How Trumps US attorney pick can bring justice back to NYC in 120 days or less

When President Trump named former SEC Chair Jay Clayton as US attorney for the Southern District of New York last month — the most consequential prosecutor’s office outside Washington — Sen.Chuck Schumer immediately moved to block the appointment.In withholding his “blue slip,” the home-state senator’s traditional veto power over federal nominees, Schumer proclaimed that Clayton is a threat to the rule of law, likely to use his office’s powers as “weapons to go after [Trump’s] perceived enemies.”Trump appointed Clayton anyway, on an interim basis — giving him 120 days to prove the skeptics wrong.That’s not much in government time, and the clock is ticking: As of Friday, Clayton has just 97 days remaining.But Trump has already set the agenda: Restore law and order, root out corruption and refocus the Justice Department on Americans’ safety.With these principles Clayton can transform SDNY into a national model for federal prosecutors — aggressive on violent crime, relentless toward cheats and unapologetic in defending the rule of law.Many look to Clayton’s background and expect him to focus on white-collar financial crime.But as a longtime New Yorker, Clayton has witnessed the city’s surge in violent crime up close.In New York City, felony assault charges against repeat offenders have skyrocketed — up 146.5% over six years, thanks to soft-on-crime Democratic policies at every level of government. Major crime is up 30% since the pandemic.

In East Harlem, a gang war led to 21 shootings in just six months. Violent gangs are back and growing in our boroughs.To dismantle the gangs and cartels, Clayton’s SDNY should form a dedicated gang and narcotics unit to leverage the full force of federal RICO statutes to prosecute gang leaders — not just their street-level enforcers.With the Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Homeland Security, SDNY can identify, disrupt and obliterate cartel supply chains before deadly ...