Michael R. Sherwin

In May 2020, Barr moved to dismiss the guilty plea of former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.[4] Flynn had pleaded guilty to charges of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about his conversations in 2016 with Russia's ambassador.[15] Sherwin approved the decision to give to Flynn's defense team internal FBI records that the government cited in its dismissal motion, an official told The Washington Post.[4] Sherwin joined Barr's effort to drop charges in a move that was seen as controversial. Some alleged Sherwin was acting politically to protect Trump allies under Barr's orders, while others cited Sherwin's long history as an apolitical prosecutor in making prosecutorial decisions.[12][16]

Sherwin's office arrested hundreds of people in the wake of weeks of protests in D.C. following the murder of George Floyd. The actions took a curious turn when Sherwin, acting in his position as U.S. Attorney at Trump's discretion, came to the defense of Black Lives Matter protestors that DC Mayor Muriel Bowser wanted charged with crimes. Bowser publicly criticized Sherwin for not bringing enough charges against the protesters. Sherwin fired back in a public letter saying her police department had not produced the bare minimum of evidence. "Surely, by your comments, you are not suggesting that this Office skirt constitutional protections and due process," Sherwin wrote.[17]

On May 28, 2020, Sherwin announced the indictment of 28 North Korean and five Chinese citizens charged with laundering more than $2.5 billion in illegal payments for North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile program.[18][19]

In summer 2020, Sherwin closed an investigation into whether a state-owned Egyptian bank financed a $10 million loan by Trump to his campaign in days shortly before the 2016 presidential election.[20]

In December 2020, Sherwin charged bombmaker Abu Agila Mas’ud in a criminal complaint with designing and building the bomb which took down Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 270 people aboard.

Through March 2021, Sherwin supervised the early months of investigations into the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol charging 325 individuals. Several participants were indicted on conspiracy charges during Sherwin's tenure and he stated in media interviews he believed the evidence would support possible sedition charges against some participants in the incident.[21][22] The Biden administration and, later, Attorney General Merrick Garland asked Sherwin to stay on at the Justice Department in another role to continue the prosecutions.[23]

Sherwin left the Justice Department in April 2021. During his last week as acting U.S. Attorney, Sherwin did an interview with 60 Minutes in which he said, "I personally believe the evidence is trending toward" seditious conspiracy charges, which echoed comments he had made in previous interviews.[24] Two days later, federal Judge Amit Mehta convened an emergency hearing criticizing Sherwin for the comments. While department referrals are required to remain private, federal prosecutor John Crabb announced in open court that Sherwin had been referred to the department's ethics office for conducting a media interview without official permission and commenting on a pending case.[25] Some observers called Sherwin's comments "improper", but others came to his defense, saying he provided the public "some much-needed and welcome insight" into the cases.[26][27]

On March 3, 2021, the Biden administration appointed Channing D. Phillips acting U.S. Attorney for D.C.[28]