Eric Holder- Complaint Background
Note: Information provided by law enforcement specialists, private investigators and journalists – Update revision 2.6
A handful of Silicon Valley campaign finance billionaires were handed hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars, exclusively, in a kick-back scheme. Who was informed of this crime, in writing, by hundreds of witnesses, and took action to protect from prosecution, those very criminals? ERIC HOLDER
-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder had personal and business relationships with the suspects.
-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was nominated for, and lobbied for the job as, U.S. Attorney General by the suspects.
-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder received written charges of the crimes, by the suspects, from the victims, as early as August, 2015. This has been confirmed by federal documentation services.
-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder refused to prosecute, or allow any investigations, of, the suspects.
-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder held business, cash, stock and career holdings in the companies operated by the suspects.
-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder received orders, requests and directives, from the suspects, directly, and indirectly through close intermediaries.
-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder used taxpayer resources to damage, stone-wall, harm, and circumvent the civil rights of, U.S. taxpaying citizens, because they were business competitors to his business partners.
-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder ordered, and implemented, the with-holding, or interdiction of Congressionally requested documents in order to prevent his business from being brought to justice.
-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, during the largest American financial crisis, based on corruption, failed to arrest any campaign donors who were known to have engaged in that corruption.
-Victims pleaded with Eric Holder’s Department of Justice, filed all proper forms and followed every known “PROPER PROCEDURE”, yet they were attacked, harassed and stone-walled and have yet to receive justice from the DOJ.
-Eric Holder: Crime Boss – Throughout the course of the THE CLEAN TECH CRASH (http://thecleantechcrash.wordpress.com/), one man was in charge of the Justice Department cover-ups; that one man had a financial connection to every perpetrator in the crimes; that one man profited by those crimes and that one man was placed in his job by those who created the scandal. The very man that was supposed to protect us, was running the biggest part of the crime operation. Meet Mr. Eric Holder:
——————————-
Eric Holder Archives – Judicial Watch
www.judicialwatch.org/blog/tag/eric-holder/
Judicial Watch
Sep 8, 2015 – In March 2013, then-U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder launched a criminal … Leadership Summit to Focus Attention on Corruption of Obama …
Jill Farrell
Director of Public Affairs
(202) 646-5172 (x305)
(202) 646-5188
media@judicialwatch.org
Valerie Jarrett Key Player in Fast and Furious Cover-Up After Holder Lied to Congress
President Obama’s trusted senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, was a key player in the effort to cover up that Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about the Fast and Furious scandal, according to public records obtained by Judicial Watch.The information is part of a Department of Justice (DOJ) “Vaughn index” detailing records about the gun-running operation known as Fast and Furious. JW had to sue the agency for the records after the Obama administration failed to provide them under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A federal court ordered the DOJ to provide the records over the agency’s objections. Yesterday JW reported on the broad information in the records, including that Obama asserted executive privilege for Holder’s wife as part of the administration’s efforts to cover up the scandal.
Practically lost in the 1,000-plus pages of records is an index that shows Jarrett was brought in to manage the fact that Holder lied to Congress after the story about the disastrous gun-running operation broke in the media. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) ran the once-secret program that allowed guns from the U.S. to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels. Instead, federal law enforcement officers lost track of hundreds of weapons which have been used in an unknown number of crimes, including the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.
The files received by JW include three electronic mails between Holder and Jarrett and one from former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke to Jarrett. The e-mails with Holder are all from October 4, 2011, a significant date because, on the evening of October 3rd, Sheryl Attkisson (then at CBS news) released documents showing that Holder had been sent a briefing paper on Operation Fast and Furious on June 5, 2010. The paper was from the director of the National Drug Intelligence Center, Michael Walther.
This directly contradicted Holder’s May 3, 2011 testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, during which he stated that he, “probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.” The October 4, 2011 date may also be significant because it came shortly after the August 30, 2011 resignation of U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke and reassignment of acting ATF director Kenneth Melson to the position of “senior forensics advisor” at DOJ.
The description of one of the e-mails, written from Jarrett to Holder, reads, “re: personnel issues.” Another, also from Jarrett, reads, “outlining and discussing preferred course of action for future responses in light of recent development in congressional investigation.” Unfortunately, the index is vague and that’s all the information we have about them. Nevertheless, given the timing and subject of these e-mails, it seems clear that Jarrett quickly became a key player in the Fast and Furious cover-up in the immediate aftermath of the revelation that Holder had lied to Congress.
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton issued a statement today about the pending retirement of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder:
It is no coincidence that Holder’s resignation comes on the heels of another court ruling that the Justice Department must finally cough up information about how Holder’s Justice Department lied to Congress and the American people about the Operation Fast and Furious scandal, for which Eric Holder was held in contempt by the House of Representatives. Over the past several months, Judicial Watch also exposed how Holder’s Justice Department was implicated in the IRS scandal and how Justice Department lawyers helped defend the illegal stonewall that kept secret key material related to Benghazi.
The disgraced Holder’s exit is past due accountability for Holder’s Fast and Furious lies, and I hope it brings some solace to the family of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the hundreds of innocent Mexicans likely killed thanks to the Holder Justice Department’s scheme that armed the murderous Mexican drug cartels.
In 2009, Judicial Watch opposed Holder’s confirmation as Attorney General, noting that “Mr. Holder’s record demonstrates a willingness to bend the law in order to protect his political patrons.” The U.S. Senate, including many Republicans, ignored Holder’s record and confirmed a man who went on to be one of the worst Attorney Generals of the modern era.
Mr. Holder, his appointees, and his agency have lied repeatedly to Congress and the American people. He has damaged the Justice Department by putting politics, ideology, and race above the rule of law. Disturbingly, Mr. Holder refused to enforce the law in a race-neutral manner. And, when it comes to government transparency, Holder’s Justice Department became one of the worst violators of the Freedom of Information Act, manufacturing new legal excuses for government secrecy that would make Richard Nixon blush.
In Eric Holder, President Obama found his John Mitchell – an attorney general who would lie, obstruct investigations, and ignore or simply not enforce the law in order to advance his president’s unbridled will.
As the press is writing his political epitaph, I hope it is also remembered how Holder lied to Congress and how his agency assaulted Freedom of the Press by collecting the private email correspondence of reporters, seizing their phone records and tracking their movements as part of an investigation of perceived leaks.
“Justice” took a holiday during Eric Holder’s reign at the Department of Justice. The man can’t leave office soon enough.
DOJ Admits Fast & Furious Docs Should Be Released Under FOIA After Indefinitely Delaying JW’s Suit
| SEE ALL CORRUPTION CHRONICLES »
Can a federal agency trying to cover up wrongdoing lawfully withhold documents under executive privilege—reserved for the president of the United States—when the records don’t even involve the commander-in-chief? That’s the question being argued before a federal court in Washington D.C. and the ruling could have a widespread impact on…
JW Sues DOJ for Records of Holder Contempt Settlement Talks
| SEE ALL CORRUPTION CHRONICLES »
Judicial Watch has sued the “most transparent administration” in history for details of Attorney General Eric Holder’s efforts to settle contempt charges filed against him for refusing to give Congress documents related to a scandalous gunrunning experiment that let Mexican drug traffickers obtain U.S.-sold weapons. The goal behind this disastrous…
PRESS RELEASE
JW Sues over Fast and Furious Stonewall: Seeks Docs about DOJ’s Legal Fight over Holder Contempt of Congress Citation
| SEE ALL PRESS RELEASES »
(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that on September 5, 2013, it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, against the Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) seeking access to all records of communications between DOJ and House Committee…
Judicial Watch Obtains Documents Revealing AG Holder Travel Expenses Exceeded $4 Million in Four Years
| SEE ALL PRESS RELEASES »
Taxpayer-funded personal travel expenses alone totaled nearly $700,000 from March 2009 to August 2012 (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained documents from the Department of Justice (DOJ) revealing that between March 27, 2009, and August 24, 2012, Attorney General Eric Holder accrued $4,263,704.01 in total…
CORRUPTION CHRONICLES
Holder Vows Solidarity With Latino Leftists: “Uno Para Todos, Todos Para Uno.”
| SEE ALL CORRUPTION CHRONICLES »
On the same week that the U.S. House of Representatives found him in criminal contempt, the nation’s embattled Attorney General professed solidarity with a radical leftist Latino group, proudly celebrating its socialist mission of “uno para todos, todos para uno” (all for one and one for all). It wasn’t enough…
CORRUPTION CHRONICLES
Al Qaeda Defense Atty. No. 3 At Obama DOJ
| SEE ALL CORRUPTION CHRONICLES »
In a scary development, a major Obama fundraiser who defended a convicted al Qaeda terrorist will become the third highest ranking official at the Department of Justice (DOJ), which, ironically, is charged with defending the interests of the United States. Northern California lawyer Tony West has been named Assistant Attorney…
CORRUPTION CHRONICLES
Hard Times: DOJ Cuts Conference Spending By $14 Mil
| SEE ALL CORRUPTION CHRONICLES »
How considerate of the Justice Department to finally cut back on the extravagant work conferences that stick it to U.S. taxpayers with exorbitant tabs for overpriced food, beverages and fancy party planners.Heads turned a few weeks ago when a Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General probe revealed that the bloated…
CORRUPTION CHRONICLES
Judicial Watch Announces a Special Presentation: “Politics and the Holder Justice Department: Rule of Law at Risk?”
MARCH 29, 2011 | SEE ALL PRESS RELEASES »
Contact Information: Press Office 202-646-5172, ext 305 Washington, DC — March 29, 2011Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced it will host a panel discussion: “Politics and the Holder Justice Department: Rule of Law at Risk?” Panelists include Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal
—————————-
Eric Holder – Discover the Networks
www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2357
Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. was born on January 21, 1951 in the Bronx, New York …… resigned to protest the “corrupt nature” of DOJ’s dismissal of the case against
Longtime Federal Attorney: Eric Holder Protects Corrupt …
observer.com/…/longtime-federal-attorney-eric-…
The New York Observer
Jun 19, 2014 – Attorney General Eric Holder has systematically consolidated the power and authority of the Department of Justice, opposing calls for reform.
National Politics • Opinion
Longtime Federal Attorney: Eric Holder Protects Corrupt Prosecutors
Four US Attorneys found to have suppressed evidence have been promoted; AG consolidates power
By Sidney Powell •
Attorney General Eric Holder has systematically consolidated the power and authority of the Department of Justice, opposing calls for reform. (Getty Images)
As Attorney General Eric Holder prepares to enter the penultimate year of his tenure leading the Department of Justice, the time to honor his sweeping promise to “clean up” the Department of Justice is rapidly diminishing. For many, the time can’t pass quickly enough—and be sure he will stay until the bitter end. Awaiting his departure from the Department is a subpoena from Congress that he would no longer be able to avoid.
Not only has Mr. Holder failed to make any of the reforms he promised in the wake of his forced dismissal of the indictment against former Senator Ted Stevens, the changes he has made have been for the worse. Absent a dramatic about-face, Holder will leave the Department of Justice littered with corrupted prosecutions and prosecutors, his own contempt of Congress, numerous Supreme Court reversals, and scathing rebukes from federal judges.
Instead of seeking justice, as he is constitutionally and ethically required to do, Holder has politicized the Department beyond recognition. Instead of enforcing the rule of law and following legal precedent, he has ignored and twisted the law to suit his president.
We now have confirmation that Mr. Holder is protecting and retaining prosecutors whose intentional or reckless prosecutorial misconduct has been confirmed. Indeed, he has refused repeated demands to release the names of the law-breaking prosecutors or identify the cases their misconduct infected. No one is holding Holder accountable.
Rightly called Obama’s Enforcer, Eric Holder sets the tone and makes the decisions for the Department. Aside from his own contempt of Congress, the “Fast and Furious” debacle, illegally seizing reporters’ phone records, Mr. Holder is deliberately protecting prosecutors who have violated the law, the constitution, fundamental principles of fairness, and longstanding rules of ethics in hundreds of criminal prosecutions.
A recent report from the non-partisan, non-profit Project on Government Oversight reveals more than 400 instances of intentional or reckless misconduct by Justice Department prosecutors in the last decade. A significant number of those have been confirmed by the Department itself during Mr. Holder’s tenure. Those must be especially egregious. Inquiring minds would certainly like to know.
Six prosecutors were implicated in the corrupt persecution that unseated Senator Ted Stevens, the longest-serving Republican in the United States Senate and a highly-decorated World War II veteran. United States District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan lambasted the misconduct of the Department’s “Public Integrity Section” lawyers in the Stevens prosecution, saying “In nearly 25 years on the bench, I’ve never seen anything approaching the mishandling and misconduct that I’ve seen in this case.” By the time Judge Sullivan uncovered the flagrant misconduct, he was livid.
Only when it became clear that Judge Sullivan was going to dismiss the indictment himself did Attorney General Holder swoop in to deflect Judge Sullivan’s ire. A golden political opportunity fell in his lap. The savvy Holder manipulated this outrageous prosecutorial misconduct to his political advantage. After all, this administration has lived by the creed: “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” and the unjust conviction had already given the Democrats the 60th seat they had targeted.
Attorney General Holder, a Democrat, announced that he was dismissing the indictment against the former Republican Senator “in the interest of justice.” General Holder received bipartisan acclamations, and the press loved it when he vowed to “clean up” the Justice Department. He proclaimed that he wanted all such prosecutorial misconduct brought to his attention. This was “not the way” the Department would conduct business.
Many of us were buoyed by hope and his promises. We didn’t realize the significance of the timing of his announcement—April 1, 2009 (April Fools).
At the dismissal hearing on April 7, 2009, Judge Sullivan applauded Mr. Holder’s decision, but wisely, didn’t buy the Holder Annunciation. Judge Sullivan publicly excoriated the Department at length. Unprecedented but frighteningly justified, Judge Sullivan appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the Stevens’ prosecutors and the Department. The Department was stunned. Holder promised to reform it.
