The panel meets tomorrow to vote on Holder’s nomination by President Link Removed to be the first black to lead the Justice Department. The committee’s approval would clear the way for full Senate confirmation later this week. The panel put off the vote for a week as Republicans demanded fuller responses from Holder on some issues.
Specter had grilled Holder during Jan. 15 confirmation hearings about his role in President Link Removed’s 2001 pardon of fugitive financier Link Removed. The senator told reporters today that Holder “was candid in conceding” that “he made a mistake” in acquiescing to the pardon when Holder was deputy attorney general.
He “is entitled to the benefit of the doubt in the context of the excellent record that he has,” Specter said. He also said he was influenced by the endorsement of Holder by former FBI Director Link Removed.
Specter noted that Freeh called the pardon of Rich “a corrupt act” yet supported Holder because his role was minimal. Freeh headed the Federal Bureau of Investigation under Clinton.
Congressional Probe
Clinton’s pardon of Rich on his last day in office triggered congressional and criminal investigations. A House panel concluded that Rich’s former wife, Denise, used her relationship with Clinton as a major donor to his presidential library to lobby for the pardon. No criminal charges were brought.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Link Removed, a Vermont Democrat, predicted that Holder, 58, will be confirmed.
Several Republicans on the panel have voiced concern that Holder might prosecute U.S. intelligence agents for using harsh interrogation tactics to question suspected al-Qaeda operatives.
Holder testified that waterboarding, a technique used to simulate drowning, amounted to torture. The CIA has said it waterboarded several al-Qaeda operatives, which was authorized by a Justice Department legal opinion.
Specter said Holder gave a “satisfactory answer” that “an authoritative legal opinion” from the Justice Department “is a defense” to allegations that an intelligence agent abused a suspected terrorist during interrogations.
Further, Specter said Obama “has the right approach when he said that it’s preferable not to look backwards but to look forward” because “if every administration started to reexamine what every prior administration did, there’d be no end to it. This is not Latin America.”