By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON – Former FBI director Louis J. Freeh has written a glowing letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee endorsing nominee Eric H. Holder Jr. for Attorney General, saying he “displayed total integrity” as a high-ranking Justice Department official when President Clinton and other senior members were subjects of a grand jury probe.
In a two-page letter dated Jan. 7, Freeh wrote:
“As the Senate Committee on the Judiciary well remembers, my tenure as FBI Director required that the Bureau and I initiate a series of the most sensitive criminal investigations where the President of the United States, who appointed me, and other senior members of the Administration were subjects of grand jury inquiry.
“During this highly-charged time, Eric served as United States Attorney for Washington, D.C., and later as Deputy Attorney General. In my then position of FBI Director , I worked closely and directly with Eric and had the unique opportunity to observe and evaluate all of his actions in connection with the execution of these criminal investigations.
“In all, Eric’s interaction with me as FBI Director, as well as his close coordination with my Deputy and other Assistant Directors, who also had extensive and sometimes daily contact with him, Eric always displayed total integrity, courageous leadership, complete fairness and, once again and most importantly, political independence.”
Freeh said after left the FBI and became the general counsel for MBNA America Bank in Wilmington, De., he retained Holder — who had gone into private practice — as outside counsel for the bank.
“As General Counsel, I could have engaged any lawyer in America to represent our bank. I chose Eric for all the same reasons I described above: his excellent legal skills, complete integrity, sense of fairness, courage, and most importantly, my confidence he would provide me with his independent judgment without fear or favor.”
The Senate Judiciary begins confirmation hearings for Jan. 15 for Holder, 57, who is an attorney in Washington for the law firm Covington & Burling.
