Elliot Williams

Elliot Williams (@ElliotCWilliams) is a CNN legal analyst and a principal at The Raben Group in Washington, DC. Williams spent nearly eight years as a senior political appointee in the Obama administration, as deputy assistant attorney general for legislative affairs at the Department of Justice — where he played significant roles in helping secure Senate confirmation for both Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates. Before that he was assistant director for legislative affairs at US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Williams previously worked as judiciary counsel to now-Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer. He started his career as a practicing attorney — first clerking for two federal judges, and then being selected into the U.S. Attorney General’s honors program, where he served as a trial attorney in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

He was recognized in 2015 as one of “D.C.’s Rising Stars” by the National Law Journal and sits on the board of the Constitutional Accountability Center. He earned a law degree and master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania.