PITTSBURGH (TNS) — President Joe Biden has appointed a longtime assistant U.S. Attorney to be the chief prosecutor in the Western District of Pennsylvania.
Eric G. Olshan has been the Assistant US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania for more than six years. The district comprises 25 counties in the western half of the state, stretching from the Pittsburgh area north to Erie and east to Altoona.
Olshan’s nomination is part of a package of Biden candidates that includes several judges and two US prosecutors.
The President said in a statement that Olshan and the other candidate attorney “were selected for their dedication to enforcing the law, their professionalism, their experience and credentials, their commitment to equal justice for all, and their commitment to the independence of the Department of Justice.” .”
In 2020, Olshan, along with 15 other professional prosecutors, signed a letter criticizing then-US Attorney William Barr’s controversial memo that would have opened the door for the Justice Department to investigate voter fraud before the findings were confirmed.
Former US Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania Scott Brady served as the 2020 district chief. In a 2020 news conference, Brady commented on Olshan’s inclusion in the letter, noting that Olshan’s wife used to work for former Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch.
In 2022, the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General reprimanded Brady for his actions, saying it was “unbecoming of a US attorney.”
Prior to his tenure in the Western District of Pennsylvania, Olshan served in the Public Integrity Division of the US Department of Justice’s Criminal Division in Washington, DC. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2003 and his law degree from Northwestern University in 2006.
The West District position became vacant when then-US Attorney Cindy Chung was confirmed as a judge on the 3rd Circuit Federal Court of Appeal in mid-February. Since then, Troy Rivetti has served as acting US Attorney for the district.
Olshan would replace Rivetti if confirmed.
©2023 The Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.)
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