Washington, D.C. ? A federal prosecutor who helped put a former Democratic lawmaker behind bars was named Wednesday as the Justice Department’s No. 2 official.

Craig S. Morford, the U.S. attorney in Nashville, Tenn., is President Bush’s choice for acting deputy attorney general. He will replace Paul McNulty, who announced his resignation in May.

Morford is a career prosecutor who has pursued organized crime and public corruption in Ohio, Michigan and Tennessee for the past 20 years.

He is perhaps best known for his case against former Rep. James Traficant. The Ohio Democrat was convicted in 2002 of accepting bribes and gifts from businessmen in exchange for intervening with government agencies. Traficant is serving an eight-year sentence in a federal prison in Pennsylvania.

Morford said he had no idea he was getting the job until Attorney General Alberto Gonzales came to his office in Nashville on Wednesday before giving a speech on drug enforcement.

In Nashville and Detroit, Morford served as interim U.S. attorney, meaning he was appointed by the president but not confirmed by the Senate. He has been in Nashville for less than a year.