Wyoming U.S. Attorney Mark Klaassen Announces Resignation

Wyoming U.S. Attorney Mark A. Klaassen has announced his resignation from office effective midnight Jan. 31, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Klaassen will be taking an unidentified post with the State of Wyoming.

"It was an honor to serve the people of Wyoming in this role,” he said in the news release.

"I had the privilege of working alongside an amazing group of prosecutors and staff, as well as law enforcement partners across the state who are truly making a difference in our communities," Klaassen said. "I know this office will continue to uphold the high standards of competence, fairness, and respect for the rule of law that I inherited upon taking over, and hopefully built upon during my tenure.”

President Donald Trump nominated Klaassen to the post on July 21, 2017, the U.S. Senate confirmed him on Nov. 9, and he was sworn into office on November 21.

A graduate of Notre Dame Law School, he had previously served as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Civil Division, and as Chief of Staff to the General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

While U.S. Attorney, Klaassen served as chairman of the Attorney General's Advisory Committee's subcommittee on asset recovery.

In the Wyoming district, his office refocused its efforts on violent crime prosecution, including firearms offenses.

Klaassen led an inter-agency effort to reinvigorate the district’s current Project Safe Neighborhood program, a cooperative arrangement with state and local law enforcement partners to identify and aggressively target the most violent offenders in a given community.

He focused on major drug crimes, including the prosecution of one of the largest single drug interdictions on record in Wyoming.

Klaassen also emphasized prosecutions of child exploitation offenses, with particular attention to cases involving those who abused children to produce images of pornography. The efforts of prosecutors and agents led to the rescue of 16 child victims in 2020 alone.

The District of Wyoming encompasses the entire state and all of Yellowstone National Park. The office has staffed offices in Cheyenne, Casper, Lander and Mammoth, and is responsible for conducting all criminal and civil litigation in the district involving the federal government.