By Sarah N. Lynch
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Long-time Justice Department immigration attorney James McHenry will serve as acting U.S. attorney general until President Donald Trump’s pick, Pam Bondi, can be confirmed by the Senate, a Justice Department official said on Monday.
McHenry will be charged with running the Justice Department, which Trump has vowed to shake up dramatically, in the early days of his administration, a role that will include defending Trump’s agenda against legal challenges.
Trump’s former defense attorney Emil Bove will temporarily serve as acting deputy attorney general, the official said.
McHenry temporarily headed a Justice Department unit focused on immigration during Trump’s first term.
Separately, the White House named as acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll, who currently heads the FBI’s Newark office, after the FBI’s current career deputy director Paul Abbate retired earlier on Monday.
The Senate is expected to hold a hearing on Bondi’s nomination on Wednesday. It has not yet scheduled hearings on Trump’s pick for FBI Director, Kash Patel.
(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Scott Malone)
