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Today U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked for the resignations of 46 US Attorneys, the top federal prosecutors in their respective states. The move by the Donald Trump administration, while abrupt and unannounced, was not a total surprise, as most incoming presidents seek to appoint their own U.S. Attorneys.
But U.S. Attorney for Oregon Billy Williams was not among those asked to resign today, his office confirmed.
Sessions' request "was directed only at presidentially appointed, senate-confirmed U.S. Attorneys," Williams' spokesman Kevin Sonoff told WW. Williams was appointed in an interim basis following the 2015 resignation of Amanda Marshall, in a scandal that involved an affair with one of her subordinates.
It's the second piece of good news for Williams today. The other: His office secured two felony conspiracy convictions in the second round of criminal trials stemming from the Ammon Bundy gang's occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge last year. Two other occupiers were convicted of a lesser charge, "depredation of government property." Oregon Public Broadcasting has the details on that story.
The first round of trials, resulting in acquittals by jury of the occupation ringleaders, led to criticism that Williams botched the case.