Mr. Holder was compelled to dismiss the Stevens indictment because, among other violations, the Department had concealed the horrible record of its key witness, including his involvement in sex-trafficking of minors and subornation of perjury. That same witness had testified in two previous prosecutions of politicians in Alaska.
Despite the public flogging and the Stevens’ dismissal, Mr. Holder refused even to request a new trial in the Kott and Kohring cases. Mr. Holder’s minions argued that the same evidence withheld in those prosecutions was not “material” to the defense, their trials were just, and their convictions were fair.
On September 26, 2010, one of the young Public Integrity Section prosecutors then under investigation himself for misconduct and for hiding evidence favorable to Senator Stevens’ defense, committed suicide. Again the press exploded with stories about the corrupted prosecution of the former Senator who had recently died in a plane crash in Alaska.
The Alaska district judge in the Kott and Kohring cases was as unimpressed by Judge Sullivan’s actions and admonitions as was Attorney General Holder. But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals slammed him with reversals in both cases. Ninth Circuit Judge Betty Fletcher wrote separately to express her outrage. She urged outright dismissal of the indictment against Kohring because the “prosecution’s refusal to accept responsibility for its conduct is deeply troubling and indicates that a stronger remedy is necessary to impress upon it the reprehensible nature of its acts and omissions.” She did the same in Kott—vehemently objecting to the Department’s failure “to fully grasp the egregiousness of its misconduct as well as the importance of its constitutionally imposed discovery obligations.” She said a “mere reversal” was “insufficient to deter future illegality.” Sadly, it turns out she was right.
On March 15, 2012, the report of the special investigation ordered by Judge Sullivan was released. Henry Schuelke and his partner William Shields uncovered the “systematic and intentional concealment” of exculpatory or “Brady” evidence— that is, evidence favorable to a criminal defendant and deemed by the Supreme Court as constitutionally required to be given to the defense before trial. The requirement is fundamental to a fair trial and a cornerstone of our democracy.
After all, a prosecutor represents all the citizens. As Alex Kozinski explains in the foreword to my new book Licensed to Lie, the prosecutor has unlimited resources of the Sovereign and controls the investigation. The Supreme Court and prior Attorneys General of great integrity have made plain that a prosecutor’s job is to seek Justice—not convictions. They understood that “with great power comes great responsibility.”
Shocked by the Schuelke Report, the Wall Street Journal published an editorial appropriately named “The Department of Injustice.” The Journal called for “severe sanctions” against the Stevens’ prosecutors. Simultaneously with the issuance of the Report, the non-partisan Constitution Project issued a Call for Discovery Reform. Approximately 200 former federal prosecutors and judges (including this author) signed a letter that was delivered to Congress, supporting Senate Bill 2197—the Fairness in Disclosure of Evidence Act, introduced by Senator Lisa Murkowski and a bi-partisan collection of five co-sponsors. Every major organization of attorneys across the country publicly supported the proposed legislation, including the American Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the United States Chamber of Commerce and many others
The only opposition to the legislation came from prosecutors and the Department of Justice.
Kathryn Ruemmler, pictured during the prosecution of Enron executives. Ms. Ruemmler was discovered to have failed to share evidence that she herself considered “key” to the defendants’ case; soon after, she became Counsel to President Obama. (Getty Images)
Meanwhile, back in Texas, I was working as defense counsel for the Merrill Lynch executives being dragged through a second round of criminal prosecution initiated by the Task Force prosecutors that destroyed Arthur Andersen. Unaware of Mr. Holder’s opposition to the new legislation, we were buoyed by the Attorney General’s pronouncements, and the widespread and repeated calls for reform. I represented Merrill exec Jim Brown, and I was certain the prosecutors were hiding evidence. None of the prosecution made any sense—from the indictment forward. No witnesses, including Merrill counsel, would talk with any of the defense lawyers because the prosecutors kept them under threat of indictment.
By then, three teams of Department of Justice lawyers had claimed there was no exculpatory evidence in the government’s huge files from which the original defense trial lawyers had been given only a few page summary by original prosecutors Kathryn Ruemmler, Matthew Friedrich, John Hemann, and Task Force Director Andrew Weissmann.
On top of that, this second prosecution was on the same indictment the Fifth Circuit had already found “fatally flawed” when it reversed 12 of 14 counts of convictions and acquitted one defendant entirely. Four Merrill Lynchers who the federal district judge had noted were “just doing their jobs” had spent up to a year in prison because they had been denied bail pending their appeals—until the Fifth Circuit held that their conduct was not criminal as charged.
Countless lawyers across the country (including this one) hoped and believed that Holder meant what he said. He instituted new training on prosecutors’ duties to provide evidence favorable to the defense (Brady evidence), and publicly, he was saying all the right things. Except one.
The Department of Justice opposed the Fairness in Disclosure of Evidence Act. The bill died. And the Department of Justice continues to hide evidence. We learned that in Holder’s view, only prosecutors can decide what is “material to the defense,” and if they decide it’s not material, they don’t disclose it—even if it is obviously favorable to the defense. Mr. Holder’s Department is even seeking to change the ethical rules in each state to comport with the Department’s view and make it easier for prosecutors to hide evidence. Mr. Holder’s view of the Brady rule puts the prosecutor in total and sole control of the outcome of the case. It licenses him to lie.
Meanwhile, in the Merrill case back in Texas, while still denying there was any Brady evidence, the prosecutors mailed me a disc of documents they did not realize revealed crucial notes of government agents’ interviews of the person that lead prosecutor Kathryn Ruemmler herself had called the “key” to their case. Not only did these long-hidden notes reveal clear, declaratory statements that directly contradicted everything Ruemmler, Friedrich, Hemann and their hearsay-only witnesses had told the court and jury, but the prosecutors had actually yellow-highlighted the notes as Brady information favorable to the defense—and still hid it.
So where, you might ask, are all of these prosecutors now? Holder fired them immediately, right?
Not exactly. The prosecutors on the team who yellow-highlighted the evidence favorable to the Merrill defendants and still “plainly suppressed” it were honored, promoted, and protected.
Andrew Weissmann became General Counsel of the FBI until this past October, when he quietly left to join NYU Law School.
Kathryn Ruemmler, who signed the Brady letter in the Merrill prosecution, which omitted the crucial yellow-highlighted statements of the person she herself said was the “key” to the prosecution, was promoted to Assistant Attorney General, and then became Obama’s longest serving chief White House Counsel. She recently returned to the prestigious firm of Latham & Watkins.
Her co-lead counsel, Matthew Friedrich, who also personally told the jury facts that were directly refuted by the yellow-highlighted evidence, became the head of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice. Mr. Friedrich rushed the indictment of Senator Stevens and micromanaged that corrupted prosecution, which cost the citizens of Alaska their senior Senator, changed the balance of power in the Senate, and facilitated the enactment of Obamacare. Mr. Friedrich quietly left the Department during the transition to Mr. Holder, just before the Stevens’ prosecution blew up completely and well before the Shuelke Report revealed evidence of his nefarious role (which he denied). He’s now a partner at the prestigious international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.
Andrew Weissmann (right) followed by Matt Friedrich as they arrive at the federal courts building in Houston, Texas for the Arthur Andersen trial, May 2002. (James Nielsen/AFP/Getty Images)
John Hemann remains an Assistant United States Attorney in San Francisco.
Four of the Stevens’ prosecutors are still with the Department. Two who were assessed brief suspensions have their rulings on appeal and are still Assistant U.S. Attorneys. The others the Department cleared of any wrongdoing; one is back in the Public Integrity Section, the other in the US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts.
And now, despite demands from POGO, repeated rebukes by various federal judges, his own contempt of Congress, IRS abuses and now missing crucial evidence and emails, and widespread acknowledgment of an “epidemic” of prosecutorial misconduct, Attorney General Holder refuses to release so much as the names of the prosecutors who have committed intentional or reckless acts of misconduct.
How many times can a man turn his head and pretend that he just doesn’t see? And how long will Congress and the public allow it?
Sidney Powell worked in the Department of Justice for 10 years and was lead counsel in more than 500 federal appeals. She served nine US Attorneys from both political parties and is the author of Licensed to Lie: Exposing Corruption in the Department of Justice.
————
Is the Eric Holder Department of Justice the most corrupt? by …
brennerbrief.com › Politics
Apr 14, 2014 – It is widely believed that the Department of Justice under Attorney General Eric Holder is the most political in memory, if not ever. Is it also the …
It is widely believed that the Department of Justice under Attorney General Eric Holder is the most political in memory, if not ever. Is it also the most corrupt? The question begs to be asked.
There is a consistent pattern of actions taken and not taken by this DOJ that are so blatantly political it is unmistakably operating with the number one priority being furthering the liberal agenda.
The first high-profile case taken up by this DOJ was a slam dunk case basically already won by the Bush administration’s DOJ. It was the ironclad case against the New Black Panther Party charged with voter intimidation, a charge undeniable since it was on video that two members stood dressed in combat style clothing brandishing nightsticks outside a Philadelphia polling station. They effectively dissuaded voters from entering the polling place, thereby denying them their most sacred and fundamental right, the right to vote.
Holder’s DOJ inherited it and politically appointed leftist attorneys dropped the charges. When Christian Adams, another attorney in the department, blew the whistle on the outrageously political miscarriage of justice he was fired.
Then there was the department’s refusal to enforce the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) though they would eventually work to rid the military of the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” law instilled in the military under President Bill Clinton. The department went on to rewrite rules to acknowledge same-sex marriages within the federal government. They have steadfastly pushed the gay rights agenda.
One cannot forget the horrors of the Fast and Furious debacle, the notorious gun-walking scheme that had agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms encouraging massive gun sales to known drug cartel members on the southern border. It is believed by many this was an effort to incentivize Congress to tighten gun control laws by proving how many of the guns used in violent crimes in Mexico came from the U.S. due to our supposedly lax gun laws. Hundreds, if not thousands, died at the wrong end of those guns including our own Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Holder’s DOJ was so obstructionist in the Congressional investigation of this abominable program that Holder himself was found in contempt (many believe he committed perjury also). Not that the contempt charges will do any good. He will no more prosecute himself for contempt than he will Lois Lerner of the IRS targeting scandal. He still withholds documents requested by Congress and those that do come through are so heavily redacted they are nearly a solid wall of black. Holder even got President Obama to cite Executive Privilege to protect him.
The DOJ sues over voter I.D. laws legally enacted by states to protect the integrity of the vote. Holder insists they amount to voter disenfranchisement of minorities and the poor, effectively saying that they are too stupid to get free or nearly free photo I.D.s, when he clearly knows they are legally required to buy alcohol, board a plane or even attend a presidential event. This practice of doing all the DOJ can to block such laws only protects the vote of the dead, illegals, felons, and frauds, nearly all of whom seem to vote Democrat.
Meanwhile the DOJ refuses to ensure systems to protect the overseas military votes and make certain they are cast and counted in time for elections, most of which seem to vote Republican.
Holder’s Justice Department selectively enforces our immigration laws based on what’s politically convenient for Obama and Democrats. He’s sued over every attempt made by states to enforce the immigration laws that the federal government refuses to enforce. He’s sued Maricopa County to stop infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s department from asking for green cards when they make an arrest, even though by law immigrants are required to carry them at all times.
This DOJ has engaged in bullying tactics commonly used by race-baiters in the grievance industry as evidenced by its actions regarding the Treyvon Martin case. It even went so far as to threaten federal charges against George Zimmerman after his acquittal.
It has illegally spied on reporters who have disagreed with the administration including those at the Associated Press and FNC’s James Rosen, even hacking into his parents’ email accounts.
The department under Holder has sought to move the trials of the terrorists in Gitmo, including Kaleid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind behind 9-11, from military to criminal court in New York City. They have an inordinate amount of attorneys on staff who fought the U.S. on behalf of the terrorists… pro bono.
Of 106 career posts they have filled, every one of them was filled with an indisputably committed leftist, even though they are supposed to be non-political. Christian Adams also asserted that extremely qualified candidates for those positions were dismissed because they did not have that left-leaning activist history. These are career positions basically ensuring the politicized department will continue to further that progressive agenda for a generation.
Then there’s the disgraceful handling of the clearly illegal IRS scandal. The DOJ has not only engaged in the most anemic and unserious investigation of those crimes committed against the enemies of the Obama administration, it has slow walked and stonewalled the investigation at every turn. They even went so far as to appoint an Obama maximum donor as the lead on it. They further leaked to the Wall Street Journal that no criminal charges would be filed long before the investigation has concluded.
Holder’s DOJ is unabashedly political in ways that are so blatant it would be laughable if it wasn’t so serious. They reek of impropriety at best, corruption at worst. The bias and motivation for their actions are clear. The adherence to the Constitution is not. Contrary to the attitude displayed there the Constitution is the foundation of our nation, not some antiquated collection of loose guidelines.
Our courts are systematically being packed with liberal judges. Our government agencies are run by and filled with big government liberals whose jobs depend on the liberal agenda continuing. Our mainstream media refuses to investigate and expose the abuses of power exercised by this administration. So who is protecting the people and the Constitution?
While it’s clear the Holder DOJ is the most political, one has to wonder if it is not also the most corrupt. We likely will never know with certainty, but many have already formed their opinion based on the evidence presented throughout its history.
