Doug Jones is reportedly Biden's leading candidate for attorney general

Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) is at the top of President-elect Joe Biden's list of attorney general contenders, three people familiar with the matter told NBC News.

Jones, who lost his bid for re-election in November, was appointed the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama in 1997, and prosecuted two Ku Klux Klan members for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, an attack that killed four Black girls. In 1988, Jones was the Alabama co-chair of Biden's presidential campaign, and in 2017, Biden campaigned for Jones when he ran for Senate.

When asked for comment, Jones told NBC News, "I've made a point of not commenting on any of the nomination process right now. They've got a process that they go through, and hopefully they'll wrap some of that up pretty soon. We'll see how it goes."

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Two other people still under consideration for the position are Sally Yates, a former deputy attorney general, and Judge Merrick Garland, former President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee whose hearing was blocked by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).