The White House is still considering an array of candidates to replace US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who stepped down on Wednesday. Two likely candidates are Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ).
Other possible nominees for the post are the US President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Transportation Department general counsel Steven Bradbury and former Attorney General Bill Barr.
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As for Pam Bondi, the WSJ recalled that she is a staunch supporter of Trump who officially backed his election campaign in 2016. Another likely candidate, Azar, was previously cited as saying that he was not interested in the job of US Attorney General.
The developments came after Sessions said in a letter addressed to Trump on Wednesday that he is stepping down at the US President's behest.
Trump tweeted in response that the White House was "pleased to announce that Matthew G. Whitaker, Chief of Staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions at the Department of Justice, will become our new Acting Attorney General of the United States" and that "he will serve our country well."
In September, Trump told Bloomberg that Sessions was safe in his job until November, but declined to say if he would keep Sessions on his team beyond that point.
The US Attorney General's resignation comes after a historic round of midterm elections in which Democrats regained the majority in the House of Representatives, while the Republicans expanded their majority in the Senate.