Bio
Victoria O’Kane
——————–
Eric Holder and JPMorgan Chase: Corruption So Brazen and So Common …
www.smirkingchimp.com › blogs › Jaime O’Neill’s blog
Apr 29, 2015 – As hobbies for old liberals go, there doesn’t seem to be much percentage in expending energies kvetching about what a sorry bunch of …
Eric Holder and JPMorgan Chase: Corruption So Brazen and So Common That It’s Now Routine
by Jaime O’Neill |
As hobbies for old liberals go, there doesn’t seem to be much percentage in expending energies kvetching about what a sorry bunch of corporatist warmongering assholes the Democrats are. Sure, that case can be made, and there is nothing progressives seem to love more than finding evidence for that case, then making sure that they share their shocking findings with other progressives who might actually be tempted to waste their time pushing back against those even worse corporatist warmongers known as Republicans. For the progressives who love to spread a wet blanket on what little hope we have for keeping things from getting worse, there’s just no better or more rewarding hobby than bitching about Obama, or Hillary, until or unless another name arises that will first make them swoon, and then, inevitably, disappoint them.
Personally, I tend to spend more of my energies arguing with right wingers who think people like Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, or even Jeb Bush would make good White House tenants. Like a lot of us old veterans of earlier political fights, I try to keep my eyes on the prize. And I try to keep some fairly obvious distinctions clear in my mind before I set off burning down the house I’m living in because I’ve failed to remember that living in a house with a leaky roof is still better than seeking shelter under a pile of charred two-by-fours.
For those and other reasons, I tend to be a bit more reserved in my criticism of Democrats, keeping my myriad complaints mostly to myself lest I lend aid and comfort to an enemy I find to be far more troubling than the political party that is, alas, the only game in town for people who would rather not have a bunch of ignorant yahoos, misogynists, corporate crooks, religious fundamentalists, and racists running things.
So I held my tongue when Nancy Pelosi announced at the dawn of the Obama administration’s first term that prosecution of Bush & Co. for war crimes was “off the table.” And I held my tongue when the bailout money allotted to patch up the economy trashed by greedy Wall Streeters mostly went to greedy Wall Streeters. Recognizing Obama’s obvious intelligence and grace under pressure, I deferred to his judgment when he kept guys like Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke in their posts, and I mostly kept quiet about how disappointed I was when Eric Holder sat on his hands when it came to prosecuting some of the financial sector’s more egregious criminals whose pillaging had wiped out the equity in my house.
But now I see that Bernanke has shuttled over from his government post to cash in quite handsomely by taking a job with Citadel, a New York City hedge fund, at a rate of pay so high that neither Bernanke nor his new employer will say the number. Not to be outdone, Eric Holder, the former top law enforcement official in the land, has just sold his talents to JP Morgan Chase for $77 million a year, plus bonuses (that’s called “incentivizing, I think, since a mere $77 million base salary isn’t enough to really light a fire under a guy).
This is systemic corruption on a very grand scale, a pay-to-play scheme that ensures cynicism among those of us who would like to believe that at least one of the two political parties has the sort of principles that would at least recognize how unseemly it is for a man like Holder to take such a post at such a price.
There is something so profoundly wrong with this that even I can’t remain silent. The revolving door that took Dick Cheney from his post as Secretary of Defense to the top slot at Halliburton had been the most egregious example to that date of institutionalized corruption by politicians who no longer felt they even had to be subtle about ball’s out influence peddling. Forget that Boy Scout bullshit about serving your country; Cheney made plain just who was being served first in a system in which quid pro quo had become so entirely routine. Serve a couple of years in a government slot paying a paltry few hundred thousand a year, plus the kind of benefits working people never see, then resign in time to take one of the plum jobs offered in the financial sector or on K St. Become a “consultant” to outfits willing to pay big bucks to pick your brain for all the insider info you’d picked up about who might be malleable, and how to best get by those rules that applied to less well connected folks who can’t pay big consulting fees to handsomely retired civil “servants.” Who but a chump would do otherwise?
It’s a system that sucks big time, and one of the suckier things about it is how it fuels spirit-killing cynicism, contributes to the argument that we can’t fight city hall, convinces people that the game is wired, and that there is no essential difference between Republican crooks and Democratic Party crooks. It is corruption baked into the cake, a putrid pastry that feeds the “why bother?” zeitgeist underlying so much of what is wrong, and why so much of what is wrong can’t get fixed.
“Optics” is one of the tiresome clichés of our time, but the idea that it matters how things look remains important even when that idea gets eroded by lazy media overuse. Eric Holder’s decision not to prosecute any JP Morgan Chase malcreants while he was Attorney General may not have been influenced by the prospect of an obscene pay off when he left office, but that $77 million he’s pocketing not only doesn’t look good, it also stinks to high heaven. The harm done is incalculable, and it makes it damn near impossible for those of us who defend the Democratic Party to be very persuasive.
And that, alas, does at least as much as the Koch brothers do to make creeps, cretins, and crooks like Ted Cruz or Scott Walker look like viable presidential candidates. Nor does it help matters when the Democratic Party standard bearer is almost certain to be Hillary Clinton, a woman who has taken such enormous speaking fees from the same well-heeled people and corporations now wrapping Eric Holder up in a big bag of bucks as an expensive present to themselves. And though he didn’t come cheap, there’s no doubt that the people who Mr. Holder did the math, and they know he’ll pay off for them like a defective slot machine.
I’ll be voting for Hillary Clinton, most probably, because the alternatives are so bleak and unacceptable. And I’ll catch a ration of shit from “progressives” for supporting her because they will argue that guys like me are part of the problem even as they choose to sit out the election, or make the kind of symbolic protest vote that helped elect George W. Bush in 2000, with all the attendant miseries we’re still enduring.
But these sons of bitches like Holder sure aren’t making it easy for those of us who expect better from politicians who claim membership in a party that is the only voice for working people, the poor, the disenfranchised, and the under represented. Eric Holder should be ashamed of himself. Hillary, too. Whatever idealism might have initially led them to the Democratic Party appears to have been washed away in a flood of cash.
We, the people, need to demand that the door that leads from high government offices to automatic membership in the 1% be nailed shut. The bribes are now so huge that even people who may have started out with high ideals and principles can’t resist being corrupted.
———————
Goodbye, Eric Holder? | Frontpage Mag
www.frontpagemag.com/…/goodbye-eric-holder-ma…
FrontPage Magazine
Is the attorney general’s reign of corruption coming to an end? … Embattled Attorney General Eric Holder told the New Yorker magazine he plans to step down …
FUND & VON SPAKOVSKY: The injustice of Eric Holder …
www.washingtontimes.com/…/fund-von-spakovs…
The Washington Times
Sep 16, 2014 – Illustration of Eric Holder and the corruption of the Justice … public has also recognized just how politically corrupt Mr. Holder is, given this …
The Justice Department’s New Policy Is a Brutal Admission …
www.thefiscaltimes.com/…/Justice-Department-s-New-P…
The Fiscal Times
Sep 11, 2015 – Related: Eric Holder’s Shameful Legacy on Wall Street Fraud … The working theory inside the Holder Justice Department was to only go after …. that shows 75corruption.
Attorney General Eric Holder blocking reports of corruption …
www.wikileaksusa.org/holder_enabled_american_tragedies.html
That attempt to halt the continuing corruption-enabled terrorist successes was blocked by U.S. Attorney Eric Holder. He filed a motion in a federal action filed by
GOP Plans Special Prosecutor for Eric Holder Over Corruption
conservativetribune.com/special-prosecutor-for-holder/
Jun 14, 2014 – In the wake of evidence being produced that shows collusion between Eric Holder and the DOJ and Lois Lerner and the IRS to target …
Eric Holder returns to law firm that represents Wall Street …
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/…/hold-j11.ht…
World Socialist Web Site
Jul 11, 2015 – Eric Holder, the Obama administration’s Attorney General from 2009 to 2015, has gone back to his old job at the Covington & Burling law firm, …
————————
Shame on Eric Holder, Wall Street’s Attorney General
www.truth-out.org/…/32025-shame-on-eric-holder-wall-street-s…
Truthout
Jul 23, 2015 – Shame on Eric Holder, Wall Street’s Attorney General … of unprosecutable, untouchable individuals in the name of protecting the US economy.
Eric Holder, Wall Street Double Agent, Comes in From the …
www.rollingstone.com/…/eric-holder-wall-street-double-ag…
Rolling Stone
Jul 8, 2015 – Eric Holder, Wall Street Double Agent, Comes in From the Cold … Eric Holder is back at Covington & Burling after serving as U.S. attorney general for ….. Yes because an innocent man protecting his country died you j***azz!
Eric Holder’s Huge Payday for Keeping His Wall Street Pals …
ringoffireradio.com/…/eric-holders-huge-payday-for-keepin…
Ring of Fire
Jul 7, 2015 – Protecting Wall Street thugs has finally paid off for former Attorney General Eric Holder as he’s returning to his old job at the Covington & Burling …
Why Eric Holder’s new job is an insult to the American public …
www.salon.com/…/why_eric_holders_new_job_is_an_insult_to_th…
Salon
Jul 7, 2015 – That’s because practically no law firm has done more to protect Wall Street executives from the consequences of their criminal activities than …
—————–
Matt Taibbi: Eric Holder Back to Wall Street-Tied Law Firm …
www.democracynow.org/…/eric_holder_returns_to_wa…
Democracy Now!
Jul 8, 2015 – Matt Taibbi: Eric Holder Back to Wall Street-Tied Law Firm After Years of … The law firm’s client list has included many of the big banks Holder failed to ….. European Parliament Votes to Protect Snowden from Rendition.
Matt Taibbi: Eric Holder Back to Wall Street-Tied Law Firm After Years of Refusing to Jail Bankers
Matt Taibbi
award-winning journalist with Rolling Stone magazine. His most recent book, The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap, is now out in paperback.
In the latest sign of the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington, recently retired U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is returning home — to the corporate law firm Covington & Burling, where he worked for eight years before becoming head of the Justice Department. During his time at Covington, Holder’s clients included UBS and the fruit giant Chiquita. The law firm’s client list has included many of the big banks Holder failed to criminally prosecute as attorney general for their role in the financial crisis, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup. We speak with Matt Taibbi, award-winning journalist with Rolling Stone magazine. “I think this is probably the single biggest example of the revolving door that we’ve ever had,” Taibbi says.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We turn now to the latest sign of the revolving door between Wall Street and Washington. Recently retired U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is returning home—to the corporate law firm Covington & Burling, where he worked for eight years before becoming head of the Justice Department. During his time at Covington, Holder’s clients included UBS and the fruit giant Chiquita. The law firm’s client list has included many of the big banks that the Justice Department under Holder’s leadership failed to criminally prosecute for their role in the financial crisis, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup.
AMY GOODMAN: In a new interview with The National Law Journal, Eric Holder said his, quote, “appropriately aggressive,” unquote, challenges to financial and corporate fraud could mean certain institutions “might not want to work with me,” he said, “and … that’s fine,” unquote. However, in 2013, Holder testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and suggested some banks are too big to jail.
ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER: I am concerned that the size of some of these institutions becomes so large that it does become difficult for us to prosecute them when we are hit with indications that if you do prosecute, if you do bring a criminal charge, it will have a negative impact on the national economy, perhaps even the world economy. And I think that is a function of the fact that some of these institutions have become too large. Again, I’m not talking about HSBC; this is just a more general comment. I think it has an inhibiting influence—impact on our ability to bring resolutions that I think would be more appropriate.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we’re joined by Matt Taibbi, award-winning journalist with Rolling Stone magazine, who writes about Eric Holder’s time at Covington & Burling and much more in his book, The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap, which is now out in paperback.
It’s great to have you back, Matt.
MATT TAIBBI: Good morning.
AMY GOODMAN: So you were tweeting up a storm yesterday as this news came of the former attorney general, Eric Holder, going back to Covington & Burling. Talk about the significance of this.
MATT TAIBBI: Yeah, I mean, I think this is probably the single biggest example of the revolving door that we’ve ever had. And we’ve had some whoppers in our past. I think previously the worst one was probably Louisiana Congressman Billy Tauzin leaving Congress and taking a $2-million-a-year job with PhRMA, right after he helped pass the prescription drug benefit bill. But what Holder just did just blows Tauzin away. I mean, he spent six years essentially guiding all of these Wall Street firms, which many of them are clients of this company that he’s now working for—he guided them all back to profitability. He allowed bankers to escape prosecution. And now he’s going right back to that firm, where he’s going to enjoy a very lucrative partnership, whether he ever works again, you know, for the rest of his life.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Holder also sort of became a point person for these, quote, “extrajudicial settlements.”
MATT TAIBBI: Right.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Could you explain what those are and how they worked?
MATT TAIBBI: Yeah, Holder, in general, pioneered a number of different ways that essentially a lot of these too-big-to-fail companies were allowed to buy their way out of trouble. And one of the most notorious, I think, was that he concluded a number of the biggest settlement deals with banks like JPMorgan Chase in ways that were not reviewed by a judge. Because we did have some instances during this time period where pesky judges—I think one of the most infamous, in the eyes of Wall Street, was Jed Rakoff, who threw out a settlement with Citigroup because he thought it wasn’t harsh enough—well, to fix that problem, Holder just started striking deals and not submitting them for judicial review. So he did a $13 billion settlement with JPMorgan Chase where no judge signed off on the deal. The whole thing was done in secret. He essentially institutionalized the back room. This was just a deal where a bunch of bankers got together with a bunch of Justice Department officials, money changed hands, and that was it. The whole—all of their criminal problems went away. This is a very different way of doing business than what we’ve ever seen before, and it’s very dangerous, I think.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And he also took the term “collateral damage” into the financial world out of the military world, didn’t he, as well?
MATT TAIBBI: Right, yeah. He actually predated the collateral damage idea back when he was a lawyer in the Clinton Justice Department. He wrote a memo that—you know, it’s now known as the Holder Memo, where he outlined a policy that is called “collateral consequences,” and basically all this says is that if you’re a prosecutor and you’re worried about prosecuting a company that employs a lot of people and you’re concerned that innocent people might suffer as the result of a prosecution, you may pursue noncriminal remedies when you go after this company.
