Other appointments include a new prosecutor in West Tennessee and Lee Beaman to join the board of TVA.
Image: On July 1, President Donald Trump nominated Braden Boucek to be the U.S. Attorney for Middle Tennessee. Credit: Submitted
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by Steven Hale, [The Nashville Banner, Creative Commons] –
President Donald Trump is nominating Braden Boucek, a former federal prosecutor and conservative legal advocate, to be the new U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee.
The White House announced Boucek’s nomination on Tuesday, along with a list of others, including naming local conservative car magnate Lee Beaman to a spot on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority. The TVA board has been without a quorum since April.
Boucek has worked as a local and federal prosecutor in Tennessee. He was also vice president of legal affairs at the conservative Beacon Center and, most recently, the director of litigation at the Southeastern Legal Foundation, another conservative legal organization. A Nashville native, Boucek graduated from University School before attending the University of Richmond and law school at Florida State.
“I’m deeply humbled by the trust placed in me to defend the life, liberty, and property of a sovereign people,” Boucek told the Banner. “I thank the American people for giving me the opportunity to once again secure the blessings of liberty as protected by the Constitution and laws of the United States.”
If the U.S. Senate confirms him, Boucek would take over Middle Tennessee’s top law enforcement job from Acting U.S. Attorney Rob McGuire, who moved into the role after his predecessor’s departure shortly before Trump took office in January.
The Middle Tennessee office has been in the spotlight recently after McGuire signed off on the indictment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who had been wrongly deported to Venezuela by the Trump administration.
“When Braden was a prosecutor in our office before, he was an excellent courtroom lawyer who took on gang cases, drug trafficking rings, and violent criminals,” McGuire told the Banner in a written statement. “He has the knowledge and experience to be a great U.S. Attorney, and I am looking forward to working with him.”
McGuire told the Banner in February that he was eager to get back to his regular role as a courtroom prosecutor, rather than leading the office.
Other Trump appointees include:
- Mike Dunavant, U.S. Attorney for West Tennessee. Dunavant previously held this position in the first Trump administration. Since then, he’s been the deputy executive director of the Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference and Chief Investigative Counsel for the Tennessee Comptroller.
- Lee Beaman, Tennessee Valley Authority board (expires 2030). Beaman has been a prominent conservative funder, including for 5th District Rep. Andy Ogles and various anti-transit and anti-tax initiatives in Nashville. Part of the family that owns Beaman Bottling, he has been the chairman of the Beaman Automotive group.
- Mitch Graves, Tennessee Valley Authority board (expires 2029). Currently a commissioner on the Memphis Light, Gas & Water board, he’s the CEO of West Cancer Center and Research Institute.
- Jeff Hagood, Tennessee Valley Authority board (expires 2029). A partner at the Knoxville law firm of Hagood Moody & Hodge, Hagood is a longtime litigator and Republican fundraiser whose former wife, Jamie, served in the General Assembly.
- Randall Jones, Tennessee Valley Authority board (expires 2028). An insurance agent in Alabama, he also serves on the board of Jacksonville State University.
