Ed O'Callaghan

Last updated

Katie Barlow
​
(m. 2021)​
Ed O'Callaghan
Ed O'Callaghan official portrait.jpg
United States Deputy Attorney General
Acting
In office
May 13, 2019 –May 22, 2019
Education Georgetown University (BA)
New York University (JD)

Edward Casey O'Callaghan (born June 8, 1969) is an American attorney and former U.S. Department of Justice official.

Contents

In his early career, O'Callaghan was an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. He resigned to join John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, where he became one of the public faces of the legal defense of McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, against ethics charges related to her former brother-in-law (the "Troopergate" affair). From 2009 to 2011, he worked at the law firm Nixon Peabody, then from 2011 to 2017 he was a partner at the New York office of law firm Clifford Chance. In 2017, during the Trump administration, he became the principal deputy assistant attorney general of the U.S. Department of Justice National Security Division. He left the department in 2019 and returned to private practice.

Early life and education

O'Callaghan was born in Brooklyn, New York. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University and a Juris Doctor from the New York University School of Law. From 1995 to 1996, O'Callaghan served as a law clerk to Judge Kevin Duffy of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. [3]

Career

Early in his career, O'Callaghan was an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. [4] He was co-chief of the office's terrorism and national security unit. [5]

Sarah Palin "truth squad"

In 2008, O'Callaghan became a lawyer for the presidential campaign of Republican John McCain. [4] He co-led what the Anchorage Daily News called "a cadre of high-powered operatives" described by McCain's campaign as a "truth squad" to field questions about and defend attacks against his running mate, vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska. [6] His two co-leaders were Karl Rove protégée Brian Jones, and Washington lawyer Mark Paoletta. Paoletta, Jones, and O'Callaghan were "tasked specifically with responding to the sort of viral attacks that have been popping up about Palin's background and record in Alaska... The public face for this pushback, though, will be woman Republican politicians, a 'truth squad' team designed to highlight attacks on Palin and draw sympathy to her side." [7] Paoletta and Jones were volunteers while O'Callaghan was on staff. [8]

O'Callaghan was sent to Alaska to handle "legal issues that are affecting the political dynamic of the campaign," according to Taylor Griffin, a former Treasury Department official in the Bush administration. [9] Newsweek described O'Callaghan's role as "helping to direct an aggressive legal strategy aimed at shutting down a pre-election ethics investigation" into Palin." Working with Palin's attorney Thomas Van Flein, O'Callaghan worked to block the investigation, telling reporters, "There was no Ethics Act violation and there is no need to go forward with this." [10]

The Alaska Personnel Board concluded that Palin did not violate the Alaska Executive Ethics Act by trying to get her brother-in-law fired. Alaska Personnel Board investigations are normally secret, but the three-member board chose to release its report one day before the presidential election. [11]

Private practice

O'Callaghan moved into private practice in March 2009, joining the law firm Nixon Peabody as part of its Government Investigations and White Collar Defense Practice Group. [12] In 2011, he joined the law firm Clifford Chance in New York as a Partner in its White Collar, Regulatory Enforcement and Government Investigations practice group. [13] O'Callaghan worked on several high-profile cases; he represented Achilles Macris, who was head of the London branch of JPMorgan Chase's chief investment office, where the trader nicknamed the "London Whale" operated. [14] O'Callaghan also served on the defense of Jeffrey Webb, the former President of CONCACAF and member of the FIFA Council, in the criminal RICO indictment pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. [15]

Justice Department tenure during Trump administration

In 2017, O'Callaghan became the principal deputy assistant attorney general of the Justice Department's National Security Division. [5] In April 2018, he became the principal associate deputy attorney general, replacing Robert K. Hur. [4] [16]

