Trump picks James M. McDonald to lead Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office

The Southern District of New York is not just another U.S. attorney’s office. It has long been one of the federal system’s most powerful seats because it spans Manhattan, the Bronx and six upstate counties, and because its docket reaches Wall Street, public corruption, terrorism and other politically sensitive cases.

Donald Trump’s choice of James M. McDonald to lead that office puts a former federal prosecutor and corporate litigator at the center of a post that can shape national legal fights. Trump announced the pick on Saturday, June 13, 2026, after saying earlier in the week that he would move Jay Clayton, the current SDNY U.S. attorney, to director of national intelligence. The White House has not said whether McDonald will be nominated to the Senate-confirmed position or installed as acting U.S. attorney.

McDonald’s résumé points to continuity. He once served as an assistant U.S. attorney in SDNY, later became director of enforcement at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission during Trump’s first term, and has been a litigation partner at Sullivan & Cromwell since 2021, where he co-heads the firm’s securities and commodities investigations and commodities, futures and derivatives practices. He also worked as a deputy associate counsel in the White House Counsel’s Office under George W. Bush and clerked for Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Sixth Circuit Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton.

The appointment also carries a clear loyalty signal. McDonald is one of Trump’s personal lawyers, and he worked on Trump’s appeal of his Manhattan hush-money conviction, which is still pending. He is also a close friend of Clayton, whom Trump elevated to the SDNY post earlier this year.

That combination makes McDonald look like both a continuity pick and a loyalty pick. His prior prosecutorial experience at SDNY and enforcement background at the CFTC should reassure lawyers inside the office, who have watched the Manhattan post change hands repeatedly. In April 2025, Matthew Podolsky replaced Danielle Sassoon after Sassoon resigned in protest over the Justice Department’s order to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams. Clayton then took over as interim U.S. attorney.

Under Clayton, SDNY has kept up a heavy national-security and financial-crime portfolio, including cases involving Nicolás Maduro, insider trading, a prediction-market trading case involving a U.S. soldier and a June 2026 fraud case alleging a scheme to obtain hundreds of millions of shares of a technology company. However Trump ultimately structures McDonald’s appointment, the choice underscores how much this office matters to the administration’s approach to federal law enforcement.