Attorney General Eric Holder told President Barack Obama he would remain for only about a year. It came as a shock to many when President Obama asked him to serve a second term and Mr. Holder wavered a bit on the issue during a speech to University of Baltimore law students.
Mr. Holder’s Department of Justice is filled with controversies. This includes Operation Fast & Furious, the gun-walking operation that placed over 2,000 guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels and was connected to the deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and 300+ Mexican citizens. Another gun walking operation out of Dallas, TX is connected to the death of ICE Agent Jaime Zapata. The House of Representatives voted to hold him in contempt of Congress for not complying with an October 2011 subpoena.
Another controversy that surrounds the DOJ involved the New Black Panthers. The DOJ did not take any action against the New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation and raided the Gibson guitar company twice without bringing charges. Mr. Holder even suggested prosecuting the 9/11 suspects in New York City.
Over a hundred members of Congress have called for Mr. Holder’s resignation.
Replacements are already being bounced around. These include Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Senator Amy Klobuchar, Senator Richard Blumenthal, and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
President Obama doesn’t want to lose his entire cabinet at one time. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton already said she’d be leaving her post.