Geoffrey S. Berman, who was U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2018 to 2020, wrote in his 2022 memoirs that, throughout his two and a half years as U.S. attorney, officials in Trump's Justice Department, including O'Callaghan, repeatedly attempted to interfere with the office to politically benefit Trump, and that these officials "kept demanding that I use my office to aid them politically." [17] Berman wrote that U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (USAO-SDNY) had come under a level of political pressure from Trump officials that was "unprecedented and scary," and that he rebuffed these requests until June 2020, when—angered by USAO-SDNY's investigations into Trump allies Michael Cohen and Rudy Giuliani —Trump fired him. [17] Berman said that, following his office's investigation, USAO-SDNY concluded that Gregory B. Craig, a powerful Democratic lawyer whom the office had investigated, had committed no crime, and declined to charge him, but that in September 2018, O'Callaghan contacted Berman's office and asked him to charge Craig before the 2018 midterm elections, saying that "It's time for you guys to even things out" after the indictments of Cohen and Chris Collins, a Republican congressman and Trump ally. [17] [18] [19] O'Callaghan denied making the statements. [19] In 2022, following the publication of Berman's book, the Senate Judiciary Committee opened an investigation into allegations that the Trump administration sought to use the U.S. Attorney's office in SDNY for partisan reasons. [19]

In 2019, O'Callaghan co-authored a memorandum, issued by the DOJ Office of Legal Counsel, that recommended that Trump should not be indicted for obstruction of justice. [20] [21] The nine-page memo, dated March 24, 2019, was co-written with another senior Trump DOJ official, Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel. O'Callaghan and Engel asserted that the evidence uncovered by the special counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller was insufficient to support a case for obstruction against Trump. DOJ initially kept the memo secret. [20] The watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington launched a Freedom of Information Act suit against the Justice Department, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in August 2022, ordered the memo's public release. [21] The D.C. Circuit held that the memo was not shielded from disclosure by the deliberative process privilege, because then-Attorney General William Barr had already determined, by the time the memo was written, that DOJ would not charge Trump with a crime, making the memo akin to a "thought experiment." [21]

After 2019

O'Callaghan left office in December 2019 and joined WilmerHale in April 2020. [22]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Attorney</span> Chief prosecutor representing the United States federal government

United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal criminal prosecutor in their judicial district and represents the U.S. federal government in civil litigation in federal and state court within their geographic jurisdiction. U.S. attorneys must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate, after which they serve four-year terms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merrick Garland</span> American lawyer and jurist (born 1952)

Merrick Brian Garland is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 86th United States attorney general since 2021. He previously served as a circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1997 to 2021. In 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the Republican-led U.S. Senate did not hold a vote to confirm him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Comey</span> American lawyer (born 1960)

James Brien Comey Jr. is an American lawyer who was the seventh director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2013 until his termination in May 2017. Comey was a registered Republican for most of his adult life; however, in 2016, he described himself as unaffiliated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office of Legal Counsel</span> Office of the United States Department of Justice

The Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) is an office in the United States Department of Justice that supports the attorney general in their role as legal adviser to the president and all executive branch agencies. It drafts legal opinions of the attorney general and provides its own written opinions and other advice in response to requests from the counsel to the president, the various agencies of the executive branch, and other components of the Department of Justice. The office reviews and comments on the constitutionality of pending legislation. The office reviews any executive orders and substantive proclamations for legality if the president proposes them. All proposed orders of the attorney general and regulations that require the attorney general's approval are reviewed. It also performs a variety of special assignments referred by the attorney general or the deputy attorney general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Palin</span> American politician (born 1964)

Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee under U.S. Senator John McCain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Barr</span> American attorney (born 1950)

William Pelham Barr is an American attorney who served as United States attorney general in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1991 to 1993 and again in the administration of President Donald Trump from 2019 to 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven G. Bradbury</span> American lawyer (born 1958)

Steven Gill Bradbury is an American lawyer and government official who served as the General Counsel of the United States Department of Transportation. He previously served as Acting Assistant Attorney General from 2005 to 2007 and Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General from 2004 to 2009, heading the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) in the U.S. Department of Justice during President George W. Bush's second term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory B. Craig</span> American attorney

Gregory Bestor Craig is an American lawyer and former White House Counsel under President Barack Obama, from 2009 to 2010. A former attorney at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Williams & Connolly, Craig has represented numerous high-profile clients. Prior to becoming White House Counsel, he served as assistant to the President and special counsel in the White House of President Bill Clinton, where he directed the team defending Clinton against impeachment. Craig also served as a senior advisor to Senator Edward Kennedy and to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

