Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Outgoing U.S. Attorney Gregory Harris says criminal law has remained consistent.

“Guns and drugs, that’s the primary concern,” Harris said upon his resignation from the federal prosecutor’s office. “When I started in 1980, the focus of the U.S. Attorney’s office was mostly on white-collar crime, because no one else would have the resources to do the extensive investigation that we do. But, over the years, violent crime, particularly gun crime, has gotten so out of hand, that we have turned our attention to more of that, assisting state and local officials.”

Harris, the first Black to be U.S. Attorney for the central district of Illinois, is concerned about Donald Trump’s second term as president.

“I’m very concerned about the statements that have been made about the career employees in the Department of Justice and the statements about weaponizing the Department of Justice. I think that is false.”

Harris, who says he would have loved to served under a President Kamala Harris, may turn up in state government, or as a teacher. He definitely wants to devote more time to the Springfield Tennis Academy, which he founded.

But he says he would recommend a federal prosecutor’s career to anyone who is studying law, who like to speak extemporaneously, and who likes to write, adding there is no greater honor than standing before a federal judge and saying, “I represent the United States of America.”