United States Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine sent their recommendations to President Donald Trump regarding who they want him to pick to be Virginia’s next United States Attorney in the Eastern and Western Districts.
House Minority Leader Todd Gilbert and Senior Assistant Attorney General Robert Tracci were recommended for the Western District. In the Eastern District, Warner and Kaine recommended the Assistant General Counsel and Director of Investigations for Huntington Ingalls Industries, Michael Gill, and interim Eastern District U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert.
“Bipartisan panels of esteemed attorneys from across the Commonwealth interviewed Mr. Gill, Mr. Siebert, Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Tracci, along with many other excellent candidates,” Kaine and Warner wrote to Trump. “After considering the panels’ reviews and conducting our own interviews, we find these four candidates to be exceptionally qualified for the position of U.S. Attorney.”
Traditionally, the senators from a state sign off on candidates for the president to choose from for U.S. Attorney and General District Judges – signaling an easy process for them be confirmed in the Senate.
WDVA
Gilbert has been the leader of the House Republican Caucus since 2020, which includes two years as Speaker of the House. He has been in the House for nearly 20 years and currently operates out of his own law firm. Prior to that, he worked as a prosecutor in Shenandoah, Warren, and Frederick counties and the City of Lynchburg.
Related: Gilbert talks about putting his name into the running for U.S. Attorney
Tracci previously worked in the WDVA as a Special Assistant United States Attorney and was the Albermarle Commonwealth’s Attorney. In the early 2000s, he was the Chief Legislative Counsel for the U.S. House Judiciary Committee and Deputy Assistant to the United States Attorney General in 2007 and 2008.
EDVA
Gill served as a federal prosecutor for twenty years, fifteen of which were in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the EDVA before going to work at Huntington Ingalls Industries. He last served the EDVA as the Chief of the Criminal Division from 2018 to 2023, supervising operations across the District’s four divisions.
Seibert has worked as a line Assistant U.S. Attorney in the EDVA, handling violent crimes, possession and trafficking of illegal firearms and narcotics, as well as the Deputy Criminal Supervisor in the EDVA Richmond Division, supervising AUSAs and partnering with federal, state, and local partners. Prior to joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the EDVA, Mr. Siebert was a police officer and an investigator with the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington D.C.
“We believe that any of these candidates would make an excellent U.S. Attorney, and we are honored to be able to recommend them to you,” Warner and Kaine wrote.