Federal prosecutor is nominated to replace Eric Holder
Loretta Lynch, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Updated: Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch has been nominated to replace Attorney General Eric Holder.
The formal announcement was made Saturday, the New York Times and the Washington Post reported.
“She has spent years in the trenches as a prosecutor, aggressively fighting terrorism, financial fraud, cybercrime—all while vigorously defending civil rights,” President Barack Obama said at a White House ceremony Saturday with both Lynch and current U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the Times reported.
If she is confirmed, Lynch would be the first African-American woman to become attorney general, the stories say.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement that Lynch “is a strong, independent prosecutor who has twice led one of the most important U.S. attorney’s offices in the country.”
A Harvard Law School grad, Lynch began her career as an associate at Cahill Gordon & Reindel before becoming a federal prosecutor and then U.S. Attorney, the Times previously reported. She served in that post from 1999 to 2001, CNN reported. After that, she became a partner at the firm now known as Hogan Lovells. She was appointed U.S. Attorney again in 2010.
Earlier on Friday, the New York Times and National Public Radio said Lynch was a leading or possible candidate for the post, while reported that Lynch was expected to be named.
CNN said Lynch has “a solid reputation,” while NPR said she is not widely known because she “prefers to let her cases speak for themselves.”
The Times saw political benefits in a Lynch nomination. “She has no personal ties to Mr. Obama or his policies,” the story says, “freeing her of the political baggage that has weighed down other candidates once thought to have an edge in the process.”
Last updated Nov. 9 to report Lynch’s nomination.
