WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US Senate Republicans withholding of President Barack Obama’s Attorney General nomination for Loretta Lynch is an example of “playing politics” and an “unconscionable delay,” White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest said at a press briefing on Monday.
It’s certainly a disappointment that after 128 days since being nominated to be the next Attorney General, that Loretta Lynch, a professional independent career prosecutor has not yet gotten a vote in the United States Senate. It’s an unconscionable delay,” Earnest said.
On Sunday, US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the he would withhold Lynch’s nomination until the Senate passed a bill to stop human sex trafficking.
Earnest said that in November, when Obama made the nomination, McConnell said Lynch would be given a “fair consideration” and would be considered in the new Republican-dominated Congress.
Earnest argued however, that “[T]here is no question that Republicans are playing politics with the nomination of the nation’s top law enforcement official.”
When asked how long the current US Attorney General Eric Holder would remain in office, Earnest replied that Holder would “for as long as it is necessary.”
If confirmed by the US Senate, Lynch will be the first African-American woman to become US Attorney General. However, the nomination has been pending longer than any other modern US Attorney General nominee, according to Senate Democrats.
