Philip Sellinger touted many achievements while announcing his resignation as United States Attorney in the district of New Jersey. He did not cite a specific reason in the emailed press release. Perhaps expecting the boot from the incoming Trump administration, Sellinger is joining a long list of government officials retiring or leaving public-sector work as President Joe Biden’s term winds down. “Serving as the United States Attorney has been the honor of a lifetime,” Sellinger said. “My sincere thanks to President Biden for appointing me the temporary steward of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. I leave knowing the storied traditions of this Office will continue through our dedicated career Assistant U.S. Attorneys and staff.” Sellinger’s statement cited a long list of accomplishments, including major inroads to reducing violent crimes around the state, fighting cybercrime, national security, economic crimes, government fraud, and protecting civil rights. “The total number of shooting victims statewide fell from 1,166 in 2021, to 733 in 2023, and murder victims fell from 250 in 2021, to 190 total in 2023,” Sellinger said. “In 2024, shootings and murders continue to decline.” “We brought civil lawsuits to end systemic racism of communities of color by major banks in and around Newark and New Brunswick, obtaining remedies likely to result in $250 million in loans for the residents of Black, Hispanic, and Asian neighborhoods,” Sellinger said. “We issued findings that New Jersey Veterans Homes provided grossly inadequate conditions resulting in some of the highest death rates in the nation during the COVID-19 pandemic and secured a consent decree to protect the constitutional rights of the veterans. And after issuing a Findings Report regarding systemic violations of Fourth Amendment rights by the Trenton Police Department, we have taken significant steps to end unconstitutional policing in Trenton.” Questions continue to swirl in Trenton in the aftermath of the U.S. Attorney’s investigation of the city’s police department. Many critical of the Trenton Police and the mayor have suggested that they are waiting out the current administration hoping Trump’s Justice Department will drop the investigation and let the Trenton Police Department off the hook. Mayor Reed Gusciora says that’s just completely false. “We are fully committed to implementing the recommendations in the DOJ report, we think that’s a good thing,” Gusciora told The Trentonian. “The professional staff at the U.S. Attorney’s Office has said they are committed to working with the city to implement the reforms” regardless of who is in charge. Gusciora pointed to the changes already made and those underway to say that Trenton will continue to make the changes needed to reform the police department. “We’ve already disbanded the two street teams that were the focus of the [DOJ] investigation and reorganized Internal Affairs,” Gusciora said. The Mayor also said the department is doing live training, actively recruiting more minority officers, promoting more minority officers into supervisory positions, and in the process of interviewing firms for accreditation. “We’ve come too far to turn back now,” Gusciora said. Sellinger’s statement said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna will be the acting U.S. Attorney after Sellinger steps down at 11:59 Jan. 8, 2025. “The attorneys and staff members of this Office are some of the finest public servants in the country,” Sellinger said. “They work extraordinarily hard, uphold the highest standards of excellence, and ceaselessly pursue the cause of justice. It is their dedication and commitment that has enabled this Office to achieve so much over the past three years.”