The problem was that when—by the time he became attorney general, the economic landscape was dotted all over with these enormous, too-big-to-fail companies, and there was a real threat that if you prosecuted these firms, that it might cause serious damage to the overall economy. Obviously we saw what happened with Lehman Brothers, for instance. So this became sort of the unofficial policy of the United States. We started taking companies that had done very bad things—you know, HSBC is probably the biggest example, laundering money for drug dealers—and instead of throwing people in jail and extracting huge individual penalties from the guilty parties, we just got the banks to pony up a big fine that shareholders paid, and they got to stay in business.
AMY GOODMAN: As you were tweeting your criticism yesterday, a lot of Obama supporters were also on social media pushing the line that Holder did not send anyone to jail because there were no laws broken.
MATT TAIBBI: Right, yeah, and this is—this comes, I think, directly from something that Barack Obama himself said on 60 Minutes once. He said some of the worst behavior on Wall Street was not illegal, some of the least ethical behavior was not illegal. But he crafted that phrase very carefully. He didn’t say all of it was not illegal. He said some of the worst behavior, and that’s true. But some of it was very illegal.
And again, just to go back to some of the worst cases, HSBC admitted to laundering $880 million for a pair of Central and South American drug cartels, including the Sinaloa drug cartel, which is infamous all over the world for these torture videos. So, we have HSBC, Europe’s largest bank, is washing hundreds of millions of dollars for people who chop people’s heads off with chainsaws. That’s a crime. I mean, there’s no—that’s the worst crime that a bank can possibly commit. And anybody who thinks that Holder didn’t send people to jail because they didn’t commit crimes is not really paying attention to what went on during this time.
AMY GOODMAN: Also at Covington & Burling, Eric Holder will be reunited with Lanny Breuer. Explain who he was and the significance of them together.
MATT TAIBBI: Well, Lanny Breuer worked at Covington & Burling along with Eric Holder. He went to Holder to become his deputy for the early part of his tenure as attorney general. He was the head of the Criminal Division. Lanny, from the sources that I spoke to while I was researching all this material, was terrified of going to court when he didn’t have an absolute, guaranteed, sure victory. And so, what happened very early in their tenure together was that they did take one case to trial. They went to trial against a pair of guys from Bear Stearns who were accused of defrauding their clients. And they lost. It ended in an acquittal, even though they had very solid documentary evidence. From that point forward, they didn’t take anybody to court. And all of these cases involving all of these banks, they went the settlement route instead, presumably because they were afraid of going into a courtroom. They were worried that juries didn’t understand this material. They were worried that it was too complicated. And so, rather than risk losing and getting a bad headline, they let off all of these people who had done very, very bad things, and so we have this legacy of cash instead of punishment.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Can you talk also about how the Justice Department and other regulatory groups have changed the composition of the staffing, the high-level staffing, of these agencies during this period when Holder has been there?
MATT TAIBBI: Yeah. This is something that I heard over and over again over the years, which is that a certain kind of person who used to work in the regulatory agencies, you know, who was a kind of a career civil servant, particularly the law enforcement types, the people who grew up through the ranks, you know, just trying to get the criminal at all costs—they’re primarily motivated by trying to extract justice from wrongdoers—that kind of person is gradually disappearing from the ranks of the regulatory bodies, and they are being replaced, increasingly, particularly at the higher levels, by people from the corporate defense community. And Holder was very profoundly a symbol of that kind of person.
And the difference was, when you have people who come from the corporate defense world, like Holder, like Lanny Breuer, they tend to approach these settlements not to get a pound of flesh out of the wrongdoers, but instead they want to emerge with a settlement that leaves everybody happy when they walk out of the room. But that’s really not a good approach to fighting crime. That’s not the kind of attitude you want in your top crime fighter in the country. And as a result, that’s how we got so many of these settlements, which, again, were concluded in secret, in the back room. And people like Jamie Dimon were walking out of these settlements, saying, “Well, this wasn’t so bad.” And their share price would go up the day after these settlements were concluded. That’s really not what we want from the top cop in the country.
AMY GOODMAN: And this goes to the central theme of your book, Matt Taibbi, The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap. I mean, Attorney General Eric Holder was hailed as a great civil rights hero. After Ferguson, he actually went to Ferguson. I was in the Selma church on the 50th anniversary of the Selma march just a few months ago, when he gave a powerful speech about young black men—his own son, Eric Holder III, in the front row—being killed, and kept repeating that. It reminds me of Reverend Barber in North Carolina, head of the NAACP, who, after Dylann Roof was arrested, the alleged shooter in the Charleston church, said, “The perpetrator has been arrested, but the killer is still at large.” And he was talking, overall, about the system, beyond the Confederate flag, what it represents—for example, mass incarceration—and how these things have to change.
MATT TAIBBI: Right.
AMY GOODMAN: So talk about what this means—on the one hand, a civil rights crusader, but when it comes to issues of who gets put in prison and who remains free, where Eric Holder has stood.
MATT TAIBBI: Yeah, I mean, to be fair, Eric Holder, you know, has talked a lot about reform of prison sentencing, and according to their statistics, incarceration has actually declined under the Obama administration for the first time in I don’t know how many years—forever. But still we have these enormous problems, like the story that you reported on in the beginning of this show. You have people who are in jail for not just for months, but years at a time, awaiting trial because they can’t afford bail. We have millions of people behind bars for crimes that are far less serious than what HSBC, for instance, was doing. And there’s this enormous dichotomy.
I think, you know, this is the—the chief problem with what Holder did is that there are all of these people who are in jail for crimes because it’s easy to put away people who don’t have enough money to defend themselves, who can’t pay enormous fines. Those are the people who end up going behind bars for crimes like money laundering or drug dealing or whatever it is. But we have this rationale for companies like HSBC or JPMorgan Chase or Credit Suisse or BNP Paribas, that are caught with doing tax evasion or money laundering or fraud or whatever it is, that somehow this class of defendants, we can allow them to pay their way out of trouble, while this other group of people has to go behind bars. And we just can’t have that. I mean, that system is totally inappropriate. And as much as Holder wants to hold himself out as a civil rights leader, and has done some good things, this dichotomy is really his legacy, and that’s an enormous problem.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And the issue of him returning to Covington & Burling, could you talk about that particular law firm, its role in the Washington scene? And also, what are the limitations on appointed officials, in terms of once they leave office what they can or can’t do, or did the Obama administration institute particular restrictions on their appointees?
MATT TAIBBI: They did. There is a two-year cooling-off period, they call it, where, you know, someone who leaves the Justice Department has to wait for two years before they can interact with the Justice Department again. This means that even though Eric Holder has gone back to work, he has to sit for 19 months during this cooling-off period and do I don’t know what. I’m sure he’s going to be compensated very handsomely during that time.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: But he can advise the lawyers that do the direct interaction.
MATT TAIBBI: Exactly, yeah. They’ll figure out some way to do it so that it’s, you know, superficially legal. But there is this cooling-off period. Covington & Burling, what its significance is, it’s one of the biggest white-collar defense firms in America. It is notable because it has such a lengthy list of too-big-to-fail banks among its clientele. It also, very interestingly, played a very important role in helping to create the subprime mortgage crisis, because it represented a company called MERS, which was the electronic mortgage registry system, which helped create a lot of the confusion and chaos in the paperwork area of the mortgage system. All these people who were trying to find out who owns their home and can’t find the note, a lot of that is chalked up to the work that MERS did to eliminate paper mortgages. So they had an enormous role in helping create this subprime mortgage market. And then, of course, Eric Holder goes, and he’s the regulator for all that activity, you know, as the attorney general. It was a little weird, to say the least.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about Keir Gumbs?
MATT TAIBBI: Keir Gumbs? I’m sorry.
AMY GOODMAN: Keir Gumbs—
MATT TAIBBI: Oh, who has just become the—
AMY GOODMAN: —the man that Senator Warren has been protesting, would be put—
MATT TAIBBI: Right, who’s going to be—who’s going to be on the SEC now, yeah. I mean, this is a—they’re putting him—he’s going to be an SEC commissioner, presumably. Covington & Burling is becoming essentially a kind of shadow Justice Department now. We have six alums from the Justice Department who have just returned to Covington & Burling, and now Covington & Burling is sending another person to occupy a very high-ranking seat in the SEC. You know, it’s problematic, clearly, when you have so many people from the same firm who are all going to be talking to each other. It’s kind of this secondary club. And what happens when all these people have this congenial relationship, they end up making deals that are much more favorable to their clients than they would be otherwise.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, they can all regulate all of the Goldman Sachs alums that are in other agencies in the federal government.
MATT TAIBBI: Right, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah, right.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, the significance of Gumbs, yes, coming from Covington & Burling, but also representing American Petroleum, he and colleagues at the firm writing a guide advising corporations on how to avoid disclosing their political spending to shareholders, Senator Warren wanting the SEC to require companies to disclose that kind of spending. And the question is: Will President Obama respond to Senator Warren’s pressure?
MATT TAIBBI: Probably not, I’m guessing. You know, I mean, but this—it says a lot that this is the kind of person that they’re going to be bringing in to the SEC. And I think, you know, again, people want a different kind of person occupying these regulatory positions. They don’t want a corporate defense attorney who’s just spent however many years telling companies how to avoid punishment, how to avoid taxes, how to avoid all these problems. You know, I personally would much prefer to have a career investigator, career law enforcement official in that job.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, we want to thank you, Matt Taibbi, award-winning journalist with Rolling Stone magazine. His most recent book, The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap, now out in paperback
————-
After 6-Year Tenure Not Prosecuting Banks, Eric Holder …
www.commondreams.org/…/after-6-year-t…
Common Dreams NewsCenter
Jul 7, 2015 – Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s return this week to a … firm has done more to protect Wall Street executives from the consequences …
Eric Holder’s Job Prospects Were Too Big to Fail – Bloomberg
www.bloomberg.com/…/eric-holder-s-job-prospects-wer…
Bloomberg L.P.
Jul 8, 2015 – Attorney General Eric Holder delivers remarks about the Justice … “That’s because practically no law firm has done more to protect Wall Street …
Eric Holder: Don’t Ignore Wall Street’s Crimes – The Other 98%
other98.com/eric-holder-dont-ignore-wall-streets-crimes/
As Attorney General Eric Holder resigns he wants us to believe that no bank is too big to jail. … Here are just two blockbuster criminal cases that Eric Holder’s Justice … Get Money Out of Politics · Protect Our Environment · Reform Wall Street …
82nd United States Attorney General
In office
February 3, 2009 – April 27, 2015
President
Barack Obama
Deputy
David W. Ogden
James M. Cole
Sally Quillian Yates (Acting)
Preceded by
Michael Mukasey
Succeeded by
Loretta Lynch
United States Deputy Attorney General
In office
June 13, 1997 – January 20, 2001
President
Bill Clinton
Preceded by
Jamie Gorelick
Succeeded by
Larry Thompson
Personal details
Born
Eric Himpton Holder, Jr.
January 21, 1951 (age 64)
The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Political party
Democratic
Spouse(s)
Sharon Malone
Children
Maya
Brooke
Eric
Alma mater
Columbia University
Religion
Episcopalianism
Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. (born January 21, 1951) served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States, from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, is the first African American to hold the position of U.S. Attorney General.[1]
Holder previously served as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Later, he was Deputy Attorney General of the United States and worked at the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C. He was senior legal advisor to Barack Obama during Obama’s presidential campaign and one of three members of Obama’s vice-presidential selection committee. During the Fast and Furious investigation, he became the only cabinet member in U.S. history to be held in contempt of Congress.[2]
He was succeeded by Loretta Lynch on April 27, 2015.[3]
Early life
Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. was born in the Bronx, New York, to parents with roots in Barbados.[4][5][6] Holder’s father, Eric Himpton Holder, Sr. (1905–1970) was born in Saint Joseph, Barbados and arrived in the United States at the age of 11.[7][8] He later became a real estate broker. His mother, Miriam, was born in New Jersey, while his maternal grandparents were immigrants from Saint Philip, Barbados.[8] Holder grew up in East Elmhurst, Queens, and attended public school until the age of 10. When entering the 4th grade he was selected to participate in a program for intellectually gifted students.[9]
In 1969, he graduated from Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan and attended Columbia University, where he played freshman basketball. He earned a B.A. degree in American history in 1973.[10] Holder received his J.D. from Columbia Law School, graduating in 1976. He worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund during his first summer and the United States Attorney during his second summer.[9]
While at Columbia, Holder was a member of the Student Afro-American Society, which staged a non-confrontational occupation of the ROTC lounge and demanded that it be renamed the Malcolm X Lounge.[11][12][13][14][15][16]
Career
After graduating from Columbia Law School, Holder joined the U.S. Justice Department’s new Public Integrity Section, where he worked from 1976 to 1988. During his time there, he assisted in the prosecution of Democratic Congressman John Jenrette for bribery discovered in the Abscam sting operation.[17] In 1988, Ronald Reagan appointed Holder to serve as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.[18]
Holder stepped down from the bench in 1993 to accept an appointment as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from President Bill Clinton. He was the first black American U.S. Attorney in that office.[9] At the beginning of his tenure, he oversaw the conclusion of the corruption case against Dan Rostenkowski, part of the Congressional Post Office scandal.[17] He was a U.S. Attorney until his elevation to Deputy Attorney General in 1997. Holder also served on The George Washington University’s Board of Trustees in 1996 and 1997.
Deputy Attorney General
Holder opening an Interagency Working Group meeting of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans hosted by the Department of Justice on October 18, 2000.
