Defending the Truth - View Single Post - Would-be attorney general Eric Holder haunted by Marc Rich pardon

intangible child · 11-20-2008, 08:52 AM

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Republicans say they're surprised that Barack Obama's transition team didn't gauge their feelings about the likely nominee.

Reporting from Washington -- Seven years ago, after his name was dragged very publicly through the mud in a Clinton administration pardon scandal, President-elect Barack Obama's top pick for attorney general was certain that his long and successful career in public service was at an end.

"I'm done. Public life's over for me," Eric H. Holder Jr. told the Washington Post in March 2001. "I had a moment in time. That moment has passed."
Would-be attorney general Eric Holder haunted by Marc Rich pardon - Los Angeles Times

In 1983, financier Rich was indicted for evading more than $48 million in taxes, and charged with 51 counts of tax fraud, as well as running illegal oil deals with Iran during the 1979-1980 hostage crisis. During his last week in office, President Bill Clinton pardoned Rich, who had fled the U.S. during his prosecution and was residing in Switzerland. Clinton's eleventh-hour move, along with pardons of his half-brother, Roger, and former business partner Susan McDougal, outraged Republicans and Democrats alike. The Rich pardon sparked an investigation into whether it was bought by the hefty donations Rich's ex-wife, Denise, had given to the Clintons and the Democrats. In the end, investigators did not find enough evidence to indict Clinton.
The 10 Most Notorious Presidential Pardons - Marc Rich - TIME

But Eric Holder is a whole different story. Some folks on the right really don't like him as the next attorney general--and, guess what, neither do some folks on the left.

The initial reports on the former Justice Department official focused on a) his race and b) his role in the infamous Marc Rich pardon. But I suspect we're in for a much deeper debate.
Howard Kurtz - A Question of Justice - washingtonpost.com