title: White Army

text: At the same time, in June 1918, the Provisional Siberian Government in Novo-Nikolaevsk created the Siberian Army. Initially, it was called the West Siberian Volunteer Army. From June to December 1918, the headquarters of the Siberian Army was the general headquarters for the entire White Movement of Siberia.


title: White Army

text: In August 1918, the Supreme Administration of the Northern Region in Arkhangelsk created troops of the Northern Region, sometimes referred to as the Northern Army (not to be confused with General Rodzyanko's Northern Army).


title: White Army

text: In January 1919, the Don and Volunteer Armies were combined into the Armed Forces of the South of Russia.


title: White Army

text: In June 1919, the Northern Army was created from Russian officers and soldiers of the Northern Corps, who left the Estonian army. A month later, the army was renamed the Northwest.


title: White Army

text: On 14 October 1918, Minister of War Alexander Kolchak arrived in Omsk. On 18 November 1918 he was proclaimed the Supreme Ruler of Russia, who also assumed the supreme command of all the land and naval forces of Russia. He made a substantial reorganization of the forces of the White movement and carried out its integration into a single Russian Army on 23 September 1918. On 4 November Kolchak became part of the Russian Government.


title: White Army

text: As the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Admiral Kolchak is recognized by all the commanders of the white armies both in the south and west of Russia, as well as in Siberia and the Far East; generals Anton Denikin, Yevgeny Miller, Nikolai Yudenich voluntarily submit to Alexander Kolchak and recognize his Supreme High Command over all armies in Russia. The supreme commander at the same time confirms the authority of the commanders. From this moment, the Armed Forces of the South of Russia, the Northwestern Army, the Northern Army, and the Eastern Front have been operating on the fronts of this single army.


title: White Army

text: The name "Russian Army" is approved as the union of all white fronts, the status of commanders of the fronts formally from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief is received by the commanders of the North and Northwest Armies Generals Yudenich and Miller. In April 1920, the Far Eastern Army was created in Transbaikalia from the remnants of the troops of the Eastern Front under the leadership of General Grigory Semenov.


title: White Army

text: Out of the remnants of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia that left for Crimea in May 1920, General Wrangel formed the armed forces that inherited the name "Russian Army" from the single Russian army of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Admiral Kolchak of 1919 – as the last of its fronts.


title: White Army

text: In 1921, from the remnants of the Far Eastern Army of General Semyonov in Primorye, the White Rebel Army was formed, later renamed the Zemsky Army, since the Amur Zemsky Government was created in Vladivostok in 1922.


title: White Army

text: On a voluntary basis, they were staffed not only from officers of the Russian Imperial Army and Navy, but also from all comers. It was both in the South – in the Volunteer Army, and in Siberia, for example – the division of the Labor Corps.


title: White Army

text: On a mobilization basis, they drew from the population of controlled territories and from captured Red Army soldiers.


title: White Army

text: The strength of the white armies fighting against the Red Army, according to intelligence estimates, by June 1919 was about 683,000. However, together with auxiliary and staff units, it could exceed 1,023,000 people. A significant part of the white forces was on contentment. Combat units amounted to only half of this figure. After that, the number of white armies began to decline steadily.


title: White Army

text: All of them had their own uniforms and insignia, often copied from the uniform of the guard units of the Russian Imperial Army.


title: White Army

text: According to supporters of the White movement, the White Guard is a military man devoted to his ideals (even though the officer, though the ordinary), who was ready to defend his Motherland and his specific ideas about duty, honour and justice with arms in hand.


title: Catecholamine

text: A catecholamine (; abbreviated CA) is a monoamine neurotransmitter, an organic compound that has a catechol (benzene with two hydroxyl side groups next to each other) and a side-chain amine.


title: Catecholamine

text: Catechol can be either a free molecule or a substituent of a larger molecule, where it represents a 1,2-dihydroxybenzene group.


title: Catecholamine

text: Catecholamines are derived from the amino acid tyrosine, which is derived from dietary sources as well as synthesis from phenylalanine. Catecholamines are water-soluble and are 50% bound to plasma proteins in circulation.


title: Catecholamine

text: Included among catecholamines are epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and dopamine. Release of the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine from the adrenal medulla of the adrenal glands is part of the fight-or-flight response.


title: Catecholamine

text: Tyrosine is created from phenylalanine by hydroxylation by the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase. Tyrosine is also ingested directly from dietary protein. Catecholamine-secreting cells use several reactions to convert tyrosine serially to -DOPA and then to dopamine. Depending on the cell type, dopamine may be further converted to norepinephrine or even further converted to epinephrine.


title: Catecholamine

text: Catecholamines have the distinct structure of a benzene ring with two hydroxyl groups, an intermediate ethyl chain, and a terminal amine group. Phenylethanolamines such as norepinephrine have a hydroxyl group on the ethyl chain.


title: Catecholamine

text: Catecholamines are produced mainly by the chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla and the postganglionic fibers of the sympathetic nervous system. Dopamine, which acts as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, is largely produced in neuronal cell bodies in two areas of the brainstem: the ventral tegmental area and the substantia nigra, the latter of which contains neuromelanin-pigmented neurons. The similarly neuromelanin-pigmented cell bodies of the locus coeruleus produce norepinephrine. Epinephrine is produced in small groups of neurons in the human brain which express its synthesizing enzyme, phenylethanolamine "N"-methyltransferase; these neurons project from a nucleus that is adjacent (ventrolateral) to the area postrema and from a nucleus in the dorsal region of the solitary tract.


title: Catecholamine

text: Dopamine is the first catecholamine synthesized from DOPA. In turn, norepinephrine and epinephrine are derived from further metabolic modification of dopamine. The enzyme dopamine hydroxylase requires copper as a cofactor (not shown in the diagram) and DOPA decarboxylase requires PLP (not shown in the diagram). The rate limiting step in catecholamine biosynthesis through the predominant metabolic pathway is the hydroxylation of -tyrosine to -DOPA.


title: Catecholamine

text: Catecholamine synthesis is inhibited by alpha-methyl-"p"-tyrosine (AMPT), which inhibits tyrosine hydroxylase.


title: Catecholamine

text: The amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine are precursors for catecholamines. Both amino acids are found in high concentrations in blood plasma and the brain. In mammals, tyrosine can be formed from dietary phenylalanine by the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase, found in large amounts in the liver. Insufficient amounts of phenylalanine hydroxylase result in phenylketonuria, a metabolic disorder that leads to intellectual deficits unless treated by dietary manipulation. Catecholamine synthesis is usually considered to begin with tyrosine. The enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) converts the amino acid -tyrosine into 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (-DOPA). The hydroxylation of -tyrosine by TH results in the formation of the DA precursor -DOPA, which is metabolized by aromatic -amino acid decarboxylase (AADC; see Cooper et al., 2002) to the transmitter dopamine. This step occurs so rapidly that it is difficult to measure -DOPA in the brain without first inhibiting AADC. In neurons that use DA as the transmitter, the decarboxylation of -DOPA to dopamine is the final step in formation of the transmitter; however, in those neurons using norepinephrine (noradrenaline) or epinephrine (adrenaline) as transmitters, the enzyme dopamine β-hydroxylase (DBH), which converts dopamine to yield norepinephrine, is also present. In still other neurons in which epinephrine is the transmitter, a third enzyme phenylethanolamine "N"-methyltransferase (PNMT) converts norepinephrine into epinephrine. Thus, a cell that uses epinephrine as its transmitter contains four enzymes (TH, AADC, DBH, and PNMT), whereas norepinephrine neurons contain only three enzymes (lacking PNMT) and dopamine cells only two (TH and AADC).


title: Catecholamine

text: Catecholamines have a half-life of a few minutes when circulating in the blood. They can be degraded either by methylation by catechol-"O"-methyltransferases (COMT) or by deamination by monoamine oxidases (MAO).


