Former Benghazi investigator named interim U.S. attorney for Northern District of California

Craig H. Missakian, a private litigator and former federal prosecutor based in Pasadena, has been appointed interim U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Missakian confirmed the appointment Monday, saying he will replace current acting U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Robbins, pending Senate confirmation. The White House has not announced that he is the nominee for the permanent posting. Michelle Lo, assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, also confirmed Missakian's appointment in an email Monday.

Missakian currently runs his own private criminal defense practice, the Law Offices of Craig Missakian in Pasadena.

Before his appointment, Missakian had an extensive career in public service after being admitted to the California bar in 1986.

He served from 2014 to 2016 as the deputy chief counsel for the U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi, investigating the September 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. Select Mission compound in Benghazi, Libya that resulted in the death of four Americans. Missakian also served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California from 2001 to 2010 and was a deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County.

In a 2014 Daily Journal interview, Missakian, then general counsel for Westland Real Estate Group and an avid marathoner, emphasized his consensus-driven leadership style and the importance of cross-department communication to manage risk in a complex, litigation-prone environment.

In 2010, a divided 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel struck down the 2006 Stolen Valor Act on First Amendment grounds, in a case that Missakian prosecuted as an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles. The court ruled -- in a case against a local election candidate who lied about receiving the Medal of Honor -- that criminalizing false claims about receiving military medals violates free speech. USA v. Alvarez, 2010 DJDAR 12865.

But Missakian clearly felt strongly about the issue. Two years later, then in private practice, he wrote a letter to the Daily Journal sharply criticizing arguments equating the Stolen Valor Act with broad threats to political speech. Missakian argued that a candidate's lie about receiving the Medal of Honor was not political expression, but a verifiable personal falsehood made in a non-political setting. He contended that comparing such conduct to political debate or innocuous white lies--like those on social media or about Santa Claus--was misguided and ignored the narrow, legitimate aims of the act.

Missakian's private practice includes his representation of former 2nd District Court of Appeal Justice Jeffrey W. Johnson in a sexual assault lawsuit by a former appellate court employee claiming Johnson victimized her for years. Velez v. California, 20STCV09721 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed March 10, 2020).

The case was settled for an undisclosed amount in October 2020. Johnson was removed from the court in June 2020 by the Commission on Judicial Performance. Johnson's appeal was denied by the state Supreme Court in 2021.

Former 2nd District Court of Appeal Justice Victoria G. Chaney and 16 other accusers -- and about 100 total witnesses -- testified against Johnson in 2019 during the Commission on Judicial Performance hearing that lasted more than three weeks.