President-elect Donald Trump named Jay Clayton on Thursday to head the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York, and he selected two members of his legal team to prominent Justice Department positions.

“Jay is a highly respected business leader, counsel, and public servant,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Jay is going to be a strong Fighter for the Truth as we, Make America Great Again.”

The SDNY chose not to bring charges against Trump over the hush-money payments case that eventually saw him get convicted in his New York state trial.

This role has been nicknamed the “sheriff of Wall Street” due to its penchant for taking on major financial cases. The most noteworthy case Clayton would presumably preside over is New York City mayor Eric Adams’s ongoing corruption scandal regarding deals he made with Turkish nationals.

Trump offered support for Adams in October, insisting, “They went after you, Mayor. But you’re going to win.”

Clayton served as the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission during the former president’s first term in office, with Trump describing his performance as “incredible.” After leaving, Clayton served as Apollo Global Management Inc.’s independent chairman before returning to the New York–based law firm Sullivan & Cromwell as a senior adviser, according to Bloomberg. The Cambridge alumnus remains an adjunct professor at Trump’s alma mater, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

The registered independent was nominated once before by Trump in 2020 after the latter fired then–U.S. attorney Geoffrey Berman.

Democrats feared this was a blatant attempt to politicize the Justice Department, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer railed against the decision, ultimately pouring cold water on Clayton’s chances.

“Forty-seven years ago, Elliott Richardson had the courage to say no to a gross abuse of presidential power,” the New York senator said in 2020. “Jay Clayton has a similar choice today: He can allow himself to be used in the brazen Trump-Barr scheme to interfere in investigations by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, or he can stand up to this corruption, withdraw his name from consideration, and save his own reputation from overnight ruin.”

The former SEC chairman’s lack of experience as a federal prosecutor could attract even more criticism from dissenters this time around.

Former federal prosecutor Todd Blanche was chosen as deputy attorney general, and Trump named Emil Bove, also a former federal prosecutor, as principal associate attorney general. Neither appointment has drawn much pushback as Trump continues to populate the Justice Department with personnel with whom he has personal ties.

Blanche and Bove served as top attorneys for the former president in his hush-money case, in which a New York jury found him guilty on 34 felony counts.

Clayton and Blanche will require Senate confirmation, while Bove’s appointment will not.