Less than a month into the job, the acting U.S. attorney for North Georgia has resigned his position, the office confirmed Monday.
Bobby Christine will continue in his role as the top prosecutor for the Southern District of Georgia, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Kurt Erskine will now serve as the acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District.
Erskine, a graduate of the University of Kansas law school, is in his second stint with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta. He began as an assistant U.S. Attorney in 2001 working in the Miami office, according to an online biography.
Since 2015, Erskine has served as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney in Atlanta. Prior to that, he served as chief of the public corruption section and deputy chief of economic crimes. Among the cases he worked on were Atlanta Police Department corruption prosecutions that grew out of the 2006 fatal shooting of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston in an illegal drug raid. Erskine returned to the private sector in August 2012 for a short time, then later rejoined the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Credit: ALYSSA POINTER
Credit: ALYSSA POINTER
Former President Donald Trump tapped Christine to replace Byung J. “BJay” Pak, who abruptly resigned Jan. 4. Pak’s resignation followed a phone call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which Trump referred to a “never-Trumper U.S. attorney there.”
Though Trump didn’t say Pak’s name, he repeated debunked accusations of voter fraud in Georgia, including in Fulton County. The Northern District of Georgia that Pak served includes both Atlanta and Fulton. Trump had appointed Pak to the position.
Pak did not give a reason for his sudden resignation, but he said he was grateful for the chance to have served in the position. Pak has rejoined the Atlanta office of Alston & Bird, where he began his career in private practice in 2000.
After Pak’s resignation, Trump named Christine the acting U.S. attorney for North Georgia.
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