The Alaska Public Safety Commissioner dismissal, also known as Troopergate, involves the possibly illegal July 2008 dismissal of the Alaskan Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan by Republican Governor Sarah Palin. A complaint alleged that Palin dismissed Monegan because he did not fire Alaskan State Trooper Mike Wooten, who was in a bitter divorce with Palin's sister, Molly McCann.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amy Berman Jackson</span> American judge (born 1954)

Amy Sauber Berman Jackson is an American attorney and jurist serving as a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew McCabe</span> Lawyer, former official of U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (born 1968)

Andrew George McCabe is an American attorney who served as the Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from February 2016 to March 2018 and as the acting Director of the FBI from May 9, 2017, to August 2, 2017. He also serves as a professor at George Mason University's Schar School of Policy and Government. McCabe joined the FBI as a special agent in 1996 and served with the bureau's SWAT team. He became a supervisory special agent in 2003 and held management positions of increasing responsibility until he was appointed deputy director of the FBI in February 2016. McCabe became the acting Director of the FBI following James Comey's dismissal by then President Donald Trump, and served in that position until Trump's appointment of Christopher A. Wray. McCabe later departed from the FBI on poor terms with Trump. After leaving the Trump administration, McCabe has been a contributor at CNN since 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Brand</span> American attorney (born 1973)

Rachel Lee Brand is an American lawyer, academic, and former government official. She served as the United States Associate Attorney General from May 22, 2017, until February 20, 2018, when she resigned to take a job as head of global corporate governance at Walmart. Brand was the first woman to serve as Associate Attorney General. She also served as Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy in the George W. Bush administration and was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. Prior to becoming Associate Attorney General, Brand was an associate professor at Antonin Scalia Law School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Engel</span> American lawyer (born 1974)

Steven Andrew Engel is an American lawyer. He served as the United States assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Trump administration. Engel, who previously worked in the George W. Bush administration as deputy assistant attorney general in the Office of Legal Counsel, was nominated by President Donald Trump on January 31, 2017, and confirmed on November 7, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeffrey Clark</span> American lawyer (born 1967)

Jeffrey Bossert Clark is an American lawyer who was Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division from 2018 to 2021. In September 2020, he was also appointed acting head of the Civil Division. In 2020 and 2021, Clark allegedly helped then-president Donald Trump attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Clark's actions in that endeavor were reviewed by the District of Columbia Bar – the entity authorized by law to pursue attorney discipline and disbarment in the District of Columbia – which recommended discipline to the DC Court of Appeals in July 2022, and in August 2024 its Board on Professional Responsibility recommended a two year suspension of his law license. He was identified as an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal prosecution of Donald Trump over attempts to overturn the 2020 election. On August 14, 2023, he was indicted along with 18 other people in the prosecution related to the 2020 election in Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Bash</span> American attorney

John Franklin Bash III is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas from 2017 to 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoffrey Berman</span> American lawyer (born 1959)

Geoffrey Steven Berman is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 2018 to 2020. He is the Global Chair of the litigation department at the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cole Memorandum</span> 2013 memo by US Deputy Attorney General

The Cole Memorandum was a United States Department of Justice memorandum issued August 29, 2013, by United States Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole during the presidency of Barack Obama. The memorandum, sent to all United States Attorneys, governed federal prosecution of offenses related to marijuana. The memo stated that given its limited resources, the Justice Department would not enforce federal marijuana prohibition in states that "enacted laws legalizing marijuana in some form and ... implemented strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems to control the cultivation, distribution, sale, and possession of marijuana," except where a lack of federal enforcement would undermine federal priorities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Ohr</span> American government official

Bruce Genesoke Ohr is a former United States Department of Justice official. A former associate deputy attorney general and former director of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), as of February 2018 Ohr was working in the Justice Department's Criminal Division. He is an expert on transnational organized crime and has spent most of his career overseeing gang and racketeering-related prosecutions, including Russian organized crime.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barr letter</span> 2019 letter from William Barr about the Mueller report

The Barr letter is a four-page letter sent on March 24, 2019, from Attorney General William Barr to leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees purportedly detailing the "principal conclusions" of the Mueller report of the Special Counsel investigation led by Robert Mueller into Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 United States presidential election, allegations of conspiracy or coordination between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russia, and allegations of obstruction of justice.

