he worked as an intern in the office of Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey
In 1998, Senator Paul Wellstone (D-Minnesota) recommended Jones as the next U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, and President Bill Clinton nominated him. He served from 1998 to 2001, resigning upon the election of Republican George W. Bush.
Jones returned briefly to Greene Espel, but soon left that firm and became a partner at the much larger firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi from 2001 to 2009, where his practice focused on complex business litigation and corporate criminal defense.
In 2009, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) recommended Jones for his old job as U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota. The previous Attorney, Rachel Paulose, had resigned in 2007 following allegations of mishandling of classified reports and a dictatorial management style. President Obama nominated Jones, and he has served in that role from 2009 to the present. Ironically, six years earlier, in 2003, Jones and Klobuchar clashed in a high profile criminal trial in Minneapolis, with Klobuchar’s office prosecuting former Minnesota Twins baseball Hall-of-Famer Kirby Puckett for rape and Jones defending him. The trial ended in an acquittal on all charges.
Shortly after beginning his second stint as Minnesota’s U.S. Attorney, Jones was asked by Attorney General Eric Holder to chair the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC) of U.S. Attorneys, which provides advice and counsel to the Attorney General on policy, management and operational issues affecting U.S. Attorneys Offices throughout the country, and also represents U.S. Attorneys in the decision-making process at the Department.
As U.S. Attorney, moreover, Jones has advocated a community-based approach in dealing with Arab-American communities, many of which feel stereotyped in the current Islamophobic environment.
Jones has been married since 1980 to Margaret Samanant, whom he met in college, and the couple has three sons and two daughters. According to the website OpenSecrets, Jones has contributed $12,947 to Democratic candidates and causes since 2002.
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Macalester College - Reunion 2009 - Alumni of Color
Margaret Samanant Jones ‘80 (wife)
Member of the Blaffia
Macalester College - the ‘Marxist Harvard’ of MN.