Former Attorney General William Barr is President Trump’s top prospect to be nominated as attorney general, multiple people familiar with the discussions told The Washington Post.

Barr, 68, led the Justice Department from 1991 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush and has the support of several White House officials, including a number of senior lawyers in the White House Counsel’s Office, according to the Post.

{mosads}The Post notes that the decision is not yet final and Trump could change his mind on the matter. Officials said an announcement could be made in the coming days.

“He’s a serious guy,” one source told the paper of Barr. “The president is very, very focused on [a candidate] looking the part, and having credentials consistent with the part.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.

A confirmation vote on Barr could take months, leaving acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker at the Justice Department’s helm.

People familiar with the process told the Post that Barr, having led the department before, isn’t particularly eyeing the role, but said the former top Justice Department official feels a sense of duty to take the job if it were offered to him.

According to the Pots, administration officials have said Barr would be the welcome choice of Republicans who admire his experience and by Democrats who could see his past tenure as evidence that he has no personal loyalty to Trump.

“I have no way of knowing if the report that he’s a leading candidate is accurate, but if he was, because of both his government and corporate background, he would enjoy widespread support — both in and outside the legal community,” George Terwilliger, who served as deputy attorney general when Barr was attorney general, told the paper. 

The confirmation process for Trump’s eventual nomination for attorney general will likely feature the candidate’s views on special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Trump has repeatedly railed against Mueller, who was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein after former Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself, creating a rift between Sessions and the president. Sessions resigned last month at Trump’s request, leaving Whitaker with oversight of Mueller’s probe.

Barr criticized Mueller’s team last year over donations some of its lawyers had made in the past, telling the Post in 2017, “prosecutors who make political contributions are identifying fairly strongly with a political party.”

“I would have liked to see [Mueller] have more balance on this group,” he added.

After leaving the Justice Department in the 1990s, Barr served in several roles in the private sector and is currently a lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis, where he advises companies on government enforcement and regulatory actions.