A U.S. attorney has been designated to oversee all Ukraine-related investigations by federal prosecutors around the country.

The Justice Department revealed on Tuesday that Richard Donoghue, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, was assigned to the task by Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.

Donoghue will “assist in coordinating … several open matters being handled by different U.S. Attorney’s Offices and Department components that in some way potentially relate to Ukraine," according to a letter sent to the House Judiciary Committee.

Donoghue, a St. John’s University School of Law graduate and Army Judge Advocate General's Corps veteran, spent more than a decade as an assistant U.S. attorney and was working as the chief litigation counsel for a global tech company before becoming a U.S. attorney in 2018.

“The Deputy Attorney General implemented this policy to avoid duplication of efforts across Department offices and components, to facilitate information sharing, to ensure there are no conflicts among potentially overlapping matters, and to efficiently marshal the resources of the Department,” Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd told House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler in the letter.

Boyd told the New York Democrat that “the Department typically does not provide information relating to ongoing matters,” but decided to weigh in “to clarify the record” following “news reports and public comments from Members of Congress that have significantly distorted the public’s understanding of the Department’s handling of such cases.”

Earlier this month, Attorney General William Barr confirmed that the Justice Department would assess information from Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s Ukraine-related investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter.

“We had established an intake process in the field so that any information coming in about Ukraine could be carefully scrutinized by the department and its intelligence community partners,” Barr said. “That is true for any information that comes to the department related to the Ukraine, including any information Mr. Giuliani might provide.”

Barr said, “The DOJ has the obligation to have an open door to anybody who wishes to provide us information that they think is relevant” but noted, “We can’t take anything we receive from the Ukraine at face value.”

Democrats accused President Trump of improperly pressuring Ukraine for political dirt on Biden and others in exchange for foreign aid, using Giuliani to conduct shadow diplomacy outside of normal channels by meeting with Ukrainians to conduct research on alleged corruption.

After the Senate acquitted Trump on impeachment charges of Ukraine-related abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in early February, Giuliani said he was “ramping up” his investigations into the Bidens.

Barr was dismayed to discover Trump grouped him in with Giuliani during the controversial phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last July, which led to a whistleblower complaint and later impeachment. Trump said Giuliani could help Ukraine investigate the Bidens.

“I will have Mr. Giuliani give you a call, and I am also going to have Attorney General Barr call, and we will get to the bottom of it," Trump told Zelensky, according to a transcript of the call released by the White House.

During the call, immediately after Zelensky expressed interest in purchasing anti-tank weaponry known as Javelins, Trump asked Zelensky “to do us a favor though” — to look into a CrowdStrike conspiracy theory and possible Ukrainian election interference in 2016. Trump later urged Zelensky to investigate “the other thing,” referring to allegations of corruption related to the Bidens.

The assistant attorney general confirmed Tuesday that Scott Brady, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, was assigned by Rosen “to assist in the receipt, processing, and preliminary analysis of new information provided by the public that may be relevant to matters relating to Ukraine.” In a likely reference to Giuliani, Boyd said this was to “protect the integrity of ongoing matters, particularly with respect to unsolicited information offered to the Department.”

In an apparent bid to head off criticism, Boyd argued that the Justice Department’s effort to coordinate these investigations and obtain potential evidence “does not circumvent the Department’s established channels.” He said the procedures “do not grant any individual unique access to the Department” and that any member of the public “may contact the Department and make use of its intake process for Ukraine-related matters.”

The assistant attorney general said everyone who brought information to the DOJ would be treated the same.

“Such information will be carefully evaluated and vetted by the Department before investigatory steps, if any, are taken,” Boyd wrote. “The Department remains vigilant against the significant threat of disinformation. As always, the Department will reject information it finds to be non-credible while continuing to discharge its duty to pursue all meritorious leads and investigations.”

Included in the letter was a copy of a memo Rosen sent to U.S. attorneys and law enforcement agency leaders in January, informing them of Donoghue’s mission “to assess, investigate, and address any other matters relating to Ukraine, including the opening of any new investigations or the expansion of existing ones.”

The deputy attorney general told DOJ leaders to contact Donoghue “if you are currently working on a Ukraine-related investigation” and to consult with him on those investigations.

In his Tuesday letter, Boyd added that the Justice Department stood by its September 2019 statement distancing itself from Trump’s Ukraine call and Giuliani’s dirt-digging endeavors.

“The President has not spoken with the Attorney General about having Ukraine investigate anything relating to former Vice President Biden or his son, and the President has not asked the Attorney General to contact Ukraine — on this or any other matter," the Justice Department said last year. "The Attorney General has not communicated with Ukraine — on this or any other subject. Nor has the Attorney General discussed this matter, or anything relating to Ukraine, with Rudy Giuliani.”

