Trump Allies’ Lawyer Said to Be Contender for D.C. US Attorney

John Irving, a lawyer for top Donald Trump allies caught up in Jan. 6 riot scrutiny and the Mar-a-Lago documents case, is being considered as the president-elect’s US attorney in Washington, according to three people familiar with the process.

A former career prosecutor in the nation’s capital, Irving has more recently fought in court to protect Stephen Miller, Peter Navarro, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), and others from Trump-related investigations. His candidacy to lead the largest of 93 US attorney offices was confirmed by sources who were granted anonymity to discuss private personnel deliberations.

The next US attorney will take over hundreds of pending cases against those who allegedly committed crimes by storming the Capitol four years ago. The chief prosecutor would most likely arrive after Trump has made clemency decisions on the 1,000-plus convictions of Jan. 6 defendants, which the D.C. office spearheaded.

The position also figures prominently in the incoming president’s promises to reshape the Justice Department by targeting foes. The district’s top prosecutor would have jurisdiction to investigate members of Congress, including any referrals that make good on Trump’s talk of prosecuting former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) and other members of the House Jan. 6 panel.

Irving has already interviewed for the job, which awaits a decision from Trump, said one of the sources.

Current and former D.C. prosecutors told Bloomberg Law they’re fearful the incoming administration will install a Trump loyalist who’d leverage the position to carry out the president’s plans to retaliate against enemies or target the office’s career workforce for prosecuting Trump supporters and aides.

Reached by email, Irving declined to comment on whether he’s under consideration for the nomination, before adding: “Anyone who knows me knows that I have never been a political hack, and that, if called upon, I would exercise my best judgment in service to our nation.”

Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order of Police, the nation’s largest law enforcement union, said that FOP submitted a letter in recent days to the Trump transition endorsing Irving for the D.C. post.

Irving defended Trump’s longtime trade adviser, Navarro, against contempt of Congress charges from the US attorney’s office in Washington for refusing to cooperate with the House Jan. 6 committee. Navarro was found guilty and served four months in prison.

Irving is also defending Mar-a-Lago property manager Carlos De Oliveira, who was indicted for allegedly conspiring with Trump in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case involving retained national security documents.

Smith’s prosecutors argued that a potential conflict of interest existed over Irving’s counsel of De Oliveira while representing three potential witnesses at his trial. Trump PAC Save America has disclosed paying Irving’s boutique firm, Earth & Water Law, more than $500,000 in legal fees from 2022 to 2024.

Irving’s work for De Oliveira, who unlike Trump is still being pursued by the special counsel, continues. He filed a motion Monday asking a Florida judge to block the public release of Smith’s forthcoming report.

Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt declined to comment on Irving.

Staff Shuffling

Irving’s earlier Washington prosecuting experience could assuage concerns about the office’s future. Eight current and former alums have said in recent weeks they’re alarmed at the prospect of an outsider seeking to disrupt traditions at an office that’s unique in its responsibility for both federal and local crimes.

The office experienced accusations of White House intervention in the prior Trump administration before drawing ire from his supporters over Jan. 6 prosecutions. Trump has promised to quickly pardon people arrested in connection with the attack.

The Jan. 6 investigations, which originated in the final weeks of Trump’s term, prompted Mike Davis, a strident social media Trump advocate, to call for ethics and civil rights probes into career assistant US attorneys in Washington.

“The Trump 47 Justice Department should clean house in the D.C. US attorney’s office,” said Davis, who through his role as president of the Article III Project is providing informal nominations advice to the Trump transition.

In an interview, Davis said he’s been approached by a “very credible” whistleblower inside the Washington office who’s told him that outgoing Biden-appointed US Attorney Matthew Graves last month converted the temporary prosecutors who were hired to support the Capitol breach caseload to permanent status.

A spokeswoman for Graves declined to comment on personnel matters. Several former prosecutors in Washington previously identified the tenures of those Jan. 6-focused prosecutors as a serious concern, since if they remained on two-year term positions, the next administration could allow their appointments to expire.

Concerning Rhetoric

Rhetoric from Trump and his allies has generated concerns about how the new administration may overhaul prosecutions in Washington.

“There is the potential for tremendous abuse if prosecutors begin to investigate certain individuals based on their political ideologies or ‘play favorites’ by assigning politically sensitive cases to prosecutors who are not adhering to the typical prosecution standards,” said Ronald Machen, who was the D.C. US attorney in the Obama administration.

Prosecutors who served in the office during Trump’s first-term said they don’t expect establishment conservatives to be considered this time around, after his 2017 to 2020 US attorney in Washington ultimately fell out of favor with the White House and was replaced with several rounds of successors.

“I would expect that the new administration is going to be pretty careful in who they pick to be the new US attorney for the District of Columbia,” said Jonathan Kravis, who resigned from his job as a career prosecutor in 2020 due to what he said was improper political interference to reduce his team’s sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone.

“In terms of how that affects the day-to-day experience and morale of people in the D.C. US attorney’s office,” Kravis added, “that’s a really big open question.”