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RALEIGH — The federal prosecutor investigating former Gov. Mike Easley should stay on the job, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said Wednesday, distancing herself from the scandal that has engulfed her fellow Democrat.

“If an investigation is going on, he ought to have the opportunity to complete that investigation,” Hagan said Wednesday. She later issued a news release adding she has told the White House that President Barack Obama should hold off appointing a replacement for U.S. Attorney George Holding.

Holding is the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, where most of the state’s high-profile corruption cases are handled. Currently, his office is investigating Easley, who left the governor’s office in January, for several issues.

They include favors from political allies such as free flights on private aircraft before and during his time as governor. Investigators also have requested employment records for his wife, Mary, who got a job at N.C. State in 2005 and was later promoted to a six-figure job without the typical reviews for such a move.

The former governor has said he is confident in the outcome of the investigations.

Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards has also acknowledged he is under investigation by federal prosecutors for potential misuse of campaign funds.

Hagan, from Greensboro, would be a key voice in recommending replacements for Holding and other federal judiciary positions in the state, including federal judgeships.

She set up a three-member panel to vett potential candidates for those positions. The move was, in part, meant to show she was reviewing qualifications rather than merely repaying political favors.

But one of her panel members might have raised concerns himself.

Greensboro attorney Locke Clifford abruptly resigned from Hagan’s vetting panel Friday.

Contacted this week, Clifford refused to speak about why he resigned.

“I can’t speak on that subject right now. Sorry, and I’ve got to hang up. Bye,” Clifford said.

Widespread speculation that Clifford resigned because he was going to be working for Easley was bolstered Wednesday when the News & Observer of Raleigh reported his car was spotted in the former governor’s driveway.

Hagan has replaced Clifford with Jim Phillips, another Greensboro attorney, a former chairman of the UNC Board of Governors.

Holding has largely declined to speculate on his replacement, saying only that the Obama administration asked him this year to stay in the position until a successor is appointed.

He declined to specifically discuss Hagan’s remarks Wednesday.

“I took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States,” Holding said. “I’m confident that whomever the president appoints to be the next U.S. attorney will do the same.”

Hagan’s call to keep Holding drew praise from Republicans, who worry a prosecutor appointed by a Democratic administration would be tempted to drop the ongoing investigations, or a least not pursue harsh punishments.

“Senator Hagan has done the right thing and has demonstrated that cleaning up our state government is a top priority,” said Sen. Phil Berger, an Eden Republican and his party’s leader in the chamber.

Gov. Bev Perdue, also a Democrat, said Wednesday she has ordered the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety and the Highway Patrol to use new record-keeping protocols.

Those records will now include detailed information about each trip the governor or lieutenant governor takes outside Wake County with a member of the executive security detail.

“This new protocol will provide clear direction for how the state Highway Patrol executive security detail collects and retains travel records,” Perdue said.

The FBI has subpoenaed Highway Patrol travel records from the Easley administration. The patrol said recently it didn’t have records for the Easley family’s travels for all of 2005, the first year of his second term.

Also Wednesday, Cameron McRae, who was cited as someone who provided private flights for Easley in a News & Observer of Raleigh series two weeks ago, resigned from his seat on the N.C. Board of Transportation.