President Trump nominates DA Dunavant for West Tenn. U.S. attorney

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is announcing the first wave of U.S. attorney candidates to replace the dozens forced out by President Donald Trump months ago.

District Attorney General Michael Dunavant; Image courtesy of Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference website

District Attorney General Michael Dunavant of the 25th Judicial District is Trump’s nominee to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee.

Dunavant currently serves as district attorney for Fayette, Hardeman, Lauderdale, McNairy and Tipton counties.

Also among the candidates Trump intends to nominate are Jessie Liu, the current deputy general counsel for the Treasury Department, and Richard W. Moore, the inspector general for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Liu will be nominated to serve in the District of Columbia, while Moore would serve in the Southern District of Alabama.

The other nominees are Alabama’s Jay Town and Louis V. Franklin Sr., Ohio’s Justin Herdman, Utah’s John Huber and Oklahoma’s Brian Kuester.

Trump in March ordered 46 U.S. attorneys who were holdovers from the Obama administration to tender their resignations. They included high-profile prosecutors like New York’s Preet Bharara.