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The Democratic field, amassing to challenge Donald Trump in 2020, is already huge, but you can add one more to the list: former Attorney General Eric Holder.

Holder already expressed interest in running about a month ago, in an interview with MSNBC, The Washington Free Beacon reports, but last weekend, Holder took part in a panel interview with The Washington Post, and it appeared his initial curiosity has bloomed into full blown interest.

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Instead of merely saying that he's considering a run, Holder appeared to be attempting to justify entering the crowded field making an argument as to why we need an Eric Holder in the race, rather than Eric Holder-alikes, like former California AG-turned-Senator, Kamala Harris.

When asked about why he would run, Holder answered, "Because I care a great deal about this country. Ive spent the vast majority of my professional life in public service. I think I've got ideas that I hope would resonate with the American people."

"I think I've got the guts to potentially do the things that I think the next president would have to do," Holder continued.

He then quoted Rev. Martin Luther King, suggesting that he would be the one to "bend the arc towards justice," by taking "definitive," quick action to reverse the Trump administration's agenda.

Frankly, Holder, despite his best efforts at building name recognition these past several months, probably isn't the Democrats' best bet to retake the White House. Nearly all of the scandals that plagued the Obama White House originated within Holder's Justice Department, and Holder would be forced to explain, say, why American guns ended up in the hands of Mexican drug lords.

Holder's apparent ambitions speak to a larger strategy, though, on the part of former President Barack Obama and his allies, designed to sustain and even repair Obama's legacy after leaving office. Beyond Holder, Obama's other top aides seem desperate to pin Trump's victory as a triumph of the worst parts of America over their "hopeful" agenda, and not a full-on rebuke of the Obama vision.

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Is Eric Holder Considering A Run For President In 2020 ...

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

President Barack Obamas attorney general who once described himself as his presidents wing man showed up on television over the weekend to brag that unlike Attorney General Jeff Sessions he had the pleasure of serving a president I did not have to protect. The man is either suffering from early onset dementia or lying to rewrite history.

As those outside the confines of the Democratic Party might remember, Eric Holder has the distinction of being the only attorney general in history ever held in contempt of Congress. The charges stemmed from his stonewalling and lying to Congress as he scrambled to keep investigators away from any evidence that might link a major Obama administration scandal directly to the White House.

Maybe thats what a presidents wing man does and Mr. Obama certainly got protection from Mr. Holder whenever he needed it. Mr. Holder has actually always been prone to confusing loyalty to the law and to his boss for decades.

After serving as a U.S. attorney, he moved to main Justice as deputy attorney general during the Clinton years and was key to Mr. Clintons pardon of billionaire fugitive Marc Rich just before he left office. The New York Times called the Rich pardon a shocking abuse of presidential power.

Marc Rich made much of his money by illegally buying $200 million dollars worth of embargoed Iranian oil while that country was holding 53 Americans hostage. He made secret and incredibly profitable deals with the apartheid regime in South Africa and the totalitarian governments of Libya and North Korea, and when indicted, owed the U.S. some $48 million in taxes.

Mr. Rich and his cronies were major contributors to the Bill Clinton machine and many believed that they bought Mr. Rich the pardon President Clinton signed just before turning the Oval Office over to George W. Bush in 2001.

The president has the authority to issue pardons on his own, but virtually all pardons come only after consultations with Justice Department officials and the prosecutors who bring the charges in the first place. Justice or anyone in the building save Mr. Holder would have opposed the Rich pardon had they known it was in the works, but Mr. Holder, then serving as Mr. Clintons wing man, kept them all out of the loop for more than two months until it was a fait accompli.

The outrage at Mr. Holders role in the pardon scandal shook him so badly that he told a Washington Post reporter Im done. Public life is over for me, adding that all he wanted to do was crawl into bed and pull the covers up over my head. The country would have been better off had he done so, but it was not to be.

Looking for his own wing man in 2009, President Barack Obama resurrected Mr. Holder over the objections of fellow liberals like columnist Richard Cohen who were appalled at his role in the Rich pardon. Mr. Obama sent Mr. Holder right back to Justice to cover for him the way he had for Mr. Clinton.

In no time the Justice Department with Mr. Holder at the helm dropped a lawsuit against the New Black Panther Party for voter intimidation, refused to prosecute Lois Lerner when it was revealed that her division of the IRS was targeting Tea Party and other conservative organizations for ideological and political reasons, and blocked the Fast & Furious gun walking investigation that resulted in more than 60 deaths and earned him his contempt of Congress citation.

The former attorney general confided to those tuning in over the weekend that Special Counsel Robert Mueller is a close friend who has already decided to indict President Donald Trump for obstruction of justice, but is waiting because he doesnt yet have the evidence yet. Thats certainly the way Mr. Holders Justice worked and he no doubt believes Mr. Mueller approaches investigations looking for evidence to support conclusions already reached.

