President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Justice Department showed support Thursday for U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros, touting an increase in indictments in Chicago despite mounting questions about how Boutros and his team secured some of those indictments from grand jurors.
Boutros’ office also has struggled to secure convictions in cases tied to Operation Midway Blitz, the aggressive Trump administration deportation campaign that hit Chicago last fall. At times, his prosecutors have even had trouble convincing grand jurors to hand up indictments — a once-rare rebuke.
Still, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on social media that the Justice Department “fully supports U.S. Attorney Boutros and his efforts to combat violent crime, drug trafficking, immigration violations, and fraud.”
Blanche wrote, “we look forward to more great work from his office.”
Trump said this week he will nominate Blanche to be the nation’s top law enforcement official, a role Blanche has been filling on a temporary basis. Boutros later thanked Blanche for showing support amid news of Blanche’s nomination. Boutros said in a statement that, during his 14-month tenure, he and his team “fixed” an office “that was doing less than even the bare minimum” before he arrived.
The office secured the historic corruption conviction of former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan two months before Boutros took office. Madigan’s conviction was the culmination of an aggressive federal investigation that spanned more than a decade.
A chorus of local Democratic elected officials has called on Boutros to resign. They include U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, U.S. Reps. Mike Quigley and Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton and Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss. Stratton and Biss are the Democratic nominees for Senate and the 9th Congressional District, respectively.
Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot joined in Thursday, saying that Boutros “must resign immediately.”
“I am appalled to learn of U.S. Attorney Boutros’ wholly inappropriate conduct in the ‘Broadview 6’ case,” Lightfoot said on social media, noting that she previously worked as a federal prosecutor. “He has betrayed the trust of the public, and he has sullied the reputation of the office.”
Calls for Boutros’ resignation have also come from at least four members of the “Broadview Six,” the group of Operation Midway Blitz protesters charged last fall by Boutros’ office with felony conspiracy. The case against them collapsed last month amid claims of prosecutorial misconduct before a grand jury that a judge said left her “incredibly shocked.”
Charged were former congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, Oak Park village trustee Brian Straw, former Cook County Board candidate Catherine “Cat” Sharp, 45th Ward Democratic committeeperson Michael Rabbitt, musician Joselyn Walsh and onetime Abughazaleh campaign worker Andre Martin.
Abughazaleh, Rabbitt, Sharp and Straw have all called for Boutros to quit. Their defense attorneys filed a new motion Thursday afternoon seeking evidence of what happened in their case, including any record of Boutros’ office communicating with Blanche or Associate Deputy Attorney General Aakash Singh.
In his statement, Boutros said he would not forget those who stood by him “when others capitalized on the opportunity to attempt to destabilize the office, distract us from our mission, and wreak discord among our once-united [federal prosecutor] and law enforcement community under the guise that they love or even really care about this incredible and storied office.”
Boutros told U.S. District Judge April Perry last month he didn’t know until late April about the improprieties that finally caused the “Broadview Six” case to collapse on May 21. However, defense attorneys have also accused Boutros’ office of a “cover-up” because the apparent misconduct was redacted out of transcripts that had been given to Perry by prosecutors in late April.
Then, Boutros acknowledged this week he’d had contact with grand jurors the day they handed up the indictment against the “Broadview Six” — after grand jurors had once rejected the case. He urged anyone “struggling with a certain type of cases, such as the immigration cases,” to “raise your hand and identify yourself.”
His office released a report complaining of “grand jury disturbances and potential tension.” It concluded that “grand juries unwilling to deliberate individually or as a collective body, or unwilling to attend grand jury sessions at all … are a threat to the rule of law.”
Still, Blanche wrote that Boutros “has steadfastly advanced President Trump’s mission to make Chicago and Northern Illinois safe for the American people.” He also wrote that indictments have increased under Boutros.
Criminal cases filed in Chicago’s federal court rose 32% from 2024 to 2025, records show. Boutros didn’t take office until April 2025, when he was temporarily appointed to the role by then-Attorney General Pam Bondi. Chicago’s federal judges later chose Boutros to serve on a more permanent basis.
Blanche also cited prosecutions of individuals tied to the Sinaloa drug cartel, including the guilty plea in December of Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of drug kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera. However, the prosecution of Guzman Lopez predates Boutros’ tenure as U.S. attorney. It was part of a collaboration between federal prosecutors in southern California and the Justice Department’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section.
Boutros’ office did secure an indictment in March against an alleged Sinaloa boss on drug, firearm and material support of terrorism charges.
Blanche also praised Boutros for an illegal gun possession charge filed April 2 against Jose Medina, the man with no legal status in the United States who is accused of killing Loyola University Chicago freshman Sheridan Gorman.
Medina faces murder charges in state court. He has yet to be arraigned, or indicted, on the federal gun charge.