YouSaid · the spoken record

Eric Holder

lines on the record: 79
first: 2019-09-15
most recent: 2019-09-15
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Well, you know, it's interesting. I mean, I was an American history major, and although I didn't grow up in the segregated South in the way that Vivian and my wife Sharon did through my studies, I had a sense of what it was like. And certainly talking to Sharon. She herself was, I guess, in first grade and integrated the Catholic school that was right across the street from where she lived. And the Catholic Church made a determination they weren't going to have an integrated elementary school, and they closed it. And so she had to go to a Catholic school that was many miles away. And here those kinds of stories from her made real for me that which I had studied.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, it did because I was really struck by the Kennedy administration generally and by the way in which Robert Kennedy conducted himself as attorney general. I remember thinking to myself there during the Ross Barnett integration of the University of Mississippi and the things that Bobby Kennedy did with regard to organized crime and standing up for civil rights as Attorney General, I thought to myself, you know, this is kind of what I'd like to be able to, this notion of government service is something that I think I'd like to do.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I remember that quite well 1963. I was 12 years old, black and white TV in the basement of my small house in Queens, New York, watching really attractive young woman getting past the governor of Alabama with a national guardsman or the Army, I guess, around her with Nick escorting her, little knowing that many years later I was going to marry her sister. But I remember that day quite well.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Nick and I had, I got to know him in the latter part of his life, but he was the person who escorted a young African-American woman passed George Wallace in 1963 so that she could integrate the University of Alabama, that young African-American woman was Vivian Malone, who was the sister of my wife, Sharon Malone. That connection. I was a deputy attorney general at one point, but that notion of having a deputy attorney general integrate the University of Alabama with my now deceased sister-in-law was something that I thought was special and was the reason why I wanted to have Nick's portrait in my office.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And to see a president of the United States go after the Justice Department, the FBI, the intelligence community in the way that he has is totally inconsistent with what a president ought to do.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“First, we gotta be real clear here. There's no basis for the things that Donald Trump has said about the justice department and the FBI. Those are career folks who dedicate themselves to finding the truth, bringing charges when that's appropriate, who do it at a great risk to themselves. And the impact of that is certainly on the morale of the Justice Department, but there's a long-term impact as well, where the Justice Department, the FBI, are seen as potentially politicized. There are going to be credibility determinations, the juries are going to have to make between what an FBI agent says and what a defendant says. And having this president say that, well, that FBI agent is a political person in nature, could have an impact at even the trial level. So it's totally unjustified and long-term, I think, is very harmful. It is something that really, really, if I can say it, pisses me off. That really, really pisses me off because I know these people. I work with these people. I was one of those people.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, as I grew up in the public integrity section, as you mentioned, the Justice Department is only supposed to speak when it indicts. You don't talk about somebody who you could have indicted what you might have done if you're not going to bring a charge. You just are quiet about it. And people can then file FOIA requests and do all things like that. And I think that was the biggest concern, the biggest problem I had with how Jim conducted himself back in 2016. And I wrote an article about that that was hard for me to write because I've known Jim for 20 years or so. I like him. I respect him. But I thought, as I said in that article, sometimes good men make mistakes. And I thought he made a mistake in 2016.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But I understand also what he did with regard to that material that he got out there. I think his concern was that unless he did that, the information would not be treated in an appropriate way. And in fact, we saw that the release of that material did result in the appointment of an independent counsel. So I think yet he was technically wrong, and the IG made an appropriate determination. But I understand why Jim did what he did.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I mean, I think first off that the baseline for me is that Jim is Jim Comey is a man of integrity. I disagreed with him with what he did during the course of the election. The press conference that he had saying that he was not going to recommend indicting Hillary Clinton, I think that was something an FBI director doesn't do. That was something that the Justice Department, the Attorney General, should have held that.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think that's one of the hallmarks, one of the real benefits of having a good lawyer is Barack Obama was and is as president. He understood that there was the need for an independent justice department. I actually think that the White House during the Obama years was to stand office. There was a greater basis for us to interact with the White House. In some ways, I think you guys were a little too sensible.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, the president's statements were very troubling, and it's more troubling now that Barr seems to think that, in fact, that is his role as Attorney General, to represent the president as opposed to representing the people of the United States.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's too close. There has to be a wall between the Justice Department and the White House. Now, the question is how tall that wall needs to be, but there are certain things that an attorney general has to have the independence to do free from White House interaction. I remember when I was being considered and I was up for confirmation, I think Pat Leahy said something. Senator Pat Leahy said something. I always kept in my mind that I had to be the Attorney General of the United States. I was not the Secretary of Justice. The Attorney General is different from all other cabinet members. The Justice Department gets into trouble when it allies itself too closely with the White House history has shown us that.