In 1997, after the retirement of Jamie Gorelick, Clinton nominated Holder to be the Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno. Holder was confirmed several months later in the Senate by a unanimous vote.[19] During his confirmation hearing, Holder’s opposition to the death penalty was questioned, but he pledged his intention to cooperate with the current laws and Reno, saying, “I am not a proponent of the death penalty, but I will enforce the law as this Congress gives it to us.”[20] Holder was the first African-American to serve in that position.[9]
As Deputy Attorney General, Holder’s primary responsibilities were in the areas of budget and personnel issues; this also included resolving disputes among department heads and briefing reporters on policy initiatives, national security issue, and major investigations,[9] including the FBI investigations into allegations of bribery and corruption in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.[21] Holder later advised Reno in the matters regarding the Independent Counsel statute. Reno made the decision to permit Kenneth Starr to expand his investigation into the Lewinsky affair, leading to Clinton’s impeachment.[9]
In the wake of the murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Holder was a vocal proponent of new hate crimes laws in the United States. Holder said that the current laws placed major constraints on the ability of federal investigators and prosecutors to assist in these types of cases.[22]
In his final days with the Clinton administration, Holder carried out his duties with Clinton’s last-minute pardon of fugitive and Democratic contributor Marc Rich. Regarding discussions with the White House lawyers on the issue, Holder said he was at first “neutral” on the decision to grant Rich a pardon, but might lean in favor of it if there were national security benefits. Holder said that he was told that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had asked Clinton to grant the pardon. Holder said that, at the time, he did not give the case much thought, because he did not think the pardon would be granted, as no fugitive had ever previously been granted a presidential pardon. He later said he wished that he had looked into it more thoroughly,[23] and expressed regret over the incident. “I wish that I had ensured that the Department of Justice was more fully informed and involved in this pardon process”, he said admitting the mistake.[24]
Republicans on the House Government Reform Committee disagreed with Holder’s version and alleged that he was a knowing participant, according to a 2003 report. They said Holder failed to fully inform prosecutors of the pending pardon, and they criticized his “neutral leaning favorable” opinion to Clinton.[25]
Former FBI director, Louis Freeh, commented on the matter in 2009, saying that the Clinton White House had “used” Holder and kept both the FBI and the DOJ in the dark as to their full activities around the last minute pardons.[26]
Official photo as Deputy Attorney General, ca. 2000
Holder briefly served as Acting Attorney General under President George W. Bush until the Senate confirmed Bush’s nominee John Ashcroft.[27]
Private practice
From 2001 until he became Attorney General, Holder worked as an attorney at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., representing clients such as Merck and the National Football League.[4][9] He represented the NFL during its dog fighting investigation against Michael Vick.[28]
In 2004, Holder helped negotiate an agreement with the Justice Department for Chiquita Brands International in a case that involved Chiquita’s payment of “protection money” to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a group on the U.S. government’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.[29][30] In the agreement, Chiquita’s officials pleaded guilty and paid a fine of $25 million. Holder represented Chiquita in the civil action that grew out of this criminal case.[30] In March 2004, Holder and Covington & Burling were hired by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to act as a special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board. The investigation was subsequently canceled on May 18, 2004.[31]
The firm represented Guantanamo inmates but Holder “never participated directly in the firm’s Guantanamo work” and was not expected to recuse himself from matters pertaining to it.[32]
During his years in private practice, Holder represented the Swiss private bank UBS. Because of this, he recused himself from participating in the Department of Justice investigation of UBS’s abetting of tax evasion by U.S. account-holders and the prosecution of Brad Birkenfeld. (As Attorney General, he also recused himself from the Roger Clemens contempt of Congress prosecution because the pitcher was once a client of Covington and Burling.)[33][34]
While District of Columbia v. Heller was being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008, Holder joined the Reno-led amicus brief, which urged the Supreme Court to uphold Washington, D.C.’s handgun ban and said the position of the Department of Justice, from Franklin Delano Roosevelt through Clinton, was that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right to keep and bear arms for purposes unrelated to a State’s operation of a well-regulated militia.[35] Holder said that overturning the 1976 law “opens the door to more people having more access to guns and putting guns on the streets.”[36]
In late 2007, Holder joined then-Senator Barack Obama’s presidential campaign as a senior legal advisor. He served on Obama’s vice presidential selection committee.[18]
Nomination as Attorney General of the United States
On December 1, 2008, President Obama announced that Holder would be his nominee for Attorney General of the United States.[37][38] Obama praised his “toughness and independence.” Obama went on to say that “[Holder] is deeply familiar with the law enforcement challenges we face: from terrorism to counter-intelligence; from white-collar crime to public corruption.” Holder emphasized national security as a priority if confirmed, “We can and we must ensure that the American people remain secure and that the great Constitutional guarantees that define us as a nation are truly valued.”[39]
He was formally nominated on January 20, 2009 and was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 28 with a bipartisan vote of 17 to 2.[40][41] He was officially confirmed by the entire Senate on February 2, 2009 by a vote of 75 to 21.[42] becoming the nation’s first African-American Attorney General. His installation took place on March 27, 2009 at the Lisner Auditorium of George Washington University. As of his indication to step down on September 25, 2014, Holder had the fourth longest tenure of any Attorney General in U.S. history.[43]
Under Holder’s leadership, the Department of Justice has brought six leak-related prosecutions against current or former U.S. government employees, while all previous Presidential administrations combined had tried a total of three such cases. Holder was reportedly “surprised” by news reports pointing out this statistic, and was said to have told associates he did not wish leak prosecutions to be his legacy.[79] Several prominent leak prosecutions under Holder have involved communications between criminal defendants and journalists, and the pervasive use of traceable electronic communications between journalists and their sources provided the prosecution with a tool to determine the potential origin of published information.[80] Under Holder, the Justice Department has legally argued that journalists have no legal protection to maintain the confidentiality of their sources, and can be compelled by the government to reveal them, or potentially face criminal contempt charges.[81]
On May 13, 2013, the Associated Press announced that telephone records for 20 of their reporters during a two-month period in 2012, had been seized by the Justice Department as part of the 2013 Department of Justice investigations of reporters. They described these acts as a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into news-gathering operations.[82][83] Holder testified under oath in front of the House Judiciary Committee and made it clear he recused himself from the leak investigations to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. Holder said his Deputy Attorney General, James Cole, was in charge of the AP investigation and would’ve ordered the subpoenas.[84] When questioning turned to possibility of journalists being charged under the Espionage Act for reporting classified material, Holder stated: “With regard to the potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material, that is not something that I’ve ever been involved in, heard of or would think would be a wise policy.”[85]
It was later reported the DOJ monitored Fox News reporter, James Rosen’s activities by tracking his visits to the State Department, through phone traces, timing of calls and his personal emails.[86] NBC confirmed with the Justice Department that Holder had personally signed off on the Rosen subpoenas. They defended their decision and spoke about a balance between protecting national secrets and the 1st Amendment, stating: “After extensive deliberations, and after following all applicable laws, regulations and policies, the Department sought an appropriately tailored search warrant under the Privacy Protection Act.”[85] The revelation brought into question whether Holder was being intentionally misleading during his previous testimony. House Committee members sent an open letter to Holder, saying: “It is imperative that the committee, the Congress, and the American people be provided a full and accurate account of your involvement.”[87]
In 2009, Holder announced and oversaw the federal government spending of $1 billion in grants to law enforcement agencies in every state to pay for the hiring of police officers. The money comes from the stimulus bill the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and covered the salaries of 4,699 law enforcement officers for three years.[90] [91]
When questioned about weapons regulations during a news conference to announce the arrest of Mexican drug cartel members, Holder stated that the Obama administration would seek to re-institute the expired Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which he strongly supports.[92][93]
After the U.S. government filed suit against the Swiss bank UBS AG, whom Holder had represented during his time in private practice, the attorney general recused himself from all legal matters concerning the bank, which stands accused of conspiracy in U.S. tax fraud.[94][95]
Holder presented friend and predecessor Janet Reno, Attorney General under the Clinton Administration, the American Judicature Society’s (AJS) Justice Award on April 17, 2009. The award is the highest given by the AJS, and recognizes significant contributions toward improvements in the administration of justice within the United States.[96]
After the United States diplomatic cables leak in December 2010, Holder said that “We have an active, ongoing, criminal investigation with regard to this matter. We are not in a position as yet to announce the result of that investigation, but the investigation is—is ongoing. To the extent that we can find anybody who was involved in the breaking of American law and who has put at risk the assets and the people that I have described, they will be held responsible,” Holder said. “They will be held accountable.” Holder’s comments leave open a crucial question, which is whether the investigators are looking at how WikiLeaks obtained the documents (not unlike probing a news organization’s source), or if they’re looking at whether WikiLeaks staffers violated criminal law and should be the ones indicted.[97]
In December 8, 2014, Holder unveiled a new policy banning profiling on the basis of religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity by federal law enforcement agencies.[98] However, the new policy will not apply to screenings at border and airport, as well as in intelligence operations.[99]
Opinion of Bush policies
During his confirmation hearings, Holder agreed with Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, that a technique used by U.S. interrogators under the Bush administration known as waterboarding is torture.[100] Consequently, Senate Republicans delayed the confirmation vote on Holder though Senate Democrats accused them of applying a double standard.[101] He has been critical of Enhanced interrogation techniques and the NSA warrantless surveillance program, accusing the Bush administration of a “disrespect for the rule of law… [that is] not only wrong, it is destructive in our struggle against terrorism.”[102]
Holder has stated that he favors closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp; in 2002 he said that the detainees are not technically entitled to Geneva Convention protections.[103][104] In March 2011 Holder left open the possibility that the Guantánamo Bay prison camp might remain open beyond President Obama’s first term. Asked in a congressional hearing whether the prison would be closed by November 2012, Holder said: “I don’t know.” He said the Justice Department has established a task force to look at each of the 172 detainees being held at the Guantánamo prison to address how they should be dealt with. Holder’s comments come just weeks after CIA Director Leon Panetta told a Senate panel that Osama bin Laden would probably be shipped to and held at the Guantánamo Bay facility if he were captured.[105]
He is opposed to the Bush administration’s implementation of the Patriot Act, saying it is “bad ultimately for law enforcement and will cost us the support of the American people.”[106][107]
Operation Fast and Furious
Main article: Operation Fast and Furious
In May 2011, House Oversight Committee chairman, California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley sent Attorney General Holder a letter requesting details about Operation Fast and Furious, which had been a failed federal firearms sting operation, which had allowed some 2,000 weapons to reach Mexican drug gangs.[118][119] Grassley and Issa urged Holder to cooperate and turn over subpoenaed records that would reveal the scope of the alleged government coverup.[120]
Contempt of Congress
In October 2011, 7,600 pages of documents were released that Issa claimed may have indicated Holder was sent memos in regard to Operation Fast and Furious earlier than he at first claimed,[121][122] contradicting Holder’s sworn testimony before the House Judiciary Committee in which he said he only recently became aware of Operation Fast and Furious in the first half of 2011.[123][124] In April 2012, Issa announced that his committee was drafting a Contempt of Congress resolution against Holder in response to the committee being “stonewalled by the Justice Department.”[125] On June 19, 2012, Issa met with Holder in person to discuss the requested documents. Holder said he offered to provide the documents to Issa on the condition that Issa provided his assurance that doing so would satisfy the committee subpoenas and resolve the dispute. Issa rejected the offer. Holder then told reporters “They rejected what I thought was an extraordinary offer on our part.”[126] On June 20, 2012, the Oversight Committee voted 23–17 along party lines to hold Holder in contempt of Congress for not releasing documents the committee had requested.[127] A memo from Holder’s office said of the vote: “It’s an election-year tactic intended to distract attention.”[128]
Although this vote was not directly relevant to gun legislation, the National Rifle Association announced that they would be scoring the contempt vote, due to Holder’s previous stances on gun control legislation, placing political pressure on Democrats that wished to avoid repercussions from the gun lobby.[129] On June 28, 2012, Holder became the first U.S. Attorney General in history to be held in both criminal[130] and civil[131] contempt. He was held, by a bipartisan vote,[132] in contempt by the House of Representatives in a 255–67 vote, with 17 Democrats voting for the measure, 2 Republicans voting against the measure.[132] The remaining Democrats refused to vote and marched out of the House, led by Nancy Pelosi, as a means of protesting the actions of Republicans. Holder responded to the vote, describing it as “the regrettable culmination of what became a misguided and politically motivated investigation in an election year.”[133]
The congressional action evoked reactions from across the political spectrum. Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry called on Holder to resign, stating “America simply cannot tolerate an attorney general who arms the very criminals he is supposed to protect us from”.[134] Republican Sen. John Cornyn, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security also called on Holder to resign.[135] Among those opposing the contempt citation, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member on the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said, “Holder has acted honorably; he’s done everything he could to allow us to do our job, which is to investigate this matter.”[136]
President Obama and the Justice Department declined to prosecute the attorney general on the contempt charge citing executive privilege.[137]
In September 2012, after a nineteen-month review, the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General cleared the Attorney General of any wrongdoing with regard to Fast and Furious, stating that there was “no evidence” that Holder knew about the operation before early 2011. The report did cite fourteen lower ranking officials for possible disciplinary action.[138] Holder responded to the internal investigation, saying “It is unfortunate that some were so quick to make baseless accusations before they possessed the facts about these operations – accusations that turned out to be without foundation and that have caused a great deal of unnecessary harm and confusion.”[139]
In retrospective, David Weigel of Bloomberg Businessweek called the contempt of Congress vote “both popular and stunningly ineffective, enraging Holder and turning him into a more outspoken and implacable foe of Republican policies on voting rights and policing.”[140] In August 2014, federal judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered the Justice Department to provide Congress with some of the previously withheld documents that had led Congress to hold Holder in contempt.[141]
Refusal to prosecute financial institutions
Main article: Too big to fail
On March 6, 2013, Holder testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the size of large financial institutions has made it difficult for the Justice Department to bring criminal charges when they are suspected of crimes, because such charges can threaten the existence of a bank and therefore their interconnectedness may endanger the national or global economy. (See financial contagion). “Some of these institutions have become too large,” Holder told the Committee, “It has an inhibiting impact on our ability to bring resolutions that I think would be more appropriate.”[148][149]
In a January 29, 2013 letter to Holder, Senators Sherrod Brown and Charles Grassley had criticized this Justice Department policy citing “important questions about the Justice Department’s prosecutorial philosophy.”[150] After receipt of a DoJ response letter, Brown and Grassley issued a statement saying, “The Justice Department’s response is aggressively evasive. It does not answer our questions. We want to know how and why the Justice Department has determined that certain financial institutions are ‘too big to jail’ and that prosecuting those institutions would damage the financial system.”[151][152]
Holder has financial ties to at least one law firm benefiting from de facto immunity to prosecution.[153] Prosecution rates against crimes by large financial institutions are at 20-year lows.[153] Holder has also endorsed the notion that prosecutors, when deciding to pursue white-collar crimes, should give special consideration to “collateral consequences” of bringing charges against large corporate institutions, as outlined in a 1999 memorandum by Holder. Nearly a decade later Holder, as head of the Department of Justice, put this into practice and has demonstrated the weight “collateral consequences” has by repeatedly sought and reached deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements and settlements with large financial institutions such as J.P. Morgan Chase, HSBC, Countrywide Mortgage, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, and others where the institution pays a fine or penalty but faces no criminal charges and admits no wrongdoing.[154][155] Whereas in the previous decade the Bush administration’s Department of Justice often sought criminal charges against individuals of large institutions regardless of “collateral consequences” such as cases involving Enron, Adelphia Communications Corporation, Tyco International, and others.
