Terwilliger was born June 5,1950,in New Brunswick,New Jersey. He grew up in Metuchen,N.J.,went to public school,graduated from Seton Hall University (B.A.,1973) with a degree in Communications and Antioch School of Law (J.D.,1978). Married,Terwilliger has three children and three grandchildren,and resides in Delaplane,Virginia,where he operates the family farm,Pleasant Vale Farm,and manages other business interests. His father,George J. Terwilliger,Jr.,was a civil engineer and Navy veteran with combat experience in the Pacific in World War II. His mother,Ruth Terwilliger,was a librarian and worked in real estate sales.
Career
Early government service
After admission to the bar,Terwilliger served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia (1978–81) and an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Vermont (1981–87) and then became U.S. Attorney for Vermont (1987-1991) and later Deputy U.S. Attorney General (1991–93) in the George H. W. Bush administration. Terwilliger was on a small prosecutor team that managed the initial response to the initial response to the shooting of President Reagan. Terwilliger specialized in white-collar crime and terrorism.[4]In 1987,Terwilliger prosecuted three men in a terrorism case involving a bomb smuggled into the US in Vermont. In 1993,Terwilliger briefly took the helm of the Justice Department as acting attorney general after the departure of former Attorney General William Barr.[5]
Iran-Contra
Terwilliger commented on the Iran–Contra affair in a February 6,2001 appearance on a CNN titled "Burden of Proof:Ronald Reagan's Legal Legacy".[6]
2000 Florida recount
During the Florida 2000 election recount,Terwilliger was co-leader of Republican President-elect George W. Bush's legal team[7] and was "an advisor to the Bush-Cheney Transition and counselor to designated cabinet and other prospective appointees."[8]
In April 2007 Terwilliger served as a panelist for the Brookings Institution Judicial Issues Forum entitled "Politics and the Justice Department:Finding a Path to Accountability".[13] Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales resigned August 27,2007,[14] and left office on September 17,2007.[15][16] On October 10,2007,news outlets reported that Gonzales hired Terwilliger "to represent him in investigations of mismanagement" of the U.S. Department of Justice. "Investigators are look[ing] into allegations that Gonzales lied to lawmakers and illegally allowed politics to influence hiring and firing at the department."[17] Terwilliger represented Gonzales through several Inspector General investigations and a subsequent criminal investigation by a special prosecutor. Gonzales was exonerated in all matters.
In 2008,the American Bar Association mentioned Terwilliger as a leading candidate for Attorney General under a John McCain presidency.[18] It related that while in the USDOJ during the Reagan Administration,Terwilliger dealt with resolving matters such as investigating BCCI after an international banking scandal and investigating after the savings and loan scandal,[18] environmental cases,antitrust merger reviews and enforcement matters,civil rights and voting cases as well as terrorism and national security cases. Terwilliger was also in charge of all Justice Department operations,including crisis response,such as the 1992 Los Angeles riots. On policy matters,he was a principal in the highest councils of government charged with addressing the broad array of legal policy issues arising in the executive branch.[8]
From January 2015 to January 2024,Terwilliger served as a partner of the McGuireWoods US-based international law firm.[19] Since January 2024,he has been serving as an attorney and counsel at Terwilliger Law PLLC in Washington,D.C.,continuing to represent clients on a selective basis.[2]
Current high-profile work
Terwilliger successfully defended former U.S. Congressman Aaron Schock,indicted in 2016 after resigning from his legislative position. In March 2017,Terwilliger and his colleagues publicized the involvement of a former Schock staffer who acted as a confidential informant in the case after the indictment.[20][21]
He also represents Mark Meadows,former White House Chief of Staff to President Donald Trump,with regard to the investigation of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a Select Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.[22] Terwilliger counseled Meadows through multiple investigations and litigation,none of which resulted in any determination of Meadows wrongdoing.
As a veteran of Department of Justice and other US agency policies and practices,Terwilliger is called upon by the media and by congressional committees for his views on criminal justice and national security policy matters.
Affiliations
Counsel,National Gambling Impact Study Commission (1997)[23]
"Terror Tribunals,"PBSOnline NewsHour, November 14, 2001: "Gwen Ifill examines the debate over trying terrorists in military rather than civilian courts with George Terwilliger, former deputy attorney general for the first Bush administration, and Laura Murphy, director of the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union."
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