Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell raised some eyebrows with her comments last week at a panel discussion at the Federalist Society. She expressed concern about the wide variety of the “quality of the lawyers” at U.S. Attorney’s offices and claimed that Criminal Division attorneys get “far more robust” training than attorneys in the field.

But today The Wall Street Journal reported that Caldwell has sent a “Dear Friends and Colleague” letter to all U.S. Attorney’s offices apologizing profusely for her remarks at the Federal Society event:

I did not have prepared remarks for the event, and I certainly should have. Instead, I overreacted to the criticisms—which I strongly believe were not an accurate reflection of the Department’s work—by defending the Department in a way that inappropriately suggested that the care taken by U.S. Attorney’s Offices and others in making prosecutorial decisions was less than that taken by attorneys in the Criminal Division. And by making unscripted references to isolated issues in my recent experience, I realize that, rather than defending the reputation of the entire Department, I appeared to be criticizing U.S. Attorney’s Offices, Assistant U.S. Attorneys and other components. I deeply regret my remarks and the genuine hurt that they have caused. As a federal prosecutor for 19 years, including 16 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in two different districts, I know better.

Click here to review The Wall Street Journal Law Blog “Justice Department’s Crime Chief Apologizes for Put-Down of Colleagues and letter of apology:  wsj-article-and-letter-of-apology