Todd Gilbert, who President Donald Trump nominated to be U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, has mysteriously resigned as the office’s interim leader just a month after being sworn in.
Gilbert’s departure was confirmed by spokesperson Brian McGinn at 5 p.m. on Wednesday without further explanation.
McGinn did say that Gilbert would be replaced by his deputy, Robert Tracci, but otherwise did not provide further details on the upheaval.
Gilbert himself has not issued any statement about his resignation, but did post a meme from Anchorman (2004) of Ron Burgundy (Will Ferrell) sipping a bottle of beer after a mass brawl with several rival news crews and reflecting: “Boy, that escalated quickly!”
He also replied to one commenter responding to the meme and inquiring about his well-being by saying simply: “All good. Thank you.”
The Independent has reached out to both Gilbert and McGinn for clarity on the situation, with the latter replying to say that he had “simply confirmed, when asked,” that the former had resigned and been succeeded by Tracci: “Outside of that, I have no additional information.”
Trump, Virginia’s Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and the state’s Democratic senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner had all enthusiastically recommended Gilbert for the role.
He was duly appointed by Attorney General Pam Bondi on an interim basis, allowing him to get to work even without being confirmed by the U.S. Senate. He was sworn in on July 14 by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas T Cullen.
Gilbert was previously a Shenandoah Valley state lawmaker and the Republican speaker of Virginia’s House of Delegates.
“I bring to this job truly the heart of a prosecutor,” he said in an interview with The Roanoke Times on his first day on the job.
“Even though I’ve been out of the game for a while,” he said, alluding to his political career, “I feel like I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to do that again.
“I never imagined that it would be something as impactful as the U.S. Attorney, but I’m grateful for the opportunity the president has given me.”
“My main priority is not to mess up a good thing,” he added.
