Attorney General Eric Holder is speaking his mind in his final days in office, swiping at GOP antagonists and leaving the Department of Justice on his own terms.
Holder has ridiculed Senate Republicans for delaying the nomination of his successor, Loretta Lynch, arguing it is only keeping a man that the House in 2012 held in contempt of Congress in office longer.
You would actually think that her process would be sped up given their desire to see me out of office, he said at the National Press Club last month. Be that as it may, logic has never been necessarily a guide up there.
I think its a little irresponsible for people on the Hill to say that policy differences that we have with them or decisions that we have made that are not consistent with the way they view the world can be characterized as political, he said at a news conference last month. There is no politicization of this Justice Department. Im proud of the work that weve done over the past six years, the historic things that we have done.
Observers have noticed Holders bolder than ever approach and suggest the attorney general is free to speak his mind now that hes on the way out and Obama wont face voters again.
Now that he is free of the political requirements of his job and he doesnt have to worry about maintaining any relationships that exist, he is absolutely enjoying having fun poking and prodding and jabbing Republicans, said John Hudak, a fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution.
Holder has become more outspoken on the issue of race as he prepares to leave behind several legacy projects addressing racial profiling and patterns of bias at local police departments.
In one of several exit interviews hes given over the past six weeks, Holder said he thinks race has been a motivating factor behind Republican criticism of his record.
There have been times when I thought thats at least a piece of it, Holder told Politico.
In December, he announced the release of revised racial profiling guidance for federal law enforcement officials, and last week he unveiled a new pilot program for studying biased law enforcement practices in six cities.
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Holder goes out swinging