Newsweek is reporting that Obama is counting votes to see if he can get Eric Holder confirmed as Attorney General. Holder was Bill Clinton’s #2 man at the Justice Department, he was also the one responsible for getting Mark Rich pardoned in the last minutes of the Clinton administration. Rich made #10 of Time’s most controversial pardons in Presidential history.
In 1983, financier Rich was indicted for evading more than $48 million in taxes, and charged with 51 counts of tax fraud, as well as running illegal oil deals with Iran during the 1979-1980 hostage crisis. During his last week in office, President Bill Clinton pardoned Rich, who had fled the U.S. during his prosecution and was residing in Switzerland. Clinton’s eleventh-hour move, along with pardons of his half-brother, Roger, and former business partner Susan McDougal, outraged Republicans and Democrats alike. The Rich pardon sparked an investigation into whether it was bought by the hefty donations Rich’s ex-wife, Denise, had given to the Clintons and the Democrats. In the end, investigators did not find enough evidence to indict Clinton.
So change has given us John Podesta as Transition head, Rahm Emanuel as Chief-of-Staff, potentially Hillary Clinton at State and Eric Holder as AG. Not to mention 31 out of 47 people on his transition team are Clintonites.
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Tags: Election 2008, Obama Friends