title: Catecholamine

text: Catabolism of catecholamines is mediated by two main enzymes: catechol-"O"-methyltransferase (COMT) which is present in the synaptic cleft and cytosol of the cell and monoamine oxidase (MAO) which is located in the mitochondrial membrane. Both enzymes require cofactors: COMT uses Mg as a cofactor while MAO uses FAD. The first step of the catabolic process is mediated by either MAO or COMT which depends on the tissue and location of catecholamines (for example degradation of catecholamines in the synaptic cleft is mediated by COMT because MAO is a mitochondrial enzyme). The next catabolic steps in the pathway involve alcohol dehydrogenase, aldehyde dehydrogenase and aldehyde reductase. The end product of epinephrine and norepinephrine is vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) which is excreted in the urine. Dopamine catabolism leads to the production of homovanillic acid (HVA).


title: Catecholamine

text: Two catecholamines, norepinephrine and dopamine, act as neuromodulators in the central nervous system and as hormones in the blood circulation. The catecholamine norepinephrine is a neuromodulator of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system but is also present in the blood (mostly through "spillover" from the synapses of the sympathetic system).


title: Catecholamine

text: High catecholamine levels in blood are associated with stress, which can be induced from psychological reactions or environmental stressors such as elevated sound levels, intense light, or low blood sugar levels.


title: Catecholamine

text: Extremely high levels of catecholamines (also known as catecholamine toxicity) can occur in central nervous system trauma due to stimulation or damage of nuclei in the brainstem, in particular, those nuclei affecting the sympathetic nervous system. In emergency medicine, this occurrence is widely known as a "catecholamine dump".


title: Catecholamine

text: Extremely high levels of catecholamine can also be caused by neuroendocrine tumors in the adrenal medulla, a treatable condition known as pheochromocytoma.


title: Catecholamine

text: High levels of catecholamines can also be caused by monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) deficiency, known as Brunner syndrome. As MAO-A is one of the enzymes responsible for degradation of these neurotransmitters, its deficiency increases the bioavailability of these neurotransmitters considerably. It occurs in the absence of pheochromocytoma, neuroendocrine tumors, and carcinoid syndrome, but it looks similar to carcinoid syndrome with symptoms such as facial flushing and aggression.


title: Catecholamine

text: Catecholamines cause general physiological changes that prepare the body for physical activity (the fight-or-flight response). Some typical effects are increases in heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose levels, and a general reaction of the sympathetic nervous system. Some drugs, like tolcapone (a central COMT-inhibitor), raise the levels of all the catecholamines. Increased catecholamines may also cause an increased respiratory rate (tachypnoea) in patients.


title: Catecholamine

text: Catecholamine is secreted into urine after being broken down, and its secretion level can be measured for the diagnosis of illnesses associated with catecholamine levels in the body. Urine testing for catecholamine is used to detect pheochromocytoma.


title: Catecholamine

text: Catecholamines are secreted by cells in tissues of different systems of the human body, mostly by the nervous and the endocrine systems. The adrenal glands secrete certain catecholamines into the blood when the person is physically or mentally stressed and this is usually a healthy physiological response. However, acute or chronic excess of circulating catecholamines can potentially increase blood pressure and heart rate to very high levels and eventually provoke dangerous effects. Tests for fractionated plasma free metanephrines or the urine metanephrines are used to confirm or exclude certain diseases when the doctor identifies signs of hypertension and tachycardia that don't adequately respond to treatment. Each of the tests measure the amount of adrenaline and noradrenaline metabolites, respectively called metanephrine and normetanephrine.


title: Catecholamine

text: Catecholamine tests are done to identify rare tumors at the adrenal gland or in the nervous system. Catecholamine tests provide information relative to tumors such as: pheochromocytoma, paraganglioma, and neuroblastoma.


title: Manilkara zapota

text: Manilkara zapota, commonly known as sapodilla (), sapote, naseberry, nispero or chicle, is a long-lived, evergreen tree native to southern Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. An example natural occurrence is in coastal Yucatán in the Petenes mangroves ecoregion, where it is a subdominant plant species. It was introduced to the Philippines during Spanish colonization. It is grown in large quantities in Mexico and in tropical Asia including India, Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh.


title: Manilkara zapota

text: The specific epithet "zapota" is from the Spanish , which ultimately derives from the Nahuatl word "tzapotl".


title: Manilkara zapota

text: Sapodilla can grow to more than tall with a trunk diameter of up to . The average height of cultivated specimens, however, is usually between with a trunk diameter not exceeding . It is wind-resistant and the bark is rich in a white, gummy latex called chicle. The ornamental leaves are medium green and glossy. They are alternate, elliptic to ovate, long, with an entire margin. The white flowers are inconspicuous and bell-like, with a six-lobed corolla. An unripe fruit has a firm outer skin and when picked, releases white chicle from its stem. A fully ripened fruit has saggy skin and does not release chicle when picked.


title: Manilkara zapota

text: The fruit is a large berry, in diameter. Inside, its flesh ranges from a pale yellow to an earthy brown color with a grainy texture akin to that of a well-ripened pear. Each fruit contains one to six seeds. The seeds are hard, glossy, and black, resembling beans, with a hook at one end that can catch in the throat if swallowed.


title: Manilkara zapota

text: The fruit has an exceptionally sweet, malty flavor. The unripe fruit is hard to the touch and contains high amounts of saponin, which has astringent properties similar to tannin, drying out the mouth.


title: Manilkara zapota

text: The trees can survive only in warm, typically tropical environments, dying easily if the temperature drops below freezing. From germination, the sapodilla tree will usually take anywhere from five to eight years to bear fruit. The sapodilla trees yield fruit twice a year, though flowering may continue year round.


title: Manilkara zapota

text: Other common names in English for "Manilkara zapota" include bully tree, sawo, marmalade palm and chiku.


title: Manilkara zapota

text: Compounds extracted from the leaves showed anti-diabetic, antioxidant and hypocholesterolemic (cholesterol-lowering) effects in rats.


title: Manilkara zapota

text: Acetone extracts of the seeds exhibited "in vitro" antibacterial effects against strains of "Pseudomonas oleovorans" and "Vibrio cholerae".


title: Manilkara zapota

text: The fruit is edible and a favorite in the tropical Americas. Chicle from the bark is used to make chewing gum.


title: Amapiano

text: Amapiano (Zulu for "the pianos") is a style of house music that emerged in South Africa in the mid 2010s. It is a hybrid of deep house, jazz and lounge music characterized by synths and wide percussive basslines.


title: Amapiano

text: It is distinguished by high-pitched piano melodies, Kwaito basslines, low tempo 1990s South African house rhythms and percussions from another local subgenre of house known as Tribal house.


title: Amapiano

text: Although the genre gained popularity in Katlehong, the township east of Johannesburg, there is a lot of ambiguity and debate concerning its origins, with various accounts of the musical styles in the Johannesburg townships – Soweto, Alexandra, Vosloorus and Katlehong. Because of the genre's similarities with Bacardi, some people assert the genre began in Pretoria. Various accounts as to who formed the popular genre make it impossible to accurately pinpoint its origins.


title: Amapiano

text: An important element of the genre is the use of the "log drum", a wide percussive bassline, whose creation has been attributed to MDU aka TRP. Amapiano pioneer Kabza De Small stated:


title: Amapiano

text: I don’t know what happened. I don't know how he figured out the log drum. Amapiano music has always been there, but he’s the one who came up with the log drum sound. These boys like experimenting. They always check out new plug-ins. So when Mdu figured it out, he ran with it.


title: Amapiano

text: In 2019, the genre experienced increased popularity across the African continent with noted increases in digital streams and chart successes in countries far from its South African origin.


title: Amapiano

text: In 2022, the American online music store Beatport added the genre to its platform with it own dedicated charts and playlists.


title: Amapiano

text: The genre was popular amongst young people on the platform TikTok, which saw various dance challenges being made, which fueled the dancing scene in South Africa.


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: Grace Zabriskie (' Caplinger"'; born May 17, 1941) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Sarah Palmer in "Twin Peaks" (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel "" (1992), Lois Henrickson in "Big Love", as well as in cult films such as two of David Lynch's films: Juana Durango in "Wild at Heart" (1990) and Visitor #1 in "Inland Empire" (2006). Other film roles include "Nickel Mountain" (1984), "Child's Play 2" (1990), and "The Grudge" (2004). She is also known for her recurring roles in "Seinfeld" and "Charmed".


