[4] On January 23, 2018, Boente was named general counsel to the FBI by the director Christopher A. Wray, filling the vacancy after James Baker's reassignment to another part of the bureau.

In December 2012, Boente was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, a position he held until September 2013.

[11] Boente was not in the line of succession of the Attorney General of the United States pursuant to Executive Order 13762 signed by President Barack Obama before leaving office.

[16] Sessions recused himself from all matters pertaining to American presidential campaigns because of revelations that he had communications with Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 United States presidential election,[17][18] Boente was designated to perform the functions of the Attorney General with respect to campaign issues until the permanent deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein, was confirmed and sworn into office[19] which took place on April 25, 2017.

[20][21] On January 23, 2018, Boente was named general counsel to the FBI by Director Christopher Wray, filling the vacancy after James Baker's reassignment to another part of the bureau.