By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Monday nominated a slate of eight people to serve as U.S. Attorneys, including the top federal prosecutor who will oversee the Jan. 6 Capitol riots cases if he is confirmed, and a progressive prosecutor in Massachusetts.
Matthew Graves, an attorney with DLA Piper and a former assistant U.S. Attorney, is Biden’s choice as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, an office that has been overwhelmed with a flood of cases stemming from Jan. 6.
Federal prosecutors have arrested more than 535 people on charges of taking part in the violence, in which rioters battled police, smashed windows and sent members of Congress and then-Vice President Mike Pence running for safety.
Biden also nominated Rachael Rollins https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-justice-progressives/democrats-eye-three-progressive-prosecutors-for-u-s-attorney-posts-idUSKBN2AW18M, a local prosecutor in Boston who is part of a growing national movement of “progressive prosecutors” who support efforts to eliminate racial disparities by rejecting the traditional “tough on crime” culture that has led to the disproportionate incarceration of Black men.
Other U.S. Attorney nominees include Erek Barron for the District of Maryland, Nicholas Brown for the Western District of Washington, Clifford Johnson for the Northern District of Indiana, Zachary Myers for the Southern District of Indiana, Trini Ross for the Western District of New York and Vanessa Waldref for the Eastern District of Washington.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Dan Grebler)
