The website Talking Points Memo reports having heard through the grapevine, which in this case is CNN, that President Obama has settled on his nominee to replace Eric Holder as head of the Justice Department. Her name is Loretta Lynch, she is currently a U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, and if confirmed she would become the second female Attorney General in U.S. history (the first was Janet Reno). She would also be the second black, after Holder.
Considering how radical and committed to preserving racial divisions Holder turned out to be, one has reason to wonder if Lynch is cut from the same cloth. It may be instructive to note in this regard that Lynch has a working relationship with Al Sharpton, who told Business Insider in September that his “civil rights organization,” the National Action Network, was “engaged in immediate conversations with the White House on deliberations over a successor whom we hope will continue in the general direction of Attorney General Holder.”
Newsday confirms in a report of its own Lynch has emerged as a leading candidate for AG but goes on to note:
People with knowledge of his plans say President Barack Obama is not ready to announce a nomination and is abandoning the option to push for confirmation this year while Democrats still control the Senate.
The article further emphasizes that Lynch is not a close friend of Obama, adding that “her distance from the president could be an asset in the confirmation process” at a time “when Obama is under political fire.”
*UPDATE* It is rumor no more. The White House confirmed late today that Lynch is indeed Obama’s pick.
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