Longtime deputy named acting US attorney in Atlanta
Kurt Erskine (FOX 5)
ATLANTA - For the second time in less than a month, there’s a new top federal prosecutor in Atlanta.
Kurt Erskine, the longtime first assistant U.S. attorney in the Atlanta office, is stepping in as acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District, according to the U.S. Department of Justice website.
Erskine takes over from Bobby Christine, who has been the U.S. attorney for the Savannah-based Southern District of Georgia since 2017 and also became the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District on Jan. 4. Then-President Donald Trump tapped Christine to head the Northern District after the abrupt departure of U.S. Attorney Byung J. "BJay" Pak.
Christine resigned the Northern District post on Monday, according to his bio on his office’s website. He continues to serve as U.S. attorney for the Southern District, spokesman Barry Paschal said in an email Monday.
Pak announced his resignation Jan. 4 without giving a reason. But the timing was notable as his departure came a day after recordings of a telephone call became public in which Trump, who nominated Pak for the position in 2017, appeared to suggest that Pak was a "never-Trumper" — a term often used for conservative and Republican critics of Trump.
"You have your never-Trumper U.S. attorney there," Trump is heard saying during the call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican. Trump suggested during the call that Raffensperger might find enough votes to reverse the outcome of the presidential race in the state — an idea Raffensperger rejected.
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