Jesse Panuccio

Jesse Michael Panuccio (born November 1, 1980) is an American attorney and government official. He served as the acting United States Associate Attorney General in 2017 and again from February 2018 to May 2019. He previously served as general counsel to Governor Rick Scott of Florida and as the executive director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

Education Panuccio received a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University, and a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, magna cum laude, in 2006.

Legal career Panuccio is a member of the Florida and District of Columbia bars. Panuccio served as a law clerk to Judge Michael W. McConnell of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

In January 2013, Scott appointed Panuccio executive director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. At the time, Panuccio was 32 years old During his tenure, Panuccio wrote an op-ed in the Miami Herald about the departments efforts to combat fraud in the unemployment insurance program, and an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal opposing the U.S. Department of Labor's proposed changes to its overtime rules. In December 2015, Panuccio announced his resignation, effective January 8, 2016.

Department of Justice service In January 2017, Panuccio was named acting Associate Attorney General of the United States. Panuccio's former boss and mentor, Chuck Cooper of Cooper & Kirk, was advising Senator Jeff Sessions on staffing President-elect Donald Trump's transition team and recommended Panuccio for the position. The associate attorney general is the third highest-ranking official at the U.S. Department of Justice, and oversees virtually all non-criminal matters.