Trump justice: Who will Donald Trump name as U.S. attorney general?

WASHINGTON – As President-elect Donald Trump organizes his administration, a key decision will be who to name as attorney general to run a Department of Justice he and his allies say was hopelessly politicized by the Biden administration.

Trump’s relationship with the department has been tumultuous.

During his first term, Trump tried to block the department’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election he won. He demanded probes of baseless election fraud claims in the 2020 race he lost. After leaving office, Trump faced prosecution in two federal cases for alleged election interference and mishandling classified documents.

Now, the attorney general is seen as Trump's most consequential appointment.

"He needs to appoint someone with a very skeptical eye − someone the rank and file is going to flat-out fear," said Mark Corallo, a former DOJ spokesman who served as communications advisor to Trump's legal team during special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.

Trump is expected to choose from a pool of loyal candidates who will help carry out potentially contentious policies such as mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.

“Throughout the campaign, Trump has made clear that he will appoint Trump loyalists to his administration, and we can expect no less with respect to the head of the Justice Department,” said Wayne Unger, assistant law professor at Quinnipiac University.

“At bottom, whoever Trump appoints is likely to erode the traditional separation and independence of the Justice Department from White House politics," Unger said. "Trump has expressed time and time again that he’ll place a heavy hand on the scales of justice as President.”

Here is a sample of candidates – from among lawmakers, members of his first administration and appointees – who are being considered, according to news reports and people working on the transition:

Sen. Mike Lee

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, is one of the names mentioned most prominently. Lee worked closely enough with the White House that Trump mistakenly called him during the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021, when trying to reach another senator.

Lee exchanged emails with Trump’s White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, conferring over how to challenge the 2020 election results. In texts obtained by CNN, Lee voiced “unequivocal support for you to exhaust every legal and constitutional remedy at your disposal,” although the senator ultimately voted to certify the election.

Lee clerked for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Lee has been in the Senate for 14 years and serves on the Judiciary Committee.

John Ratcliffe

John Ratcliffe, Trump’s former Director of National Intelligence and a former GOP House member from Texas, is another prominent name under discussion.

Ratcliffe defended Trump from his seats on the Judiciary and Intelligence committees during special counsel Mueller’s investigation of the 2016 election.

Trump later chose him to lead the intelligence community as what Ratcliffe called “America’s top spy.” Trump gave him a National Security Medal.

Jeffrey Clark

Jeffrey Clark, a former assistant attorney general, has already been considered by Trump for attorney general.

Trump conferred with Clark about aggressively challenging 2020 election results and Clark drafted a letter urging states to investigate claims that other DOJ and Republican election officials had already refuted. When Trump proposed to elevate Clark to attorney general, top department and White House lawyers threatened to resign together because he had never been a criminal lawyer.

“You’re an environmental lawyer,” Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue told Clark during an Oval Office showdown on Jan. 3, 2021. “How about you go back to your office, and we'll call you when there's an oil spill."

Clark is a co-defendant with Trump in a Georgia election racketeering case. The D.C. Bar Association is considering whether to disbar him.

Judge Aileen Cannon

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon was appointed by Trump in 2020 and dismissed charges he unlawfully kept classified documents after leaving the White House.

Trump has praised her repeatedly as “a highly respected federal judge," including in a speech at the Republican National Convention. Some legal experts criticized Cannon's rulings in the documents case as too favorable to Trump, and two of her decisions were overturned by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Cannon confronted the attorney general rumors when she refused to remove herself from the prosecution of Ryan Routh, who is charged with attempting to assassinate Trump. Routh referred to the "prospect of a judicial promotion" in asking for her replacement, but Cannon ruled she needn't recuse over "highly tenuous speculation."

Mike Davis

Mike Davis helped shepherd Trump's judicial nominees through the Senate Judiciary Committee and became a staunch defender during his criminal investigations, but has joked he would have trouble being confirmed.

Davis clerked for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, after serving as a special assistant U.S. attorney in President George W. Bush’s White House. He is a pugnacious defender of Trump, urging former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., and special counsel Jack Smith to “lawyer up” over their roles in the investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by Trump supporters.

Davis also said his mood about political rivals was to “drag their dead political bodies through the streets, burn them, and throw them off the wall” through legal, political and financial steps.

“I’m too charming to get confirmed as Attorney General,” Davis said in a social media post on Wednesday.

Mark Paoletta

Mark Paoletta is a former 10-year counsel to a House committee and a White House veteran. He represented Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in the House investigation of Jan. 6.

Paoletta served as chief counsel for the Energy and Commerce subcommittee where he managed 200 investigative hearings. As part of the Trump administration, Paoletta served as general counsel for the Office of Management and Budget, which is a gatekeeper for all federal spending and reviews policy changes.

Paoletta also helped prepare two Supreme Court nominees and Cabinet officials for confirmation hearings, and he earlier served as assistant counsel to President George H.W. Bush, when he worked to confirm Thomas.

Stephen Miller

Stephen Miller, a senior adviser in Trump’s White House, campaigned enthusiastically with Trump to advocate for a strong southern border and mass deportations of millions of undocumented immigrants.

Miller had worked on immigration issues in the White House during contentious disputes over banning Muslim travelers to the country and a “zero tolerance” policy for undocumented immigrants, which led to family separations.

Miller would warm up crowds for Trump describing how Americans had loved ones "ripped away from them by illegal aliens, criminal gangs and thugs who don’t belong in this country,” as he said on Oct. 27 at a Madison Square Garden rally in New York. “America is for Americans and Americans only.”

Miller isn’t a lawyer but since Trump’s first administration, he arranged to litigate his priorities as founder of America First Legal.

Contributing: David Jackson and Dan Morrison, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who will Trump's pick as attorney general?