politics

Face the Facts: US Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery steps down

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U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery is choosing to step down. She was the first Black woman to hold the post here in Connecticut. She spoke with NBC Connecticut’s Mike Hydeck about her plans.

With the new Trump administration coming in next Sunday, U.S. attorneys across our country are leaving their posts.

Often times, they resign or they get replaced by an incoming president, which is their right.

U.S. Attorney Vanessa Roberts Avery is choosing to step down. She was the first Black woman to hold the post here in Connecticut.

She spoke with NBC Connecticut's Mike Hydeck about her plans.

Mike Hydeck: So first up, why step down now?

Vanessa Roberts Avery: The short answer is resigning now is making for a smooth transition for everyone involved. And if I can take a step back, you know, the U.S. Attorney's office itself, as you know, but for the benefit of your viewers, is a nonpartisan and apolitical office, right? We make our decisions based on facts and evidence that's presented in the rule of law. And every employee at that office except me is a career employee of the federal government. Many of them have worked for the office for 20 to 30, years, and obviously they have survived through various administrations. And I myself, prior to my present role, was a career employee during the Bush administration, the Obama administration and the Trump administration.

Mike Hydeck: So you've served Democrats and Republicans. Why is it different now? Now is time to leave, because?

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Vanessa Roberts Avery: Now is the time to leave to make sure that there's a smooth transition. The mission of the office and the work itself, the core priorities are the same, right? Violent crime, narcotics, financial fraud, public corruption, civil rights, child exploitation, human trafficking, national security, cyber crime, all of those are going to continue as priorities.

Mike Hydeck: And those are some of the things you've worked on here in our state, right? Your office is under the radar in many cases. So give people a glimpse of what's your day to day like. Are you dealing with drug trafficking here in Connecticut? Are you dealing with human trafficking here in Connecticut on a daily basis? Like here in our state?

Vanessa Roberts Avery: Absolutely. All of those things are priorities here in Connecticut. To take a step back, one of the things that I am most proud of is our collaboration as a law enforcement community here in Connecticut. We are very fortunate to have a very strong and cohesive law enforcement community, federal, state and local police departments. So that includes everybody from FBI, DEA and ATF on down to your local town police department, working together to address some of the biggest challenges that face every jurisdiction in the nation, but certainly here in Connecticut as well, including things like gun violence. Very proud of the fact that our gun violence numbers in Connecticut have gone down substantially from 2022 to 2023 to now, and that is a collaborative effort with all of those law enforcement.

Mike Hydeck: It needs to be, right? Because if you're in an office and police officers are on the ground, you need to talk.

Vanessa Roberts Avery: Absolutely.

Mike Hydeck: So in recent years, both parties have accused the Justice Department of being weaponized against them. Of course, it's well publicized about President Trump decides, look, they're after me. You know, he calls out the FBI, he calls out the Justice Department. Even President Biden was saying that the Justice Department was ruling against him in the Hunter Biden laptop situation. Is that true? Is it partisan? You strike me as a nonpartisan, but you were appointed by a Democratic president.

Vanessa Roberts Avery: Sure, and I'm happy to explain why that is. The office, as I said, is nonpartisan and apolitical. In any given case, we are going to look at the facts, we're going to look at the evidence, and we're going to apply a law to that. That's the rule of law. That is how we make decisions on which cases to charge, what charges to include, whether or not to resolve them by a plea agreement or other settlement. It's all based on the rule of law. And so we do hear a lot in the press and in the public about weaponizing of the department, but that is not how we operate here in Connecticut, and it's not how the department operates across the country.

Mike Hydeck: It seems as if the Justice Department almost needs a PR coup to say, look, this is how we do business, not how you say we do business. If that's the case, it might help. So one of the other things when you leave, you're stepping down next Friday, I believe. What happens for Connecticut after you step down?

Vanessa Roberts Avery: When I step down, our work will continue. I am very confident in the leadership team that we have in the office, Mark Silverman, who is currently the first assistant United States Attorney, the number two in charge of the office, will take over immediately upon my departure, and the team we have in place will continue to do the great work that they've always done in collaboration, not only with our law enforcement partners, but with community leaders. I'm very proud of the community engagement work we've done in a number of different venues over the course of the time I've been in office.

Mike Hydeck: So he's an assistant, he's a career person right now. He's going to hold the role for the next person who's appointed, I guess.

Vanessa Roberts Avery: He will be in an interim role until the new president, as is his right, as you've mentioned, decides to appoint someone new to the role, after confirmation by the United States Senate. And I should add that I'm extremely grateful to President Biden and to senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy for recommending me to their colleagues in the Senate for confirmation, as well as to Attorney General William Tong, who was a champion of mine from start to finish during the nomination process, in addition to others. And although that part of the process is political and partisan, in order for me to be appointed to the role, once I'm in the seat, and as long as I have been in the seat and continuing until my last day, next week, I have made all decisions with a nonpartisan bent based on the rule of law.

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