Mr. Trump can only hope that Mr. Mueller takes his job and oath more seriously. Still, if Mr. Holder is the close friend he claims to be his remarks should convince Mr. Mueller that he like the rest of us would certainly be better off if his friend would even at this late date crawl into bed and pull up the covers.

David A. Keene is an editor at large for The Washington Times.

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Eric Holder, Obama's 'wing man' - Washington Times

Eric Holder, who served as attorney general during the majority of the Obama administration, made a prediction about the conclusion of special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election on Friday.

And President Donald Trump will not like it.

Speaking on HBOs Real Time with Bill Maher Friday, Holder implied that Muellers investigation would end with a grand jury indicting Trump for obstruction of justice.

You technically have an obstruction of justice case that already exists. Ive known Bob Mueller for 20, 30 years. My guess is hes just trying to make the case as good as he possibly can. So, I think that we have to be patient in that regard, Holder explained, according to The Hill.

Holder did not explain what evidence exists to accuse the president of such a high crime.

The former attorney general went on to bash Trump for not adequately responding to or preventing Russian interference in American elections, which Holder also predicted would continue in the 2018 midterm elections, the 2020 presidential election and beyond.

Hes done nothing to hold the Russians accountable in spite of the fact that this dysfunctional Congress passed sanctions that he has refused to implement, Holder claimed.

And that for me is breathtaking, unforgivable and ultimately something the American people have to hold him responsible for, he added.

Its no secret that Muellers investigation appears to have focused itself on the Trump campaign and those around it instead of actually pursuing Russian interference in the election. But many Trump opponents continue to propagate the obstruction of justice claim with little evidence to back their claims.

Mostly, they claim that Trumps decision to fire James Comey as FBI director last May constitutes obstruction. However, many legal expert, such as liberal Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, says no obstruction case exists.

He explained on Fox and Friends last December:

You cannot charge a president with obstruction of justice for exercising his constitutional power to fire Comey and his constitutional authority to tell the Justice Department who to investigate, who not to investigate. Thats what Thomas Jefferson did, thats what Lincoln did, thats what Roosevelt did. We have precedents that clearly establish that.

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Eric Holder makes surprising prediction about Mueller ...

Former Attorney General Eric Holder said he "did not have to protect" former President Barack Obama from scandals, in contrast to the numerous issues that have dogged President Donald Trump during his presidency, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

The comment took place during an appearance Holder made on "Real Time With Bill Maher" Friday. Late last year Trump praised Holder in a New York Times interview, where he also lamented Attorney General Jeff Sessions for leaving him exposed to federal investigation over claims of collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russian officials.

"Holder protected President Obama. Totally protected him," Trump told the Times in December. "And I have great respect for that."

"Did you protect President Obama?" Maher asked Holder on Friday.

"The difference between me and Jeff Sessions is I had a president I did not have to protect," Holder answered, using nearly the same answer he gave the Post in an interview last month.

However, some have said Holder did indeed protect Obama during his presidency. In 2012, Holder was the first sitting attorney general to be held in both civil and criminal contempt of Congress in a bipartisan 255 to 67 vote for failing to turn over documents related to a botched ATF gun-running investigation, commonly known as Fast and Furious.

He also refused to appoint a special counsel to investigate claims people close to Obama were leaking classified information to reporters. Holder instead putting two U.S. attorneys in charge of the probe, the Post reported in June 2012.

During Obama's presidency, no Republican-led investigation took place regarding questions about him or his administration.

By contrast, the Russia probe of Trump and former campaign associates has continued since May of last year with speculation special counsel Robert Mueller is gathering information towards an obstruction-of-justice case against the president, the Post reported.

"I've known Bob Mueller for 20 or 30 years," Holder told Maher. "My guess is he's just trying to make the case as good as he possibly can."

Late last month Holder did not rule out the possibility he could run for president in 2020 in an interview with the Post.

"I care a great deal about this country," Holder said. "I think I've got ideas that I hope would resonate with the American people. I think I've got the guts to potentially do the things that I think the next president would have to do."

However, he added that statement "doesn't mean ultimately" he was going to run.

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Eric Holder on Obama: 'I Had a President I Did Not Have to ...

Serving under President Barack Obama, Eric Holder was the first African-American attorney general of the United States.

Eric Holder was born on January 21, 1951 in New York City. He attended Columbia Law School. Holder was an associate judge of the D.C. Superior Court under President Reagan; U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., then deputy attorney general under Clinton; and for Obama, Holder was senior legal advisor to his presidential campaign, later becoming the first African-American Attorney General in history. He announced his forthcoming resignation in September of 2014, succeeded in 2015 by Loretta Lynch.

