New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is being considered for attorney general in the incoming Biden administration, the Associated Press reported late Friday.
A person familiar with the search said that President-elect Joe Biden was considering the Democrat who has governed New York since 2011, and who mobilized the state’s response to a devastating blow by coronavirus which caused a surge of cases and staggering death toll in the Empire State earlier this year.
Three other contenders for the role include outgoing Alabama Sen. Doug Jones (D), federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, who was dismissed by Trump within days of his inauguration after she refused to support his travel ban on visitors from Muslim majority countries. Jones, Yates and Cuomo each vouched for Biden at the Democratic National Convention in August.
The AP source said that no decision has been reached and an announcement was not immediately expected.
Jones, a former U.S. attorney who lost his Senate seat last month and Garland, a former Supreme Court pick by President Barack Obama in 2016, have also risen to the top of the pack among Biden’s considerations for the job.
The news of Cuomo’s potential vetting for the job, comes after two ongoing federal investigations involving Hunter Biden came into public view earlier this week. It’s unclear what impact, if any, the revelation of the probe involving the President-elect’s son which has continued quietly since 2018 will impact the search if it remains active next month.
When asked about his interest in the attorney general spot, Cuomo said in a public radio interview in New York, “I have no intention to run for president or vice president, or go to the administration.” A former state attorney general and HUD secretary in the Clinton administration, Cuomo added that the top DOJ role in Biden’s administration “is really critical, especially now.”