In September 2014, he described the department’s rationale in a speech at New York University:
“Responsibility remains so diffuse, and top executives so insulated,” Holder said, “that any misconduct could again be considered more a symptom of the institution’s culture than a result of the willful actions of any single individual.” [156]
Resolution proposing articles of impeachment
On November 14, 2013, Representative Pete Olson (R-TX), along with 19 Republicans, introduced a resolution proposing Articles of Impeachment against Holder. The Articles cited Holder for his alleged role in Operation Fast and Furious, refusal to defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court, failing to prosecute anyone involved in the IRS targeting of groups based on name and political theme, and for allegedly perjuring himself by stating that he had no knowledge of any potential prosecution of members of the media for disclosure of classified material.[157][158] As of June 2014, there were 26 co-sponsors to the bill.[159]
Resignation
Holder announced his resignation on September 25, 2014, citing personal reasons. He remained in office until the Senate confirmed his successor, Loretta Lynch.[43][160][161]
Return to private practice
In July 2015, Holder rejoined Covington & Burling, the law firm at which he worked before becoming Attorney General. The law firm’s clients have included many of the large banks Holder declined to prosecute for their alleged role in the financial crisis. Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone opined about the move, “I think this is probably the single biggest example of the revolving door that we’ve ever had.”[162][163]
Personal life
Holder is married to Sharon Malone, an obstetrician. The couple has three children.[164] Malone’s sister was Vivian Malone Jones, famous for her part in the Stand in the Schoolhouse Door which led to integration at the University of Alabama.[165] Holder has been involved with various mentoring programs for inner-city youths. He is also an avid basketball fan,[166] and the uncle of former NBA All-Star Jeff Malone.[28]
New York City portal
Biography portal
Federal government of the United States portal
Law portal
References
1.
Johnson, Carrie (February 3, 2009). “Holder Confirmed As the First Black Attorney General: Nominee Overcame Objections in GOP”. The Washington Post. p. A02. Retrieved July 3, 2009.
Pilkington, Ed (June 28, 2012). “Eric Holder held in contempt of Congress after historic vote”. The Guardian (London).
Devaney, Tim; McCabe, David (April 27, 2015). “Lynch sworn in as attorney general”. The Hill. Retrieved April 27, 2015.
Johnston, David (November 11, 2008). “Eric H. Holder, Jr.” (Series). The New York Times. The New Team. Retrieved November 19, 2008.
Best, Tony (November 16, 2008). “Obama’s AG may be Bajan”. Local News (Barbados: Nation Newspaper). Retrieved November 18, 2008.[dead link]
Johnston, David (November 12, 2008). “Eric H. Holder Jr.”. The New York Times. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
“Social Security Death Index [database on-line]”. United States: The Generations Network. Retrieved November 19, 2008.
Best, Tony (June 8, 2008). “Obama getting help from Bajan son”. Local News (Barbados: Nation Newspaper). Retrieved November 11, 2008.
Longstreth, Andrew (June 2008). “Making History With Obama” (Cover Story). Making History. The American Lawyer. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
Tucker-Hamilton, Racine; Hickey, Matthew (December 17, 2004). “Interview with Eric H. Holder, Jr.” (Interview). Oral history project (The History Makers). Retrieved November 22, 2015.
“Attorney General Eric Holder was ‘armed’ when he took part in protest at Columbia and occupied a school office for FIVE days – Daily Mail Online”. Mail Online.
“Hope. Change. Reality.”.
“Attorney General Eric Holder Delivers Remarks at Columbia College Commencement – OPA – Department of Justice”.
“Our History : Black Students Organization”.
“Daily Caller: As College Student, Eric Holder Participated in ‘Armed’ Takeover of Former Columbia U ROTC Office”. Fox Nation.
Lewis, Neil A. (June 2, 1994). “Indictment of a Congressman: the Legal Case; Prosecutor No Stranger To Corruption in Politics” (Article). The New York Times. U.S. Retrieved November 19, 2008.
Memmott, A. James (June 5, 2008). “Obama picks Caroline Kennedy, Holder, Johnson to lead Vice-Presidential candidate search”. Muckety. Retrieved June 29, 2008.
“Nominee Confirmed For Deputy Position at the Justice Dept.”. Archives. July 18, 1997. Retrieved November 15, 2008.
Lewis, Neil A. (June 14, 1997). “Justice Dept. Nominee Faces Questions but No Strong Opposition” (Article). The New York Times. U.S. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
“Federal Probe of Salt Lake Olympic Bid Pretty Wide”. CNN. February 18, 1999.
“Hate Crimes Legislation Introduced in Congress”. CNN. March 12, 1999.
“Holder Faces Grilling on Marc Rich Pardon”. CNN. February 8, 2001.
Yost, Pete (November 19, 2008). “Marc Rich pardon controversy just won’t die” (Article). Google News. Associated Press. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
Cowan, Alison Leigh (March 13, 2002). “Marc Rich Panel Says Top Justice Dept. Aide Held Information on Rich’s Pardon” (Article). The New York Times. U.S. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
“Former FBI Director: Holder was “used” in Rich Pardon”. CNN. January 16, 2009.
“Ashcroft Settles In”. Politics (CBS News). February 2, 2001. Retrieved June 29, 2008.
Hook, Carol S. (November 19, 2008). “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Eric Holder” (Article). U.S. News & World Report. Nation & World: Politics. Retrieved November 23, 2008.
Leonnig, Carol D. (August 2, 2007). “In Terrorism-Law Case, Chiquita Points to U.S.”. The Washington Post. p. A01. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
Gray, Kevin (October 2007). “The Banana War”. International News. Condé Nast Portfolio. Retrieved November 14, 2008.[dead link]
Fusco, Chris (December 17, 2008). “Holder omitted Blagojevich link from questionnaire” (Article). Metro. Retrieved December 17, 2008.
Joe Palazzolo Some Justice Department Lawyers Have Gitmo Conflicts March 2, 2009 Legal Times
“Holder cites conflict of interest”. Associated Press. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
Holder, Eric. “Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the UBS Press Conference”. United States Department of Justice. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
“Brief for Former Department of Justice Officials as Amici Curiae Supporting Petitioners” (PDF). American Bar Association.
Nakamura, David; Barnes, Robert (March 10, 2007). “D.C.’s Ban on Handguns in Homes Is Thrown Out” (Article). The Washington Post. Metro: Special Reports. p. A01. Retrieved November 19, 2008.
change.gov (December 1, 2008). “Key members of Obama-Biden national security team announced” (Press release). Newsroom. Office of the President-elect. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
Rhee, Foon (December 1, 2008). “Obama names national security team” (Article). Boston Globe. News. Retrieved December 1, 2008.
“Obama Nominates Eric Holder as Nation’s Top Law Enforcement Official”. PBS. December 1, 2008.
Presidential Nomination PN64-07-111, 111th Congress, January 20, 2009
Judiciary Panel Approves Holder’s Nomination, The New York Times, January 28, 2009,
Lewis, Neil A. (February 2, 2002). “Holder Is Confirmed as Attorney General”. The New York Times.
Wilber, Del Quentin; Schoenberg, Tom (September 25, 2014). “Holder Said to Plan to Resignation as Attorney General”. Bloomberg News. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
“Bin Laden Death ‘Not Assassination’ – Eric Holder”. BBC News. May 12, 2011.
“Holder: When War on Terror Targets Americans”. March 5, 2012.
Matt Apuzzo, A Holder Legacy: Shifting Terror Cases to the Civilian Courts, and Winning, New York Times (October 21, 2014).
Eric Holder’s Defining Legacy on Terror, Politico Magazine (April 28, 2015).
Phil Hirschkorn, Another Life Sentence for a Terrorist Convicted in Federal Court, Just Security (January 9, 2015).
Sam Stein, Eric Holder Lashes Out at Congress Over Decision to Try KSM in Military Tribunal, Huffington Post (April 4, 2011).
“Attorney General Holder at the African Union Summit”. Justice.gov. July 25, 2010. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
Max Delany, Uganda president calls for Africa to fight terror, Associated Press (July 25, 2010).
Timothy M. Phelps, Eric Holder urges international cooperation on terrorism in Syria, Los Angeles Times (July 8, 2014).
Attorney General Holder Urges International Effort to Confront Threat of Syrian Foreign Fighters (July 8, 2014).
Estrin, Elana (December 14, 2011). “Holder Delivers Voting Rights Speech”. Huffington Post.
“Voting Rights Are Under Attack Says Attorney General”. May 31, 2012.
“Holder Tells NAACP Texas Voter ID Laws Hurt Minorities”. USA Today. July 10, 2012.
“Holder Revs Up NAACP Meeting”. Politico.com. July 10, 2012.
“Eric Holder: Supreme Court decision won’t stop voting rights enforcement”. CNN. April 4, 2013.
Reilly, Ryan J. (April 4, 2013). “Eric Holder: Martin Luther King Jr. ‘Would Not Yet Be Satisfied’ With Voting Rights”. Huffington Post.
Markon, Jerry (May 14, 2010). “Holder Is Criticized for Comments on Ariz. Immigration Law, Which He Hasn’t Read”. The Washington Post.
Dinan, Stephen (May 13, 2010). “Holder Hasn’t Read Arizona Law He Criticized”. The Washington Times.
“Holder: Ariz. Law Inconsistent with Federal Law”. CBS News. July 10, 2010.
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/June/12-ag-801.html |publisher= US Department of Justice | date=June 25, 2012
http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/04/27/eric-holder-citizenship-for-illegal-immigrants-is-a-matter-of-civil-and-human-rights/%7C date=April 24, 2013
“Statement of the Attorney General on Litigation Involving the Defense of Marriage Act”. U.S. Department of Justice. Office of the Attorney General. February 23, 2011. Archived Check |archiveurl= value (help) from the original on September 26, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
“Obama Administration Will No Longer Defend DOMA” Check |archive-url= value (help). CBS News. February 23, 2011. Archived from the original on February 24, 2011.
“AG Holder: DOJ Won’t Defend a Challenge to DOMA Brought by Members of Military”. ABC News. February 17, 2012.
“Deportation of Citizen’s Same-Sex Partner Canceled”. Fox News. June 30, 2011.
“Holder Intervenes in Gay Man’s Deportation Case”. Fox News Channel. June 30, 2011.
Totenberg, Nina (April 1, 2009). “Justice Dept. Seeks To Void Stevens’ Conviction”. NPR. Retrieved April 1, 2009.
Paul Singer, Judge Follows Request by Stevens Lawyer, Roll Call (April 7, 2009).
Del Quentin Wilber & Sari Horwitz, Prosecutors concealed evidence in Ted Stevens case, report finds, Washington Post (March 15, 2012).
Neil A. Lewis, Justice Dept. Moves to Void Stevens Case, New York Times (April 1, 2009).
“Attorney General Holder Opposes California Marijuana Bill”. Reuters. October 16, 2010.
Cole memo
“Feds won’t challenge Washington’s pot law”. The Seattle Times. August 29, 2013. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the Press Conference on Organized Crime Arrests, New York, NY, United States Department of Justice (January 20, 2011).
Ed Pilkington, FBI arrests 127 in its biggest ever Mafia crackdown, Guardian (January 20, 2011).
Savage, Charlie (June 19, 2012). “Administration Took Accidental Path to Setting Record for Leak Cases”. The New York Times. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
Liptak, Adam (February 11, 2012). “A High-Tech War on Leaks”. The New York Times. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
Aftergood, Steven (February 29, 2012). “There is No Reporter’s Privilege, Leak Prosecutors Insist”. Federation of American Scientists Secrecy news. Retrieved February 29, 2012.
Sanchez, Raf (May 13, 2013). “US Justice Department secretly seizes Associated Press phone records”. The Daily Telegraph (London). Retrieved May 15, 2013.
