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 yesterday 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 network, 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, he highlighted that McDonald is currently a partner at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, 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 he will collaborate fantastically with them,” the president wrote.
High-profile cases
The Southern District of New York (SDNY) handles high-profile cases such as that of deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, whom it charged in January with narcoterrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States, and offenses related to automatic weapons.
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In addition, he handles other cases related to drug trafficking such as that of the governor of the state of Sinaloa, Rubén Rocha Moya, or that of the former director of Bolivia’s main anti-drug agency, Maximiliano Dávila Pérez, sentenced in March to 25 years in prison.
He also led the case against rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and is handling the federal trial of Luigi Mangione, suspected of shooting and killing 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 homebuilding fortune.
