Philly's top federal prosecutor, David Metcalf, confirmed by US Senate

Chris Palmer, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Oct 7, 2025

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PHILADELPHIA — The Trump administration’s pick to lead Philadelphia’s U.S. attorney’s office was confirmed by the Senate on Tuesday, capping an extended confirmation process that nonetheless lacked much of the drama consuming several other federal prosecutors offices across the country.

David Metcalf will now serve as the Philadelphia region’s top federal prosecutor for a term of four years. Metcalf — who was nominated by President Donald Trump earlier this year, and whose tenure had been extended by the region’s federal judges in June — will oversee about 140 lawyers responsible for prosecuting a variety of federal cases across a nine-county region from Philadelphia to Allentown and west past Reading.

Metcalf’s nomination was announced in March but had stalled while awaiting a Senate vote as Democrats in the chamber sought to oppose nearly all of Trump’s appointees. That led to a variety of unconventional maneuvers by Senate Republicans eager to install federal prosecutors across the country — including by voting multiple times on some nominees, including Metcalf, to try to better position their candidacies for approval.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement Tuesday that Democrats had engaged in “historic obstruction of law enforcement” and that Tuesday’s vote represented an effort to break through “the Democratic blockade.”

Metcalf was one of 16 U.S. attorneys confirmed Tuesday, Grassley’s office said, with others poised to oversee offices in states including Florida, Ohio, Tennessee and Montana.

In all, Grassley’s office said, the Senate voted to confirm a total of 107 Trump nominees to a variety of federal positions by a vote of 51-47.

Prosecutors in Philadelphia’s U.S. attorney’s office — known as the Eastern District of Pennsylvania — oversee cases involving violent crime, drug trafficking, political corruption, cybercrime, tax fraud and terrorism, as well as civil cases involving allegations of fraud, discrimination and civil rights violations. The district is the busiest in Pennsylvania, and one of the largest in the country.

Metcalf has retained a decidedly low profile since taking office. He didn’t make his first public appearance until several months after assuming the job, and he has avoided taking controversial positions or using the type of blustery rhetoric that some other Trump-nominated federal prosecutors have embraced during their first year in office.

Several nearby offices have also been thrust into turmoil amid a variety of scandals consuming the Justice Department.

The chaos has been especially pronounced in New Jersey, where the state’s federal judges declined to extend the tenure of Trump’s nominee, Alina Habba, and chose a different prosecutor to replace her — only for Attorney General Pam Bondi to fire that replacement and attempt to reinstall Habba by giving her a different title.

A judge found that maneuvering unlawful. The question of who will ultimately assume control remains unresolved, and criminal cases have been thrust into disarray as a result.

Similar leadership turmoil has erupted this year in jurisdictions including Nevada, Washington, D.C., and Albany, New York.

And late last month, Trump forced out the top prosecutor in Virginia’s eastern district, Erik S. Siebert, after Siebert declined to indict former FBI Director James Comey, one of Trump’s most high-profile political opponents. Trump then installed one of his former personal attorneys, Lindsey Halligan, in the role, and Halligan quickly secured a grand jury indictment of Comey — a process that was decried by many Democrats as a troubling example of Trump seeking to exert political control over the Justice Department.

Metcalf has reportedly been tasked with overseeing an investigation into another of Trump’s political foes: former CIA Director John Brennan. Axios reported last month that Metcalf was “in charge” of the investigation, which is said to center on Brennan’s role in overseeing an intelligence assessment about Russia favoring Trump’s presidential candidacy. The New York Times also reported that the probe was taking place in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Still, much about that investigation remains unclear, including why Metcalf — or his district — might be involved, particularly if Brennan’s potential wrongdoing largely occurred in jurisdictions outside the Philadelphia region.

Metcalf, through a spokesperson, has declined to comment on the matter.

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