Eric Holder: ‘No Basis’ for Trump to Investigate FBI Election Meddling

Former Attorney General Eric Holder blasted President Donald Trump’s demand to investigate possible federal meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign as “dangerous” and “democracy threatening” in a message posted Monday afternoon.

“Trump demand for DOJ investigation is dangerous/democracy threatening. DOJ response is disappointing,” Holder lamented on Twitter. “There is no basis/no predicate for an inquiry. It’s time to stand for time-honored DOJ independence. That separation from White House is a critical part of our system.”

On Sunday, President Trump took to Twitter to demand that the Justice Department probe politically-motivated spying on his campaign.

“I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!” the President said Sunday.

“If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action,” Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein said after ordering the Justice Department watchdog to probe whether the FBI’s counterintelligence operation against the Trump campaign was tainted by political bias.

Trump is meeting with FBI Director Christopher Wray, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and DNI Head Dan Coats at the White House on Monday to discuss the Justice Department’s request.

Holder himself benefited from a breach of “time-honored DOJ independence” while Barack Obama was in the Oval Office. President Obama asserted executive privilege to shield an investigation into then-Attorney General Holder and “Fast & Furious,” a DOJ operation which supplied firearms to Mexican cartels — one of which was used to murder Bord Patrol agent Brian Terry. The president’s claim of executive privilege, after lawmakers voted to hold Holder in both civil and criminal contempt of Congress, extended as far as emails between Holder and his wife and mother.