You Will Anyway: What's going on with US attorneys in Georgia?

Monday, January 4, 2021

What's going on with US attorneys in Georgia?

U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak resigned his position Monday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.

In 2017, Pak was appointed the top federal prosecutor in the Northern District of Georgia by President Donald Trump, reportedly making history as the first-ever Korean American to hold the position of U.S. Attorney [...] and is widely seen as a rising star in the state Republican Party.

[...]

The online news site Talking Points Memo, which first reported Pak’s resignation, said it obtained a memo dated Monday in which Pak said “unforeseen circumstances” were the cause of his departure. TPM reported Pak originally intended to stay with the office until Inauguration Day on Jan. 20. New presidential administrations typically appoint new U.S. attorneys, who must be approved by the Senate.

[...]

On Sunday, an audio recording became public of a conversation between Trump and his allies and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump pressured the state’s top elections official to help him “find” enough votes to overturn the Nov. 3 contest, in which President-elect Joe Biden won by nearly 12,000 votes.

On the recording, Trump references a “never-Trumper U.S. attorney there.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Possibly one thing has nothing to do with the other, but the timing makes it quite the coincidence.

Monday’s announcement came less than a month after the top prosecutor for the U.S. District Court in Middle Georgia announced his resignation. U.S. Attorney Charles E. “Charlie” Peeler, who was also appointed in 2017 by Trump, resigned Dec. 11.

No reason was given for that, either.

Reports are that he was going to stay until the end of Trump's term, as they generally do. Since that's so close, I'm guessing he was asked to do something he wasn't willing to do - something he felt was either illegal or immoral.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: Pak replaced by Trump, bypassing normal procedures.

UPDATE: The rest of the story.

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Life, as Explained in "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead"

GUILDENSTERN: What a fine persecution---to be kept intrigued without ever quite being enlightened.

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ROSENCRANTZ : The only thing that makes it bearable is the irrational belief that somebody interesting will come on in a minute.

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GUILDENSTERN: But for God's sake what are we supposed to do?!

PLAYER: Relax. Respond. That's what people do. You can't go through life questioning your situation at every turn.

GUILDENSTERN: But we don't know what's going on, or what to do with ourselves. We don't know how to act.

PLAYER: Act natural. You know why you're here at least.

GUILDENSTERN: We only know what we're told, and that's little enough. And for all we know it isn't even true.

PLAYER: For all anyone knows, nothing is. Everything has to be taken on trust; truth is only that which is taken to be true. It's the currency of living. There may be nothing behind it, but it doesn't make any difference so long as it is honoured. One acts on assumptions.

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GUILDENSTERN : We act on scraps of information... sifting half-remembered directions that we can hardly separate from instinct.

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PLAYER: Life is a gamble, at terrible odds-if it was a bet you wouldn't take it.