Trump DOJ Alum Toni Bacon Said to Be Acting Criminal Chief (2)

Veteran federal prosecutor Antoinette “Toni” Bacon, a former interim US attorney in upstate New York, will be the acting leader of the Justice Department’s criminal division, said three people familiar with the move.

President Donald Trump has already installed James McHenry, a longtime DOJ immigration official, as acting attorney general and Emil Bove, his personal lawyer and previously-announced principal associate deputy attorney general, to serve as acting deputy attorney general.

Most recently a Miami prosecutor, Bacon will return to DOJ headquarters—where she worked from 2017 to 2020—following Trump swearing in Monday. Bacon’s appointment could come as soon as Monday afternoon, said the individuals, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss non-public personnel plans.

Bacon will run a division with about 1,500 lawyers and support staff pursuing white collar and violent crime cases in federal courts nationwide and forging connections with global law enforcement counterparts.

Trump has yet to announce a nominee for the criminal division’s assistant attorney general. Bacon will be the acting chief for now, but could stay on as No. 2 once a presidential appointee is confirmed by the Senate.

The criminal division has been led for the past month by another acting official, Brent Wible, who is a career civil servant Trump could’ve chosen to retain. Replacing him with Bacon comes as Trump aides have signaled their intention to move rapidly to advance a new law enforcement agenda.

Bacon was named interim US attorney in the Albany-based Northern District of New York in 2020 by then-Attorney General William Barr. She’d previously served as associate to the deputy AG under Trump and was national elder justice coordinator.

Temporary Leader

McHenry, whose appointment was announced by a DOJ spokesman Monday, most recently served as the department’s chief administrative hearing officer, overseeing administrative law judges, and previously was head of the Executive Office of Immigration Review judges in Trump’s prior term.

Trump’s attorney general nominee Pam Bondi could be confirmed and take office as soon as later this week, as the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on advancing her to the floor Jan. 22. She’s expected to receive majority approval in the GOP-controlled Senate.

In the interim, the acting attorney general could be required to sign off on key actions in the opening few days of Trump’s second term, including legal approval of planned raids of illegal immigrants and a border crackdown.

McHenry’s past leadership of EOIR came at a time when the office was criticized for imposing decision quotas on immigration judges to help facilitate the administration’s deportation agenda.

The new Trump White House will be installing acting political appointees across the department this week.

Bacon, like McHenry, is getting elevated from another DOJ office. She’s been an assistant US attorney in the Southern District of Florida for the past few years.

Earlier in her career she was a trial attorney at the Antitrust Division, an AUSA in the Northern District of Ohio, and national white collar crime coordinator at the department’s Executive Office for US Attorneys.