拜登会与司法部长进行一场确认战吗?美国司法部的一些内部人士希望如此
由于拜登接近了他的选择。总检察长一些现任官员在司法部内万众瞩目的决定，也告诉ABC新闻，他们希望当选总统发动对共和党议员一个有争议的确认争夺战，如果这就是它需要把合适的人选。
一位现任司法部检察官在不愿透露姓名的情况下对美国广播公司新闻说：“这不是乔·拜登应该回避的斗争，”他是匿名人士，因为他无权与新闻界对话。“这是乔·拜登(Joe Biden)将要做出的最重要的选秀权，而错误选择此选秀权的风险巨大。”
对于检察官而言，这意味着他希望拜登能够提名前副检察长萨利·耶茨(Sally Yates)，后者在司法部工作了二十多年，但在确认过程中可能会遭到共和党的强烈反对。
另一位职业联邦检察官坚持说：“她值得争取。”由于她曾在亚特兰大担任美国检察官，然后在奥巴马政府担任副检察长，因此耶茨是司法部内“最受欢迎的人选”。“我希望拜登人能打架。”
他说，据报道，拜登正在考虑另外两名候选人，即联邦法官梅里克·加兰德(Merrick Garland)和即将离任的阿拉巴马州参议员道格·琼斯(Doug Jones)，因为他们在该部门工作的时间很久了，因此“将拥有她所没有的学习曲线”。
该部门内的其他职业官员也表示同意，其中一位将耶茨描述为“可能在第一天就开始运作”的人。但是，即使是那些不愿屈服于耶茨的人也说，他们相信拜登应该为他的被提名者展开政治斗争。
司法部另一位职业官员说：“如果有一个内阁职位值得确认，那就是这个。”他希望拜登选择像美国前南区检察官普雷特·巴拉拉(Preet Bharara)这样的“黑马候选人”。纽约将成为美国历史上第一位印第安裔美国司法部长。
司法部内部的另一位巴拉拉支持者也表示，司法部长的职位“非常重要，值得为之奋斗”。
要使耶茨或任何提名人真正成为司法部长，他们必须获得目前由共和党控制的参议院多数议员的批准。这意味着拜登团队必须说服至少一些共和党议员投票确认这一点，这一不可避免的艰巨过程使激烈的政治环境变得更具挑战性。拜登(Biden)过渡小组的发言人没有立即回应ABC新闻的置评请求。
由于拜登在权衡谁应负责司法部的100,000多名雇员，许多前部门官员，倡导团体和立法者公开表示了个人偏爱。但是，对于现任的职业官员来说，这种情况相对罕见。他们的职位本质上是非政治的，可以跨越多个政府部门。
另一位联邦检察官说，虽然他希望拜登会选择耶茨，但他也“理解”拜登团队可能对她可能会受到共和党议员的抵抗的担忧。
唐纳德·特朗普总统在国会山的盟友对她在司法部任职的最后一年特别不高兴，当时她帮助监督了对特朗普竞选活动与俄罗斯特工之间涉嫌联系的联邦调查的开始，以及当他担任司法部长时特朗普政府成立的头几天，她公开抗议特朗普的行政命令阻止穆斯林多数国家的旅行。
在被问及耶茨的总检察长时，参议院司法委员会主席南卡罗莱纳州参议员林赛·格雷厄姆说：“我不这么认为。”但是他确实说他可以给加兰德或琼斯一个“竖起大拇指”。
同样，据希尔说，爱荷华州参议员查克·格拉斯利(Chuck Grassley)表示，耶茨的举动“非常令人担忧”，而且“人很多”，因此拜登“不必再向她借机了”。
特朗普本人曾公开抨击耶茨，她在八月份发推文称她“信誉为零”，并且“是本世纪最大的政治犯罪的一部分”。
与美国广播公司新闻台交谈过的许多职业联邦检察官都对这样的言论应该影响拜登的想法表示反对。
一位职业联邦检察官说：“我在办公室周围听到一些人的评论，'谁来任命这个人?是乔·拜登还是[参议院共和党领袖]米奇·麦康奈尔?”
