Loretta Lynch Now Likely to Win Confirmation as Attorney General

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It looks like Loretta Lynch is likely to be approved as our next Attorney General:

Eight Republicans on the Senate judiciary committee, including chairman Chuck Grassley, opposed Lynch’s confirmation after what Democrats criticised as a record-long delay in appointing the first African American woman to the top law enforcement job in the US.

But Lynch was backed by three moderate Republicans to pass through a committee vote on Thursday, 12-8. She is now likely, over the coming days, to scrape through a vote in the full Senate to succeed current attorney general Eric Holder, who announced his resignation last September.

The three “moderate” Republicans who voted to confirm Lynch were Orrin Hatch, Lindsey Graham, and Jeff Flake. Flake is probably a legitimate moderate, but it’s an odd world where Hatch and Graham are on that list too. In today’s GOP, though, they really are moderates. That tells you most of what you need to know about the state of national politics these days.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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