President Barack Obama's nomination of Loretta Lynch to serve as the next attorney general is hitting a few road bumps in Washington, frustrating many of her Democratic supporters. Washington bureau reporter Geoff Bennett filed the following report.
North Carolina Democratic Congressman G.K. Butterfield had high praise for President Barack Obama's pick for attorney general, Loretta Lynch.
"She has impeccable credentials, impeccable character, and she would be a wonderful attorney general for the Department of Justice," Butterfield said.
Butterfield chairs the Congressional Black Caucus. He and other Democrats are lobbying for Lynch ahead a scheduled Thursday morning vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee on whether to send her nomination to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.
Lynch maneuvered well through her Senate hearing, and her confirmation was once considered a sure bet. But Senate Republicans have since delayed a vote, and dozens of House Republicans wrote a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week, urging them to block Lynch’s nomination. They said they are opposed to Lynch's support of Obama's executive action on immigration, which would shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation.
"I see that as nothing but a pretext to deny confirmation," Butterfield said.
Lynch is currently the top federal prosecutor for the Eastern District of New York. Her office was instrumental in breaking up an alleged plot, revealed Wednesday, by three men in Brooklyn who wanted to join the Islamic State terrorist group.
"She's broken up drug cartels. She's foiled terrorist plots," Butterfield said. "She has done so much for the state of New York, and she can do that for the nation if given the opportunity."
That's if her nomination can withstand Washington's political divide.