In a second trail-blazing pick for the nation's top law enforcement officer, President Barack Obama intends to nominate a federal prosecutor in New York to become the next attorney general and the first black woman to lead the Justice Department.
Obama's spokesman said Friday that he will announce his selection of Loretta Lynch from the White House on Saturday. If confirmed by the Senate, she would replace Eric Holder, who announced his resignation in September after serving as the nation's first black attorney general.
Lynch, 55, is the U.S. attorney for Eastern New York, which covers Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island, a position she also held under President Bill Clinton.
"Ms. Lynch is a strong, independent prosecutor who has twice led one of the most important U.S. attorney's offices in the country," Obama press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement.
Obama had planned to wait until after a trip to Asia next week to announce the choice but then moved up the decision after news organizations began reporting that she was his choice.
The White House said Obama is leaving it up to Senate leadership to determine whether she should be confirmed this year while Democrats are in control or next year after Republicans take over. But the White House said their hope is she will be confirmed as soon as possible. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell took the stance that her nomination should be taken up in the new year.
Lynch has overseen bank fraud and other public corruption cases, including the March conviction of New York state Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. after he was caught accepting bribes in a sting operation and the 2013 conviction of former state Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. for looting taxpayer-subsidized health care clinics he ran.
U.S. & World
She also charged reputed mobster Vincent Asaro and his associates for the 36-year-old heist of $6 million in cash and jewelry from a Lufthansa Airlines vault at Kennedy Airport, dramatized in the movie "Goodfellas."
During her first tenure in the Eastern District, Lynch helped prosecute police officers who severely beat and sexually assaulted Haitian immigrant Abner Louima.
Lynch grew up in North Carolina, the daughter of a school librarian and a Baptist minister. She received undergraduate and law degrees from Harvard.