“US government secretly obtained Associated Press phone records”. The Guardian (London). May 13, 2013. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
Curry, Tom. “Holder addresses AP leaks investigation, announces IRS probe”. NBC News. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
Savage, Charlie; Weisman, Jonathan (May 29, 2013). “Holder Faces New Round of Criticism After Leak Inquiries”. The New York Times. Retrieved June 1, 2013. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name “nytnewround” defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
Marimow, Ann E. (May 20, 2013). “A rare peek into a Justice Department leak probe”. The Washington Post. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
“House Republicans challenge Holder testimony on reporter surveillance”. Fox News Channel. May 29, 2013. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
Carter, Terry (12 August 2013). “Sweeping reversal of the War on Drugs announced by Atty General Holder”. ABA’s 560-member policy making House of Delegates. American Bar Association. p. 1. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
“Smart on Crime: Reforming The Criminal Justice System” (PDF). Remarks to American Bar Association’s Annual Convention in San Francisco, CA. US Department of Justice. August 12, 2013. p. 7. Retrieved 16 August 2013. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name “Reforming_The_Criminal_Justice_System_Aug_12_2013” defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
“US to Provide $1 billion to Hire cops”. CNN. July 28, 2009.
“Grants and Resources for Community Policing”. July 28, 2009.
Lang, Brent (February 26, 2009). “Holder Revives Talk of an Assault Weapons Ban”. CBS News.
Lang, Lang (February 26, 2009). “Holder Revives Talk of an Assault Weapons Ban”. CBS News. Retrieved May 5, 2009.
“UBS bank listed among Holder ex-clients”. The Seattle Times. January 27, 2009.
Mikkelsen, Randall (March 2, 2009). “U.S., Swiss justice officials meet amid UBS probe”. Reuters.
“Holder to Present Reno with AJS’s Justice Award” Palazzolo, Joe. The BLT:The Blog of Legal Times. April 17, 2009. Retrieved April 18, 2009.
McCullagh, Declan (November 29, 2010). “AG says WikiLeaks criminal probe is ‘ongoing'”. CNET. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/holder-unveils-revisions-limits-profiling-federal-law-enforcement-n263661
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/08/us/new-profiling-laws/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
“Holder: “Waterboarding is torture””. MSNBC. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
Grim, Ryan (February 21, 2009). “Senate Republicans Delay Holder Confirmation”. Huffington Post.
Tuohey, Jason (November 18, 2008). “Holder on Bush, executive power” (Article). Boston Globe. News. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
Tapper, Jake (November 18, 2008). “Holder v Bush on War on Terror Tactics” (Blog). Political Punch (ABC News). Retrieved November 23, 2008.
“CFR Profile of Eric Holder”. Cfr.org. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
Yager, Jordy. “Gitmo may stay open beyond 2012”. Thehill.com. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
“White House, Woodward Clash Over Allegations of Oil Price Fixing With Saudis, Critics Find Fault with Patriot Act” (Transcript). Judy Woodruff’s Inside Politics (CNN). April 19, 2004. Retrieved November 19, 2008.
Greenwald, Glenn (November 19, 2008). “Preliminary facts and thoughts about Eric Holder” (Blog). Glenn Greenwald’s Unclaimed Territory (Salon). Retrieved November 19, 2008.
“Remarks as Prepared for Delivery by Attorney General Eric Holder at the Department of Justice African American History Month Program”. U.S. Department of Justice. February 18, 2009.
Mitchell, Mary (February 19, 2009). “Attorney General Eric Holder’s race speech stirs debate”. Chicago Sun-Times.
Hornick, Ed (February 19, 2009). “Holder ‘nation of cowards’ remarks blasted, praised”. CNN.
“Obama Discusses Holder’s ‘Cowards’ Remark”. CNN. March 7, 2009.
Cooper, Helene (March 7, 2009). “Attorney General Chided for Language on Race”. The New York Times.
“Feds charge white man with hate crime in first ‘knockout’ prosecution”. The Washington Times. December 26, 2013. Retrieved May 13, 2014.
“Dispute over New Black Panthers case causes deep divisions”. The Washington Post, October 22, 2010.
Gerstein, Josh (March 1, 2011). “Eric Holder: Black Panther case focus demeans ‘my people'”. Politico. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
Randall, Eric (July 6, 2012). “James Taranto: Why Is This Man HAHAHA-ing?”. The Wire. Archived Check |archive-url= value (help) from the original on March 1, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
“Eric Holder’s People”. The Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2011.
Blum, Justin (July 6, 2011). “Congress Probes Payments to Gun Smugglers”. Bloomberg. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
“Project Gunrunner | Issa Grassley Letter”. The Daily Caller. February 4, 2011. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
“Justice Department Obstructing ‘Fast and Furious’ Gun Probe, ATF Director Says”. Fox News Channel. July 6, 2011.
“Memorandum to the Attorney General” (PDF). CBS News.
“Holder emails” (PDF). Retrieved February 14, 2012.
“Listen to Holder lying under sworn testimony starting at 01:30:12”. C-spanvideo.org. May 3, 2011. Retrieved February 14, 2012.
Serrano, Richard A. (October 3, 2011). “Emails shows how top Justice Department officials knew of ATF gun program”. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 14, 2012.
“Issa, Chaffetz confirm contempt plans for Holder over Fast and Furious”. Fox News Channel. April 27, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
“Issa: Holder must turn over documents or face contempt vote”. CNN. June 19, 2012.
Madhani and Davis, Aamer and Susan (June 20, 2012). “House panel votes to cite Holder for contempt of Congress”. USA Today. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
“Congress contempt charge for US Attorney General Holder”. BBC. June 21, 2012. Retrieved June 20, 2012.
“Citing NRA Score, Democrats Brace For Defections in Holder Contempt Vote”. NBC News. June 26, 2012.
“Final Vote Results for Roll Call 441”. Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. 2012-06-28. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
“Final Vote Results for Roll Call 442”. Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. 2012-06-28. Retrieved 2012-06-29.
“Congress’ Eric Holder contempt vote: 4 takeaways”. The Week (New York City, New York). June 29, 2012. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
“House holds Holder in contempt”. CNN. June 28, 2012.
Rick Perry (November 21, 2011). “Eric Holder must go”. The Washington Times. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
“Senator calls for Holder’s resignation amid challenges over leak probe, Fast and Furious”. Fox News Channel. June 12, 2012. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
Rick Perry (June 19, 2012). “Elijah Cummings: Eric Holder Acted Honorably Eric Holder must go”. Politico.
Bendery, Jennifer (June 29, 2012). “Eric Holder Won’t Be Prosecuted For Contempt Charge, Jay Carney Says”. Huffington Post.
“Fast and Furious: Eric Holder Cleared but 14 Faulted”. BBC News. September 19, 2012.
Kevin Johnson (September 19, 2012). “Review: Holder did not know about ‘Fast and Furious'”. USA Today.
David Weigel (September 25, 2014). “Six People Who Can Replace Eric Holder and Save Barack Obama”. Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
Jake Miller (August 21, 2014). “Federal judge reopens “Fast and Furious” controversy”. CBS News. Retrieved March 4, 2015.
“Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force Executive DirectorMichael J. Bresnickat the Exchequer Club of Washington, D.C. – OPA – Department of Justice”.
Alan Zibel and Brent Kendall (August 8, 2013). “Probe Turns Up Heat on Banks”. WSJ.
“‘High risk’ label from feds puts gun sellers in banks’ crosshairs, hurts business”. Washington Times. Retrieved 22 May 2014.
Silver-Greenberg, Jessica (January 26, 2014). “Justice Department Inquiry Takes Aim at Banks’ Business With Payday Lenders”. The New York Times. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
Douglas, Danielle (April 16, 2014). “Operation Choke Point: The battle over financial data between the government and banks”. The Washington Post. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
Managing Risks in Third-Party Payment Processor Relationships, retrieved 11 May 2014
Mattingly, Phil (March 6, 2013). “Too-Big-to-Fail Banks Limit Prosecutor Options, Holder Says”. Bloomberg. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
Holder, Eric (March 2013). “Testimony to the Senate Committee on the Judiciary”. video. United States Senate. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
Breslow, Jason (March 5, 2013). “Senators Bash DOJ for “Evasive” Response on “Too Big To Jail””. Frontline. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
Senators Charles Grassley and Sherrod Brown (March 1, 2013). “Unsatisfactory Response from Justice Department on ‘Too Big to Jail'”. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
“Eric Holder Backtracks Remarks on “Too Big To Jail””. FRONTLINE.
Boyer, Peter J. (May 6, 2012). “Why Can’t Obama Bring Wall Street to Justice?”. The Daily Beast. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
ProPublica. “Your Guide to the Latest Efforts to Hold Big Banks Accountable”. ProPublica.
“The Divide” Matt Taibbi. 2014.
“The $9 Billion Witness: Meet JPMorgan Chase’s Worst Nightmare”. Rolling Stone.
“H. RES. 411, Impeaching Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors” (PDF). November 14, 2013. Retrieved November 16, 2013.
“Twenty House Republicans call for Holder impeachment”. The Hill. November 14, 2013. Retrieved November 14, 2013.
“H.Res. 411: Impeaching Eric H. Holder, Jr., Attorney General of the United States, for high crimes and misdemeanors”. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
Thomas, Pierre; Levine, Mike; Date, Jack; Cloherty, Jack (September 25, 2014). “Obama Announces Attorney General Eric Holder’s Resignation”. ABC News. Archived Check |archive-url= value (help) from the original on September 25, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2014.
Johnson, Carrie (April 24, 2015). “With Tears And Thanks, Attorney General Eric Holder Says Goodbye”. NPR. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
“Matt Taibbi: Eric Holder Back to Wall Street-Tied Law Firm After Years of Refusing to Jail Bankers”. Democracy Now!. July 8, 2015. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
Matt Taibbi (July 8, 2015). “Eric Holder, Wall Street Double Agent, Comes in From the Cold”. Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 10, 2015.
“Eric H. Holder Jr.”. Biographies. Covington & Burling LLP. June 15, 2008. Archived from the original on August 8, 2008. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
Holley, Joe (October 14, 2005). “Vivian Malone Jones Dies; Integrated U-Ala.” (Obituaries). The Washington Post. Metro. Retrieved November 19, 2008.
Hook, Carol S. (November 19, 2008). “Politics.usnews.com”. Politics.usnews.com. Retrieved January 7, 2012.
“Covington’s Eizenstat, Gesell, Holder, Horsky and Ruff Among Legal Times’ ‘Greatest Washington Lawyers of Past 30 Years'”. Covington & Burlington LLP. May 28, 2008.
“Diversity Overview”. Covington & Burlington LLP.
“Two Covington Partners Among National Law Journal’s 50 Most Influential Minority Lawyers”. Covington & Burlington LLP.
“100 Great Barbadians to be recognised”. Barbados Advocate. June 12, 2009. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
“2010 BU Honorary Degree Recipients”. BU Today. April 30, 2010. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
“Holder Urges Grads to Emulate Robert Kennedy’s Legacy of Service”. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
Resmovits, Joy (March 10, 2009). “Holder Selected as Class Day Speaker”. Columbia Daily Spectator. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
http://www.iamempowered.com/node/26346
“‘Put your skills to use to define our future,’ Attorney General tells class”. Harvard Law School. May 23, 2012.
176. “University of California, Berkeley Law School Commencement Address”. C-SPAN. Retrieved 2013-10-22.
Further reading
“Black U.S. Attorney Brings an Indictment Against Powerful House Committee Chairman”. Jet (Google Books). June 20, 1994. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
Crabtree, Susan (April 28, 1997). “A New Sheriff at Justice”. Insight on the News (Highbeam). Retrieved April 25, 2015.
Haywood, Richette L. (September 1994). “First Black U.S. Attorney in D.C.”. Ebony (Google Books). Retrieved April 25, 2015.
Longstreth, Andrew (June 2008). “Making History”. The American Lawyer. Archived from the original on December 21, 2008.
Randolph, Laura B. (January 1999). “Power Couples”. Ebony (Google Books): 35. Retrieved April 25, 2015.
Lichtblau, Eric; David Johnston (December 1, 2008). “Pardon Is Back in Focus for the Justice Nominee”. The New York Times. Retrieved December 2, 2008.
External links
Find more about
Eric Holder
at Wikipedia’s sister projects
Media from Commons
News stories from Wikinews
Quotations from Wikiquote
Profile at the United States Department of Justice
Eric Holder collected news and commentary at The Washington Post
Appearances on C-SPAN
Eric Holder collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Works by or about Eric Holder in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
Justice Department Bio of Holder as Deputy Attorney General at the Wayback Machine
Contemporary Black Biography
Covington & Burling
The History Makers
Homeland Security Policy Institute
Eric Holder’s federal campaign contribution report at NewsMeat
Authenticated text, audio, video of Eric Holder Speech at the Department of Justice African American History Month Program AmericanRhetoric.com
Legal offices
Preceded by
Jamie Gorelick
United States Deputy Attorney General
1997–2001
Succeeded by
Larry Thompson
Preceded by
Janet Reno
United States Attorney General
Acting
2001
Succeeded by
John Ashcroft
Preceded by
Michael Mukasey
United States Attorney General
2009–2015
Succeeded by
Loretta Lynch
Cabinet of President Barack Obama (since 2009)
Authority control
WorldCat
VIAF: 31551257
LCCN: no89001286
————–
The Crimes of Eric Holder
Holder resigns after years of lawlessness
Mikael Thalen
The announcement of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation today has fueled speculation as to why the controversial figure has chosen to step down.
Holder, who was recently found to be the least popular politician in the United States according to a Hart Research poll, is arguably the most criminal government official within the Obama Administration. Among his many crimes, a select few have remained at center stage.
Fast and Furious
Between 2006 and 2011, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), under the direct command of the Justice Department, secretly pushed southern gun dealers to sell weapons to suspected drug cartel traffickers in order to allegedly track the weapons into Mexico.
