The U.S attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania will leave his post next week.
U.S. Attorney William McSwain, an appointee of President Donald Trump, will step down next Friday as part of the normal transition between presidential administrations, he announced in a statement.
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“I will always be grateful to have had the opportunity to serve as U.S. attorney in the District in which I have lived most of my life, in the city in which I was born, and in the office where I learned to be a trial lawyer as an assistant U.S. attorney,” said McSwain.
McSwain touted increasing the number of indictments, recouping hundreds of millions of dollars through civil enforcement resolutions, and attacking violent crime and public corruption. His office led the cases against former Bucks County Magisterial District Judge John Waltman, a constable, and police administrator.
The outgoing top federal law enforcement official for the area is a former investment banker who joined the military and then became an attorney.
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McSwain has served in his role since April 2018.
McSwain said he will be returning to private law practice in Philadelphia. He has been rumored to be seeking political office in the future, according to Philadelphia Magazine.
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McSwain has not been afraid to publicly disagree with Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and battle the plan to open a safe injection site in the city. He was also not afraid to go on conservative opinion shows like “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News Channel to criticize Krasner.
The incoming administration of President-Elect Joe Biden has not announced who they plan to appoint to lead the office.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams will serve as the acting U.S. attorney upon McSwain’s departure.
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The Eastern District of Pennsylvania is among the largest regional offices in the U.S. Department of Justice and covers roughly nearly six million people in eight counties around Philadelphia.
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