US Attorney For District Of Utah John Huber Resigning
Feb 10, 2021, 3:25 PM | Updated: 3:34 pm
FILE: U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah John Huber. (KSL-TV)
(KSL-TV)
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah John Huber announced he will resign from his position, effective Feb. 28.
The announcement, made Wednesday, came after Justice Department officials said they would ask U.S. attorneys who were appointed by former President Donald Trump to resign from their posts.
“It has been an extraordinary honor to represent the United States of America in the District of Utah over the past six years,” Huber said in his letter. “From the time President Obama appointed me, through President Trump’s administration and up to my final day of service, I have aspired to be a statesman who prioritizes patriotism over partisanship.”
U.S. attorneys serve at the pleasure of the president and are generally nominated with a recommendation from a home-state senator. The 93 U.S. attorneys are responsible for overseeing offices of federal prosecutors and charged with prosecuting federal crimes in their jurisdictions.
U.S. attorneys do not have to leave their positions after a new president enters office. Departures are fairly customary but the process is not automatic.
In 2017, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked for the resignations of 46 U.S. attorneys who were holdovers from the Obama administration.
Huber had served in his position since 2015, beginning with two years as a presidentially appointed U.S. Attorney during the Obama administration.
In August 2017, the U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed President Donald J. Trump’s appointment of Huber to serve for another four years.
“In addition to my duties in Utah, I have also fulfilled assignments of national interest, striving to offer the integrity and professionalism that has marked my 27 years of public service,” Huber said. “Certainly, our nation is in the midst of considerable discord and strife. Nevertheless, with the unique perspective as the only United States Attorney appointed by both President Obama and President Trump, I observe that what binds us together as Americans is so much stronger than the issues that would pull us apart.
“I wish you the very best as you lead our great nation over the next four years and pray that God may continue to bless the United States of America.”
Huber graduated with honors from the University of Utah and went on to complete his juris doctor degree at the University of Utah’s S.J. Quinney College of Law. He began his public service in the Weber County Attorney’s Office and later served as the chief prosecutor for West Valley City before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