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: Zabriskie was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of Marion Grace ("née" Zabriskie), of Wyckoff, New Jersey, and Roger Thomas "Tom" Caplinger. Her mother had distant Polish and Dutch ancestry, and was a relative of James Zabriskie, a 19th-century railroad industrialist and early pioneer of California. Zabriskie has said that her family was visited by Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal and Truman Capote during her childhood. Her father owned the famous French quarter gay bar, Cafe Lafitte in Exile.


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: In the early 1960s, Zabriskie was among a circle of Kerry Thornley's New Orleans friends. At one point, Thornley began work on a novel about her called "Can Grace Come Out and Play?" Thornley later claimed to have had an "eight-year-long, off-again-on-again, affair/friendship/rivalry/ego-game/karmic unraveling" with her, though Zabriskie described it as "four and a half minutes in bed" after a discussion on the exclusion of sex from their friendship—shared with Zabriskie's then-husband, Rob—as being "irrational".


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: Her sister, Lane Caplinger, worked as a typist in New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison's office. Caplinger is reputed to have covertly produced all five copies of the first edition of the "Principia Discordia" in 1965.


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: After making her major film debut in "Norma Rae", Zabriskie went on to appear in dozens of other works, including the 1981 Roger Corman horror film "Galaxy of Terror" and the 1981 miniseries adaptation of John Steinbeck's "East of Eden". She played the nanny in "The Private Eyes", Debra Winger's mother in "An Officer and a Gentleman", Heather Langenkamp's mother in "Nickel Mountain", and Paul Le Mat's mother in "The Burning Bed" (starring Farrah Fawcett). She had a small but crucial part in the fifth season finale of "Knots Landing".


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: She appeared in 1989's "Drugstore Cowboy" and as the ill-fated orphanage owner Grace Poole in "Child's Play 2". Other movies include the 1991 film adaptation "Fried Green Tomatoes" and Philip Ridley's 1995 film "The Passion of Darkly Noon".


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: Zabriskie is perhaps most familiar for her television work. After a recurring role on the soap opera "Santa Barbara", she appeared on David Lynch's "Twin Peaks" and its spin-off film, "" as Sarah Palmer, the eerily psychic mother of the doomed Laura Palmer.


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: Zabriskie also appeared in Lynch's "Wild at Heart"—notably as the twin sister of a character played by Isabella Rossellini, an actress eleven years her junior. David Lynch later cast her as a sinister Polish neighbor in "Inland Empire" in 2006.


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: Zabriskie may best be remembered as Mrs. Ross, a recurring character on the sitcom "Seinfeld". She played the mother of another doomed daughter, Susan Ross—George Costanza's fiancée—who died after licking cheap envelope adhesive when mailing out her wedding invitations. Zabriskie's character's husband on the series, who also appeared in a recurring role, was played by her former "Twin Peaks" co-star, Warren Frost.


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: She also made a brief but memorable appearance in the episode "S'ain't Valentine's" on the CBS sitcom "The King of Queens", as the emotionally disturbed and alcoholic mother of Spence Olchin (played by Patton Oswalt). While the character Veronica Olchin would reappear throughout the series, Zabriskie would not portray her again, having been replaced by Anne Meara. She also starred as Lois Henrickson in "Big Love", an HBO drama series that seriously explored the issue of polygamy, and appeared twice in Aaron Spelling's series "Charmed" as "The Crone".


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: She has worked in radio, collaborating with radio dramatist/monologist Joe Frank several times. In one episode of Frank's show, "Home (Original)", she talks at length about her childhood in New Orleans, with a focus on her father.


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: Zabriskie appeared in the 2004 American remake of "The Grudge", in which she played a senile elderly woman sensitive to the paranormal occurrences in her home.


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: In her early twenties, Zabriskie and her then-husband, Rob, "had an intense friendship, which graduated, or from another point of view disintegrated into more of a friendship between" Zabriskie and Kerry Thornley; this friendship was "centered around an intense shared love for and fascination with the philosophy of Ayn Rand".


title: Grace Zabriskie

text: Zabriskie is the mother of two daughters; Helen, who became an actress, and Marion Lane, a painter. In 1993, Helen died of Hodgkin's disease. Marion died in 2019 aged 56 of cancer.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: Mohammed Zahir Shah (Pashto/Dari: , 15 October 1914 – 23 July 2007) was the last king of Afghanistan, reigning from 8 November 1933 until he was deposed on 17 July 1973. Serving for 40 years, Zahir was the longest-serving ruler of Afghanistan since the foundation of the Durrani Empire in the 18th century. He expanded Afghanistan's diplomatic relations with many countries, including with both sides of the Cold War. In the 1950s, Zahir Shah began modernizing the country, culminating in the creation of a new constitution and a constitutional monarchy system. Demonstrating nonpartisanship, his long reign was marked by peace in the country that was lost afterwards.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: In 1973, while Zahir Shah was undergoing medical treatment in Italy, his regime was overthrown in a coup d'état by his cousin and former prime minister, Mohammed Daoud Khan, who established a single-party republic, ending more than 225 years of continuous monarchical government. He remained in exile near Rome until 2002, returning to Afghanistan after the end of the Taliban government. He was given the title Father of the Nation, which he held until his death in 2007.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: Zahir Shah was born on 15 October 1914, in a city quarter called Deh Afghanan in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was the son of Mohammad Nadir Shah (1883–1933) a senior member of the Mohammadzai Royal family and commander in chief of the Afghan Army for former king Amanullah Khan, and of Begum Mah Parwar Begum (d. 1941), a Pashtun tribe woman. Nadir Shah assumed the throne after the execution of the self-proclaimed ruler of Afghanistan Habibullah Kalakani on 1 November 1929. Mohammad Zahir's father, son of Sardar Mohammad Yusuf Khan, was born in Dehradun, British India, his family having been exiled after the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Nadir Shah was a descendant of Sardar Sultan Mohammad Khan Telai, half-brother of Emir Dost Mohammad Khan. His grandfather Mohammad Yahya Khan (father in law of Emir Yaqub Khan) was in charge of the negotiations with the British resulting in the Treaty of Gandamak. After the British invasion after the killing of Sir Louis Cavagnari during 1879, Yaqub Khan, Yahya Khan and his sons, Princes Mohammad Yusuf Khan and Mohammad Asef Khan, were seized by the British and transferred to the British Raj, where they remained forcibly until the two princes were invited back to Afghanistan by Emir Abdur Rahman Khan during the last year of his reign (1901). During the reign of Amir Habibullah they received the title of Companions of the King (Musahiban).


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: Zahir Shah was educated in a special class for princes at Elementary Primary built in 1904 by United Kingdom Habibia High School, many subjects were taught in English, and for secondary education he went to the "Amaniya High School" (built during the reign of King Amanullah by France, in which many subjects were taught in French. This school was renamed by Nadir Shah as Esteqlal High School) after the fall of King Amanullah. For example, Prince Zahir Shah had to study in Infanterie Military School in winter (school year in Kabul, 21 March to November). Then he was sent to France for further training. He continued his education in France where his father had served as a diplomatic envoy, studying at the Pasteur Institute and the University of Montpellier. When he returned to Afghanistan he helped his father and uncles restore order and reassert government control during a period of lawlessness in the country. He was later enrolled at an Infantry School and appointed a privy counsellor. Zahir Shah served in the government positions of deputy war minister and minister of education.deputy sheriff department


