Prosecutor Griffin now rejects post

Interim appointee blames Senate flak

By Democrat-Gazette Staff and Wire Reports

Tim Griffin (left) and Bud Cummins. Cummins was replaced by Griffin as a U.S. prosecutor, but now Griffin has said he no longer wants the job permanantly. The assistant attorney general has said that Cummins was not replaced for performance-related issues, but other prosecutors were. ADG file photos

Tim Griffin, whose December appointment as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas sparked a national outcry about surreptitious changes made to a law affecting federal prosecutors, says he no longer wants the job permanently.

“I have made the decision not to let my name go forward to the Senate,” Griffin said Thursday evening.

He was referring to the U.S. Department of Justice’s stated intention, amid heavy criticism, to subject Griffin and others recently appointed to interim federal-prosecutor posts to the standard process of being nominated by the president, scrutinized by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and then voted on by the Senate.

For more information see today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

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