It will take effect just before Donald Trump’s second presidential term begins later this month.

Clare E. Connors, the top-ranking federal law enforcement official in the District of Hawaiʻi, submitted her resignation Monday to President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland.

She plans to leave office at 11:59 p.m. on Jan. 19, hours before the swearing in of President-elect Donald Trump.

US Attorney Clare E. Connors and left, FBI Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill duriing a press conference announcing charges against Stewart Olani Stant and Milton Choy.
U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors and FBI Special Agent in Charge Steven Merrill in 2022. (Cory Lum/Civil Beat/2022)

“It was a privilege to rejoin this office and to serve Hawaiʻi as the chief federal law enforcement officer,” Connors said in a press release.

Connors, a former Hawaiʻi attorney general, was nominated to her post by Biden in September 2021, confirmed by the U.S. Senate in December of that year and sworn into office in January 2022.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is responsible for prosecuting federal crimes in the district, including ones related to national security, public corruption, drug trafficking, child exploitation, firearms and violent crime.

The office also initiates affirmative civil actions, defends the U.S. in civil cases and collects debts owed to the United States.

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