Leahy defends Holder

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Leahy defends Holder
« Thread Started on Dec 8, 2008, 9:06pm »

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Leahy defends Holder
Posted: 05:48 PM ET
From Ted Barrett and Kate Bolduan
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Monday defended Eric Holder, President-elect Barack Obama’s attorney general nominee, against charges that he bungled a controversial pardon in the waning days of the Clinton administration.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, also accused Karl Rove of orchestrating Republican opposition to nominee Holder’s confirmation.

Making his first rounds of Capitol Hill for private meetings with the Democratic and Republican leaders of the committee that will hold hearings on his nomination, Holder repeatedly declined to answer questions from reporters about the pardon of Marc Rich, who was a wealthy fugitive when outgoing President Bill Clinton gave him a surprising pardon.

Holder has acknowledged he mishandled the pardon as deputy attorney general under Clinton, but has not gotten much more specific than saying he wishes he’d handled things differently. Congressional investigators and the press have picked over the pardon for years. However, it remains the one known issue that could cause problems for Holder, who is otherwise impeccably credentialed.