President Barack Obama has interviewed Ms. Lynch and was impressed by their discussion, these people said.

It's not clear when an announcement could be made, since the president will depart Washington this weekend for Asia.

Ms. Lynch is a longtime federal prosecutor who has a reputation within the Justice Department as an aggressive prosecutor who eschews turf battles with colleagues and has a good relationship with her bosses in Washington, including current Attorney General Eric Holder.

When Mr. Holder announced his plan to resign, Ms. Lynch was considered a potential candidate, but not at the top of the list of choices, according to people close to the discussions. Those people said her stock within the White House has risen steadily as they weighed candidates, including Solicitor General Donald Verrilli and Labor Secretary Tom Perez. Former White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler was also initially considered the leading candidate but withdrew her name from consideration.

From the delay until after the election, I thought the President was leaning toward a highly divisive candidate such as Perez.  Maybe not.