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, quite irritated. But, you know, I was irritated with the Republicans not only because of that, but for a whole range of other things as well.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, it's a symbology yesterday. I was held in contempt one day and I woke up the next day and I was still Attorney General of the United States.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Right, and what we did, or what I did, was as a matter of principle, say you're not going to get access to deliberative materials within the Justice Department. Now, all of these documents have now been given to Congress, sessions decided when he became Attorney General to turn all this stuff over. There's been nothing in there. I mean, you only find that I did what I said. I held back stuff that was deliberative in nature. This administration has taken a fundamentally different view, which is to say that we're not going to respond at all to anything that Congress asks us about and the contempt, it seems to me, that they held Barron is far more justified than what happened to me in the fast and furious.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, I was found in contempt with regard to fast and furious, and we made witnesses available. We shared about 8,000 pages of documents, but that wasn't.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, a little more circumspect and say we're going to look at the evidence, we will make a determination on the evidence and the law, and also what the impact of such an event would have on the nation.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think there is a potential cost to the nation by putting on trial a former president, and that ought to at least be a part of the calculus that goes into the determination that has to be made by the next Attorney General. It seems to me this is, first off, a call that ought to be made by the next Attorney General, and then taking input from the president in that regard. But I think we should understand what a trial of a former president would do to the nation. It is the determination, I think, that shaped the determination that Gerald Ford made with regard to.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Individual one is the president, and it would seem to me that the next Attorney General, the next president, is going to have to make a determination.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think there's any question about that. We already have an indictment in the Southern District of New York where Michael”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I mean, you know, we all age, and that's fine. But I think that he did a good job in presenting the results of his investigation.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Thought he laid out in a pretty convincing way what he found in the report. Bob Mueller was never going to be a person who was going to be political or I think Democrats maybe had expectations that were inflated. He's a pretty straight by the book guy who indicated in that press conference that he had that he didn't want to have to testify. The way that he did testify, he relayed important information that I think should be troubling to Americans and should be the basis for action by the House of Representatives.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, my sense is that he's a pretty good lawyer, and my sense also is that he's probably a person with a moral compass. He understood that the things that the president was asking him to do were improper at best, illegal, potentially, and he didn't want to be involved in that kind of scheme.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think it's been waived. I mean, That Magan actually spoke to Bob Mueller, waives the privilege that might have otherwise existed. And I think as a result, we'll have to go through a court process, but I think ultimately he and others will have to testify.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, I think that they should proceed with an impeachment inquiry, an impeachment investigation. That doesn't necessarily commit you to actually impeaching the president. I think that's what people have to understand. I think you could go through a whole proceeding and then make a determination that you're not going to impeach him. You're perhaps going to censure him. There's going to be a sense of the House of Representatives. And in that sense of the House of Representatives, lay out all the things that you have found during the inquiry and not send it to the Senate where I think the Republicans are likely to acquit him, deny him that, but actually lay out for the American people. Put witnesses in front of the American people. I want to see Don Magan testify. I want to see Session.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I'm not sure what his motive was, but I think the impact of having the Attorney General of the United States dissemble, say something inconsistent with what we had an opportunity to examine, did a great deal to harm him and to harm the Justice Department.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, I mean, what Barr did in the two. Public interactions he had with regard to the Mueller report was Totally untruthful. He said things about the report that were totally inconsistent with the things that were contained in the report. And it was really kind of puzzling to me. It was almost like as if, well, we're going to get the report. We're going to be able to read this and compare what you've said to what's in the report.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It was interesting. I actually thought that what Bob Muller said was fair. He thought that because he could not indict the president, the president would not have an ability then to respond to a charge he might make. I was really kind of perplexed then to see the Attorney General say, no, in fact, if Mueller wanted to say that the president could have been indicted, he should have said so. So I think that Bob conducted himself in an appropriate way, barr”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I don't think there's any doubt about that. If you look at just the Mueller report, there are grounds there for impeachment. There were 10 specifications of possible obstruction of justice. I think that at least four of those are pretty solid. The attempt to get Magan to do certain things, try to do things with sessions to take over the investigation. Well, I think there's clearly a basis for impeachment on the basis of Mueller. And then in addition, the emoluments clause stuff.”
2019-09-15 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 347 – Eric Holder (TV) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source