Trump will maybe, possibly get around to nominating a new attorney general one of these days

(Image credit: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

published 28 November 2018

Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions got the boot three weeks ago, and President Trump reportedly plans to leave his replacement, Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, in office for a while longer.

Both Republicans and Democrats have spent the past few weeks calling on the president to nominate a permanent attorney general who will actually face a Senate confirmation process. But seeing as Trump is "satisfied with Whitaker's performance" and has chosen "no clear frontrunner" to replace him, he's in no hurry to comply, sources tell Bloomberg.

Trump's leisurely deliberations may have something to do with Whitaker's opposition to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe, Bloomberg suggests. While Trump repeatedly skewered Sessions for recusing himself from Mueller's investigation, Whitaker publicly denounced the probe before getting a Justice Department job. And in a Tuesday interview with The Washington Post, Trump said he thinks Whitaker is "doing an excellent job."

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Critics have also suggested Whitaker's loyalty could be why Trump bypassed the Senate-confirmed Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to elevate the former DOJ chief of staff in the first place. Senate Democrats have since sued to oust Whitaker from the job, and even Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) questioned the lengthy nomination process Monday, saying "How long does it take to make up your mind who you want to be your attorney general?"

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.