Activist and MSNBC host Al Sharpton is talking to the White House about who should replace Eric Holder as attorney general.
“We are engaged in immediate conversations with the White House on deliberations over a successor whom we hope will continue in the general direction of Attorney General Holder,” Sharpton said in a statement Thursday, referring to his civil rights organization National Action Network. Holder announced his resignation Thursday. The White House did not immediately name a replacement.
Sharpton later clarified his remarks in a statement to Business Insider.
“We did not say we are in the decision making. We are in conversation to reach out to them to have meetings about what we want to see in a successor,” said Sharpton. “I have personally spoken to Attorney General Eric Holder today to express my views that he was the best civil rights Attorney General in history.”
Sharpton previously advised Obama on the Trayvon Martin situation, speaking to the president on the phone before Obama delivered a 2012 speech declaring, “If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.”
Obama’s friend, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, arrived in Washington Thursday reportedly to attend Congressional Black Caucus events. Patrick dismissed speculation that he would succeed Holder.
