Trump picks Minnesota's public safety commissioner for U.S. marshal

President Donald Trump on Thursday nominated Minnesota's public safety commissioner to be the next U.S. marshal for the district, a position that has been open nearly two years.

The Star Tribune first reported in May that the FBI completed a background check of Mona Dohman and that she was the only candidate to have reached what is considered the last step before a formal nomination by the White House. St. Cloud Police Chief William Blair Anderson was also once considered for the job.

Dohman has led the Department of Public Safety since 2011, when she was appointed by Gov. Mark Dayton. She previously spent 27 years with the Maple Grove Police Department, including as chief from 2001 to 2011.

Dohman would be just the second woman to lead the agency's Minnesota office, which has been led on an acting basis by Daniel Elbers, a former chief deputy marshal, since the retirement of Sharon Lubinski in December 2016.

The U.S. Marshals Service is the enforcement arm of the federal courts and the agency in charge of providing security to federal judges. It is also the main federal agency for tracking down fugitives, and it possesses the broadest arrest authority among federal law enforcement agencies.

The White House announced Dohman's selection as part of its 12th "wave" of U.S. marshal nominees on Thursday. Dohman becomes one of three White House nominees awaiting confirmation for key federal roles that have been vacant since before Trump took office.

The U.S. Senate has still yet to vote on the federal judicial nominations of Hennepin County Judge Nancy Brasel and attorney Eric Tostrud, who cleared the Senate's Judiciary Committee in May.

Stephen Montemayor • 612-673-1755

Twitter: @smontemayor