DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3, 2018
(509) 353-2767
ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS APPOINTS JOSEPH H. HARRINGTON AS INTERIM UNITED STATES ATTORNEY
WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Jeff Sessions today announced the appointment of Joseph H. Harrington as Interim United States Attorney pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 546, which provides that “the Attorney General may appoint a United States Attorney for the district in which the office of United States Attorney is vacant.” This appointment will take effect on January 5, 2018.
“Joseph Harrington has 27 years of experience as a federal prosecutor,” said Attorney General Sessions. “He has taken on white supremacists, domestic terrorists, health care fraudsters, and many other criminals. I want to thank him for his great work and I am pleased to appoint him as Interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington.”
Harrington said, “It’s a humbling day. I am honored to have been asked to serve as the Interim United States Attorney and to have the opportunity to continue working alongside the truly dedicated professionals in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington.”
Harrington has served in the U. S. Attorney’s Office since 1990 and before that worked for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. During his tenure in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he has litigated both civil and criminal cases. He has held the positions of First Assistant United States Attorney, Criminal Chief, Deputy Criminal Chief, Anti-Terrorism Advisory Coordinator, and Health Care Fraud Coordinator. Harrington was involved with the prosecutions of: Kevin W. Harpham, an avowed white supremacist who planted a sophisticated remotely-controlled IED along the route of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Unity March in Spokane; the Phineas Priest domestic terrorism case involving bank robberies and bombings of a Planned Parenthood office and a Spokane newspaper facility; and the Karl F. Thompson / Otto Zehm civil rights case. He has been the recipient of the prestigious Department of Justice “Director’s Award” on two occasions in recognition of his superior performance as an Assistant U.S. Attorney.
Harrington received his J.D. from Gonzaga University in 1986, where he was a Thomas Moore Scholar (full academic scholarship) and served as the Editor-in- Chief of the Gonzaga Law Review. He holds a B.A. in Mathematics and a B.S. in Engineering. He is married and has three children.