Rachel Rollins, US AG for MA, Resigns Due to Ethics Probe

U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins will resign her post this week because her "presence has become a distraction," her attorney announced Tuesday in an apparent nod to a federal ethics probe of the top federal prosecutor in Massachusetts. Rollins's attorney said she will submit a letter of resignation to President Joe Biden by the end of the day Friday. Her sudden departure comes after the Associated Press reported in November that the Justice Department's inspector general began investigating Rollins's appearance at a political fundraiser with First Lady Jill Biden, her use of a personal cell phone for business and a trip to California paid for by an outside group. "Rachael has been profoundly honored to serve as U.S. Attorney over the past 16 months and is incredibly proud of all her office has accomplished during that limited time, especially in the areas of gun violence and civil rights," Rollins's attorney, former Justice Department Inspector General Michael Bromwich, said in a statement. "She is optimistic that the important work she started will continue but understands that her presence has become a distraction. The work of the office and the Department of Justice is far too important to be overshadowed by anything else." A former progressive prosecutor seen as a rising political star, Rollins left her elected office as Suffolk County District Attorney to become the Bay State's top federal prosecutor. 

Former Massachusetts AG candidate,  Republican Jay McMahon, said Rollins stated unwillingness to prosecute numerous kinds of crimes shocked many and led to an unprecedented tie in the US Senate when her nomination came to a vote -- a tie only broken by the intervention of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Similarly, Amy Carnevale, the chair of the Mass GOP, contrasted Rollins troubled tenure with the squeaky clean and highly effective tenure of her predecessor in the AG's office, Andrew Lelling.   McMahon agreed. "Lelling focused on stopping the drugs coming into the state and he was very successful -- and he also prosecuted the Varsity Blue case."