Attorney General-designate Eric Holder, right, talks with former FBI director Louis Freeh on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009, prior to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Holder's nomination. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
by Frank James
Former FBI director Louis Freeh was no fan of the Clinton White House or Janet Reno, the Clinton Administration's attorney general. He clashed with both.
But he's a big supporter of Eric Holder, President-elect Barack Obama's choice to head the Justice Department and the institution's deputy attorney general during the Clinton Administration.
Freeh vouched for Holder before the Senate Judiciary Committee today and said Holder shouldn't be held accountable for the controversial pardons of Marc Rich and the extremist Puerto Rican nationalists in F.A.L.N.
Freeh told lawmakers:
"... On the Marc Rich matter, I was the deputy U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York. That was a Southern District of New York case. One of the things I did while I was deputy U.S. attorney is I went over to Switzerland. I actually negotiated with the Swiss to get a warrant of extradition served on Marc Rich. The pardon of Marc Rich was a corrupt act. There is no other way that I could describe it. And committees here have looked at it. They've evaluated it. It was a corrupt act. But, it was not an act by Eric Holder.
"Let me give you just a quick picture of what was going on at the end of the Clinton administration when this pardon took place. Nobody in the Department of Justice, nobody in the FBI had a clue about who was on the pardon list. The White House staff and its leadership -- whoever was working this process, actively conspired to ensure that nobody knew what they were doing.
On the morning of Inauguration Day -- the morning of Inauguration Day, I sent two FBI agents to stand at the west gate of the White House so they could read the list of pardoned officials when it was published, because they wouldn't tell us who was being considered Eric Holder made some terrible mistakes -- which he told you about yesterday, in allowing himself to be used and co-opted with respect to the facilitation of that pardon. But, he did not understand, he did not authorize, he certainly did not execute this pardon. And he's learned a lot from that, I think as Senator John Warner told us. We can be sure, from that experience, that he will never allow himself again to be put in that position.
Turning to the FALN pardons, Freeh said those controversial pardons came through a process created by the White House and Justice Department. Thus he absolved Holder of blame for those pardons too, pardons he disagreed with at the time and still does.
Comments
...just like when Bush #41 pardoned Ronald Reagan's Iran-Contra criminals and the traitorous treasonous Marine Colonel Oliver North. Let's all see who Bush #43 pardons...
Posted by: Doug R. | January 16, 2009 1:42 PM
It is refreshing to learn of Freeh's statement on the Rich pardon. Is anyone in the media going to ask Bill Clinton his reasoning for granting it? If Holder's integrity is to be upheld, I think the truth of this matter needs to be aired even if Congress needs to summon Clinton to the hearings. I'm dreaming, of course.
Posted by: Jeff Saeli | January 16, 2009 2:02 PM
Mr Free statement is strong and has good body, but will hardly stand up with out Clinton stepping into the ring.
Posted by: Inky | January 16, 2009 3:05 PM
Torture is a crime. And criminals should be prosecuted and punished to the full extent of the law.
So simple even a Republican ought to be able to understand it.
Dear Republicans: You can't repeat a lie enough to make it a truth anymore, those days are OVER for you.
Remember "We are a nation of laws."? That was the Republican mantra during Bill Clinton's impeachment. And they'd damned well better remember it now.
Posted by: hyd | January 16, 2009 3:15 PM
Mr Free statement
Posted by: Inky | January 16, 2009 3:05 PM
Learn how to spell, you moron.
Posted by: lkad | January 16, 2009 5:12 PM
Let's see here... Mr. Holder said two days ago that the Rich pardon will make him a better AG in a perverse way, and Mr. Freeh said he had nothing to do with the Rich pardon. It's obvious to me the first liar is dead with these two morons.
Posted by: Don B. | January 16, 2009 11:43 PM
Obviously they are in the senior executive service fraternity, where the rule is never criticize one of your "peers".
However, Louis obviously blew it in the run up to 911.
So naturally, by analogy, since Holder participated in but was not "part of" a corrupt act, it follows that Louis' fixation on Billy Bubba's sex life and neglect of terrorism issues, has to be forgiven on the same theory.
It is a variation of "just following orders".
Or, as the products liability lawyers like to say, the "German defense".
Louis is German, not?
Posted by: ornery | January 18, 2009 4:52 AM