Eric Holder On The Griddle

Not since Watergate's John Mitchell has a U.S. attorney general prepared for a Senate appearance under fire on as many different fronts as Eric H. Holder Jr. will face today before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He deserves to feel the heat.

On Friday, Sens. Jeff Sessions, Alabama Republican, and Jon Kyl, Arizona Republican, sent Mr. Holder a letter blasting him not just for failing to turn over key briefs to the committee, but also for seeming to obfuscate his true analysis of the subject covered in two of them. That subject - the detainment and trial of known and suspected terrorists - becomes more controversial with every passing day because of what the senators called "national security risks associated with putting terrorists into our civilian criminal justice system."

November 23, 2008
BACKSTORY Eric Holder Advocated Special Treatment for Fugitive Marc Rich for Over a Year
EXCERPTED FROM James Bamford, Author of "The Shadow Factory" (the CIA)

Pres Clinton's Asst USAG, Eric Holder arranged for fugitive Marc Rich to bypass the Pardon Attorney and never told the US Attorney for SDNY that there was a pardon application in the air. Under the rules governing pardon petitions — rules that were approved by Mr. Holder’s office — the views of United States attorneys “are given considerable weight” because of the “valuable insights” they have.

And yet Mr. Holder did not consult Mary Jo White, the United States attorney in New York, and her colleagues about the Rich pardon petition; they did not know of it until it had been granted.

NO ONE TOLD THEM ABOUT THE MARC RICH PARDON APPLICATION b/c if the pardon application had gone to the Office of Pardon Attorney like a normal pardon, the Pardon Attorney would have, as per written procedure, solicited the opinion of the US Attorney's Office which originated the case (something they wanted to avoid).

The people in the New York United States attorney’s office weren’t the only ones surprised by Mr. Holder’s decision. Deborah Smolover, his top deputy for pardon cases, did not find out about the Rich pardon until the White House called to inform her of it after midnight on Jan 20, 2001. (Rich's accomplice, Pincus Green, won a pardon, too.)

After the pardon was signed, Quinn has testified, Mr. Holder called him to commend him on “a very good job.” Mr. Holder also asked Mr. Quinn to consider hiring two former aides, one of whom had already contacted Mr. Quinn on Jan. 2 “at Holder’s suggestion.”

How Eric Holder came to OK the Marc Rich pardon. Holder "got a last-minute phone call" from the Clinton White House to vet Rich. Via the legal grapevine, the buzz was that Holder had deliberately hidden the pardon application from US Attorney's Office---So District of NY--- so they would not have an opportunity to protest.

That's how far Holder's advocacy on behalf of Marc Rich actually went, when he was supposed to be working on behalf of the American people.

A NY Times OpEd piece reported an extraordinarily well researched history of the Holder involvement in trying to get extra special treatment for Marc Rich.

In 1999, Mr. Rich hired Jack Quinn, who had been Mr. Clinton’s White House counsel from 1995 to 1996, to help him advance his cause. The Rich team was still hoping to strike a deal with federal prosecutors in New York, who were in charge of the case.

An e-mail message to Mr. Rich from one of his New York lawyers said that Mr. Quinn felt “he could convince Eric that it made sense to listen to the professors and that he could convince Eric to encourage Mary Jo White, the United States attorney in New York, to do the same.” The “professors” were two tax experts paid more than $96,000 for a study based solely on statements provided them by the Rich legal team.

Asst AG Eric Holder reportedly told Rich's attoney Jack Quinn (who once worked for Clinton) that SDNY's position was ridiculous--an interesting comment coming from within the US Justice Department, to say the least. Mr. Holder told Mr. Quinn to write a letter to Ms. White with a copy to him, and promised to call her when it arrived.

Mr. Holder then called Ms. White personally and, after that conversation, told Mr. Quinn she “didn’t sound like her guard was up.” But New York stood firm. New York's position was consistent with the written guidelines on pardons which do not allow pardons for people while they remain fugitives.

On Nov. 18, 2000, Mr. Quinn told Mr. Holder that Mr. Rich was going to go for a pardon, a step his team had been contemplating for months. After the conversation, Mr. Quinn told colleagues that Mr. Holder had advised him to “go straight to” the White House and that the “timing is good.” Go directly to the White House? Bypass the DOJ Office of Pardon Attorney?

“The greatest danger lies with the lawyers,” Rich's attorney Mr. Quinn wrote in an e-mail message to an aide to Mr. Rich, referring to the prosecutors in New York. “I have worked them hard and I am hopeful that E. Holder will be helpful to us.”Well it turns out that the prosecutors in NY never got a chance to be a danger.

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WHO IS MARC RICH? Then a fugitive from justice, billionaire commodities trader Marc Rich was one of 140 people Bill Clinton pardoned during his last hours as president. Rich, 66, was charged in 1982 with the largest tax-evasion scheme in U.S. history, having evaded more than $48 million in income taxes. In 1983 Rich was indicted on 51 additional counts of racketeering and wire fraud. Rich's accomplice, Pincus Green won a pardon, too.

Rich also violated the US Trading with the Enemy Act by conducting business with Iran, even as US embassy staff were being held hostage. In 1983, Rich fled to Switzerland, never serving a day in jail. After fleeing the United States, Rich renounced his American citizenship, became an Israeli citizen and a major benefactor of Jewish charitable organizations, giving nearly $80 million to Israeli hospitals, museums, orchestras, and universities.

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