John Bash

John Franklin Bash III is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas from 2017 to 2020.

John Bash
United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas
In office December 11, 2017 – October 9, 2020
President	Donald Trump
Preceded by	Richard Durbin
Succeeded by	Gregg N. Sofer
Personal details
Spouse	Zina Gelman (2007–present)
Education	Harvard University (BA, JD)
John Bash's voice John Bash's opening statements to the Supreme Court in Gobeille v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Recorded December 2, 2015

Early life and education

In 2003, Bash graduated from Harvard College, where he was a staff writer for the Harvard Crimson.^[1][2] In 2006 he received a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review.^[3][4]

Career

After law school, Bash clerked for Antonin Scalia of the United States Supreme Court during the 2007–08 session, and earlier for Brett Kavanaugh of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.^[5]

Following Bash's clerkships, he was an associate attorney at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where his practice focused on complex litigation in federal district and appellate courts.^[5][6] From 2012 to 2017, Bash was an Assistant to the Solicitor General in the United States Department of Justice.^[7][8] In that role, he argued ten cases on behalf of the United States before the Supreme Court of the United States.^[9] In 2017, he was a special assistant and associate counsel to U.S. President Donald Trump.^[10][11] On December 11, 2017, he was sworn in as United States Attorney for the Western District of Texas.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Before he was U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, Bash's district played a role in the implementation of the Trump administration's family separation policy. A pilot program on family separations was implemented in El Paso, Texas before Bash was U.S. Attorney, and he did not continue the pilot under his tenure. A memo was prepared for Bash by staff that had participated in the pilot; it showed that if children younger than 12 were separated from their parents, most would not be able to find their way back to their parents. Bash never sent the memo to Justice Department officials in Washington D.C. because, after suggesting they might ask him for the information, the officials never reached out.^[16] A draft report by the Department's inspector general's office said that he did not send the memo because he had "no interest in pushing DHS to restart family unit referrals or in nationalizing the concluded pilot program," according to the draft report and that he thought sending the memo would "re-commence the discussion."

Although Bash did not design the Trump administration's family separation policy, he did help carry it out. He initially refused to prosecute two cases leading to the separation of children from their parents. However, after a phone call from Rod J. Rosenstein, then deputy attorney general, he switched course. “Per the A.G.’s policy, we should NOT be categorically declining immigration prosecutions of adults in family units because of the age of a child,” he wrote his staff after a phone call with Rosenstein.^[17]

On May 27, 2020, a Justice Department spokeswoman said that Attorney General William Barr had assigned Bash to review practices of the Trump–Russia investigation related to the 2016 "unmasking" of Trump's advisor Gen. Michael Flynn in a phone call with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.^[18][19] On October 5, 2020, Bash announced he would resign from the DOJ, effective on October 9, after accepting a job in the private sector.^[20][21][22] Fox News reported that his successor, Gregg N. Sofer, would continue overseeing any ongoing investigations that Bash had led.^[23] The Washington Post reported on October 13 that Bash's unmasking inquiry had concluded with no findings of substantive wrongdoing and no public report.^[24] Bash's 52-page report, previously classified top secret, was released in May 2022. Bash wrote he had found no evidence that any unmasking requests were made for any political or otherwise improper reasons during the 2016 election period or the ensuing presidential transition.^[25]

Personal life

In 2007, Bash married Zina Gelman, who had also clerked for Judge Brett Kavanaugh.^[26]

See also

• List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 9)

References

1. Bash, John F. (October 15, 2001). "Opinion: Bring Back ROTC Now". Harvard Crimson. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
2. Bash, John F.; Reed, Geoffrey F. (May 7, 2001). "Opinion: Death Penalty: Two Critiques". Harvard Crimson. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
3. "Staff List-Vol. 120 2006-07". Harvard Law Review. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
4. "Masthead, Vol 119". Harvard Law Review. 2005–2006. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
5. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Sixth Wave of United States Attorney Nominations". whitehouse.gov. September 8, 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2017 – via National Archives.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
6. "Trump appoints new top prosecutor for West Texas". USA Today. September 8, 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
7. Apuzzo, Matt; Liptak, Adam (April 21, 2015). "At Supreme Court, Eric Holder's Justice Dept. Routinely Backs Officers' Use of Force". New York Times. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
8. "Lecture: Preparing for Oral Arguments". Harvard Law Today. March 29, 2016. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
9. Autullo, Ryan (August 23, 2017). "Sources: Trump assistant to be top federal prosecutor in Central Texas". Austin American Statesman. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
10. Stern, Seth (May 18, 2017). "Regime Change: President Donald Trump taps alumni for White House and agency hires". Harvard Law Today. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
11. "Scarramucci and other alumni among Trump's recent appointees". Harvard Law Today. July 26, 2017. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
12. "US attorney for Western District of Texas is sworn in". Laredo Morning Times. December 12, 2017. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
13. Contreras, Guillermo (April 12, 2018). "West Texas' new chief law enforcement officer outlines priorities". San Antonio Express-News. Hearst Newspapers LLC. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
14. Danner, Patrick; Contreras, Guillermo (June 26, 2018). "Uresti gets 12 years in prison". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
15. Contreras, Guillermo (April 20, 2018). "Trucker involved in deadly smuggling of dozens of immigrants sentenced to life in prison". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
16. "2017 memo: Separated migrant kids will struggle to find parents again". NBC News. 9 October 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-21.
17. Shear, Michael D. (6 October 2020). "'We Need to Take Away Children,' No Matter How Young, Justice Dept. Officials Said". The New York Times.
18. Rambaran, Vandana (2020-05-27). "Barr asks US Attorney John Bash to review 'unmasking' before and after 2016 election, DOJ tells Fox News". Fox News. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
19. Phillips, Kristine. "Attorney general taps prosecutor to look into episodes of 'unmasking' by Obama administration officials". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2020-05-28.
20. Singman, Brooke (October 5, 2020). "US attorney tapped by Barr to review process of 'unmasking' resigns from DOJ". Fox News.
21. "US attorney investigating 'unmasking' requests by Obama officials announces resignation". Washington Examiner. October 6, 2020.
22. Fernández, Stacy (October 5, 2020). "Texas U.S. Attorney John Bash, tapped to investigate Obama administration for "unmasking," resigns". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
23. Singman, Brooke (October 6, 2020). "Replacement for US attorney reviewing 'unmasking' to assume investigations: sources". Fox News.
24. Zapotosky, Matt; Harris, Shane. "'Unmasking' probe commissioned by Barr concludes without charges or any public report" – via www.washingtonpost.com.
25. Jason Leopold; Ken Bensinger (June 1, 2022). "Michael Flynn's Identity Was Not Improperly Revealed By Obama Officials, A Secret DOJ Report Has Found". BuzzFeed News.
26. "Zina Gelman, John Bash III". The New York Times. July 8, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2018.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Bash.

• Biography at U.S. Department of Justice
• Appearances at the U.S. Supreme Court, Oyez.org.
• Appearances on C-Span.org.