PHILADELPHIA — Bill McSwain was only eight months into his job as Philadelphia's top federal prosecutor, and he was already angling for a better gig.
It was late 2018 when McSwain told some in his office that he was up for a high-ranking Justice Department post in Washington, staffers recalled. The agency was going through a tumultuous period after President Donald Trump fired Jeff Sessions as attorney general. Sen. Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican and McSwain's political sponsor, told a well-attended December gathering of Pennsylvania political insiders in New York that he would recommend McSwain for a promotion, according to two people who were there.
Within a week, Bill Barr was nominated as attorney general, and it was soon clear to him that McSwain had allies lobbying for his nomination as deputy attorney general, according to a former senior Justice Department official.