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: Zahir Khan was proclaimed king (shah) on 8 November 1933 at the age of 19, after the assassination of his father Mohammad Nadir Shah. After his ascension to the throne he was given the regnal title ""He who puts his trust in God, follower of the firm religion of Islam"". For the first almost thirty years he did not effectively rule, ceding power to his paternal uncles, Mohammad Hashim Khan and Shah Mahmoud Khan, both serving as prime ministers. This period fostered a growth in Afghanistan's relations with the international community as during 1934, Afghanistan joined the League of Nations while also receiving formal recognition from the United States. By the end of the 1930s, agreements on foreign assistance and trade had been reached with many countries, most notably with the 'Axis powers': Germany, Italy, and Japan.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: Zahir Shah provided aid, weapons and Afghan fighters to the Uighur and Kirghiz Muslim rebels who had established the First East Turkestan Republic. The aid was not capable of saving the First East Turkestan Republic, as the Afghan, Uighur and Kirghiz forces were defeated during 1934 by the Kuomintang Chinese Muslim 36th Division (National Revolutionary Army) commanded by General Ma Zhancang at the Battle of Kashgar and Battle of Yarkand. All the Afghan volunteers were killed by the Chinese Muslim troops, who then abolished the First East Turkestan Republic, and reestablished Chinese government control over the area.Despite close relations to the Axis powers, Zahir Shah and his governments refused to take sides during World War II and Afghanistan remained one of the few countries in the world to remain neutral. From 1944 to 1947, Afghanistan experienced a series of revolts by various tribes. After the end of World War II, Zahir Shah recognised the need for the modernisation of Afghanistan and recruited a number of foreign advisers to assist with the process. During this period Afghanistan's first modern university was founded.<ref name="10/01"></ref> During his reign a number of potential advances and reforms were derailed as a result of factionalism and political infighting. He also requested financial aid from both the United States and the Soviet Union, and Afghanistan was one of few countries in the world to receive aid from both Cold War adversaries. In a 1969 interview, Zahir Shah said that he is "not a capitalist. But I also don’t want socialism. I don’t want socialism that would bring about the kind of situation [that exists] in Czechoslovakia. I don’t want us to become the servants of Russia or China or the servant of any other place."


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: He was considered a relatively "mild" leader compared to previous Kings; Zahir Shah had never signed a warrant for execution of anyone for political reasons during his reign. He also used his power several times to reduce capital punishment given to some criminals convicted in court cases. At Zahir Shah's behest a new constitution was introduced in 1964 which made Afghanistan a modern democratic state by introducing free elections, a parliament, civil and political rights, women's rights, and universal suffrage.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: المتوكل على الله محمد ظاهر شاه, "AlMutawakkil 'ala Allah Muhammad Zhahir Shah" which means "The leaner on God, Muhammad Zhahir Shah". The title "AlMutawakkil 'ala Allah", "The leaner on God" is taken from Quran 8:61.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: By the time he returned to Afghanistan in 2002, his rule was characterized by a lengthy span of peace.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: In 1973, while Zahir Shah was abroad in Italy, his cousin Mohammad Daoud Khan staged a coup d'état and established an autocratic republican government. As a former Prime Minister, Daoud Khan had been forced to resign by Zahir Shah a decade earlier and felt that Zahir Shah lacked leadership and that the parliamentary system prevented real progressivism. In August 1973, Zahir Shah sent a letter from Rome to Khan in Kabul declaring his abdication, saying he respected "the will of my compatriots" after realizing the people of Afghanistan "with absolute majority welcomed a Republican regime".


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: Zahir Shah lived in exile in Italy for twenty-nine years alongside his wife Queen Humaira Begum and some other royal family members. Initially they lived in a three‐room apartment on Rome's Via Cassia. In the same city, relatives of the 1920s King Amanullah Khan, of the same house of Barakzai, still lived. President Daoud Khan continued to send money to them in Italy which were incomes from property and estates of the former royal family. After the Saur Revolution, the leftist Khalq government cut all incoming money to Italy.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: Zahir eventually lived in a villa in the affluent community of Olgiata on Via Cassia, north of Rome, where he spent his time playing golf and chess, as well as tending to his garden. He was financially supported by the Shah of Iran since the new Afghan government failed to provide him a monthly salary. The Shah also supported his two sons who were studying in the United States and Canada. He was prohibited from returning to Afghanistan during the late 1970s by the Soviet-assisted Communist government. In 1983 during the Soviet–Afghan War, Zahir Shah was cautiously involved with plans to develop a government in exile. Ultimately these plans failed because he could not reach a consensus with powerful Islamist factions. It has also been reported that Afghanistan, the Soviet Union and India had all tried to persuade Zahir Shah to return as chief of a neutral, possibly interim, administration in Kabul. Both the Soviet Union and the United States sent representatives to meet him, and President Mohammad Najibullah supported Zahir Shah to play a role in a possible interim government in the quest for peace. In May 1990, Zahir Shah issued a long statement through Voice of America and the BBC calling for unity and peace among Afghans, and offering his services. This reportedly led to a spark of interest and approval among the Kabul populace. However, the idea of a revived political role for Zahir Shah was met with hostility by some, notably radical Islamist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: In 1991, Zahir Shah survived an attempt on his life by a knife-wielding assassin masquerading as a Portuguese journalist. After the fall of the pro-Soviet government, Zahir Shah was favored by many to return and restore the monarchy to unify the country and as he was acceptable to most factions. However these efforts were blocked mostly by Pakistan's ISI, who feared his stance on the Durand Line issue. In June 1995, Zahir Shah's former envoy Sardar Wali announced at talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, that Zahir Shah was willing to participate in peace talks to end the Afghan Civil War, but no consensus was ever reached.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: On 18 April 2002, at the age of 87 and four months after the end of Taliban rule, Zahir Shah returned to Afghanistan, flown in an Italian military plane, and welcomed at Kabul's airport by Hamid Karzai and other officials. His return was widely welcomed by Afghans, and he was liked by all ethnic groups. There were proposals for a return to the monarchy – Zahir Shah himself let it be known that he would accept whatever responsibility was given him by the Loya Jirga, which he initiated in June 2002. However he was obliged to publicly renounce monarchical leadership at the behest of the United States (as the US had the belief that Pakistan will not accept him as King, who still feared his stance on the Durand Line issue) as most of the delegates to the Loya Jirga were prepared to vote for Zahir Shah and block the U.S.-backed Hamid Karzai. While he was prepared to become chief of state he made it known that it would not necessarily be as monarch: "I will accept the responsibility of head of state if that is what the Loya Jirga demands of me, but I have no intention to restore the monarchy. I do not care about the title of king. The people call me Baba and I prefer this title." Karzai called Zahir Shah a "symbol of unity, a very kind man" and a "fatherly figure."


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: He visited his father's tomb soon after arriving in Kabul and reportedly gasped after witnessing rocket holes and gunfire damage on the tomb caused by the civil war.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: Hamid Karzai, who was favored by Zahir Shah, became president of Afghanistan after the Loya Jirga. Karzai, from the Pashtun Popalzai clan, provided Zahir Shah's relatives with major jobs in the transitional government. Following the Loya Jirga he was given the title "Father of the Nation" by Karzai, symbolizing his role in Afghanistan's history as a symbol of national unity. This title ended with his death. In August 2002 he relocated back to the Arg, his old palace, after 29 years.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: In an October 2002 visit to France, he slipped in a bathroom, bruising his ribs, and on 21 June 2003, while in France for a medical check-up, he broke his femur.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: On 3 February 2004, Zahir was flown from Kabul to New Delhi, India, for medical treatment after complaining of an intestinal problem. He was hospitalized for two weeks and remained in New Delhi under observation. On 18 May 2004, he was brought to a hospital in the United Arab Emirates because of nose bleeding caused by heat.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: Zahir Shah attended the 7 December 2004 swearing-in of Hamid Karzai as President of Afghanistan. During his final years, he was frail and required a microphone pinned to his collar so that his faint voice could be heard. During January 2007, Zahir was reported to be seriously ill and bedridden.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: On 23 July 2007, Zahir Shah died in the compound of the presidential palace in Kabul after a prolonged illness. His death was announced on national television by President Karzai, who said "He was the servant of his people, the friend of his people, he was a very kind person, kind hearted. He believed in the rule of the people and in human rights." His funeral was held on 24 July. It began on the premises of the presidential palace, where politicians and dignitaries paid their respects; his coffin was then taken to a mosque before being moved to the royal mausoleum on Maranjan Hill in eastern Kabul.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: Zahir Shah was reportedly shy, modest and "soft-spoken". He liked photography, chess, and smoking cigars.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: Zahir Shah was fluent in Pashto, Dari (his "mother tongue"), and could also speak English and perfect French.