Despite the administration’s attempt to paint the countless deaths associated as unintended consequences after the program went public, documents obtained by CBS News revealed that the ATF had planned to use the deaths to push a gun control agenda.
Eric Holder, who has publicly stated his desire to “brainwash” children to think negatively about gun ownership, has actively worked to keep Fast and Furious documents from becoming public. Unfortunately for Holder, a judge has denied his request to delay the release of a list of Operation Fast and Furious documents currently being protected under the President’s assertion of executive privilege.
Too Big to Jail Banks
After British-based bank HSBC was found to be laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel and groups linked to Al Qaeda, Eric Holder refused to prosecute the bank’s executives.
“They violated every g*ddamn law in the book,” said attorney and former Senate investigator Jack Blum at the time. “They took every imaginable form of illegal and illicit business.”
Despite the bank’s involvement in the largest terrorism and drug money laundering case in US history, Holder refused to prosecute any HSBC Executive. According to Holder, the economy would have suffered if any of the bank’s leaders faced punishment. Similarly, Holder outright refused to prosecute any Wall Street CEOs for their role in the country’s financial crisis.
Financial whistleblower Everett Stern spoke with Infowars reporter David Knight last year to discuss how the bank has continued to launder money for nefarious organizations due to Holder’s refusal.
Attack on Whistleblowers & the Press
The Obama administration has charged more journalists and legitimate government whistleblowers with espionage than all other presidents combined since the passage of the 1917 Espionage Act.
Whether it be targeting CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou for exposing the agency’s torture program, seizing Associated Press phone records, prosecuting Chelsea Manning or going after journalists James Risen and James Rosen, Holder has undoubtedly overseen the largest attack on the First Amendment in modern history.
“The Obama administration has moved beyond protecting government secrets to threatening fundamental freedoms of the press to gather news,” the New York Times noted.
Amazingly, Holder has attempted to deflect criticism by claiming that he has been the victim of “unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive adversity,” due to his skin color and not his outrageously illegal tenure.
“Forget about me [specifically]. Look at the way the attorney general of the United States was treated yesterday by a House committee,” Holder said during a recent speech to the National Action Network. “What attorney general has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment? What president has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment?”
Ironically, Holder’s career will undoubtedly be remembered for being the most unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive.
Eric Holder: Organized Crime’s Man of the Year
Submitted by 4closureFraud
Eric Holder: Organized Crime’s Man of the Year
By George Mantor
If I were a high level criminal, I would sleep with a life-sized blow-up doll of Eric Holder. How could I not love this man?
When it comes to the drug war, we wouldn’t even have one, and that would be very, very bad for very, very big business.
Prohibition is good for big business. It allows for the creation of extraordinary after cost profits while keeping competitors under control.
When you can grow your own weed or get it from your neighbor, the profit drains out of it. If you can grow Asteraceae, you can grow Cannabis. Who the hell would drop four bills for a lid of daisies?
Money laundering? No problem if you do it on a large enough scale. Government keeps the small players out of illegal activities and collects small penalties, commissions really, for not prosecuting the big boys. That is racketeering. HSBC and Wachovia come to mind.
Eric Holder has gone from the role to chief law enforcement officer of the people to a collector of commissions for providing protection to high level criminals.
If you say something the government doesn’t like, he will send a drone for your ass. It seems about the only punishable crimes left in America are speaking out and smoking dope.
Last week, Eric Holder shrugged off prosecuting bankstas because he thought it might be bad for the economy. And, he did it with a straight face.
Refusing to prosecute the largest ongoing global Ponzi scheme in all of history because it could hurt the economy? WTF? What economy? The Ponzi scheme and fiat money are the economy.
Most frustrating of all, perhaps, is that when Holder leaves office, he’ll have a lifetime lucrative job with one of the entities he refused to prosecute. It’s all so blatant. Who could deny that Eric Holder is anything but a facilitator of the corporatocrocy, and certainly not a servant of the people?
Since awards are now given for just about everything, many of them ill deserved, I advocate for awards that don’t yet exist but are truly earned.
I can see them all gathering for some Caligula like gala. The carpet could be died red with the blood of the innocent children who have been killed in Juarez alone with the guns he sold them and the border he won’t protect.
Imagine how you would revere this man, Eric Holder, if you were a Mexican drug lord, a banksta, or a smuggler.
Journey with me into the mind of your high ranking Zeta or Sinaloa member giving the award speech. Imagine the voice of the Dos Equiis beer actor.
“Senors and Senoritas, Ladies and Gentleman, it gives me great pleasure to present Organized Crime’s Man of The Year, Mr. Eric Holder.
You all know him, you all appreciate him and you all owe most of your good fortune to him. Si. Si, but keep the whistling down my friends.
We had a hard time getting automatic weapons in lawless Mexico, but you, Hombre, you delivered.
Fast and Furious was just what we needed. And as you know, we went right to work using those guns the moment we got our hands on them.
Then there was the problem with the dinero. We had sacks of cash piling up in basements and garages. Money had become like a burden to us. We couldn’t buy much real estate or bonds, but you dug deep for us, Homey. You went back to your banksta days and went all Chicago style, and pretty soon Wachovia and HSBC are sending a fleet of armored cars, and the cash is all cleaned up. Literally and figuratively. They even made special boxes for our deposits so we could get the maximum amount of cash through the teller windows. Genius, pure genius. Awesome dedication from my brother from another mother.
But, Dude, and this is where even us cartel guys can’t keep our emotions in check. Dude, if it were not for you we would be out of business. When we lose the weed smokers in California, it’s over. Fuck Colorado and Washington; nobody lives there.
California is the prize and we lost it. With those legally compliant, compassionate care cooperatives working so well, we were really taking it in the cajones. Not only were we losing customers, but they were selling high quality organic bud for less than our toxic ditch weed. We were fucked, man.
Then you stepped up your game and brought your posse down hard on those law abiding citizens. That ten year sentence pretty much ended the competition in Cali.
So, on behalf of the Academy of High Level Organized Crime, I Honor you, Mr. Eric Holder, for all of your efforts in aiding and abetting crime at the highest level.”
Our justice department has been sold out. They are now the enemy of the people.
If any person is too big to prosecute then your justice system is a sham, a lie, a farce, a joke, a bastardization of all that America used to stand for. Ultimately, it becomes a tool to enforce the will of fascists.
My grandfather, W. H. Mantor was a sheriff, a lawyer, and a judge in Crow Wing County, MN.
My father worked in the City Attorney’s office and had a private practice in St. Paul. Several of my friends have worked in law enforcement. I used to have respect for an institution that existed to make certain that the rights of every citizen would be protected.
I can only describe what I am witnessing as personally heartbreaking. I had such respect for the institution of law and its ideals.
And all the while, the erosion of basic legal equity has been brought about by a lap dog media that hides the truth and takes its cut of the illegal profits.
They are the public relations arm of large scale crime. They have worked to convince people that safety is more important than liberty; poor people caused the banking collapse and that relief from pain is more important than justice.
Recently, I stumbled upon an excellent example of this kind of reporting in the Orlando Sentinel under the byline, Beth Kassab, Local News Columnist.
However, the story isn’t local and it isn’t news, and it appears to be lifted right from the public relation’s handbook of the financial services industry.
It begins with a tepid admission of vague wrongdoing in illegally foreclosing on millions of Americans.
“And nobody held accountable. Dispicable.” She says.
Then she goes on to dismiss those of us arguing for justice with the following. “Some consumer advocates will argue it’s the banks, not the homeowners who are holding up the court process in the first place. It’s true…”
She then offers that same old often disproved bullshit. “Banks have been so overwhelmed by the number of homes they have to repossess that they just can’t get through them fast enough.”
Funny….they didn’t have that problem with all the paperwork required to make ten times the number of loans they are now foreclosing on. It’s a big fat lie and Beth Kassab is a big fat liar further encouraging forgiveness for high level criminals.
As all but bank compensated shills now admit, the problem in foreclosing is that the parties attempting to steal American’s homes are having trouble complying with the law because they are fraudsters with no skin ion the game and no means other than forgery to prove a claim.
There have been admissions of dual tracking and robo-signing, settlements, and consent decrees that all go to the heart of a massive global fraud, and we should simply ignore it until it’s finished. But, it will never be finished if we do not stop organized crime from stealing the property of American Citizens.
Beth Kassab isn’t a news reporter; she’s a propagandist flouting a dangerous lie. This should be labeled an editorial, but she takes broad licenses with this little lead in to a lie, “But here’s the reality: Prolonging the foreclosure crisis is simply drawing out Florida’s pain.”
That isn’t reality; that is her opinion, an opinion refuted by virtually all of the research.
Neighborhoods certainly are not spared the pain.
According to a recent study from the Center for Responsible Lending, neighbors of foreclosed homes, more than half from African-American and Latino homeowners, will lose a total of $1.95 trillion in property value.
The report, “Collateral Damage: The Spillover Costs of Foreclosures,” updates CRL’s research on the economic harm that homeowners suffer by living near foreclosed properties. But, it doesn’t stop there. Without an improvement in employment, the buyers of foreclosed properties do not exist in numbers large enough to absorb them all.
As a result, entire communities suffer the loss of property tax revenues and the hazards associated with vacant homes. Then there is the burden of newly homeless families to cover.
Being able to foreclose illegally prohibits and consideration of means to avoid foreclosure. We now know that many of the people who were foreclosed on never missed a payment but were targeted for one of many servicing frauds including force placed insurance, modification dual tracking, property tax/escrow scams, and others.
By stating her opinion as reality, she attempts to convince the reader that letting a banksta steal a property more quickly and with less judicial oversight is good for the community.
Foreclosures are bad, not good. No one wins and neighborhoods don’t improve by speeding foreclosures as is suggested here; they are badly damaged.
According to the Palm Beach Post, Florida’s foreclosure rate is three times the national average. How much faster do we need to go before things improve? Orlando is actually number two in the entire nation for foreclosures. How many more do you want?
The point of the article is to encourage passage of banksta- backed “speed the illegal foreclosures bill”, HB 87, she closes with this:
“It’s not justice. But it might help us work through the hurt more quickly.”
So her argument is basically screw justice just speed up the crimes.
Sort of give them more hurt, faster.
And my counter would be let’s have justice no matter how slow or how inconvenient, and by-pass the unnecessary hurt altogether.
If you live in Florida, you best vote NO on HB 87 because it is just another way to transfer the wealth upward with the help of the justice department, law makers, and the media. Whatever you do, don’t let them sell you on the idea that the cost of justice is too expensive.
In the meantime, vote here on whether Eric Holder should be “organized crime’s man of the year”. Or nominate your own favorite. It’s time to start calling people out.
Justice is the essence of freedom. It is either fair, consistent, and available to everyone or you do not have a free country. The dream is slipping away. Beth Kassab, how could you sell out your children for so little?
—————-
A Call for Eric Holder’s Resignation & Prosecution
1,223,849 Letters and Emails Sent So Far
When is enough, enough? We say the time is now! The Obama Administration has shown itself to have blatant disregard and disrespect for our system of government as well as for the law of the land, the Constitution. Obama and his cronies operate as if the United States is a dictatorship and operate like a Chicago crime syndicate. They do what they want, when they want, with absolutely no regard to the law.
Mission Statement for the Department of Justice
To enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law; to ensure public safety against threats foreign and domestic; to provide federal leadership in preventing and controlling crime; to seek just punishment for those guilty of unlawful behavior; and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans.
Attorney General Eric Holder makes a mockery of this mission statement every day. Rather than running his office as a servant to the American people with deep respect for the laws that he is supposed to enforce, he runs the Department of Justice like the enforcement wing of a mafia organization with President Obama at the helm. Holder acts as Obama’s personal attorney and hit man, doing whatever is necessary to protect him and ‘the family’, even if it means unlawful acts.
America has seen a number of egregious and unlawful acts by the man who is supposed to serve as the main legal advisor to the United States government. Instead, he uses his office as a weapon to push Obama’s radical, unconstitutional agenda and to punish those who disagree with the president We have witnessed a refusal to prosecute Black Panthers for voter intimidation. We have seen the loss of life, including Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, with the gun running operation Fast and Furious. We have heard Holder state that citizenship to illegals is a ‘civil right’. Those are just to name a few.
We have recently learned that Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder, issued secret subpoenas to spy on members of the Associated Press for over 2 months! In addition to that, he signed the authorization for the DOJ to go after FOX News Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen for simply doing his job. They labeled him as a possible criminal co-conspirator in violation of the Espionage Act and monitored his phone, his parent’s phones, phones at FOX News as well as his personal email. Those are the tactics of the Soviet Union and a clear attack on freedom of the press!
IS THIS STILL AMERICA?
This most recent illegal act by Eric Holder’s Department of (In)Justice is so incredibly tyrannical and unconstitutional that should be the final straw for his removal from office!
RNC Chair Reince Preibus was correct when he stated:
“Freedom of the press is an essential right in a free society. The First Amendment doesn’t request the federal government to respect it; it demands it. Attorney General Eric Holder, in permitting the Justice Department to issue secret subpoenas to spy on Associated Press reporters, has trampled on the First Amendment and failed in his sworn duty to uphold the Constitution. Because Attorney General Holder has so egregiously violated the public trust, the president should ask for his immediate resignation. If President Obama does not, the message will be unmistakable: The President of the United States believes his administration is above the Constitution and does not respect the role of a free press.”
We agree with Preibus. Holder should tender his resignation effective immediately! But, that is not enough. We continue to call for the prosecution of Eric Holder. The very rule of law is at stake and the credibility of every law enforcement officer in the country. If our top law enforcement agency refuses to follow the law, there is no rule of law, and this is no longer America.
