Story highlights Trump met with candidates for US attorney spots in NY and Washington, a highly unusual occurance for presidents

"It's kind of an extension of 'The Apprentice,' I guess," said Sen. Lindsey Graham

Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump personally interviewed two candidates with connections to the law firms of close Trump confidantes for influential US attorney positions in Manhattan and Brooklyn, an unusual move that has prompted one senator to threaten their potential confirmations.

Geoffrey Berman, an attorney at the firm that currently employs Rudy Giuliani as a leading partner, met with Trump about a position atop the Southern District of New York, which covers Manhattan, two sources familiar with the meeting said. Ed McNally, a partner at the New York law firm founded by Trump's personal attorney Marc Kasowitz interviewed for the Eastern District of New York, overseeing Brooklyn, the sources said.

The two men appeared over the summer on a list of top candidates for the positions that was sent to officials involved in the vetting process before a formal nomination, according to another source familiar with the vetting.

US attorney candidates rarely -- if ever -- meet with the presidents who will nominate them. The New York posts in particular are drawing scrutiny because the Trump Organization and its headquarters at Trump Tower fall largely under the jurisdiction of the southern district, giving the local US attorney the authority to investigate cases related to the President's vast dealings.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal called the move to personally interview the candidates "alarming" and "troubling" in an interview with CNN Thursday.

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