Trump appointed James M. McDonald to the position of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday he will appoint one of his personal lawyers to serve as Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, filling a pending vacancy after Trump named the man currently in the position to be director of national intelligence.

James M. McDonald, a former federal prosecutor in the office he was tapped to run, served as a financial regulator during Trump’s first term and worked in the White House counsel’s office under President George W. Bush.

McDonald, a partner at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, is part of the legal team handling Trump’s pending appeal of felony convictions in New York related to a secret payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential election.

Read more: What do you know about Jay Clayton, Trump’s nominee for Director of National Intelligence?

Trump said on Saturday that he would nominate McDonald to be US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, one of the most powerful positions in the Justice Department. He will replace Jay Clayton, who Trump nominated this week to be director of national intelligence.

McDonald’s taking over as US attorney would give him oversight of the Justice Department’s most prestigious prosecutorial offices, with a broad portfolio ranging from terrorism and espionage cases to security fraud and public corruption.

McDonald was also part of the legal team that last month secured a favorable outcome for Indian billionaire Gautam Adani when the Trump administration’s Justice Department dropped a fraud and conspiracy case brought under the Biden administration.

McDonald also served as an executive director at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during Trump’s first term and was deputy associate counsel in the Bush White House.

“I am confident that Jimmy will deliver strong results for our country,” Trump wrote Saturday about McDonald on Truth Social.

Nicholas Biase, spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, said he “welcomes the President’s selection to lead the New York District Court. Mr. McDonald is widely respected.”

Trump’s announcement regarding Clayton came as pressure increased from Congress to name a permanent replacement for Tulsi Gabbard, who announced her resignation as Director of National Intelligence last month. Trump has faced intense criticism over his decision to appoint Bill Bolte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, as acting administrator.

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Associated Press writer Michael R. Sisak in New York.