Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams announced Monday that he would resign in December, ahead of President-elect Donald Trump taking over the White House.
Trump said earlier this month that he plans to nominate Jay Clayton as the new U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“Today is a bittersweet day for me, as I announce my resignation as United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. It is bitter in the sense that I am leaving my dream job, leading an institution I love that is filled with the finest public servants in the world. It is sweet in that I am confident I am leaving at a time when the Office is functioning at an incredibly high level – upholding and exceeding its already high standard of excellence, integrity, and independence,” Williams said in a statement.
“That success is due to the career attorneys, staff members, and law enforcement agents of this Office. Working with them during my tenure has been a privilege of a lifetime. They are worthy custodians of this Office’s tradition of doing the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons. They are patriots. They are my family. And I will miss them dearly.”
Senator Bob Menendez (left) and Mayor Eric Adams (right) are pictured outside Federal Court in Manhattan this year. (Barry Williams for New York Daily News; AP)
In addition to making history as the first Black U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York when President Biden nominated him in late 2021, Williams, 44, is one of the youngest ever to hold the position.
Williams has overseen several historically significant prosecutions. He brought the ongoing public corruption case against Mayor Eric Adams — the first against a sitting New York City mayor in the modern era — and secured the convictions of fallen FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried for one of the largest-ever financial frauds and ex-New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez for taking bribes while head of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
In a statement, Williams said he would step down on Dec. 13. Deputy Manhattan U.S. Attorney Edward Kim will become the acting U.S. attorney after his departure.
Clayton, a longtime corporate lawyer and Trump’s former chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission, has no experience with criminal prosecutions.