McConnell: Only Holder faces confirmation fight

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Eric
Holder, President-elect Obama’s choice to become attorney general, is the only
Cabinet nominee who will face a tough confirmation fight.

“You know, beyond that, I don’t anticipate trouble for
the new president’s nominees,” McConnell said on National Public Radio on
Friday. “I think most of them are people that we’re familiar with and have
outstanding records.”

{mosads}McConnell said Holder “has got serious questions” to
answer about his role in President Clinton’s pardon of Marc Rich and “some
other matters.”

Holder, as deputy attorney general in 2001, reviewed the
pardon of Rich, who had fled the country to avoid tax evasion and illegal
trading charges. Holder gave it a “neutral, leaning towards favorable” opinion.
Republicans later criticized President Clinton for giving the pardon, noting
that Rich’s wife was one of Clinton’s campaign donors.

Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the top Republican on the
Senate Judiciary Committee, this week criticized Holder as someone who might
not be independent from the president. In a speech on the Senate floor on
Tuesday, Specter compared Holder to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales,
whom Specter had seen as too beholden to President Bush.

Holder’s confirmation hearing before the Judiciary
Committee is scheduled for Jan. 15. Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
delayed the hearing by one week after Specter and Republicans asked for more
time to review Holder’s record.