Kendra Wharton to Leave Justice Department

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Kendra Wharton, a former member of President Donald Trump’s criminal defense team and the Justice Department’s senior ethics official, has announced her intention to leave the department in July.

Wharton succeeded Bradley Weinsheimer, the department’s designated ethics official, who resigned in February after being reassigned along with several senior lawyers to a newly formed Sanctuary Cities Working Group.

The role of the designated ethics official is critical, serving as a gatekeeper who advises department employees on potential conflicts of interest, including whether they should recuse themselves from specific cases. This position also reviews disciplinary recommendations from the Office of Professional Responsibility, which investigates attorney misconduct, as well as referrals for discipline or prosecution from the Office of the Inspector General.

A department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Wharton, currently serving as Associate Deputy Attorney General, plans to return to private practice. Prior to her position at the department, she collaborated with now Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove in defending Trump against two federal indictments regarding his handling of classified records and attempts to overturn the 2020 election results, as well as New York state charges for falsifying records related to hush money payments to a porn star.

Trump was convicted of the state charges, while Special Counsel Jack Smith dropped both federal indictments after Trump won the election in November due to the longstanding policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

In addition to her ethics role, Wharton supervised several DOJ components including the Bureau of Prisons, the Office of the Inspector General, the U.S. Parole Commission, the U.S. Trustee Program, and the Justice Management Division.

According to a source, Wharton, who began working on Trump’s legal matters two years ago, has been commuting between Washington and her home in Florida, where she has two young children. She is expected to return to the law firm she founded in September 2023.