Biden trails Trump, Obama and Bush in dragging feet to name attorney general pick

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President-elect Joe Biden has parted ways with years of presidential precedent by not picking an attorney general by the end of the election year. 

He is lagging behind the past three presidential transition teams, and his transition team said Wednesday that no further Cabinet-level nominees were expected until 2021. 

President Trump announced his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, on Nov. 18, 2016, according to the Justice Department.

BIDEN HASN'T DISCUSSED HUNTER IN HIS SEARCH FOR AN AG

President-elect Joe Biden leaves after speaking at The Queen theater, Dec. 28, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Former President Obama announced Eric Holder on Dec. 1, 2008, and former President George W. Bush announced John Ashcroft on Dec. 22, 2000.

The last president not to have named his intended attorney general by the end of the year was Bill Clinton, who selected Janet Reno in February 1993. Prior to that, former President George H.W. Bush carried over Reagan-era Attorney General Richard Thornburgh to start his term. Bush had been former President Ronald Reagan’s vice president.

The Biden-Harris transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NY GOV. CUOMO AMONG CONTENDERS FOR BIDEN ATTORNEY GENERAL

Potential nominees include outgoing Alabama Sen. Doug Jones, who led the prosecution of Ku Klux Klan members who killed four girls in the bombing of a Black church in Alabama; Judge Merrick Garland, a former Supreme Court nominee; New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a former state attorney general; and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.

Lagging over the president-elect’s pick is also a potential federal case against his son, Hunter Biden, over his tax affairs.

Biden weighed in last week, without hinting at his choice.

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"I will appoint someone I expect to enforce the law as the law is written, not guided by me," he said during a news conference.

The Biden-Harris transition team did announce a number of incoming White House staffers and Defense Department officials Wednesday.