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: He married his first cousin Humaira Begum (1918–2002) on 7 November 1931 in Kabul. They had six sons and two daughters:


title: Mohammed Zahir Shah

text: In January 2009 an article by Ahmad Majidyar of the American Enterprise Institute included one of his grandsons, Mustafa Zahir, on a list of fifteen possible candidates in the 2009 Afghan presidential election. However, Mustafa did not become a candidate.


The 1796 United States presidential election was the third quadrennial presidential election. It was held from Friday, November 4 to Wednesday, December 7, 1796. It was the first contested American presidential election, the first presidential election in which political parties played a dominant role, and the only presidential election in which a president and vice president were elected from opposing tickets. Incumbent Vice President John Adams of the Federalist Party defeated former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson of the Democratic-Republican Party.


title: 1796 United States presidential election

text: With incumbent President George Washington having refused a third term in office, the 1796 election became the first U.S. presidential election in which political parties competed for the presidency. The Federalists coalesced behind Adams and the Democratic-Republicans supported Jefferson, but each party ran multiple candidates. Under the electoral rules in place prior to the Twelfth Amendment, the members of the Electoral College each cast two votes, with no distinction made between electoral votes for president and electoral votes for vice president. The individual with the votes of a majority of electors became president, and the runner-up became vice president. If there was a tie for first place or no person won a majority, the House of Representatives would hold a contingent election. Also, if there were a tie for second place, the vice presidency, the Senate would hold a contingent election to break the tie.


text: The campaign was a bitter one, with Federalists attempting to identify the Democratic-Republicans with the violence of the French Revolution and the Democratic-Republicans accusing the Federalists of favoring monarchism and aristocracy. Republicans sought to associate Adams with the policies developed by fellow Federalist Alexander Hamilton during the Washington administration, which they declaimed were too much in favor of Great Britain and a centralized national government. In foreign policy, Republicans denounced the Federalists over the Jay Treaty, which had established a temporary peace with Great Britain. Federalists attacked Jefferson's moral character, alleging he was an atheist and that he had been a coward during the American Revolutionary War. Adams supporters also accused Jefferson of being too pro-France; the accusation was underscored when the French ambassador embarrassed the Republicans by publicly backing Jefferson and attacking the Federalists right before the election. Despite the hostility between their respective camps, neither Adams nor Jefferson actively campaigned for the presidency.


text: Adams was elected president with 71 electoral votes, one more than was needed for a majority. He won by sweeping the electoral votes of New England and winning votes from several other swing states, especially the states of the Mid-Atlantic region. Jefferson received 68 electoral votes and was elected vice president. Former Governor Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina, a Federalist, finished with 59 electoral votes, while Senator Aaron Burr, a Democratic-Republican from New York, won 30 electoral votes. The remaining 48 electoral votes were dispersed among nine other candidates. Several electors cast one vote for a Federalist candidate and one for a Democratic-Republican. The election marked the formation of the First Party System, and established a rivalry between Federalist New England and the Democratic-Republican South, with the middle states holding the balance of power (New York and Maryland were the crucial swing states, and between them only voted for a loser once between 1789 and 1820).


text: With Washington retiring after two terms, both parties sought the presidency for the first time. Before the ratification of the 12th Amendment in 1804, each elector was to vote for two persons but was not able to indicate which vote was for president and which for vice president. Instead, the recipient of the most electoral votes would become president and the runner-up vice president. As a result, both parties ran multiple candidates for president, in hopes of keeping one of their opponents from being the runner-up. These candidates were the equivalent of modern-day running mates, but under the law, they were all candidates for president. Thus, both Adams and Jefferson were technically opposed by several members of their own parties. The plan was for one of the electors to cast a vote for the main party nominee (Adams or Jefferson) and a candidate besides the primary running mate, thus ensuring that the main nominee would have one more vote than his running mate.


text: The Federalists' nominee was John Adams of Massachusetts, the incumbent vice president and a leading voice during the Revolutionary period. Most Federalist leaders viewed Adams, who had twice been elected vice president, as Washington's natural heir. Adams's main running mate was Thomas Pinckney, a former governor of South Carolina who had negotiated the Treaty of San Lorenzo with Spain. Pinckney agreed to run after the first choice of many party leaders, former Governor Patrick Henry of Virginia, declined. Alexander Hamilton, who competed with Adams for leadership of the party, worked behind the scenes to elect Pinckney over Adams by convincing Jefferson electors from South Carolina to cast their second votes for Pinckney. Hamilton did prefer Adams to Jefferson, and urged Federalist electors to cast their votes for Adams and Pinckney.


text: The Democratic-Republicans united behind former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, who had co-founded the party with James Madison and others in opposition to Hamilton's policies. Congressional Democratic-Republicans sought to also unite behind one vice-presidential nominee. With Jefferson's popularity strongest in the South, many party leaders wanted a Northern candidate as Jefferson's running mate. Popular choices included Senator Pierce Butler of South Carolina and three New Yorkers: Senator Aaron Burr, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston, and former Governor George Clinton. A group of Democratic-Republican leaders met in June 1796 and agreed to support Jefferson for president and Burr for vice president.


text: Tennessee was admitted into the United States after the 1792 election, increasing the Electoral College to 138 electors.


text: Under the system in place before the 1804 ratification of the Twelfth Amendment, electors were to cast votes for two persons for president; the runner-up in the presidential race was elected vice president. If no candidate won votes from a majority of the Electoral College, the House of Representatives would hold a contingent election to select the winner. Each party intended to manipulate the results by having some of their electors cast one vote for the intended presidential candidate and one vote for someone besides the intended vice-presidential candidate, leaving their vice-presidential candidate a few votes shy of their presidential candidate. But all electoral votes were cast on the same day, and communications between states were extremely slow at that time, making it very difficult to coordinate which electors were to manipulate their vote for vice president. Additionally, there were rumors that Hamilton had coerced southern electors pledged to Jefferson to give their second vote to Pinckney in hope of electing him president instead of Adams.


text: Campaigning centered in the swing states of New York and Pennsylvania. Adams and Jefferson won a combined 139 electoral votes from the 138 members of the Electoral College. The Federalists swept every state north of the Mason-Dixon line except Pennsylvania, though one Pennsylvania elector voted for Adams. The Democratic-Republicans won the votes of most Southern electors, but the electors of Maryland and Delaware gave a majority of their votes to Federalist candidates, while North Carolina and Virginia each gave Adams one electoral vote.


text: Nationwide, most electors voted for Adams and a second Federalist or for Jefferson and a second Democratic-Republican, but there were several exceptions to this. One elector in Maryland voted for both Adams and Jefferson, and two electors cast votes for Washington, who had not campaigned and was not formally affiliated with either party. Pinckney won the second votes from most of the electors who voted for Adams, but 21 electors from New England and Maryland cast their second votes for other candidates, including Chief Justice Oliver Ellsworth. Those who voted for Jefferson were significantly less united in their second choice, though Burr won a plurality of the Jefferson electors. All eight electors in Pinckney's home state of South Carolina, as well as at least one Pennsylvania elector, cast their ballots for Jefferson and Pinckney. In North Carolina, Jefferson won 11 votes, but the remaining 13 were spread among six different candidates from both parties. In Virginia, most electors voted for Jefferson and Governor Samuel Adams of Massachusetts.


text: The result was that Adams received 71 electoral votes, one more than required to be elected president. If any two of the three Adams electors in Pennsylvania, Virginia, and North Carolina had voted with the rest of their states, it would have flipped the election. Jefferson received 68 votes, nine more than Pinckney, and was elected vice president. Burr finished in a distant fourth place with 30 votes. Nine other candidates received the remaining 48 electoral votes. If Pinckney had won the second votes of all of the New England electors who voted for Adams, he would have been elected president over Adams and Jefferson.


text: Source (Popular Vote): Source (Popular Vote): A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825Source (Electoral Vote):


text: As per the terms of the unamended constitution, each elector was permitted two votes for president, with a majority of "the whole number of electors appointed" necessary to elect a president. Of the 138 participating electors, 70 voted for Adams and some other candidate and 67 voted for Jefferson and some other candidate; one elector from Maryland voted for both Adams and Jefferson, bringing their respective totals to 71 and 68. With both parties' electors divided on their choice of a vice president, Jefferson finished second in the electoral vote ahead of Adams' intended running mate, Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina, making him vice president-elect.


