Appointed by Barack Obama Name Dana Boente Education Saint Louis University | Preceded by Neil H. MacBride Role Attorney | |
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Full Name Dana James Boente Born February 7, 1954 (age 70)
Illinois, U.S. ( 1954-02-07 ) Alma mater Saint Louis University (B.A., J.D.) | ||
Dana Boente replaces Sally Yates as acting attorney general
Dana James Boente (/ˈbɛnˌteɪ/, BEN-tay; born February 7, 1954) is the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and the Acting United States Deputy Attorney General.
Contents
- Dana Boente replaces Sally Yates as acting attorney general
- Early life and education
- Career
- Personal life
- References
Boente is second in the line of succession to be the Attorney General of the United States. The order of succession was modified by an Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump on February 9, 2017, which reversed a previous Executive Order by President Barack Obama that changed the order of succession, without explanation, to remove Boente from the list. Boente was the Acting Attorney General of the United States from January 30, 2017 until February 9, 2017 and the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. He became Acting Deputy Attorney General of the United States on February 9, 2017 when Attorney General Jeff Sessions was sworn in.
As per the recusal of Sessions on all matters pertaining to American presidential campaigns given revelations of communications with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 United States presidential election, Boente has been designated to perform the requisite functions of the attorneyship general with respect to the aforementioned matters, until a permanent deputy, such as current nominee Rod J. Rosenstein, is confirmed by the United States Senate.
Early life and education
Boente was born in Carlinville, Illinois in 1954 to James and Doris Boente.
Boente received a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from Saint Louis University in 1976 and his Masters of Business Administration from there in 1977. He then attended the Saint Louis University School of Law, receiving his Juris Doctor in 1982.
Career
In 1982, Boente began his career as a law clerk for Chief U.S. District Judge J. Waldo Ackerman for the Central District of Illinois. In 1984, he joined the Tax Division’s Criminal Section as part of the Attorney General's Honors Program. Boente became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Fraud Unit of the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) in 2001.
In December 2012, Boente was appointed by United States Attorney General Eric Holder to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Louisiana, a position he held until September 2013. He became the Acting U.S. Attorney for EDVA by virtue of the Vacancy Reform Act on September 23, 2013, and served in that position until December 15, 2015. In this role, he was involved in the sentencing of former Virginia governor Bob McDonnell. He stated that, "No one is above the law... not a high public official, not even the highest public official [in Virginia]."
He was nominated by President Barack Obama on October 8, 2015, and confirmed by the United States Senate on December 15, 2015, as the 60th U.S. Attorney for the EDVA. He was appointed by President Donald Trump as Acting Attorney General on January 30, 2017, after Acting Attorney General Sally Yates was dismissed by Trump earlier that evening. Previously, Trump nominated Jeff Sessions for Attorney General. The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing on the nomination in early January and voted 11-9 in favor of the nomination on February 1, 2017 before being confirmed by the Senate on February 8, 2017.
Personal life
Boente has lived in Northern Virginia for 29 years.