La Jolla’s Adam Gordon, whose political contributions in 2024 included $2,000 to Donald Trump, has been named interim U.S. attorney for the San Diego region.
As first reported Thursday by The San Diego Union-Tribune, Attorney General Pam Bondi tapped Gordon, an assistant U.S. attorney here, to succeed Tara McGrath, among those fired by Trump.
Friday afternoon, Gordon was sworn in by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Cynthia A. Bashant, the office reported. To keep the job, he needs to be nominated by Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
Called a “career prosecutor who became a nationally recognized expert on prosecutorial strategies to combat the fentanyl epidemic,” Gordon thanked Trump and Bondi.
“I am deeply honored to lead this office and protect the people of this district,” he said in a statement. “For too long, criminal organizations have exploited the chaos at our border. That chaos of criminality and lack of consequences cannot prevail.
“Together with our dedicated law enforcement partners, we will focus our resources on the Operation Take Back America priorities including securing the border, prosecuting cartel leaders, and removing dangerous offenders from our communities.”
Gordon, 43, was previously a San Diego County deputy district attorney from 2009 to 2014, who in 2017 sought appointment by the county Board of Supervisors to be interim district attorney to succeed the resigning Bonnie Dumanis.
The U-T said Gordon, who joined the local U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2019, has not held a supervisory role “but until recently served as the opioid coordinator, which included leading prosecutions of fentanyl dealers whose products resulted in overdose deaths.”
The U-T quoted former U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer as saying: “He’s a terrifically talented trial lawyer — organized, ethical and hard working. He’s a terrific prosecutor and leader … (and) one of the best hires I made.”
Besides sending money to Trump, Adam Alexander Gordon also made donations to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz ($250 in June 2024) and $1,200 to the 2020 Golden State Delegation, a conservative political action committee, according to opensecrets.org.
In 2015, Gordon gave $300 to Maverick PAC, described on its website as “the premier national network for conservative young professionals. We are next generation leaders working together to build a pragmatic, conservative future for America.”
Gordon is a 2004 graduate of Harvard University, where he was a wide receiver on its varsity football team listed as 6-foot-2, 205 pounds and a hometown of Rancho Santa Fe. His high school was the prestigious Groton School in Massachusetts,
“For his work as a [Harvard] student-athlete, he was awarded the Francis H. Burr Scholarship Prize and the Patrick C. Melendez Award,” said a biography on the site of his former employer, downtown-based Seltzer Caplan McMahon Vitek.
At Seltzer, his specialties were listed as “litigation” and “White Collar Criminal Defense/Government Investigations.”
As a deputy district attorney in San Diego, he was assigned to the Central Pre-Trial Unit, Gang Unit, East County Branch and Superior Court Division, and tried 30 cases to jury verdict, said his bio.
“He began his career by serving on the trial team which successfully prosecuted one of the murderers of Oceanside Police Officer Dan Bessant,” it added.
“Mr. Gordon rose through the ranks and assumed first chair responsibility, leading him to prosecute jury trials in cases such as premeditated attempted murder, gang violence, assault causing great bodily injury, battery causing great bodily injury, robbery and residential burglary,” the bio said.
He also defended a foreign business executive indicted by U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California related to the “Fat Leonard” U.S. Navy bribery scandal.
Gordon and his San Diego office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Updated at 3:02 p.m. April 11, 2025