text: Compiling reliable popular vote statistics for elections of the First Party System poses a challenge to historians. Election procedures of the late 18th century differed greatly from those of later campaigns: rather than vote for a presidential candidate, voters chose from candidates running to represent their state in the electoral college. Candidates for elector did not always advertise a party preference or even for whom they intended to vote; in some districts, candidates from the same party were in direct competition, while in others, inconsistent support for all candidates of a party led states to split their electoral votes. These conditions make it difficult or impossible to determine voter intent in some cases. Moreover, some states' returns have not survived to the present day, meaning that national popular vote totals in this article are necessarily incomplete.


text: The table below calculates each state's popular vote by comparing the vote for the most popular Adams elector to that for the most popular Jefferson elector.


text: The following four years were the only time (as of ) that the president and vice president were from different parties. John Quincy Adams and John C. Calhoun were later elected president and vice-president as political opponents, but they were both Democratic-Republicans, and while Andrew Johnson, Abraham Lincoln's second vice-president, was a Democrat, Lincoln ran on a combined National Union Party ticket in 1864, not as a strict Republican.


text: On January 6, 1797, Representative William L. Smith of South Carolina presented a resolution on the floor of the House of Representatives for an amendment to the Constitution by which the presidential electors would designate which candidate would be president and which vice president. No action was taken on his proposal, setting the stage for the deadlocked election of 1800.


text: The Constitution, in Article II, Section 1, provided that the state legislatures should decide the manner in which their Electors were chosen. Different state legislatures chose different methods:


title: Eric Holder

text: Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd Attorney General of the United States from 2009 to 2015. Holder, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama, was the first African American to hold the position of U.S. attorney general.


title: Eric Holder

text: Born in New York City to a middle class family of Barbadian origin, he graduated from Stuyvesant High School, Columbia College, and Columbia Law School. Following law school, he left New York to work for the Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice for 12 years. He next served as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia before being appointed by President Bill Clinton as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and subsequently Deputy Attorney General. While U.S. Attorney, he prosecuted Congressman Dan Rostenkowski for corruption charges related to his role in the Congressional Post Office scandal.


title: Eric Holder

text: Following the Clinton administration, he worked at the law firm of Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., representing the firm's multinational corporate clients in litigation. He was senior legal advisor to Barack Obama during Obama's presidential campaign and one of three members of Obama's vice-presidential selection committee. Holder was a close ally and confidant of Obama's and was selected as President Obama's first Attorney General.


title: Eric Holder

text: Holder became the first sitting attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress during an investigation of the Operation Fast and Furious ATF gunwalking scandal. The Justice Department's Inspector General under Obama refused to prosecute him and later cleared him of the charges. Holder was succeeded as attorney general by Loretta Lynch in April 2015. He returned to Covington & Burling, where he continues to practice corporate litigation, and is also involved with efforts at gerrymandering reform through the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. He is a member of the Democratic Party.


title: Eric Holder

text: Eric Himpton Holder Jr. was born in The Bronx, New York, to parents with roots in Barbados. Holder's father, Eric Himpton Holder Sr. (October 29, 1903 – February 12, 1998), was born in Saint Joseph, Barbados, and arrived in the United States at the age of 11. He later became a real estate broker. His mother, Miriam (January 25, 1924 – August 13, 2010), was born in New Jersey, while his maternal grandparents were emigrants from Saint Philip, Barbados. Holder grew up in East Elmhurst, Queens, and attended public school until the age of 10. When entering the 4th grade he was selected to participate in a program for intellectually gifted Black students.


title: Eric Holder

text: In 1969, he graduated from Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan and attended Columbia University, where he played freshman basketball and football, and was a teammate of actor Ed Harris. During that time, he lived in Carman Hall. He earned a B.A. degree in American history in 1973. Holder received his J.D. degree from Columbia Law School, graduating in 1976. He worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund during his first summer and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York during his second summer.


title: Eric Holder

text: In 1969, while a freshman at Columbia, Holder was one of several dozen students who staged an occupation of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps office, renaming it as the Malcolm X student center.


title: Eric Holder

text: After graduating from Columbia Law School, Holder joined the U.S. Justice Department's new Public Integrity Section, where he worked from 1976 to 1988. During his time there, he assisted in the prosecution of Democratic Congressman John Jenrette for bribery discovered in the Abscam sting operation. In 1988, Ronald Reagan appointed Holder to serve as a judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.


title: Eric Holder

text: Holder stepped down from the bench in 1993 to accept an appointment as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia from President Bill Clinton. He was the first Black American U.S. Attorney in that office. At the beginning of his tenure, he oversaw the conclusion of the corruption case against Dan Rostenkowski, part of the Congressional Post Office scandal. He was a U.S. Attorney until his elevation to Deputy Attorney General in 1997. Holder also served on The George Washington University's Board of Trustees in 1996 and 1997.


title: Eric Holder

text: In 1997, after the retirement of Jamie Gorelick, Clinton nominated Holder to be the Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno. Holder was confirmed several months later in the Senate by a unanimous vote. During his confirmation hearing, Holder's opposition to the death penalty was questioned, but he pledged his intention to cooperate with the current laws and Reno, saying, "I am not a proponent of the death penalty, but I will enforce the law as this Congress gives it to us." Holder was the first African American to serve in that position.


title: Eric Holder

text: As Deputy Attorney General, Holder's primary responsibilities were in the areas of budget and personnel issues; this also included resolving disputes among department heads and briefing reporters on policy initiatives, national security issue, and major investigations, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigations into allegations of bribery and corruption in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Holder later advised Reno in the matters regarding the Independent Counsel statute. Reno made the decision to permit Kenneth Starr to expand his investigation into the Lewinsky affair, leading to Clinton's impeachment.


title: Eric Holder

text: In the wake of the murders of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr., Holder was a vocal proponent of new hate crimes laws in the United States. Holder said that the current laws placed major constraints on the ability of federal investigators and prosecutors to assist in these types of cases.


title: Eric Holder

text: In his final days with the Clinton administration, Holder carried out his duties with Clinton's last-minute pardon of fugitive and Democratic contributor Marc Rich. Regarding discussions with the White House lawyers on the issue, Holder said he was at first "neutral" on the decision to grant Rich a pardon, but might lean in favor of it if there were national security benefits. Holder said that he was told that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak had asked Clinton to grant the pardon. Holder said that, at the time, he did not give the case much thought, because he did not think the pardon would be granted, as no fugitive had ever previously been granted a presidential pardon. He later said he wished that he had looked into it more thoroughly, and expressed regret over the incident. "I wish that I had ensured that the Department of Justice was more fully informed and involved in this pardon process", he said admitting the mistake.


title: Eric Holder

text: Republicans on the House Government Reform Committee disagreed with Holder's version and alleged that he was a knowing participant, according to a 2003 report. They said Holder failed to fully inform prosecutors of the pending pardon, and they criticized his "neutral leaning favorable" opinion to Clinton.


title: Eric Holder

text: Former FBI director, Louis Freeh, commented on the matter in 2009, saying that the Clinton White House had "used" Holder and kept both the FBI and the Department of Justice (DOJ) in the dark as to their full activities around the last minute pardons.


title: Eric Holder

text: Holder briefly served as Acting Attorney General under President George W. Bush until the Senate confirmed Bush's nominee John Ashcroft.


title: Eric Holder

text: From 2001 until he became attorney general, Holder worked as an attorney at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., representing clients such as Merck and the National Football League. He represented the NFL during its dog fighting investigation against Michael Vick.


title: Eric Holder

text: In 2004, Holder helped negotiate an agreement with the Justice Department for Chiquita Brands International in a case that involved Chiquita's payment of "protection money" to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a group on the U.S. government's list of foreign terrorist organizations. In the agreement, Chiquita's officials pleaded guilty and paid a fine of $25 million. Holder represented Chiquita in the civil action that grew out of this criminal case. In March 2004, Holder and Covington & Burling were hired by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to act as a special investigator to the Illinois Gaming Board. The investigation was subsequently canceled on May 18, 2004.


