Holder to be named attorney general

[ProSense]

Holder to be named attorney general

Posted: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 3:39 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: Obama WH Transition

From NBC's Pete Williams

President-elect Obama has offered Eric Holder the position of attorney general, and Holder has accepted it, according to sources involved in the process. The formal announcement has been held up while Obama transition team members ran the idea past key senators. And Obama wanted to announce members of his financial team first -- Treasury Secretary and so on.

Holder is a former superior court judge and U.S. attorney in Washington and a former prosecutor in the Public Integrity section of the Justice Department. He was Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno, during which he was well regarded. At one point, he strongly considered running for mayor of Washington, D.C., but decided being the No. 2 official at Justice was too good to pass up.

He also led the search team for Obama's running mate.

His only potential hang-up for confirmation is the controversy over the pardon of Mark Rich in the closing hours of the Clinton administration. Holder approved the pardon as acting attorney general, after Reno left, without paying much attention to it, and it turned out to be a big embarrassment to Clinton.

So far, the Hill response to Holder has been positive, officials say.

The offer to Holder was made last week, officials say, and he accepted it, conditioned on a good reception from the Hill. So this is as close to a done deal as it can get before it's announced.

more

[HEyHEY]

1. Not columbo? FUCK

[saracat]

2. What a complately ineffectual choice. We sure aren't getting any kind of a pitbull.

The corporations are now safe.

[PresidentObama]

5. Obama made a good choice n/t

[scheming daemons]

6. Meh.

Maybe he should've picked your favorite Democrat, John Edwards.

THERE was a real pitbull.... especially in the bedroom.

[Fire_brand]

10. LOL

[saracat]

11. At least he isn't ineffectual ! And he was a tiger in the courtroom.

[mucifer]

12. pit bull? did you see him debate cheney? hardly a pit bull in my opinion.

[onehandle]

3. It's just a RUMOR! I won't believe it until Obama knocks on my door and tells me personally!!!

He owes me.

[Doityourself]

4. He owes me more! Get in line! n/t

[ProSense]

9. It's not an official announcement, but I know this part is true

His only potential hang-up for confirmation is the controversy over the pardon of Mark Rich in the closing hours of the Clinton administration. Holder approved the pardon as acting attorney general, after Reno left, without paying much attention to it, and it turned out to be a big embarrassment to Clinton.

[mollymongold]

7. breaking on cnn now

[sandnsea]

8. Impressive resume, back to '76

"As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Holder created a Domestic Violence Unit to more effectively handle those types of tragic cases, implemented a community prosecution project to work hand in hand with residents and local government agencies in order to make neighborhoods safer, supported a renewed enforcement emphasis on hate crimes so that criminal acts of intolerance would be severely punished, developed a comprehensive strategy to improve the manner in which agencies handled cases involving the abuse of children, launched a community outreach program to reconnect the U.S. Attorney's office with the citizens it serves, revitalized the Victim/Witness Assistance Program to better serve those individuals who were directly affected by crime and developed "Operation Ceasefire," an initiative designed to reduce violent crime by getting guns out of the hands of criminals."

http://www.cov.com/eholder/

[mucifer]

13. That's good but what about his being a lawyer for Chiquita International and

Merck? I almost puked when I read that. The international fruit industry has horrible human rights records.

[sandnsea]

14. As if that hasn't been posted 1,001 times already

I am trying to bring a little balance to the guy for the thinkers on the board.