Deirdre Daly, who was among the 46 Obama administration holdovers ousted Friday as U.S. attorneys, was reinstated Monday and will remain in the post until October, a gesture by the Trump administration that will give her 20 years of federal service and retirement benefits.
“I thank the attorney general and the administration for affording me the opportunity to remain as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut so that I might complete 20 years of service to the Department of Justice in October,” Daly said. “I look forward to continuing to work on behalf of the residents of Connecticut in my remaining time, and I will focus on an orderly transition as I complete what has been a rewarding tenure in the Office.”
Daly was one of at least two U.S. attorney’s reinstated Monday to allow them to complete 20 years of service. Richard Hartunian, the U.S. attorney for Central District of New York, issued a statement saying he will remain until June.
Unlike most presidentially nominated U.S. attorneys, Daly had been a career employee, working as an assistant U.S. attorney for 12 years in the Southern District of New York and then serving three years as the supervisor of the district’s White Plains office. She also had been a clerk to a U.S. District judge in New York.
In Connecticut, Daly was the first assistant U.S. attorney for nearly three years, then served as the U.S. attorney, first on an interim basis and then with a presidential appointment from May 14, 2013.
The unexpected development Monday should cool the speculation that was ignited Friday over who might be in the running as a successor — and who might be in a position to influence the selection.
“One of the great guessing games in the nation’s capital is how the Trump administration is going to fill the U.S. attorney jobs,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal said earlier Monday.
In Connecticut, they will have more time to guess.