尽管Garland和Jones相对于许多现任司法部员工不熟悉，但与ABC新闻交谈的现任官员，包括支持Yates的官员，都承认Garland和Jones具有一位官员所说的“极高声誉”。
Garland在华盛顿的联邦上诉法院服务了二十多年。巴拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)总统于2016年向最高法院提名了他，但共和党人阻止了这一提名。
在克林顿政府的第一任期内，加兰德被任命为司法部高级官员，他协助监督俄克拉荷马城轰炸机提摩西·麦克维的起诉。在此之前，他在华盛顿担任了近三年的美国助理律师。
琼斯，也在克林顿政府期间，曾在阿拉巴马州担任美国律师，在那里他领导了两名Ku Klux Klan成员的起诉，理由是他们在伯明翰第16街浸信会教堂的致命爆炸中发挥了作用。他当选为美国参议院在2017年，填补创建void当杰夫会话成为总检察长。
但是，一位职业联邦检察官预测，即使加兰德或琼斯看起来“像一个安全，无争议的选择”，也存在担忧，“共和党人最终将成为任何人的问题。”
几乎所有与美国广播公司新闻台交谈的现任官员都表示，他们认为拜登的任何选择都会比最近的司法部领导层有所改善，他们坚持认为，司法部的声誉受到总统本人和其他人士多年来对该部门的袭击的打击。特朗普的总检察长在政治上引起高度关注的决定。
目前的官员说，他们的新任老板(无论是谁)都需要将司法部重建为一个独立且可信的机构。因此，一位职业检察官说，尽管以“尖酸刻薄，激烈的听证会开始这一过程将令人沮丧，但我认为这是一个值得为之奋斗的职位……如果您真的觉得自己有人会鼓舞人们，司法部要做的很棒的工作，并使他们感到自己又站在正义的右边。”
然而，下一任总检察长将不得不对拜登儿子亨特的全球商业事务进行联邦调查，并任命一名新近任命的特别顾问来调查俄罗斯调查的起源，耶茨一开始就负责监督该调查。
与美国广播公司新闻台交谈的许多官员还表示，他们希望该部门重新关注民权和社会正义事务，并希望妇女和有色人种担任领导职务。
一位支持耶茨的检察官对美国广播公司新闻社说：“特朗普的被任命者绝大多数都是白人男性。”
这就是支持巴拉拉的职业官员希望拜登选择他的原因之一。
这位官员说：“让共和党人投票反对历史悠久的选秀权。”
Will Biden wage a confirmation battle over attorney general? Some current DOJ insiders hope so
AsJoe Bidennears a much-anticipated decision over his choice for attorney general, several current officials inside the Justice Department have told ABC News they want the president-elect to launch a contentious confirmation battle against Republican lawmakers if that's what it will take to put the right person in place.
"That's not a fight that Joe Biden should shy away from," one current Justice Department prosecutor told ABC News, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he's not authorized to speak with the press. "This is the most important pick that Joe Biden's going to make, and the risks of getting this pick wrong are enormous."
For the prosecutor, that means he hopes Biden nominates former deputy attorney general Sally Yates, who spent more than two decades at the Justice Department but would likely face significant opposition from Republicans during the confirmation process.
"She's worth fighting for," another career federal prosecutor insisted, saying Yates is "a popular favorite" within the Justice Department due to her time as U.S. attorney in Atlanta and then as deputy attorney general in the Obama administration. "I would love for the Biden folks to put up a fight."
He said two other candidates Biden is reportedly considering for attorney general -- federal judge Merrick Garland and outgoing Alabama senator Doug Jones -- would "have a learning curve that she doesn't have" since their time within the department was so long ago.
Other career officials inside the department agreed, with one describing Yates as someone who "could hit the ground running on day one." But even some of those who aren't pulling for Yates said they believe Biden should be up for a political fight over his nominee.
"If there was one cabinet position worth having a confirmation battle over, it's this one," said another career Justice Department official, who wants Biden to choose a "dark horse candidate" like Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York who would be the first Indian American attorney general in U.S. history.
