New special counsel has long career confronting corruption in FBI, DOJ
This undated photo provided by the House Appropriations Committee shows Eric Holder, nominee to lead the Justice Department. Holder, the White House and others want to keep oversight from the FBI, DOJ and other parts of the Justice Department from Congress. Holder’s confirmation hearings will take place Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2013, after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination by a party-line vote of 27-13. (The White House via AP)
The Senate’s top intelligence committee will vote Wednesday to confirm Eric Holder, President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the nation’s top law enforcement agency, as the next head of the nation’s top law enforcement agency.
Holder’s confirmation hearings will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 30, after the Senate Judiciary Committee approved his nomination by a party-line vote of 27-13.
The panel voted 8-3, with Democrats Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voting no. The other Republican, Johnny Isakson of Georgia, was absent from the meeting, which marked the first time a majority of all senators — including the minority — have voted to confirm Holder in the post he’s been nominated for.
Holder’s confirmation would give Attorney General Eric Holder’s administration significant control over the Justice Department, setting up a potential clash with congressional Republicans that has emerged as the Senate considers whether to confirm the nomination.
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing will begin at 9 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) Wednesday in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., is the committee’s top Republican.
Holder, who was appointed the first African-American U.S. attorney general, has served as a top antitrust official, in charge of the Securities and Exchange Commission and as the U.S. attorney general, first for the Eastern District of Virginia and then for the District of Columbia.
The White House has defended the nomination as well as efforts to get Holder confirmed by pointing to two earlier Obama appointees who have served as head of the Justice Department.
Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who served from 2005 to 2006,
