BJay Pak

BJay Pak
United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia
In office
October 10, 2017 – January 4, 2021
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byJohn A. Horn
Succeeded byBobby Christine (Acting)[1]
Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
In office
January 10, 2011 – January 9, 2017
Preceded byClay Cox (102nd)
Terry England (108th)
Succeeded byBuzz Brockway (102nd)
Clay Cox (108th)
Constituency102nd district (2011–2013)
108th district (2013–2017)
Personal details
Born
Byung Jin Pak

1974 (age 49–50)
Seoul, South Korea
Political partyRepublican
SpouseSandra
Children3
EducationStetson University (BS)
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (JD)

Byung Jin "BJay" Pak[2][3] (born 1974) is a Korean-American attorney and politician who served as the United States attorney for the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia from 2017 to 2021. Pak previously served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives as a Republican from 2011 to 2017.

Early life and education

Pak was born in Seoul, South Korea. His family emigrated to United States, residing in Apopka, Florida, when he was 9 years old.[4] Pak is a graduate of Stetson University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. He earned his Juris Doctor, summa cum laude and Order of the Coif, from the University of Illinois College of Law. In law school, Pak was a Harno Scholar, served as the notes editor for the recent decisions section of the Illinois Bar Journal, and was a member of the Elder Law Journal. In 2013, he was named Distinguished Alumnus of the Year by the University of Illinois College of Law.[2]

Career

After graduation, he clerked for Richard Mills of the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois.[2]

Pak served in the Georgia House of Representatives as a Republican from 2011 to 2017. After representing the 102nd District from 2011 to 2013 and the 108th District from 2013 to 2017, Pak opted not to run for re-election in the November 2016 election.[5][6] Pak was previously a federal prosecutor. While serving as an Assistant United States Attorney, he led the prosecution of individuals who tried to steal Coca-Cola's trade secrets in order to sell them to Pepsi.[7] Pak is Georgia's first Asian-American U.S. Attorney, and he was the state's first Korean-American legislator.[4]

United States Attorney

In July 2017, Pak was nominated by President Donald Trump to become United States attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.[7] He was confirmed for the position by the United States Senate on September 28, 2017.[8]

On January 3, 2021, Trump called top Georgia state election officials, a call which was recorded and later released, and pressured them to help him "find" more votes in order to overturn the election of president-elect Biden. During the call, Trump referenced Atlanta and Fulton counties of Georgia and referred to the "never-Trumper U.S. attorney there." Pak's district included those counties. Pak resigned the next day, citing "unforeseen circumstances."[9][10][11]

Resignation

Pak resigned unexpectedly on January 4, 2021.[12] Justice Department officials have declined to say whether Pak resigned voluntarily or was asked to do so.[13] However, The Wall Street Journal reported that Pak was forced to resign by senior White House officials in the Trump administration for not investigating false claims of election fraud "enough."[14] Trump immediately replaced Pak with Bobby Christine,[15] the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney from southern Georgia, bypassing top career prosecutor Kurt Erskine.[13] Christine also found no evidence of election fraud.[16] The Justice Department inspector general opened an inquiry into Pak's departure.[17] Pak told the Senate Judiciary Committee in August 2021 that top Justice Department officials had told him on January 3 that he would be fired by Trump if he did not say there had been widespread voter fraud in Georgia; resigning would pre-empt a public dismissal.[18]

Pak has since returned to private practice.[19]

References

  1. ^ Sneed, Tierney (January 5, 2021). "Trump Admin Bypasses Top Career Prosecutor to Name New Acting US Attorney in Atlanta". Talking Points Memo.
  2. ^ a b c "Meet the U.S. Attorney". United States Department of Justice. April 8, 2015. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  3. ^ "President Donald J. Trump Announces Fourth Wave of United States Attorney Candidate Nominations". whitehouse.gov. July 21, 2017. Retrieved March 16, 2018 – via National Archives.
  4. ^ a b McDonald, R. Robin (July 25, 2017). "Pak's Nomination a 'Great Leap' for Georgia's Asian-Americans". Daily Report. Law.com. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  5. ^ Yeomans, Curt (February 20, 2016). "Pak leaving legislature after current term ends". Gwinnett Daily Post. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  6. ^ "B.J. Pak". Ballotpedia. Retrieved February 24, 2017.
  7. ^ a b Hallerman, Tamar (July 21, 2017). "Donald Trump taps former Georgia rep., Albany lawyer to be U.S. attorneys". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  8. ^ Hallerman, Tamar (September 28, 2017). "Senate confirms former state rep. to be Atlanta-based U.S. attorney". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved October 23, 2017.
  9. ^ Alexis Stevens, J. Scott Trubey, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (January 4, 2021). "U.S. Attorney for North Georgia abruptly resigns due to 'unforeseen circumstances'". ajc.com.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Alexis Stevens, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (January 21, 2021). "Former U.S. Attorney Pak returns to Atlanta law firm". ajc.com.
  11. ^ FOX 5 Atlanta Digital Team (January 21, 2021). "Report: Justice Department probes abrupt departure of Atlanta U.S. attorney". fox5atlanta.com.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ "U.S. Attorney Pak submits resignation" (Press release). Atlanta, Georgia. January 4, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
  13. ^ a b politico.com: Trump replaces U.S. attorney in Atlanta
  14. ^ McWhirter; Gurman; Viswanatha (January 9, 2021). "White House Forced Georgia U.S. Attorney to Resign". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved January 9, 2021.
  15. ^ "Meet the U.S. Attorney". www.justice.gov. April 8, 2015.
  16. ^ Sneed, Tierney; Raju, Manu (August 22, 2021). "Former US attorney tells investigators he quit because he heard Trump was considering firing him". CNN. Retrieved August 12, 2021.
  17. ^ Zapotosky, Matt. "Justice Dept. watchdog to examine abrupt departure of Atlanta U.S. attorney whom Trump appeared to criticize" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
  18. ^ Benner, Katie (August 11, 2021). "Former U.S. attorney in Atlanta says Trump wanted to fire him for not backing election fraud claims". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
  19. ^ Alston & Bird: www.alston.com
Georgia House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
from the 102nd district
2011–2013 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of the Georgia House of Representatives
from the 108th district
2013–2017 		Succeeded by
Legal offices
Preceded by United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia
2017–2021 		Succeeded by