The White House is working with New Mexico’s home-state GOP senator to pick its next U.S. attorney for that state, and is expected to submit their candidate for Senate approval, instead of unilaterally appointing him to an indefinite “interim” term.
“Yes,” Matt Letourneau, a spokesman for New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici (R), told me when I asked him if his boss expected the White House to follow the official nomination process. “In our case there will not be an interim U.S. Attorney.” He confirmed that the White House had asked Domenici to provide a list of names to consider for the position.
What’s more, he said he expected the White House to follow Domenici’s advice in selecting his state’s next top prosecutor, instead of their own favorite. “They will nominate one of the four” candidates Domenici submitted, Letourneau said. “They didn’t guarantee us, but we have no reason to think they won’t.”
