Trump taps ex-SEC chair to serve as US attorney for Southern District of New York

President-elect Trump announced Thursday that Jay Clayton, former chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will serve as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

The role is considered by legal experts to be one of the most powerful positions in the Justice Department.

"Jay is a highly respected business leader, counsel, and public servant," Trump wrote on Truth Social, listing off Clayton's educational and professional accolades.

"Jay is going to be a strong Fighter for the Truth as we, Make America Great Again," he said.

A registered independent, Clayton began leading the SEC in May 2017, following his nomination to the post in January when Trump first took office. He was a partner at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, specializing in major corporate mergers and acquisitions, before his time at the SEC and returned to the firm in 2021.

His SEC tenure focused largely on forging bipartisan compromises around financial market structure updates, establishing the commission's approach to cryptocurrency-related investment offerings and cementing rules for investment advisers.

The former SEC chair was previously nominated to serve as the top prosecutor in the federal district covering Manhattan, after Trump fired then-U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in 2020 for refusing to step aside.

But he faced stark opposition from Democrats, who portrayed the selection as an attempt by Trump to politicize the Justice Department, since that office had investigated his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, and Rudy Giuliani, his then-personal attorney.

"Forty seven years ago, Elliott Richardson had the courage to say no to a gross abuse of presidential power. Jay Clayton has a similar choice today: He can allow himself to be used in the brazen Trump-Barr scheme to interfere in investigations by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, or he can stand up to this corruption, withdraw his name from consideration, and save his own reputation from overnight ruin,” then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement at the time.

The scandal effectively snuffed out his chance at confirmation.

Clayton announced soon after the 2020 election that he would step down from the SEC at the end of the year and was succeeded by Gary Gensler, President Biden's appointment to the role.

The Southern District of New York at one point also investigated Trump himself but did not bring charges over hush money payments that would later underpin his future conviction in New York state court.

Sylvan Lane contributed reporting.