Judiciary Republicans have concerns about pick for Holder’s No. 2

Attorney General Eric Holder’s choice to fill the No. 2 post
at the Justice Department will face hostile Judiciary Committee Republicans
during his confirmation hearing Tuesday.

James Cole, a personal friend of Holder and top white-collar criminal defense
attorney at Bryan Cave, served as a former federal prosecutor at the Justice
Department’s Public Integrity Division during the Bill Clinton administration.

{mosads}But Cole, 57, may be best known for his role in a yearlong
investigation into former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1996, when
Cole served as special counsel to the House ethics committee.

The panel found that Gingrich had misused tax-exempt funds
and provided false information to the committee. The findings led to a harsh rebuke
of Gingrich and House lawmakers voted 395-28 to reprimand and fine him
$300,000.

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary expressed concerns about Cole in late May
immediately after the administration announced his nomination. They are
expected to raise issues with his work as a government-imposed monitor at
insurance giant AIG.

“There are already some areas of concern, such as Mr. Cole’s work monitoring
the activities of failed insurance giant AIG beginning in 2006 – which later
received a massive $182.3 bailout, at a current estimated cost to taxpayers of
$45 billion,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said in a release. “How he performed
at that job is directly relevant to his qualifications and will need to be
closely examined.”

In responses on his Senate Judiciary Committee
questionnaire, Cole said in notes for a speech that he was “not received as a
member of the family” when he began his work as a monitor at AIG in 2005.

Holder made a pitch Thursday for the Senate to confirm Cole as deputy attorney
general, a job he said is extremely important to the running of the Justice
Department.

“Jim is gong to be a great deputy attorney general,” Holder said during a news
conference to discuss a recent drug bust. “I’ve known him for a good number of
years; we worked together a long time ago in [Justice’s] Public Integrity
Section. To have him on board in a
confirmed position, in confirmed status, is extremely important to the running
of the Justice Department.”

Republicans likely will grill Cole about his representation of Saudi Prince
Naif bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud after insurance carriers and Sept. 11 survivors
tried to sue him and others after allegations surfaced that they had been
involved in financing terrorists.

As the second-highest official at
Justice, Cole would manage the day-to-day operations of tens of thousands of
its employees nationwide and would likely help Holder with requests for
testimony before Congress. He would also likely play a key role in decisions
involving terrorist prosecutions. The Justice Department has yet to announce a
new venue for the trial of self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed and other 9/11 terrorism suspects after revising original plans to
prosecute them in New York City.

Holder also recently announced plans to revise the Miranda
law in a way that allows greater flexibility to question suspects in terrorism
cases. Republicans have blasted Holder for reading the failed Christmas Day
bomber his Miranda rights just hours after ascertaining him and beginning to question
him.

Holder’s previous deputy, David Ogden, left Justice in February after serving
less than a year. Ogden led Obama’s transition team for the Justice Department, but officials said he and Holder did not work well together and that Ogden
agreed last fall to step down.