Acting Attorney General Boente Issues Guidance to Department on Executive Order

Dana J. Boente, who was appointed this evening to serve as acting Attorney General, tonight issued the following guidance to the men and women of the department:

On January 30, 2017, Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates issued a memorandum barring Department of Justice Attorney’s from presenting arguments in defense of the President’s January 27, 2017, Executive Order entitled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States.” At approximately 9:00 p.m., I was asked by the President to serve in the capacity of Acting Attorney General. After having dedicated the last thirty-three years of my life to this Department, I am humbled and incredibly honored to serve as Acting Attorney General. Based upon the Office of Legal Counsel’s analysis, which found the Executive Order both lawful on its face and properly drafted, I hereby rescind former Acting Attorney General Sally Q. Yates January 30, 2017, guidance and direct the men and women of the Department of Justice to do our sworn duty and to defend the lawful orders of our President.

Prior to this appointment, Boente had been serving as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia since his confirmation by the U.S. Senate on Dec. 15, 2015. Boente was appointed by the Attorney General in December 2012 to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, a position he held until September 2013. Boente began his career with the Justice Department in 1984 with the Tax Division, and in January 2001 he became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Fraud Unit of the Eastern District of Virginia.

From 2005 to 2007, Boente served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Tax Division. Following his service with the Tax Division, he returned to the Eastern District of Virginia when he was selected as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney. He served as acting U.S. Attorney for that office from October 2008 through September 2009 and from Sept. 23, 2013 until his Senate confirmation.