Terwilliger, though, defended the policy, saying the majority of those cases originated because of some other underlying crime, like domestic violence or drunken driving.
Terwilliger, 39, is the youngest U.S. Attorney in the country and has led the office since 2018, but his connections to the office go back to 1999, when he worked there as an intern. He also served for years there as a line prosecutor.
Iogistically, that was probably one of most difficult cases I’ve ever seen,” he said. Terwilliger, a Republican whose father, George Terwilliger, was a a deputy attorney general and acting attorney general in GOP administrations, is leaving at a time when the Justice Department faces criticism that it became politicized during ...
Terwilliger said he expects some people will always hold it against him that he was an appointee of President Donald Trump, but he does not think most people feel that way, and he said his independence as a prosecutor was never compromised.
It is common for U.S. attorneys to resign their posts during presidential transitions, giving the new president an opportunity to appoint his own prosecutors.
National security cases like the Beatles prosecution, and successful espionage prosecutions of Chinese spies Kevin Mallory and Jerry Lee , have always been a priority in the Eastern District of Virginia, home to the Pentagon and CIA. Terwilliger also sought to make violent crimes and white-collar crimes a priority.
Terwilliger’s resignation takes effect Jan. 15. First Assistant Raj Parekh will serve as acting U.S. Attorney and is the first minority to lead the office in its 232-year history.
Early in his tenure, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema criticized the number of cases he brought for illegal entry into the U.S. Terwilliger, though, defended the policy, saying the majority of those cases originated because of some other underlying crime, like domestic violence or drunken driving. Advertisement.
Terwilliger said he expects some people will always hold it against him that he was an appointee of President Donald Trump, but he does not think most people feel that way, and he said his independence as a prosecutor was never compromised. “I didn’t see things done out of politics,” he said in an interview.