Central District of California U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte delivers remarks during his investiture. (DOJ)
Central District of California U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte was formally sworn in to his position at a ceremony Friday.
About 700 friends, family and law enforcement officials attended the ceremonial investiture in Los Angeles, which was presided over by U.S. District Chief Judge Audrey B. Collins.
Birotte, the former inspector general of the Los Angeles Police Department, was confirmed by the Senate in late February and took office in early March. But U.S. Attorneys often have a ceremonial investiture later on, with local, state and federal leaders in attendance.
U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr. administers the oath of office to Central District of California U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte. (DOJ)
U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter, Jr. administered the oath of office to Birotte, and California Court of Appeal Justice Nora M. Manella, a former U.S. Attorney who hired Birotte as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in 1995, spoke at the event.
In remarks after the swearing-in, Birotte said becoming U.S. Attorney was the “opportunity of a lifetime….an incredible gift that comes with awesome responsibility.”
Birotte highlighted several priorities for the office — including white-collar crime, public corruption, cybercrime, violent crime and terrorism — but said above all the office must focused on being “justice-driven.”
“Justice-driven means that we must maintain the highest standards of integrity, fairness and excellence that comes with working for the Department of Justice,” Birotte said. “Justice-driven means having an impeccable reputation for integrity and fairness That means making sure our AUSAs continue to receive the best training possible to make them the best litigators on behalf of the United States. It means that our charging decisions and negotiations are always principled and in good faith. It also means learning from our mistakes taking swift steps to avoid repeating them.”
“We are representatives of the Department of Justice and we come into the job with a reservoir of trust – a reservoir that we draw strength from, but also a reservoir that at all times we must preserve,” he added.
Several former U.S. Attorneys for the district attended including Thomas P. O’Brien, now with Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP; Debra W. Yang of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP; Robert C. Bonner, a senior principal with strategic consulting firm The Sentinel HS Group LLC; and Los Angeles County Counsel Andrea Sheridan Ordin.
The “oath of office” is meaningless drivel. Nobody honors their “oath”, especially in Los Angeles. I give this guy two weeks and he’ll be as corrupt as the rest of the judiciary in LA. Who’s he kidding? the corruption in California runs from the governor down to the sheriff, and through every office on the way. Every elected and appointed government official will have to be prosecuted on conspiracy charges for the SBX2 11 fiasco. What a bunch of criminals we have running this state. The superior court judges in LA have been taking bribes from the county since the late 80’s. Due process, and the right to a fair trial were written off years ago. Every judge, every 9th circuit appellate court judge, every legislator, the governor, the sheriff, LA supervisors, are all involved in conspiring to inflict harm on the people of California, violations of civil rights, violations of the constitution they took an “oath” to uphold. This corruption has been reported to every law enforcement agency,including the USDOJ, FBI, and many others, all refuse to investigate, even with mountains of evidence, except Senator Feinstein, who keeps getting lied to. The SUSTAIN, and PACER court record systems are a joke, nothing can be validated, records disappear, false records are more common than valid ones, the whole thing is a sham.