After we broke the news earlier this week of Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s recommendations for U.S. Attorney — she slipped three names to White House in late August — her office issued this news release Wednesday:
In response to speculation about the name of the next U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, the Office of Eleanor Holmes Norton today said that several weeks ago the Congresswoman gave her recommendation to the President, and she understands that the President has made his choice. Norton interviewed several candidates before making her recommendation. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia is a presidential position, and the choice and the nomination will be his,” Norton said.
Ron Machen (Wilmer Hale)
Barack Obama’s choice — or at least the front-runner, according to The Washington Post and The Washington Examiner — is Ron Machen, a partner at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP and a former federal prosecutor in the District. We’ve written about his candidacy here and here.
According to The Post, Machen was Norton’s first choice. (She also recommended Anjali Chaturvedi, a partner at Nixon Peabody LLP, and Michael Bromwich, a partner Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP.) Sources told the newspaper that Machen is being vetted and will likely be nominated if he passes his background check.
The White House said no decision has been made.
