US President Barack Obama is to nominate Loretta Lynch, the top federal prosecutor in eastern New York city, to be the country's new Attorney General, the White House said Friday.
The President will officially announce the nomination Saturday in Roosevelt Room at the White House and will be joined by current Attorney General Eric Holder and Attorney Loretta Lynch, Xinhua quoted a White House statement as saying.
Lynch, 55, is a Harvard Law School graduate and popular prosecutor who is currently serving her second stint as U.S. attorney. Lynch was appointed to the position of US attorney by Obama in 2010 and also serving in the same post from 1999-2001 under President Bill Clinton.
Though some Republicans had urged Obama to wait until the new Congress is seated, the President still made the decision to announce his pick for the post. If approved by the Senate, Lynch would be the second woman to serve as Attorney General and first African-American woman to hold the post.
Holder announced his plan of resignation in September.