A former District Judge has emerged as a leading candidate to
replace Alberto R. Gonzales to be the attorney general, a newspaper
reported on Sunday.
The White House would probably announce its nomination of
Michael B. Mukasey to take the key position as early as Monday, the
Washington Post learned from sources close to the
government.
The 66-year-old judge, the former chief in the US District Court
for the Southern District of New York, was described by Republicans
as a conservative on counterterrorism issues, such as electronic
surveillance, who has a solid reputation and trust of President
George W. Bush and his aids.
Former White House domestic policy adviser Jay P. Lefkowitz was
quoted by the report as saying Mukasey "is really a tough-as-nails
judge ... has very strong law-and-order values."
The jurist also has rich experience in anti-terrorism through
presiding some of the nations' most high-profile trials of
terrorist suspects. After spending 19 years on the federal bench in
New York, he formed bonds with former mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and
became a member of justice advisory committee for the his
presidential campaign.
Michael was put on table after Senate Democratic Leader Harry
Reid vowed last week to block another top candidate, former US
Solicitor General Theodore Olson, for he being too partisan.
When asked by the "Fox News Sunday" about Mukasey's potential
nomination, Democratic Senator Joseph Biden said if he can convince
him that as attorney general he would be the nation's lawyer, not
the president's, "I could support him."
Gonzales resigned late last month from the Justice Department
after he was suspected of lying to Congress on his dismissal of
nine federal prosecutors. Congressional Democrats claimed they had
evidence to show the White House was actually behind the dismissal
but Gonzales denied any wrongdoing.
He was set to officially leave his office on Monday.
(Xinhua News Agency September 17, 2007)
