AG nominee Eric Holder: The Israelis like Marc Rich, so he's OK with me. Huh?

[bushmeister0]

nomThe NYT:

"On Jan. 19, 2001, (Jack) Quinn (Rich's lawyer) called Mr. Holder and let him know that the White House would be contacting him for his recommendation on the pardon, which he said was receiving 'serious consideration.' Mr. Holder told him that he did not have a personal problem with the pardon, and Mr. Quinn quickly passed on the gist of the conversation to the White House.

Minutes later, Mr. Holder received a call from Beth Nolan, the White House counsel, who had opposed the pardon idea and was surprised to hear that Mr. Holder apparently felt differently.

Mr. Holder, according to Ms. Nolan’s testimony, told her that if the Israelis were in fact pushing for the pardon, he would find that 'persuasive' and would be 'neutral leaning toward' favorable."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/02/us/politics/02holder.html?pagewanted=2&hp

Why? What did the Israelis have to do with it? (Is Jonathan Pollard up for a pardon in the Obama administration if this guy get's confirmed?)

Reid Weingarten, a lawyer for Mr. Holder (watch out for the nominee who already needs a lawyer!) said in his defense:

"Mr. Holder assumed that this was all being handled in the normal course. There’s no question that Quinn played him and it was astute by Quinn because he did catch Eric unawares."

So, Holder was out to lunch? He was manipulated by a shifty lawyer? Thats his excuse? And he wants to be the new AG?

I get the feeling from this story that perhaps Holder felt the way the wind was blowing from the Clintons on this issue, and despite the almost universal opposition from the legal eagles at DoJ, he made it known he was OK with it, which is apparently all Bubbah needed to go ahead with the pardon.

Sounds like another malleable AG I could think of.

Looking forward to nasty hearings on this.