Zachary Terwilliger

The Washington Post reported on May 24, 2018, that Attorney General Jeff Sessions has named Zachary Terwilliger — a career federal prosecutor who most recently worked as chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein — to serve as the interim U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia.

According to The Post:

The move will put Terwilliger, 37, at the center of some of the Justice Department’s most high-profile cases, including the investigation of the WikiLeaks organization and its founder, Julian Assange, and the discussions of what to do with the two British members of an Islamic State cell believed to be responsible for the brutal murders of Western hostages.

Paul Manafort, former campaign chairman for President Trump, is also scheduled to go on trial in the Eastern District this summer, and while that case is being led by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, a prosecutor from the U.S. attorney’s office has been assigned to the team.

The appointment will allow Terwilliger to run the office without Senate confirmation on an interim basis. He can serve in the post for 120 days, and after that would have to be appointed by the chief judge in the district.

“Zach Terwilliger has a strong record that any prosecutor would be proud of,” Sessions said. “He rose through the ranks in the Eastern District of Virginia, from summer intern to Assistant United States Attorney who made a name for himself successfully prosecuting MS-13 members, Bloods members and firearm offenders, and putting them behind bars. He has excelled both in the courtroom and now in some of the highest leadership roles at the Department of Justice. I am confident that he will continue to serve with distinction in this important new role.”

The U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of Virginia — which has more than 120 prosecutors and lawyers working in Alexandria, Richmond, Norfolk and Newport News — is a familiar place to Terwilliger. He began his career as an assistant U.S. attorney there in 2008, and spent much of the next 10 years prosecuting fraud, violent crime and human trafficking cases. He served as counselor to a previous U.S. attorney, Neil MacBride.

NAFUSA member MacBride told the Post: “Zach is a prosecutor’s prosecutor and will have immediate credibility with his colleagues, the bench, the defense bar and his local law enforcement partners. He’s principled, smart, fair and even tempered. Having spent the last year on some of the toughest issues facing DOJ, he’s got the independence and experience to lead this critical office at a critical time.”

Zachary Terwilliger is the son of NAFUSA member, George J. Terwilliger III, former deputy attorney general and U.S. Attorney (Vermont 1986-1991).