By Michael Isikoff

A former top Clinton White House lawyer is in line to be nominated by Barack Obama to head the Justice Department office in charge of all federal criminal investigations, according to three transition sources.

Lanny A. Breuer, who played a key role in defending Bill Clinton during impeachment and related criminal and congressional probes during the 1990s, is slated to be nominated to assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal division, said the sources, all of whom asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. One of the sources said a public announcement of the selection of Breuer, who is a partner of attorney general designate Eric Holder at the firm of Covington &Burling, could come as early as next week. 

Breuer is a widely respected--and affable--Washington criminal defense lawyer who has represented a number of high-profile clients in recent years, including Bill Clinton’s former national security advisor Sandy Berger who was charged with removing classified papers from the National Archives while preparing for testimony before the 9/11 commission. Breuer’s success in getting what appeared to be a relatively lenient plea bargain for Berger from the Bush Justice Department was cited by Washingtonian magazine two years ago when it named him of the 30 “Big Guns” in the Washington legal community. Breuer was also retained last year to help represent baseball star Roger Clemens before a congressional committee investigating allegations of steroid abuse.

But Breuer’s selection caused some minor debate within transition circles. He has never been a federal prosecutor, although he worked for fours years as a prosecutor in Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau’s office after he graduated from Columbia Law School in 1985. Although he is a law partner of Holder’s, Breuer was actually not chosen by Holder for the job, two transition sources said. Instead, his selection was advocated by former allies in the Clinton White House, including transition chief John Podesta and Rahm Emanuel, in line to be Obama’s chief of staff. 

Breuer, who is likely to be confirmed without any difficulty, will be the political appointee with prime responsibility for making some of the most sensitive decisions in the Obama Justice Department. He will inherit a number of high-profile and closely watched investigations, including probes into frauds relating to the financial crisis, such as the Bernard Madoff case and the mortgage industry. Other ongoing probes include an investigation into the destruction of CIA tapes of waterboarding and another into the firing of U.S. attorneys where a special counsel is believed to be seeking testimony from former Bush White House officials Karl Rove and Harriet Miers. Breuer will also have line responsibility for criminal investigations conducted by current U.S. attorneys, most prominently, the probe by U.S. attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in Chicago into Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.