Judge, lawyer, political advisor. Born Eric Himpton Holder, Jr. on January 2, 1951, to parents Eric and Miriam Holder in New York City. His mother was a telephone operator and his father was a real estate broker. His parents both held strong ties to Barbados; previously his father had emigrated from Saint Joseph, and his mother's family emigrated from Saint Philip. The eldest of two brothers, Holder grew up in the predominantly black neighborhood of East Elmhurst, Queens.

Holder attended a public school in his neighborhood until the fourth grade, when he was selected to participate in a program for intellectually gifted children. The school consisted of predominantly white students, which Holder says forced him to keep his "foot in both worlds." This only became more apparent when it came time to attend high school. While his friends at home chose to attend public schools in Queens, Holder's white schoolmates were taking an exam to enter the city's most elite institutions. Holder got into the prestigious Stuyvesant High School, an hour-and-a-half commute from his home, which pulled him even farther away from his neighborhood friends and community.

Holder says he concentrated mainly on his studies in high school, and felt overwhelmed by the rigorous academic demands placed on him at Stuyvesant. But the young man stayed well rounded; he was selected as the captain of the basketball team, and in 1969 he earned his high school diploma, as well as a Regents Scholarship.

That same year, Holder entered college at Columbia University. He played freshman basketball, attended shows at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, spent Saturdays mentoring local kids, and became active in civil rights. He received his bachelor's degree in American history from Columbia University in 1973. In 1974, he began attending Columbia Law School while also clerking for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Department of Justice's Criminal Division.

In 1976, Holder earned his law degree, and the Department of Justice gave him a job as part of the attorney general's honors program. He was assigned to the newly formed Public Integrity Section, which investigated and prosecuted official corruption on the local, state and federal levels.

In 1988, Holder was nominated by former President Ronald Reagan to become an associate judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. During this time he presided over hundreds of civil and criminal trials. Holder was then nominated by President Bill Clinton to serve as the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. in 1993. He was the first African American to hold the position. During his four-year term, he created a domestic violence unit, a community prosecution project and a program for restricting gun laws.

In 1997, Holder made history yet again when President Clinton nominated him to be the deputy attorney general. Holder was quickly confirmed several months later by a unanimous vote in the Senate. He was the first African American elected to the position as well as the highest-ranking black person in law enforcement in the history of the United States at that time.

As deputy attorney general, Holder developed and issued the "Holder Memorandum," which spelled out the guidelines for the criminal prosecution of corporations. He also developed rules for the regulation of health care, and assembled a task force that determined how to investigate criminal investigations of high-ranking federal employees.

At the president's request, Holder created the organization, Lawyers for One America. The group was designed to bring greater diversity to the law profession and increase pro bono work among the nation's lawyers. Holder also briefly served under President George W. Bush as Acting Attorney General, during the pending confirmation of Attorney General John Ashcroft.

After serving in this position for four years, Holder joined the private sector to work at the law firm Covington and Burling LLC, in 2001. He represented clients such as the National Football League during its investigation of quarterback Michael Vick, and the negotiation of an agreement with the Justice Department for Chiquita Brands International.

In addition to his normal workload, Holder serves on a number of philanthropic boards, including the Columbia University board, the Save the Children Foundation, and Concerned Black Men, a group that seeks to help troubled youth in D.C. He has also been nationally recognized for his work in law; he was featured in the 2007 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, and in 2008 he was named by The National Law Journal as one of "The Most 50 Influential Minority Lawyers in America" as well as by Legal Times for being one of the "Greatest Washington Lawyers of the Past 30 Years."

In late 2007, Holder joined Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign as a senior legal advisor, and later served as one of three members on Obama's vice-presidential selection committee. Holder was appointed and confirmed as the 82nd U.S. attorney general in 2009, making him the first African-American attorney general in history.

With a tenure marked by civil rights work and calls to speak more openly about racial discrimination in the U.S., Holder also faced major controversy over the case of missing documents in relation to Operation Fast and Furious, which focused on tracking the sales of arms among Mexican drug cartels.

In August of 2014, Holder visited Ferguson, Missouri in the wake of the shooting death of an unarmed African-American male by police officer Darren Wilson, with differing accounts of the incident. With waves of protests and both a police and national guard presence, Holder launched a Justice Department inquiry into the killing, ultimatelycorroborating Wilson's account of what happenedruling and declaring that he had not committed any civil rights violations. However, after reviewingFerguson's overall policing practices,the Justice Department found rampant constitutional violations that included unwarranted use of force and arrests of a population under duress, with racist slurs and images found in official governmental emails as well.

On September 25, 2014, the Justice Dept. announced that Holder would be resigning from his position, with an exit from his post having been in the works. Loretta Lynch succeeded Holder as attorney general in spring of the following year.

Holder is married to obstetrician Sharon Malone. The couple has three children: Maya, Brooke and Eric. They reside in Washington, D.C.

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Eric Holder - Legal Professional - Biography