White House blasts GOP over Lynch (and vice-versa)

Folks are getting testy over the delay of a confirmation vote for Attorney General nominee Loretta Lynch.

Again accusing Senate Republicans of playing politics with Lynch's nomination, White House spokesman Josh Earnest this week singled out one prominent GOP member for alleged duplicity: Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

When current Attorney General Eric Holder announced his retirement in late September, Grassley said the lame duck Senate then controlled by Democrats should not vote on a successor, Earnest said.

Recently asked about the length of the delay in Lynch's confirmation vote, Grassley said November and December should be discounted because the Democrats controlled the Senate then.

"That, in my mind, is an astounding display of duplicity," Earnest said.

Further noting that Grassley "has cultivated a reputation as somebody who is true to his word," Earnest said that "the only conclusion that I can draw from this astounding exchange is that it's possible that Senator Grassley has been in Washington for too long."

Grassley's office fired back, saying the Democrats focused on confirming judges in the last months of last year, not the Lynch nomination.

"It was Lynch or judges," said Beth Levine, a Grassley spokesperson. "They chose judges, and as Ranking Member (Patrick) Leahy said, 'I think it was a very good trade-off.'"

Senate Republican leaders say they will vote on the Lynch after Democrats lift their objections to a child trafficking bill. Democrats say the Republicans are loading up the bill with unnecessary anti-abortion amendments.

"Instead of lodging personal attacks against a highly respected senator, the White House would be better off spending time getting their left-wing lobby to drop their opposition to legislative language that has been the law of the land for more than 35 years," Levine said.

Back in the fall, after Holder's Sept. 25 announcement that he wanted to step down, Republicans indeed wanted the next Senate to take up the nomination of a successor, hoping they would win control of the chamber in the November elections (which they did).

Obama did not announce Lynch's nomination until Nov. 8, giving the lame duck Senate little time to consider the pick in any event.

Asked whether direct political attacks would help prompt the Republicans to hold a vote on Lynch, Earnest said it didn't matter.

"Being nice has gotten us a 160-day delay," Obama said. "So maybe after they look up 'duplicitous' in the dictionary we'll get a different result."