Trump DOJ Tasked With Overhauling Troubled US Attorney Office (1)

New Trump Justice Department leaders landing in Washington are inheriting a problem in a key office close to home.

The Maryland US attorney’s office, which forced the resignation of Richard Nixon’s first vice president and groomed top law enforcement officials for decades, has suffered from plummeting productivity and morale under outgoing chief prosecutor Erek Barron and his top aide, with historic lows in new criminal cases brought and judges complaining about office leadership.

Bloomberg Law interviewed 25 current and former DOJ employees and found a host of training and management challenges to turn the unit around at a moment when it’s investigating the Key Bridge collapse.

“That US attorney has to come in and face these external problems and internal problems,” said David Salem, one of Barron’s top advisers who retired last fall after 34 years at the office. “In Maryland of course you have a lot of inexperienced people, and I think that to allay their anxiety and to help train them is going to require some really significant and continuous communication.”

Choosing a credible replacement for the Biden-appointee expected to be removed by President Donald Trump any day may assume added urgency to restore Maryland’s stature partnering with DOJ headquarters in critical cases. The decision also is a litmus test for Trump’s remaining selections for about 90 US attorneys and other top government vacancies.

Two contenders for the Maryland post offer a contrast that promises to become a familiar theme in Trump’s second term. Andrew White, a former Maryland prosecutor and founding partner of a powerhouse Baltimore law firm, and Dan Cox, a Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate who organized busloads of Jan. 6 rally attendees, both want the job and are being considered, four people familiar with the process said.

The office of 170 lawyers and administrative staff covers 6 million people, including the Washington suburbs, Baltimore, and the National Security Agency’s headquarters. It’s built prestige from pioneering cybersecurity cases, taking down MS-13 gang members and Baltimore detectives in racketeering conspiracies, and fighting public corruption.

First-Time Supervisors

Maryland’s first Black US attorney, Barron was previously a state lawmaker, state prosecutor, and briefly a DOJ trial attorney. Despite arriving at the Baltimore-based office in 2021 without government management experience, he brought ideas to shake up an office accustomed to recent continuity across presidential administrations.

He chose as his first assistant a former Maryland line prosecutor, Phil Selden, who’d also never supervised.

Dozens then left, leading to woes observed by Biden-era officials at the highest levels of Justice Department headquarters,two people said. Anxiety in the office has only increased in the past week amid a flurry of Trump directives threatening federal employee job security across government.

Barron’s tenure has been characterized by disengagement, trust breakdowns with line attorneys and supervisors, routine demotions, and communications failures, multiple individuals said.

Two current staffers who appreciated Barron’s culture changes acknowledged difficulties from losing vast institutional knowledge.

During Barron’s first two years in fiscal 2022 and 2023, his office recorded its lowest levels in at least 50 years in new criminal cases and defendants filed, DOJ metrics show. Separate figures compiled by the judiciary show Maryland had a 48% decline in criminal filings in the 12 months ending mid-2024, the largest one-year drop of all 94 districts.

Barron didn’t agree to an interview.

“We cannot comment on personnel matters, active cases, or misinformation,” the office said in a statement. “Our success is measured by reducing violent crime, not by how many people go to jail. We can’t do the same thing but expect a different result.”

The statement also said, “Our office has remarkable public servants who proudly fulfill the Department’s mission.”

Judges have privately raised concerns about inexperience and training shortcomings under Barron, six former prosecutors said. Objections from the bench spilled into open court.

US District Judge James Bredar, formerly the district’s chief, blamed office leaders at an October hearing for effectively delaying the trial of a neo-Nazi leader.

Bredar noted the oddity of “consummate professional” lead prosecutor Kathleen Gavin retiring on the eve of a major trial after more than 30 years, most recently as national security chief.

Gavin resigned in protest over Barron’s decision-making, including his demotion of her deputy without her consultation, six attorneys said. She declined to comment.

Judges dismissed with prejudice two cases last year over Speedy Trial Act breaches, citing patterns of neglect.

“The bench certainly felt like our numbers were down, and it was kind of like, ‘what’s going on?’” said Michael Cunningham, who retired in October after 27 years as a Maryland federal prosecutor.

Barron’s absences from ceremonial events for judges also have been “palpable” throughout the bench, Cunningham added.

When DOJ’s Executive Office for US Attorneys conducted a routine audit in 2023, six lawyers recalled giving negative reviews of Maryland management. One former prosecutor said the evaluator opened his interview by calling the office a mess.

Another former Maryland prosecutor, who like most people interviewed was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said numerous law enforcement officials have commented how sad it’s become that they no longer trust Maryland to refer cases.

Although several employees said they found his nonconformist approach refreshing, most people interviewed said Barron and Selden’s management alienated lawyers.

Selden, who went on parental leave last summer and remained on hiatus as of last week, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Darryl Tarver, who left the office in October, said Barron was a supportive, innovative boss with a focus on AI threats.

“Erek and his administration tried to do things differently, but that was not in my mind altogether a negative,” Tarver said.

Two current staffers credited him for diversifying the office, including hiring lawyers from non-Ivy League backgrounds.

Multiple others said they respected Barron’s right to instill change, but never heard him articulate a vision.

Cox, White

Current and former employees at the office are concerned about the prospect of Cox. He’s never been a prosecutor and is more closely linked to Trump, who hosted a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser for him in 2022.

“My application is submitted,” Cox said, “and they’re reviewing it.”

White, a more mainstream conservative, declined to comment.

He has support from career prosecutors, but Trump has been favoring disrupters.