Jacqueline C. Romero, Philly’s top federal prosecutor, leaves office amid Trump makeover of the federal justice system
Romero, who was appointed by then-President Joe Biden in 2022, was the first woman of color to serve as the region’s top federal prosecutor.
U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero — the first woman of color to serve as the Philadelphia region’s top federal prosecutor — said Monday night that she was leaving the office as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to make swift changes to the nation’s federal justice system.
Romero, who was appointed in 2022 by then-President Joe Biden, said it was “the absolute honor of my life” to serve as the region’s chief federal law enforcement officer. Romero, the granddaughter of a Spanish immigrant, had spent 16 years climbing the ranks as a lawyer in the civil division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office before she was tapped to lead its 140 lawyers.
Romero did not specify whether she had been fired, ordered to resign, or decided to leave on her own. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment, and a Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately reply to questions about Romero’s departure.
According to a report from Bloomberg Law, more than a dozen U.S. attorneys in districts across the country — including Romero — were expecting to be fired alongside other Biden appointees last week. But the White House sent termination emails to the wrong addresses, said the report, which cited anonymous sources, leading to several days of confusion until the firings were made official Monday night.
Changes in presidential administration have historically led to turnover in U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country — and that has been especially true since Trump was sworn-in last month. Top prosecutors have been forced out in regional offices from Maryland to San Diego, and a wave of officials in New York and Washington recently resigned in protest as Trump’s Justice Department moved to dismiss a bribery case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Trump — who was charged in two federal cases that were dismissed after he won re-election in November — has made no secret of his disdain for the federal justice system. He has described some federal prosecutors as corrupt and accused them of abusing their power, and his nominee to serve as FBI director, Kash Patel, has echoed many of Trump’s more incendiary claims, including by saying people convicted of crimes related to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 were “political prisoners.” Trump pardoned nearly all 1,500 defendants in those cases shortly after taking office.
It is not clear what type of U.S. attorney Trump may seek to install in the Philadelphia office, which is known as the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Prosecutors there are responsible for overseeing cases involving violent crime, drug trafficking, political corruption, cyber crime, tax fraud, terrorism and other crimes across a nine-county region stretching from Philadelphia to Allentown and west past Reading.
Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) announced earlier this month that he was establishing commissions to identify candidates to serve as U.S. Attorneys in each of the state’s three districts.
During Romero’s 2½ years leading the Eastern District, prosecutors in her office secured convictions against John J. Dougherty, the longtime city labor leader and political power broker who was imprisoned for bribery and embezzlement. Prosecutors under her command also charged violent criminals with murder-for-hire and drug trafficking, continued pursuing cases against accused Liberian warlords living in the region, and secured guilty pleas for several men accused of killing Philadelphia Police Cpl. James O’Connor IV.
She also oversaw civil enforcements, and said the office during her tenure had recouped hundreds of millions of dollars from pharmaceutical, medical, and other corporations for allegations of fraud.
And she said she oversaw the hiring of additional attorneys from Lehigh, Berks, and Northampton Counties “to better serve the residents” in and around the Lehigh Valley and Lancaster regions.
Nelson S.T. Thayer Jr., Romero’s top deputy and a career prosecutor, will serve as acting U.S. attorney until a permanent replacement is confirmed by the U.S. Senate. According to a biography on the Eastern District’s website, Thayer joined the Justice Department in 1993, and has served nearly all of the past 30 years as a federal prosecutor, outside of a six-year leave of absence he took to prosecute international war crimes in The Hague.