Loretta Lynch rises as top choice for U.S. Attorney General

October 28, 2014 By Nedra Pickler and Charisma L. Troiano, Esq. Associated Press and Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Loretta Lynch could succeed Eric Holder. Eagle file photo

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Former White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler has told President Barack Obama she doesn’t want to be nominated for attorney general, after he asked her to consider succeeding Eric Holder, people familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press on Friday.

Ruemmler was concerned that her experience as a close adviser to the president would have led to a difficult confirmation process in the current highly charged partisan environment, the sources said, speaking on a condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss private discussions. They say Ruemmler, a top official at the Justice Department before moving to the White House, was also concerned that it could ignite political attacks against Obama.

Ruemmler’s withdrawal in a phone call to the president on Wednesday leaves no obvious front-runner to replace Holder, who announced a month ago that he would step down once a replacement was confirmed.

It is reported that the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District Loretta Lynch has emerged as a top candidate for the position. The White House refused to comment.

“We don’t have any personnel updates, and are certainly not going to speculate on any decisions before the president makes them,” said White House spokesman Eric Schultz.

Lynch has made a name for herself in and outside of the Eastern District Courthouse in Downtown Brooklyn while keeping a low profile. Most recently, Lynch made headlines for bringing a tax evasion suit against sitting U.S. Representative Michael Grimm (R-Brooklyn, Staten Island). And he was not the first politician Lynch has gone after for alleged illegal activity. In 2013, New York state Sen. John Sampson, 47, from Brooklyn, was charged with two counts of embezzlement, five counts of obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements to the FBI.

During her tenure as U.S. attorney, Lynch has shown she will not hesitate to go after Brooklyn’s most dangerous gangs with many members of the violent Brooklyn street gang the “Six Tre Outlaw Gangsta Disciples Folk Nation,” pleading guilty or given hefty prison sentences.

Other candidates that administration officials have said have been considered include Solicitor General Don Verrilli; Labor Secretary Tom Perez; Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York; Jenny Durkan, who resigned as U.S. attorney in Washington state last month; former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano; Tony West, who recently resigned as the No. 3 official at the Justice Department and has taken a job at Pepsico; and Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Obama’s aides say he has not yet made up his mind on whom to nominate and won’t announce a choice until after the Nov. 4 elections, in part to avoid making the nominee into a political issue facing embattled Democratic candidates. They say he also hasn’t decided whether to seek confirmation in the Senate’s lame duck session later this year or to wait until the new year, when Republicans are expected to pick up seats if not win outright control.