ST. LOUIS — U.S. Attorney Jeff Jensen will be stepping down from his post with the District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri on Dec. 30 after serving for three years.
His departure is likely one of many to come among federal prosecutors appointed by President Donald Trump, as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office. It also follows news that the Electoral College has confirmed Biden's win.
Trump appointed Jensen in 2017, and he most recently made national news after U.S. Attorney General William Barr appointed Jensen to review a case against retired general and former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Jensen recommended the Justice Department drop the case, which it did.
In a statement, Jensen wrote: “Through the course of my review of General Flynn’s case, I concluded the proper and just course was to dismiss the case. I briefed Attorney General Barr on my findings, advised him on these conclusions, and he agreed," according to the St. Louis Business Journal.
"The Department benefited greatly from his sound judgment and broad perspective. It is my pleasure to call him my colleague and friend. I wish him the best moving forward,” Barr said in a press release.
Barr this week announced he will step down as the nation's top law enforcement officer.
Locally, Jensen’s prosecutors have taken on unprecedented amounts of St. Louis cases – mostly because the state legislature loosened restrictions on who can carry guns.
For example, a felon in possession of a firearm in St. Louis is now a misdemeanor, but it is still a federal crime. So, Jensen’s office has issued thousands of charges against felons in possession of a firearm in recent years.
Jensen has also been vocal about Operation Legend, named after 4-year-old LeGend Taliferro, who was shot and killed Kansas City in June.
The initiative has resulted in hundreds of arrests.
Jensen succeeded Richard Callahan.
Before that, he was a partner at the Husch Blackwell law firm. He served as a special agent for the FBI during the 1990s, and also served as an Executive U.S. Attorney from 2005 to 2009, and left to start his own law firm.
After his resignation, Jensen plans to return to private law and join a firm in the St. Louis area, his office said in a press release.
