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President Donald Trump on Wednesday nominated veteran federal prosecutor Colin McDonald to lead the Justice Department’s newly created National Fraud Enforcement Division, a unit the administration says will focus on combating large-scale fraud involving federal programs.
The president announced the selection in a Truth Social post, describing McDonald as a “tough, smart, and highly respected America First federal prosecutor” and saying the new division will target what the administration views as widespread theft of taxpayer dollars.
“My Administration has uncovered Fraud schemes in States like Minnesota and California, where these thieves have stolen Hundreds of Billions of Taxpayer Dollars,” President Trump wrote. “Together, we will END THE FRAUD, and RESTORE INTEGRITY to our Federal Programs.”
McDonald has served as an associate deputy attorney general and as a federal prosecutor in Southern California and Hawaii since 2014. He is known for helping secure convictions in a high-profile public corruption case involving former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha, Kealoha’s wife and two other officers. Prosecutors said the defendants framed a relative to cover up the theft of $148,000, then used the money for luxury cars, vacations and other personal expenses.
Vice President JD Vance and Attorney General Pam Bondi praised McDonald’s record and said his experience handling complex, high-stakes cases makes him well-suited to lead the new enforcement division.
Former Southern California U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer, who supervised McDonald during Trump’s first term, described him as “a career public servant as well as a fearless, strong, and ethical prosecutor.”
“I assigned him to a very difficult public corruption case in Hawaii that seriously needed his organizational and legal skills,” Brewer said. “As expected, he was invaluable in resolving the case in a most favorable way.”
The new division is intended to centralize and strengthen federal efforts to detect, investigate and prosecute large fraud schemes across the country. Specific details about its structure and authorities have not yet been finalized. McDonald’s nomination is subject to Senate confirmation.
