It’s the only reason to do this now.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will announce his resignation on Thursday after heading the Justice Department for six years, according to the White House.
Citing two sources “familiar with the situation,” NPR first reported that Holder will exit the U.S. Department of Justice as soon as his replacement is confirmed, though the process could potentially drag out into 2015.
…actually, I expect it to be the other way around: Harry Reid will ram the nomination for Holder’s replacement through the Senate while he still can. If it drags on until 2015, it’ll probably continue to drag on even further under the new Senate. And possibly not get resolved until after Eric Holder comes clean about all the things he’s been doing to the country for the last six years.
But, yeah, this is pretty clear evidence that the White House has already written off the 2014 election cycle.
Moe Lane
PS: Over/under on when Holder gets pardoned? I figure that Obama will wait until an actual indictment begins to credibly loom.
Reid won’t actually need to ram it through – Obama can just wait for the intersession recess and appoint someone who’ll get to serve the whole two years (and would not have lasted into the next administration anyways).
As for a pardon, do pardons have to actually be announced? IE, could Obama pardon Holder, and let him just keep it in his pocket until/unless he actually needs to use it?
I’m thinking the pardon is already signed and is stored in the cardboard box in the residence Hillary used for the Rose Law records, along with Obama’s actual birth cerfiticate….
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Mew
This is not entirely snark, for the record – the longer Holder is not declared immune, the longer he can drag out negotiations with the inevitable Congressional committees who would like a word..
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Mew
I was in the “the day after he resigns” category until I read acat’s comments–now I tend to agree.
Either that or Obama’s going to spike the ball by doing it now just to spite the Republicans.
You think the President can pardon someone for crimes he may commit in the future? I wouldn’t put it past Obama^WNixon II to try.
Obama can’t pardoned anyone until they get convicted in a court of law. Now, he can order his new AG not to prosecute Eric Holder.
Sure he can. They’ll just fill in the “crimes” part later…
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That said, the way this kind of thing usually works is Holder stonewalls, lies, and otherwise *doesn’t leak* until Dec. 2016, then gets a pardon for whatever’s known at that time.
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Mew
I was pretty young at the time,but I think (iirc etc.) Ford’s pardon for Nixon was for unspecified crimes
Yeah, I’m right. (does the happy dance)
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“Now, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from January 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974.”
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That’s the relevant bit from http://watergate.info/1974/09/08/text-of-ford-pardon-proclamation.html
Remember when the Left accused AG Gonzalez of politicizing the DoJ? Good time, my friends, good times.
He could also be thinking that a nomination fight would work in his favor, depending on the nominee. Or he just don’t care.
I think the real question will be whether Mexico has forgiven or forgotten the “Fast an Furious” deaths. I still think Mexico’s facilitating the Central American kids travel to the southern border was a bit of payback for that escapade. So the interesting question is will Mexico seek to extradite and prosecute him once he’s no longer a official of the government? No pardon from O’bama can get Holder off the hook for crimes against other countries. If I were advising Holder I’d tell him to stay out of Latin America just in case.