Sigal Chattah, a prominent Republican attorney and former candidate for state attorney general, has been named interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada, elevating a staunch political supporter of President Donald Trump to the top federal prosecutorial office in the state.

In an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Chattah said the Trump administration plans to formally send her nomination to the U.S. Senate, where she will need to be confirmed — over the objections of the state’s two Democratic senators, who lambasted Chattah and committed to opposing her. She did not return a call from The Nevada Independent. 

Chattah told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that her goals for the office are to “administrate justice equally, to ensure that public safety is the utmost priority and to ensure that public corruption does not happen under this administration’s watch.”

The White House has not made an announcement about Chattah’s nomination as of Friday afternoon, but the Nevada Republican Party announced the news in a press release.

She will assume the position April 1.

Chattah, the Republican National Committeewoman for Nevada, has long been an ally of President Donald Trump. She has filed numerous lawsuits challenging Nevada’s election laws, including representing the state Republican Party in its efforts to cancel the 2024 Republican presidential primary and challenging a state law aimed at protecting election workers.

In 2022, Chattah was the Republican nominee for Nevada attorney general, drawing national attention for controversial comments about her Democratic opponent, Attorney General Aaron Ford, including saying that Ford, who is Black, should be “hanging from a (expletive) crane.” Chattah ultimately lost the race.

Chattah has spent more than 20 years as a civil and criminal defense attorney operating her own law firm in Las Vegas. She was born in Israel and emigrated to the United States as a teenager.

U.S. attorneys are nominated by the president in districts across the country — the District of Nevada encompasses the whole state — to prosecute federal cases and defend the U.S. in civil litigation. U.S. attorney’s offices are part of the Department of Justice and serve four year terms.

Typically, U.S. attorneys must go through a Senate confirmation process after being nominated by the president. But presidential administrations can fill vacancies more immediately through interim appointments.

The Trump administration has used this tactic to install Alina Habba, the president’s former personal attorney, as the interim U.S. attorney in New Jersey.

The U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada has been vacant since Jason Frierson, who was nominated by President Joe Biden in 2021 and confirmed by the Senate in 2022, resigned in January before Trump took office. 

The day after Trump took office, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Sue Fahami, the former district attorney of White Pine County, was named the state’s acting U.S. attorney.

Once sent to the Senate, Nevada’s two Democratic senators will get the chance to weigh in through the blue slip system. Home state senators for judicial and U.S. attorney nominees get the opportunity to submit — or not return — a blue slip approving or disapproving of a White House nominee, a practice intended to ensure that senators get to provide input on federal prosecutors and judges who have jurisdiction over their constituents. 

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) was unsparing in her condemnation of Chattah, in a statement calling her an “election denier who has advocated for political violence” and noting that the interim appointment can only last 120 days.

“President Trump is abusing his power and bypassing Congress to insert a partisan political operative into this position because he knows Nevada’s Senators will not support her,” Cortez Masto said.

Cortez Masto supported Nicholas Trutanich — the Trump administration’s pick for U.S. attorney during his first administration — in 2018. Trutanich was confirmed by voice vote in early 2019.

In a statement, Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) pledged to do “everything in [her] power to block her confirmation.”

“Chattah’s disturbing past statements promising to use any public office to go after her political opponents, as well as her well-documented history of racist remarks, conspiracy theories, and threats of violence, prove that she cannot be trusted with this important responsibility,” Rosen said.

The lack of a positive recommendation from home state senators does not prevent the Judiciary Committee from considering a nominee. While historically rare, it has become increasingly common since the first Trump administration for district and circuit court nominees to be confirmed in spite of opposition from at least one of the state’s senators.

But the Senate has yet to confirm a U.S. attorney nominee when a home state senator has not returned a blue slip — setting up a clash between Nevada’s senators and the Trump administration.

This story was updated at 2:35 p.m. on 3/28/25 to include comment from Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and again at 3:15 p.m. to include comment from Sen. Jacky Rosen.