This is a timeline of events from 2020 to 2022 related to investigations into the many suspicious links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies relating to the Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. It follows the timeline of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, both before and after July 2016, until November 8, 2016, election day, the transition, the first and second halves of 2017, the first and second halves of 2018, and the first and second halves of 2019.

References

  1. ↑ "Edward Casey O'Callaghan Lawyer Profile". Martindale-Hubbell . Retrieved August 29, 2022.
  2. 1 2 Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory: New York (New York City, Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island) Volume 13-1999. Martindale-Hubbell. September 1998. ISBN   9781561603244.
  3. ↑ "Former Acting Assistant Attorney General Edward O'Callaghan". Justice.gov. January 30, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 Kutner, Max (April 7, 2018). "Rod Rosenstein's top deputy once worked to thwart a Sarah Palin investigation". Newsweek. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  5. 1 2 Ward, Anna (November 13, 2017). "Clifford Chance Partner Joins US Department of Justice". Law.com. Retrieved January 23, 2018.
  6. ↑ Sutton, Anne (September 18, 2008). "Campaign fields Palin questions". Anchorage Daily News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 14, 2009.
  7. ↑ Martin, Jonathan (September 10, 2008). "Palin team stocked with Bush veterans". Politico . Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  8. ↑ Ambinder, Marc (September 9, 2008). "McCain Campaign Stands Up Palin Truth-Squadding Team". The Atlantic . Archived from the original on October 13, 2008. Retrieved October 7, 2008.
  9. ↑ Sutton, Anne (September 17, 2008). "McCain campaign clamps down on questions in Alaska". Associated Press. Archived from the original on September 17, 2008.
  10. ↑ Isikoff, Michael (September 15, 2008). "McCain Lawyer Tries to Shut Down the Palin Ethics Probe". Newsweek . Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  11. ↑ "Report clears Sarah Palin in Troopergate". Chicago Sun Times. AP. November 3, 2008. Archived from the original on February 13, 2009. Retrieved February 10, 2009.
  12. ↑ McClain, Allison (March 10, 2009). "Former AUSA Edward O'Callaghan Joins Nixon Peabody in New York". nixonpeabody.com (Press release). Retrieved August 29, 2022.
  13. ↑ Protess, Ben (October 13, 2011). "Clifford Chance Hires 3 Ex-Prosecutors". DealBook. The New York Times . Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  14. ↑ Lipman, Melissa (October 10, 2016). "Top UK Court To Weigh Banker Rights In London Whale Case". law360.com. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  15. ↑ "Banned FIFA Official Pleads Not Guilty To Racketeering". CBS News . July 18, 2015. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  16. ↑ Jarrett, Laura (April 3, 2018). "Rosenstein gets new top deputy for Russia probe". CNN . Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  17. 1 2 3 Chatelain, Ryan (September 12, 2022). "Ex-U.S. attorney in book: Trump DOJ repeatedly interfered with office for political reasons". Spectrum News NY1 . Retrieved September 25, 2022.
  18. ↑ Prokopandrew, Andrew (September 8, 2022). "A new book claims Trump's efforts to politicize the Justice Department were worse than we knew: Fired US Attorney Geoffrey Berman has some stories to tell". Vox . Retrieved September 25, 2022.
  19. 1 2 3 Weiser, Benjamin (September 12, 2022). "Senate to Investigate Charge That Trump Meddled in Prosecutor's Office". The New York Times . Retrieved September 25, 2022.
  20. 1 2 Lucas, Ryan (August 24, 2022). "DOJ releases a Mueller-era memo to Barr on the decision not to prosecute Trump". NPR . Retrieved September 25, 2022.
  21. 1 2 3 Gerstein, Josh; Cheney, Kyle (August 19, 2022). "Appeals court backs ruling to release DOJ memo on Trump prosecution". Politico . Retrieved September 25, 2022.
  22. ↑ "Former Senior DOJ Official Edward C. O'Callaghan Joins WilmerHale". Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr (Press release). April 6, 2020. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
Legal offices
Preceded by United States Deputy Attorney General
Acting
2019		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.