For the second time in three weeks, Maryland has a new acting top federal prosecutor, with veteran Kelly O. Hayes tapped to take over.

In an e-mail to staff Monday, Hayes said U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi had appointed her as interim U.S. Attorney for Maryland. It was unclear whether President Trump intends to nominate her to serve permanently as the state’s next U.S. Attorney, and a spokesman for the office did not respond to questions.

“I promise to provide more information in the coming days,” Hayes wrote.

Hayes has been the chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s southern division in Greenbelt since 2021, and a prosecutor in the office since 2013.

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Hayes is the third woman to lead Maryland’s U.S. Attorney’s Office in any capacity, following Catherine C. Blake, who served in an interim capacity from 1985 to 1986, and Lynne A. Battaglia, who was U.S. Attorney from 1993 to 2001.

In a statement issued later Monday, Hayes said it was “an honor of a lifetime to serve in this role.”

“In cooperation with our federal, state, and local partners, I am confident that the outstanding men and women of the U.S. Attorney’s Office will work tirelessly and zealously to combat criminal activity that harms the people of the United States and to steadfastly represent the interests of the United States,” she said.

Those who have worked with Hayes called her selection a non-political choice, amid a wave of hyper-partisan, higher-level appointments in the second Trump administration.

Former Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein, who held the job from 2005 through 2017 before becoming deputy attorney general under Trump, cheered Hayes' selection, calling her an “experienced prosecutor and skilled manager who is devoted to the rule of law.”

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“Kelly Hayes is a brilliant lawyer of the highest character who has earned the respect of judges, defense lawyers, and colleagues,” Rosenstein said in an e-mail.

He added that Hayes would “help restore morale and rebuild federal criminal enforcement in Maryland after productivity plunged to a record low, dropping from 1,012 indictments in 2011 to just 461 in 2023.”

Maryland’s former top federal prosecutor, Erek L. Barron, a Biden appointee, said he resigned Feb. 12, the same night it was reported that a slew of Democratic-appointed U.S. Attorneys were told that they were terminated. Barron’s deputy, Phil Selden, has been serving in an acting capacity ever since.

After interviewing 25 current and former employees, Bloomberg Law reported in January that Trump’s DOJ was inheriting a “troubled” Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office, saying that under Barron’s leadership it had experienced management challenges, including a drop in morale and productivity, and judges complaining about the office. Still, Barron was praised by partners, including Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates and U.S. Rep. Kweisi Mfume, who had hoped he would stay on.

In a 2014 Baltimore Sun article, Hayes described being a federal prosecutor as her dream job. “The joke around my family is that I started practicing my arguments at 13,” Hayes said at the time.

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The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Monday in a news release that Hayes was raised in Montgomery County, and earned her law degree from the University of North Carolina.

As chief of the southern division, the office said, she oversaw all criminal investigations and prosecutions, including cases involving the MS-13 gang, violent crime, illegal firearm possession, human trafficking, child exploitation, fraud and illegal immigration offenses.

This article may be updated