Craig Trainor Named Acting DOJ Civil Rights Chief

Last updated November 2026 · By Nick Hall, tracks federal gun-rights enforcement and covered the Dhillon resignation and the Glendale carry fee suit for USA Gun Shop

Quick take: Craig Trainor is the new acting head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, named by Attorney General Todd Blanche on the night of November 10. He replaces Jesus Osete, who ran the Division for five days after Harmeet Dhillon resigned, and he now sits above the Second Amendment Section and every gun case it has open.

• What happened: Blanche posted on X on Tuesday, November 10 that President Trump had appointed Craig Trainor as Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights.
• Why it matters: The Civil Rights Division houses the Second Amendment Section, which is suing Virginia, California, Minnesota, San Jose, Montgomery County and Glendale.
• What’s next: Federal vacancies law caps an acting term at 210 days from the vacancy unless a nominee is pending, and no permanent nominee has been named.
• Who to watch: Barry Arrington, Acting Chief of the Second Amendment Section, who signs the gun complaints whoever sits upstairs.

Three names in ten days. The Civil Rights Division’s justice.gov homepage showed Harmeet K. Dhillon on November 1, Jesus A. Osete as acting chief on November 8, and Craig W. Trainor now, and we checked each step against DOJ’s own pages and the Attorney General’s own post so you don’t have to sort out the conflicting reports.

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What Blanche Actually Announced About Craig Trainor

The announcement came on X, not in a press release. “I am pleased to announce that President Trump has appointed Craig Trainor as Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division,” Blanche wrote in his post on November 10, which went up shortly before 10 p.m. Eastern.

The rest of the post is about Trainor’s housing work. “Since October 2025, Craig has served as the Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, where he oversaw nationwide enforcement of HUD civil rights statutes,” Blanche wrote. He also credited Trainor as “the principal architect of HUD’s civil rights enforcement policies, which cut the Biden-era fair housing case backlog in half.”

That is all the primary record says. The post does not mention guns or the Second Amendment Section, and it does not say whether a permanent nominee is coming.

The Division’s own Civil Rights Division homepage has since been updated. Its “Meet the Acting Assistant Attorney General” box now reads “Craig W. Trainor, Acting Assistant Attorney General.”

Why Two Names Showed Up as Acting Head

If you saw one report naming Osete and another naming Trainor, both were right, just on different days. Blanche accepted Harmeet Dhillon’s resignation on November 5. An archived copy of the Division homepage from November 8 lists “Jesus A. Osete, Acting Assistant Attorney General.”

Osete was the Division’s principal deputy, and he was the man in charge when DOJ sued Glendale on November 9. The Glendale complaint, case 2:26-cv-13098 in the Central District of California, carries his name and that title in the caption.

By November 10 DOJ was using a different title. Its Veterans Day release on servicemember lease rights, dated that Tuesday, quotes him as “Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jesus A. Osete.” Blanche named Trainor that night.

And the legal mechanics fit. The Federal Vacancies Reform Act lets “the first assistant” fill a vacant Senate-confirmed office by default, but under 5 U.S.C. § 3345(a)(2) the President “may direct a person who serves in an office for which appointment is required to be made by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate” to serve as acting instead. Blanche describes Trainor as a Senate-confirmed HUD Assistant Secretary, which is that kind of office.

The Second Amendment Section Docket Trainor Inherits

The Second Amendment Section page says the unit “investigates alleged patterns or practices of Second Amendment infringement by law enforcement,” and it still lists Barry Arrington as Acting Chief. Arrington signed the Glendale complaint as the Section’s Chief. The Division head is one level up.

Here is what sits on that desk now. Two suits filed July 1, 2026 target Virginia’s semi-automatic rifle ban and California’s Glock ban plus its handgun roster. On August 3 DOJ sued Montgomery County, Maryland over Bill 23-26 and its carry bans.

The fall cases came fast. San Jose was sued on September 16 over a carry fee of “nearly $1,600,” Minnesota, Minneapolis and St. Paul on September 24 over a 30-day state wait that DOJ says stretches to “nearly 60 days” in the cities, and Glendale on November 9 over a first-license cost that DOJ puts at $1,971 to $2,106, up from a $100 city fee the year before.

Two investigations are open too. DOJ opened its Pennsauken, New Jersey permit-delay probe on October 14 and its Middletown and Waterbury, Connecticut probe on October 22. Neither has produced a lawsuit yet.

What Changes for Gun Owners, and What Does Not

Nothing in the record drops a case. The suits were filed by the United States, not by Dhillon or Osete personally, and no Civil Rights Division release from November 10 to 14 says any of them is paused. The Glendale complaint was filed under Osete’s name and stays on the docket under whoever is next.

The complaint portal still works the same way. DOJ’s Glendale release asks any “current or prospective gun owner” who thinks a state or local government is infringing their rights to file a complaint through the Second Amendment Section page.

What a new acting head does control is the next decision: which permit office gets a letter, which probe turns into a complaint, which state law draws a suit. Trainor has made none of those calls in public yet, and no DOJ release from his first four days quotes him.

The clock is real but long. Under 5 U.S.C. § 3346 an acting officer can serve “for no longer than 210 days beginning on the date the vacancy occurs,” and longer while a nomination is pending in the Senate. If the White House sends a nominee, the acting term stretches with the confirmation fight. If it does not, the window runs about seven months from Dhillon’s exit.

What to Watch Next From Civil Rights

Three things will tell you more than any personnel post. The first is whether the Glendale case and the Minnesota suit keep moving on schedule, which is the clearest sign the Section is running as before.

The second is the first gun release with Trainor’s name on it. Dhillon was the quoted official when the Pennsauken probe opened, and Osete when the Glendale carry fee case was filed. The first Trainor quote on a permit probe or a new suit will show whether the pace holds.

The third is a nomination. Blanche’s post says “Acting,” and the Senate has not received a name.

Same Section. Same docket. Third boss in ten days.

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Related Reading

• Harmeet Dhillon Resigns as DOJ Civil Rights Chief
• DOJ Sues Glendale Over $1,078 Concealed Carry Fee
• DOJ Sues San Jose Over $1,591 Concealed Carry Fee
• DOJ Sues Minnesota Over 30-Day Handgun Purchase Wait
• DOJ Probes Pennsauken Gun Permit Delays in New Jersey
• DOJ Sues Virginia to Block SB 749 Assault Firearms Ban