Washington, Sep 26 (IANS) US President Barack Obama Thursday announced Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation. However, he will stay until his successor is confirmed.

Obama made the official announcement at the White House alongside Holder, 63, who is the country's first African American AG and has served the post since 2009, Xinhua reported.

"This is bittersweet," Obama said of his close friend and cabinet member's departure. "Eric has agreed stay on as Attorney General until I nominate his successor and the successor is confirmed by the Senate."

Holder, one of the longest-serving AG in the history of the US, has long been slashed in the fields of civil rights advances, national security threats, reforms of the criminal justice system.

Some law experts said that a leading candidate for the AG job is Solicitor General Don Verrilli, a lawyer whose judgment and discretion are prized in both Department of Justice and the White House