Former Utah Solicitor General Melissa Holyoak was appointed Monday as the interim U.S. attorney for the District of Utah by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Holyoak, at the time, was serving as a Republican member of the Federal Trade Commission. She officially departed from the role Monday, according to the FTC.

Utah’s new top federal attorney was Utah’s solicitor general — the state’s top litigator — from 2020 until her confirmation to the FTC in 2024. During that time, she oversaw prominent cases such as Utah’s ongoing defense of a currently blocked near-total abortion ban and the launch of a lawsuit challenging Biden-era expansions of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments.

Former FBI agent Felice John Viti has served as Utah’s acting U.S. attorney since fo

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