McDonald is currently a partner at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell; he was a law clerk for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and is a “distinguished graduate” of the University of Virginia School of Law and Harvard.
“I am convinced that Jamie will achieve excellent results for our country, as he has the respect of our patriots in law enforcement, the legal community, and the judiciary, and will work fantastically with them,” the president wrote.
The Southern District of New York handles high-profile cases such as that of deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, whom it charged last January with narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, and offenses related to automatic weapons.
You can also read: Trump announces that the agreement will be signed this Sunday
In addition, the SDNY is handling other drug trafficking-related cases such as that of the governor of the Mexican state of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, or that of the former director of Bolivia’s main anti-drug agency, Maximiliano Dávila Pérez, who was sentenced in March to twenty-five years in prison.
More Read
This New York federal court also handled the case against rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and is presiding over the federal trial of Luigi Mangione, who is accused of fatally shooting UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
McDonald will replace Jay Clayton in court, who was nominated for the position of Director of National Intelligence, following the controversy generated by the proposed appointment of Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and heir to a real estate construction fortune.
