Jerry Seper,Washington Times
Eric Holder and New Boss Barack Obama
Attorney General-designate Eric H. Holder Jr. told Congress under oath that he had “only a passing familiarity”with the criminal case against billionaire Marc Rich before President Clinton pardoned the fugitive financier in 2001- testimony that is now raising concerns among lawmakers reviewing Mr. Holder’s nomination.
Correspondence with the Justice Department and testimony secured by Congress from other witnesses show that 15 months before the pardon,Mr. Holder met privately with Mr. Rich’s attorney and received a presentation about what Mr. Rich’s defense believed were flaws in the government’s case.
Mr. Holder,then serving as the No. 2 official in the Clinton Justice Department,later took the rare step of contacting federal prosecutors handling Mr. Rich’s case in New York and,according to his own testimony,tried to “facilitate”a meeting with the defense.