President Donald Trump on Saturday said he intends to appoint James McDonald as the next U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York—one of the most powerful prosecutorial offices in the country.
McDonald would replace Jay Clayton, who the president nominated Thursday for director of national intelligence. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said the chamber will “move quickly” to confirm Clayton.
McDonald has served as an assistant U.S. attorney at the Southern District of New York where he handled white-collar criminal cases, international narcotics trafficking, and violent crime. During Trump’s first term, he went on to serve as enforcement chief at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
He is currently senior partner at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell, where he worked from 2021 alongside Clayton until Clayton moved to the Southern District of New York.
“I am confident that Jamie will deliver strong results for our Country as the next United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, as he has the respect of, and will work fantastically with, our Law Enforcement Patriots, the Legal Community, and the Judicial Bench,” Trump wrote on Truth Social announcing the selection. “Good luck Jamie. I have no doubt about your future greatness!”
In 2025, McDonald acted as one of Trump’s personal attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell in his formal appeal of a jury’s felony conviction for falsifying business records in New York, for which Trump was given to an unconditional discharge in January 2025 ahead of his second inauguration. Trump’s appeal of the conviction record is ongoing, and the president has called the trial “a political witch hunt.”
The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House for comment on whether McDonald’s appointment will be Senate-confirmed or if he will operate in an acting capacity.
The Southern District of New York is the busiest of the Justice Department’s prosecution offices, and the U.S. attorney in Manhattan oversees a vast portfolio ranging from terrorism and espionage cases to security fraud and public corruption.
During his 14-month tenure there, Clayton facilitated the unsealing of thousands of pages of court records from the prosecutions of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell—documents that were made public as part of the Justice Department’s release of records related to the late sex offender and his longtime confidant.
Clayton also oversaw the prosecution of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores, on drug trafficking charges.
Trump had named his director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency William Pulte to take over from Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard in an acting capacity on June 19. In May, Gabbard announced her resignation to care for her husband, who has been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer. She will step down on June 30.
Trump had directed Pulte to downsize the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which oversees 18 intelligence agencies.
“I’d like to see it smaller. I think there are a lot of people in there that shouldn’t be there,” Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an article published June 5.
Trump said the downsizing should happen before a new permanent director takes over. “You’re less shackled,” he said. “It sort of gives you more power, you know, for a somewhat limited period of time.”
Democrats strongly opposed Pulte’s appointment, citing his lack of intelligence or national security experience, and said they will refuse to renew foreign intelligence powers in Congress.
On June 11, Trump named Clayton as his permanent nominee.
“Few people anywhere in the Legal Community are respected at the level of Jay,” Trump wrote. “I encourage the United States Senate to confirm Jay as soon as possible.”
Kimberly Hayek and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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