Another Bharara supporter inside the Justice Department similarly said attorney general is "such an important position that it's worth fighting" for.
For Yates or any nominee to actually become the attorney general, they must receive approval from a majority of the Senate, which is currently controlled by Republicans. That means the Biden team must persuade at least some Republican lawmakers to vote for confirmation -- an inevitably arduous process made even more challenging by the heated political environment. A spokesman for Biden's transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
As Biden weighs who should take charge of the Justice Department's more than 100,000 employees, many former department officials, advocacy groups and lawmakers have publicly expressed individual preferences. But it's relatively rare for current career officials -- whose positions are inherently apolitical and can span several administrations -- to weigh in publicly.
Yet another federal prosecutor said that while he hopes Biden will pick Yates, he also "understands the concern" that the Biden team might have over the resistance she likely would face from Republican lawmakers.
President Donald Trump's allies on Capitol Hill are particularly upset about the last year of her tenure at the Justice Department, when she helped oversee the start of the federal investigation into alleged ties between Trump's campaign and Russian operatives, and when, as acting attorney general in the first days of the Trump administration, she publicly protested Trump's executive order blocking travel from Muslim-majority countries.
Asked recently about Yates as attorney general, Sen.Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, "I don't think so." But he did say he could give a "thumbs-up" to Garland or Jones.
Similarly,according to the Hill, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said Yates' actions were "very worrisome" and there are "plenty of people" available so that Biden "wouldn't have to take a chance on her."
Trump himself has publicly attacked Yates, tweeting in August that she "has zero credibility" and "was part of the greatest political crime of the Century."
Many of the career federal prosecutors who spoke with ABC News balked at the notion that such comments should influence Biden.
"I've heard a few people around my office comment, 'Who's making this appointment? Is it Joe Biden or [Senate Republican leader] Mitch McConnell?'" one career federal prosecutor said.
Though Garland and Jones are relatively unfamiliar to many current Justice Department employees, the current officials who spoke to ABC News, including those supporting Yates, acknowledged that Garland and Jones have what one official called "tremendous reputations."
Garland has served on the federal appeals court in Washington for more than two decades. President Barack Obama nominated him to the Supreme Court in 2016, but Republicans blocked the nomination.
During the Clinton administration's first term, Garland was appointed to serve as a senior Justice Department official, and he helped oversee the prosecution of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. Before that, he served for nearly three years as an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington.
Jones, also during the Clinton administration, served as U.S. attorney in Alabama, where he led the prosecution of two Ku Klux Klan members for their role in the deadly bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2017, filling a void created when Jeff Sessions became attorney general.
But one career federal prosecutor predicted that even if Garland or Jones seems "like a safe, uncontroversial pick," there's concern "ultimately Republicans will make an issue of whoever."
Almost all of the current officials who spoke with ABC News said they felt any of Biden's choices would be an improvement over recent Justice Department leadership, insisting that the department's reputation has been battered by years of attacks on the department from the president himself and from several politically charged, high-profiledecisionsby Trump's attorneys general.
The current officials said their new boss -- whomever it is -- needs to reestablish the Justice Department as an independent and credible institution. So, one of the career prosecutors said, although starting that process "with vitriolic, heated hearings would be frustrating, I think it is a position worth picking a fight for ... if you really feel like you have someone who will inspire people in the Justice Department to do great work and make them feel like they're on the right side of justice again."
The next attorney general, however, will have to navigate a federal investigation into the global business affairs of Biden's son, Hunter, and a recently appointed special counsel investigating the origins of the Russia probe, which Yates helped oversee at its beginning.
Many of the officials who spoke with ABC News also cited their desire to see the department refocus on matters of civil rights and social justice, and to include women and people of color in leadership positions.
"Trump appointees," a Yates-supporting prosecutor told ABC News, "have been overwhelmingly white, male."
That's one of the reasons the career official supporting Bharara hopes Biden chooses him.
"Make Republicans vote against a historic pick," the official said.
