Overview
- Trump selected McDonald, an associate deputy attorney general, to serve as the first assistant attorney general for the new fraud unit, pending Senate confirmation.
- Officials describe a nationwide mandate to pursue misuse of federal funds, with Minnesota and California cited as enforcement priorities.
- Most career prosecutors on Minnesota fraud probes resigned this month; DOJ is surging personnel and outside support to keep the cases moving.
- Legal experts and some lawmakers question overlap with existing DOJ components and warn of politicization, noting that the unit’s scope and reporting structure are still unclear.
- McDonald’s record includes helping secure 2020 convictions in Hawaii’s Kealoha public-corruption case, while Trump’s claim of “hundreds of billions” in losses has been contested in coverage.