Chief federal prosecutor in Minnesota gets upgraded title
Updated: 10:26 p.m. | Posted: 8:25 p.m.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday named Gregory Brooker as Minnesota's top federal prosecutor on an interim basis.
Brooker has been the acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota since March when Andrew Luger, an Obama administration holdover, was forced to step down after President Trump took office. Brooker had been the first assistant U.S. attorney under Luger.
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Brooker's appointment was announced along with 16 others, including the reappointment of acting U.S. attorneys across the country who had reached the maximum amount of time they were allowed to serve in that role under federal vacancy law.
The interim appointment of Brooker takes effect on Friday.
"For the past 18 years, Gregory Brooker has ably represented the people of Minnesota as a leader in the U.S. Attorney's Office," Sessions said. "He has invaluable experience both in private practice and as a federal prosecutor. He has put fraudsters and other criminals behind bars."
Trump now has 120 days to nominate a permanent U.S. attorney for Minnesota, who must then be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. If that time limit expires, the U.S. District in Minnesota would appoint someone to that role until the vacancy is filled.
"United States Attorneys lead federal prosecutions across this country, taking deadly drugs and criminals off of our streets and protecting the safety of law-abiding people, as well as representing the United States in civil litigation," Sessions said in a statement. "As a former U.S. Attorney myself, I have seen firsthand the impact that these prosecutors have and it is critical to have U.S. Attorneys in place during this time of rising violent crime, a staggering increase in homicides, and an unprecedented drug crisis."
A Minnesota native and graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School, Brooker joined the U.S. attorney's office in 1999 as an assistant U.S. attorney. From 2007 to 2014, he served as chief of the civil division and was appointed as First Assistant U.S. Attorney in February 2014.
Before joining the U.S. Attorney's office, Brooker spent five years with the Minneapolis law firm of Popham, Haik, Schnobrich, Kaufman and Doty, handing a wide variety of commercial litigation cases.