title: Eric Holder

text: The firm represented Guantanamo inmates but Holder "never participated directly in the firm's Guantanamo work" and was not expected to recuse himself from matters pertaining to it.


title: Eric Holder

text: In October 2004, he defended Purdue Pharma in a West Virginia court against accusations of deceptive marketing of their product OxyContin.


title: Eric Holder

text: During his years in private practice, Holder represented the Swiss private bank UBS. Because of this, he recused himself from participating in the Department of Justice investigation of UBS's abetting of tax evasion by U.S. account-holders and the prosecution of Brad Birkenfeld. (As Attorney General, he also recused himself from the Roger Clemens contempt of Congress prosecution because the pitcher was once a client of Covington and Burling.)


title: Eric Holder

text: While "District of Columbia v. Heller" was being heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008, Holder joined the Reno-led amicus brief, which urged the Supreme Court to uphold Washington, D.C.'s handgun ban and said the position of the Department of Justice, from Franklin Delano Roosevelt through Clinton, was that the Second Amendment does not protect an individual right to keep and bear arms for purposes unrelated to a State's operation of a well-regulated militia. Holder said that overturning the 1976 law "opens the door to more people having more access to guns and putting guns on the streets."


title: Eric Holder

text: In late 2007, Holder joined then-Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign as a senior legal advisor. He served on Obama's vice presidential selection committee.


title: Eric Holder

text: On December 1, 2008, President-elect Obama announced that Holder would be his nominee for Attorney General of the United States. Obama praised his "toughness and independence." Obama went on to say that "[Holder] is deeply familiar with the law enforcement challenges we face: from terrorism to counter-intelligence; from white-collar crime to public corruption." Holder emphasized national security as a priority if confirmed, "We can and we must ensure that the American people remain secure and that the great Constitutional guarantees that define us as a nation are truly valued."


title: Eric Holder

text: He was formally nominated on January 20, 2009, and was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 28 with a bipartisan vote of 17 to 2. He was officially confirmed by the entire Senate on February 2, 2009, by a vote of 75 to 21 becoming the nation's first African-American Attorney General. His installation took place on March 27, 2009, at the Lisner Auditorium of George Washington University.


title: Eric Holder

text: As Attorney General, Holder was a staunch opponent of legal limitations on the executive branch's ability to prosecute the War on Terror. In May 2011, Holder testified before Congress on the legality of the operation in which U.S. special forces killed Osama bin Laden earlier that month. Holder testified that the operation to kill bin Laden was legal, stating that international law allows for targeting enemy commanders. To support this point, Holder said that computer evidence seized from the raid demonstrated that bin Laden was still leading al-Qaeda. Moreover, Holder said, the Navy SEAL team that carried out the raid conducted itself in a manner consistent with American values, and that the parameters of the mission included capturing bin Laden.


title: Eric Holder

text: Holder defended the legality of drone strikes against alleged terrorists. Addressing the death of Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen who was killed by drone strike without trial, Holder said "The U.S. government's use of lethal force in self-defense against a leader of al-Qaeda or an associated force who presents an imminent threat of violent attack would not be unlawful." He outlined a three-part test to affirm the lawfulness of the strikes: the terrorist poses an imminent threat of violence to the United States, capture is not possible and the operation is conducted in a manner consistent with the principles of the law of war. At the time, al-Awlaki was an alleged leader and recruiter for Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Holder later stated that "'[d]ue process' and 'judicial process' are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process." Some civil liberties advocates have described the incident as "an extrajudicial execution" that breached al-Awlaki's right to due process, including a trial.


title: Eric Holder

text: A major legacy of Holder's tenure as attorney general was a shifting of terrorism cases to the civilian federal courts. Under Holder, the DOJ successfully tried many terrorists in federal court, securing convictions and life sentences against a string of defendants, including Sulaiman Abu Ghaith (Osama bin Laden's spokesman); Ahmed Ghailani (a conspirator in the 1998 East Africa bombings); and Abu Hamza (an al-Qaeda operative). Faisal Shahzad (the attempted Times Square bomber); and Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab (the failed "underwear bomber") pleaded guilty in federal court and were sentenced to life imprisonment during Holder's term. During Holder's term, other terrorists—including Najibullah Zazi (who plotted a New York subway attack), and Ahmed Abdulkadir Warsame (an al-Shabab supporter) pleaded guilty and cooperated with the government. Matt Olsen, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center from 2011 to 2014, wrote in 2015: "Through his persistence, Holder demonstrated the wisdom and value of prosecuting terrorists in civilian courts and cemented this approach for future administrations."


title: Eric Holder

text: In November 2009, Holder announced that September 11 attack co-conspirators—Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi—would be tried in New York City on federal charges of conspiracy and murder. Holder said at the time that the five would "stand trial in our justice system before an impartial jury under long-established rules and procedures." This plan was frustrated by Congress, however, and "congressional restrictions on transferring Guantánamo detainees to federal court had delayed the case indefinitely." In April 2011, Holder was forced to drop plans for a federal trial and instead refer the five to military commissions; at the time, Holder criticized Congress for interfering in the prosecution, saying: "[Congress has] taken one of the nation's most tested counterterrorism tools off the table and tied our hands in a way that would have serious ramifications." The military commissions remain "mired in procedural delays, legal uncertainty and continued controversy" today.


title: Eric Holder

text: In July 2010, Holder attended a heads of state summit of the African Union in Kampala, Uganda, where he told African leaders that the U.S. would continue to support the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia. Holder also vowed to work closer with African officials to stop terrorism, and announced that the FBI would be providing a team of forensic specialists to help assist in the investigation of the terrorist bombings in Kampala during the World Cup.


title: Eric Holder

text: In a July 2014 speech to diplomats, academics, and national security officials in Oslo, Holder called for international cooperation against terrorism in Syria and Iraq in order to stem the flow of foreign fighters. Holder specifically urged other nations to adopt conspiracy laws; carry out better undercover operations; share traveler information through Interpol; and "seek to stop individuals from becoming radicalized in the first place by putting in place strong programs to counter violent extremism in its earliest stages."


title: Eric Holder

text: Holder is a vocal proponent of defending the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which was reauthorized in 2006 with bipartisan support. Holder has criticized new voter ID laws in Texas, Florida and other states, which he suggests may be politically motivated. In 2011, Holder said, "The reality is that in jurisdictions across the country, both overt and subtle forms of discrimination remain all too common." He went on to criticize Texas redistricting efforts, which were introduced when the state had increased its population by four million; Holder criticized the state for not allocating any new Congressional seats to represent Hispanic voters, arguing that the majority of the increased population were Latinos.


title: Eric Holder

text: Under Holder's tenure, the DOJ sued Shelby County, Alabama, for a violation of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The small town of Calera had re-drawn the city council districts without receiving pre-clearance from the DOJ, which was required by Section 5 in order to ensure that Southern states do not use such redistricting to weaken political representation for minority communities. For local elections, Calera had divided the African-American part of town, submerging it into two other districts. The DOJ argued that this eliminated the city's sole African-American councilman. Calera responded by arguing that the process of pre-clearance with the DOJ should no longer be required. On September 21, 2011, the federal district court upheld the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, but the decision was overturned by the Supreme Court in "Shelby County v. Holder", which effectively struck down Section 5 of the act. Before that decision, Holder had vowed to continue to enforce federal voting rights laws, regardless of how the United States Supreme Court decided in case. In 2022, Holder's book "Our Unfinished March" explained why the "Shelby" decision had convinced him to not appear in person before the Supreme Court Justices who rendered that decision, as a silent protest, as the custom had been for an AG to make at least one appearance. He further explained this in a subsequent interview.


title: Eric Holder

text: In May 2012, with over a dozen states pushing new voter identification laws, Holder stated that he believed these new laws would hamper the ability of the elderly, students and minorities to vote. Regarding voting rights, he said, "for the first time in our [lifetimes], we are failing to live up to one of our most noble ideals." Holder pledged that the DOJ fight these laws "aggressively". He went on to say that "We have to honor the generations that took extraordinary risks" to achieve the right to vote.


