Channing D. Phillips Takes Office as United States Attorney

     WASHINGTON – Channing D. Phillips took office today as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. He succeeds Vincent H. Cohen, Jr., who had been serving as Acting U.S. Attorney since April 1, 2015.

     President Obama nominated Mr. Phillips on Oct. 8, 2015, to serve as U.S. Attorney, and the nomination is pending Senate confirmation. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch appointed Mr. Phillips to serve as Interim U.S. Attorney, effective today.

     Mr. Phillips, 57, has served as Senior Counselor to Attorney General and Deputy Associate Attorney General in the Department of Justice since 2010.  From 1994 to 2010, he served in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, where he held a number of managerial positions including Acting U.S. Attorney, Principal Assistant U.S. Attorney, Chief of Staff to the U.S. Attorney, and Special Counsel.

     U.S. Attorney Phillips met with senior management today, expressing his excitement at being back at the U.S. Attorney's Office.  He acknowledged a need and readiness to hit the ground running given several high-profile matters that await his immediate focus and attention.  To help in that effort, he announced that he had named James Dinan, the current head of the Justice Department’s Professional Misconduct Review Unit, to serve as the Principal Assistant United States Attorney.  Mr. Dinan, a seasoned and well-respected prosecutor, most recently served in the Office as Criminal Division Chief and Chief of the Narcotics and Gang Section. Mr. Dinan first joined the Office in 1989.

     As he took on his new responsibilities today, U.S. Attorney Phillips thanked Mr. Cohen and Denise Simmonds, the outgoing Principal Assistant United States Attorney, for their exceptional work in leading and moving the Office forward since the departure of former U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. at the end of March 2015.