Senator Ted Cruz Complains About President Obama’s Unannounced Potential AG Nominee

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On Friday, CNN reported that the White House had apparently made up its mind on Eric Holder’s replacement for Attorney General. It is being reported that Obama will tap Brooklyn prosecutor Loretta Lynch to be the nation’s top attorney, making Lynch the first black woman to hold the post. While there wasn’t much of a dust-up over the news of Lynch likely succeeding Holder, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) had to stick his nose in it just because that’s what he is programmed to do.

Lynch has a stellar background and a number of signature cases to her credit. She is the prosecutor that tried the New York police force in the late ’90s for the sexual torture of a suspect they had recently arrested. Lynch is also the attorney that indicted recently reelected Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY) on fraud charges. She did pro-bono work in Rwanda in 2005. She helped investigate allegations that witnesses of the genocide that plagued the country were being threatened.

Under every other presidency, someone of Lynch’s stature and credentials would be a slam dunk to be nominated. Besides her obvious qualifications, she doesn’t have any ties to the current administration and hasn’t really been that active in Democratic politics. A number of organizations have spoken positively about her and how she would make a good AG. Currently the US Attorney in Brooklyn, she’s actually held the position two separate times. Both times she was confirmed by the Senate without issue. Between her two stints as a US Attorney she worked in the private sector and also worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

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The White House has not confirmed that Obama will indeed replace Holder with Lynch. At the same time, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest didn’t deny the report by CNN. It is expected that Obama will announce his decision when he returns next week from a trip to Asia. Meanwhile, prominent Democrats, and even some Republicans, have spoken highly of Lynch and her ability to serve as the nation’s Attorney General. Per Politico, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that Lynch “would make an outstanding attorney general.” The other Democratic Senator from New York, Kirsten Gillibrand, sent the following tweet after CNN ran the story.

 

Even Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), definitely no friend of Obama’s, had no real problem with Lynch or the possibility of confirming her during the lame-duck Senate session. CNN reported the following after Graham learned that Lynch was the expected nominee.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, told CNN’s Dana Bash that Lynch “seems to be a solid choice” and is qualified. Graham said he doesn’t have any problems with her being confirmed in the lame-duck session, noting that other Cabinet picks have been approved during such periods.

However, while Graham seemed to have no problem with the potential nomination, a fellow member of the Senate Judiciary Committee felt different. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) predictably made a stink about the likeliness that the White House will try to have Lynch confirmed before the new Republican-led Senate takes over in January. Cruz sent out the following tweet after the news hit.  

 

Obviously, Cruz wants to make a big show trial of the confirmation hearing and have a Republican majority, stock full of some new extremists, get a chance to create some mischief while allowing Cruz to hog some much-needed limelight. Cruz wasn’t alone in his complaints. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who is likely to be the new chairman of the Judiciary Committee come January, whined that the White House hadn’t given a head’s up to anyone on the committee.

Hopefully, Cruz isn’t able to get what he wants, and a qualified candidate is allowed to be confirmed with no problem. Lynch has few enemies in the political world, Republican or Democrat. By all accounts, most Senate Republicans have no issue allowing her to sail through the confirmation process, especially considering that she’ll replace Holder, a man almost all of them truly hate. However, if Cruz has his way, he’ll draw out the proceedings so as to make it appear that Lynch is a radical Socialist bedfellow of Obama that will help push the usurper’s leftist agenda.



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