TRENTON -- Who will be New Jersey's next U.S. attorney?

President Donald Trump is deciding between one of Gov. Chris Christie's criminal defense attorneys and another high-powered Jersey-based lawyer at a New York firm connected to former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, according to a source with direct knowledge of the process.

Vying for the coveted job are Craig Carpenito, who defended the governor during the Bridgegate scandal and its fallout, and Geoffrey Berman, who runs the New Jersey office of the New York law firm Greenberg Traurig, where Giuliani is global chair of its cybersecurity and crisis management practices.

The candidates' dueling mentors reveal an across-the-Hudson struggle for Trump's ear.

The governor is a longtime friend of the president and despite his ouster as transition planning chief still speaks to him frequently and advises him on many matters.

Giuliani was an early Trump surrogate, has a relationship with Berman that stretches back decades, to when he was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Berman an assistant U.S. attorney.

Giuliani, Berman and Carpenito declined to comment Tuesday.

Christie did not answer a question on the topic at an event in Trenton Tuesday morning, and calls to his longtime adviser, Bill Palatucci, were not returned.

Who has the edge?

Carpenito, a litigator at Alston & Bird's government and internal investigations group in New York City, has the support of Christie and all Republicans in the congressional delegation, retired U.S. Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kansas), and others, said a source with direct knowledge of the situation who requested anonymity to speak candidly.

Dole, the only living former Republican presidential nominee who endorsed Trump and attended the 2016 GOP national convention, is also a partner in Alston & Bird.

Carpenito does have prosecutorial experience, but mostly in health care and securities fraud, the division he worked in under Christie.

But other sources with knowledge of the search process said Berman, as co-managing shareholder of the New Jersey office of Greenberg Traurig, may have the advantage due to his heavyweight prosecutorial resume.

Before becoming an assistant U.S. attorney, Berman served as an associate counsel in the Justice Department's Office of Independent Counsel during the Iran-Contra scandal from 1987-1990.

He successfully prosecuted Thomas Clines, a former CIA spy who was a key figure in the Reagan era conspiracy to provide support to Nicaraguan anti-communist, or "Contra" rebels with arm sales to the Iranian government.

Berman's chances of getting the top prosecutor's job rose after Giuliani, a longtime Trump adviser and surrogate, joined Greenberg Traurig in January 2016.

The former New York mayor has been one of the principal advisers to the president as his administration crafted a now twice-blocked Muslim nation travel ban, but the white shoe firm already had strong ties to Trump.

Marc L. Mukasey, who leads Greenberg's white-

collar criminal defense practice, represented the late Fox News chairman Roger Ailes -- a close friend of Trump -- and is the son of Michael Mukasey, the former U.S. Attorney General who is a top Trump adviser on federal immigration policy along with Giuliani.

Privately, attorneys familiar with the search process expressed surprise that the governor put forward Carpenito, given that New Jersey's U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman had publicly suggested the governor bore some responsibility for the Bridgegate scandal, but that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute.

In March, Trump fired Fishman in a dismissal Fishman described as "abrupt and shocking," and appointed his deputy, William E. Fitzpatrick, as the acting federal prosecutor.

Fishman oversaw the guilty pleas of two of Christie's appointees to the Port Authority and the conviction of two top Christie allies.

Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.