President Donald Trump's early selections for U.S. attorneys have drawn strong pushback from Democratic senators who have considerable power to block them, setting up another fight over personnel picks from a president who places a premium on loyalty as he staffs his administration.
His choices for the top prosecutors in Nevada, New York and New Jersey are opposed by Democratic senators, and at stake is the Republican president's ability to have the team he wants for positions with enormous sway over which cases and crimes are investigated and what penalties the government seeks.
The power they wield was underscored this past week when the interim U.S. attorney in New Jersey, Alina Habba, announced she was charging Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., with assault after a skirmish with federal officers outside an immigration detention center in Newark. McIver has denied any wrongdoing and said the charge was "purely political."
In the Senate, which must approve a president's nominees for U.S. attorney, at least two Democrats are prepared to invoke a decades-old custom that affords home-state senators veto power over whether a would-be federal prosecutor can be confirmed.
That battle comes as Ed Martin, Trump's first choice to be the top prosecutor in the nation's capital, withdrew from consideration after both Republicans and Democrats indicated they would not support the conservative activist, who has a modest legal background and expressed support for Jan. 6 rioters. The president replaced Martin with Fox News Channel host Jeanine Pirro , a former county prosecutor and elected judge in New York who has been a longtime Trump defender on television.