Paul McNulty, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, will be nominated to the vacant position as Deputy Attorney General, to succeed James Comey, who left in August.  Timothy Flanigan, who worked in the White House Counsel’s office, was originally tapped for the position, but withdrew over problems related to his lack of criminal law experience and ties for lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who is under indictment for bank fraud.  McNulty has served as United States Attorney since 2001 (biography here), and his office handled high-profile terror prosecutions (e.g., Zacarias Moussaoui) and procurement fraud cases related to the Pentagon (e.g., Darleen Druyan). An AP story (here) discusses the nomination. (ph)