- The Trump administration told a Georgia federal prosecutor to resign because the president was unhappy with his failure to investigate election fraud allegations.
- Byung J. “BJay” Pak abruptly resigned from his position as US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
- Trump apparently referred to Pak in a recent phone call with Georgia’s secretary of state, complaining about a “Never Trumper US attorney.”
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The Trump administration pressured a federal prosecutor in Atlanta to resign over his failure to investigate baseless allegations of election fraud in Georgia, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
The Justice Department on Tuesday tapped a new federal prosecutor to lead the Atlanta office, a day after the Trump-appointed US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, Byung J. “BJay” Pak, abruptly resigned.
Pak’s resignation drew attention because Trump appeared to refer to him in a recent phone call with Georgia’s secretary of state in which the outgoing Republican president asked state officials to try to “find” enough votes to overturn the results of the November 3 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
In a recording obtained by numerous media outlets, Trump appeared to complain during the call about Pak without naming him, saying there was a “Never Trumper US attorney” in Georgia.
The Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, said that at the behest of the White House, a senior Justice Department official called and told Pak he needed to step down because he was not pursuing the voter-fraud allegations to Trump’s satisfaction.
The Journal reported that the call occured January 3. Pak resigned January 4.
The New York Times also reported Saturday that the acting deputy attorney general, Richard Donoghue, had made a call to Pak expressing Trump’s frustration with Pak’s efforts to investigate election fraud.
The White House declined to comment while the Justice Department and Pak did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday.
Democrat Raphael Warnock defeated Republican incumbent Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Jon Ossoff unseated Republican David Perdue in Tuesday’s runoffs, giving Democrats control of the US Senate.