title: Eric Holder

text: In a speech before the NAACP in July 2012, Holder went on to say that the Texas voter ID laws were a "political pretext to disenfranchise American citizens of their most precious right." Holder compared the practices of these states to those in the era of Jim Crow segregation. Holder said, "Many of those without IDs would have to travel great distances to get them – and some would struggle to pay for the documents they might need to obtain them. We call those poll taxes."


title: Eric Holder

text: In May 2010, Holder expressed concerns over reports he had received regarding Arizona SB 1070, an Arizona immigration law. He said that he feared that the law could lead to racial profiling. Holder received criticism on the political right for criticizing the law before he had read it in its entirety.


title: Eric Holder

text: In July 2010, after the DOJ reviewed the law, Holder filed suit against Arizona on the grounds that the state law is preempted by federal law. Holder was quoted as saying, "I understand, first off, the frustration of the people of Arizona and the concerns that they have with regard to the amount of illegal immigration that occurs, but the solution that the Arizona legislature came up with is inconsistent with our federal Constitution."


title: Eric Holder

text: A lawsuit challenging the law was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court, and in June 2012, the Court struck down a majority of the law's provisions in "Arizona v. United States". Holder said that although he was pleased that much of the law had been struck down, he remained concerned over the burden it might place on local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law and the possibility that it might be used to discriminate against the Latino community. He vowed to continue to monitor the impact of the law.


title: Eric Holder

text: Holder has also stated that he supports comprehensive immigration reform, adding that it is a "matter of civil rights and human rights".


title: Eric Holder

text: In February 2011, Holder announced that the DOJ would no longer defend cases involving the Defense of Marriage Act in court. Holder had recommended this course of action to the President, arguing that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, as laws that prohibit the marriage of gay couples do not meet the legal principle of strict scrutiny. Holder cited changing law in support of his action: "Much of the legal landscape has changed in the 15 years since Congress passed DOMA. The Supreme Court has ruled that laws criminalizing homosexual conduct are unconstitutional. Congress has repealed the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. Several lower courts have ruled DOMA itself to be unconstitutional." This decision was prompted by legal deadlines in two federal cases in Connecticut and New York, where same-sex married couples argued that DOMA's ban on federal benefits to those in gay marriages approved by the individual states, violates the Constitution's requirement of equal treatment.


title: Eric Holder

text: In February 2012, Holder reaffirmed his position and stated that the DOJ would not defend DOMA in a legal challenge brought by members of the U.S. military, who were seeking benefits for their same-sex spouses, including: medical insurance, visitation rights in military hospitals and survivor benefits.


title: Eric Holder

text: Holder has also advocated for the interests of the 36,000 same-sex partnerships where Americans are in relationships with non-U.S. citizens. In May 2011, Holder set aside the decision to deport Paul Dorman, an Irish man who was in a same-sex partnership with a New Jersey citizen. Holder then asked immigration officials to reconsider their decision in order to determine whether Dorman can be considered a spouse under New Jersey law and whether Dorman would be considered a spouse under immigration law were it not for the Defense of Marriage Act. This action prompted some other immigration judges to halt the deportation proceeds of other foreigners in same-sex couples.


title: Eric Holder

text: In 2009, Holder decided to drop the corruption case against former Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska after evidence of prosecutorial misconduct (specifically, the withholding of exculpatory evidence) emerged. Holder was reportedly "horrified by the failure of prosecutors to turn over all relevant materials to the defense" and was alarmed at rebukes of federal prosecutors by Judge Emmet Sullivan, a friend and former colleague of Holder. The DOJ formally moved to dismiss the indictment against Stevens (who had been convicted the previous year on seven counts, but had never been sentenced) on April 1, 2009. Holder issued a statement reading: "After careful review, I have concluded that certain information should have been provided to the defense for use at trial. In light of this conclusion, and in consideration of the totality of the circumstances of this particular case, I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial." Judge Emmet Sullivan threw out the case several days later, issuing an order stating: "There was never a judgment of conviction in this case. The jury's verdict is being set aside and has no legal effect." Holder ordered a review of the case by the Office of Professional Responsibility of DOJ. Judge Sullivan conducted an inquiry of his own, appointed two attorneys to conduct an investigation which resulted in "a blistering 514-page report" (released in May 2012) detailing what went wrong in the prosecution, and criticizing three specific federal prosecutors (one of whom committed suicide in 2010) for concealing evidence. Holder was praised for his efforts to repair the damage caused by the affair, which was seen as "a profound embarrassment for the Justice Department."


title: Eric Holder

text: In 2010, in the run up to the referendum on California Proposition 19, which would have legalized marijuana use for personal recreation, Holder stated that the DOJ would continue to prosecute individuals on the federal level for possession of marijuana even if voters approved a ballot measure. However, in the run up to the successful marijuana legalization referendums on Colorado Amendment 64 and Washington Initiative 502 in 2012, Holder and the Department of Justice remained silent on how they would respond if the ballot measures were enacted by voters. On November 6, 2012, Colorado Amendment 64 and Washington Initiative 502 were passed with 55.3% and 55.7% of the votes respectively. This would lead to a new memo released by Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole on August 29, 2013. The memo instructed all United States Attorneys to not focus limited prosecutorial resources on state-authorized marijuana related activities, provided they follow eight priorities laid out by the Department of Justice.


title: Eric Holder

text: On January 20, 2011, the FBI arrested 127 members of the La Cosa Nostra in New York City, including members of all Five Families of New York City and the DeCavalcante family of New Jersey. Holder spoke at a press conference afterwards, celebrating the largest single-day operation against the Mafia in United States history.


title: Eric Holder

text: Under Holder's leadership, the Department of Justice brought six leak-related prosecutions against current or former U.S. government employees, while all previous Presidential administrations combined had tried a total of three such cases. Holder was reportedly "surprised" by news reports pointing out this statistic, and was said to have told associates that he did not wish to have leak prosecutions be his legacy. Several prominent leak prosecutions under Holder involved communications between criminal defendants and journalists, and the pervasive use of traceable electronic communications between journalists and their sources provided the prosecution with a tool to determine the potential origin of published information. Under Holder, the Justice Department argued that journalists had no legal protection to maintain the confidentiality of their sources, and can be compelled by the government to reveal them, or potentially face criminal contempt charges. On September 17, 2018, the Freedom of the Press Foundation obtained documents regarding the use of FISA courts to spy on journalists.


title: Eric Holder

text: On May 13, 2013, the Associated Press announced that the telephone records for 20 of their reporters during a two-month period in 2012 had been seized by the Justice Department as part of the 2013 Department of Justice investigations of reporters. The AP described these acts as a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into their news-gathering operation. Holder testified under oath to the House Judiciary Committee that he had recused himself from these leak investigations to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest. Holder said his Deputy Attorney General, James Cole was in charge of the AP investigation and would've ordered the subpoenas. When questioning turned to the possibility of journalists being charged under the Espionage Act for reporting classified material, Holder stated: "With regard to the potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material, that is not something that I've ever been involved in, heard of or would think would be a wise policy."


title: Eric Holder

text: It was later reported that the DOJ monitored Fox News reporter James Rosen's activities by tracking his visits to the State Department through phone traces, timing of calls and his personal emails. NBC confirmed with the Justice Department that Holder had personally signed off on the Rosen subpoenas. The DOJ defended their decision and spoke about a balance between protecting national secrets and the 1st Amendment, stating: "After extensive deliberations, and after following all applicable laws, regulations and policies, the Department sought an appropriately tailored search warrant under the Privacy Protection Act." The revelation brought into question whether Holder had been intentionally misleading during his previous testimony. House Committee members sent an open letter to Holder, saying: "It is imperative that the committee, the Congress, and the American people be provided a full and accurate account of your involvement."


title: Eric Holder

text: On August 12, 2013, at the American Bar Association's House of Delegates meeting, Holder announced the "Smart on Crime" program, which is "a sweeping initiative by the Justice Department that in effect renounces several decades of tough-on-crime anti-drug legislation and policies." Holder said the program "will encourage U.S. attorneys to charge defendants only with crimes "for which the accompanying sentences are better suited to their individual conduct, rather than excessive prison terms more appropriate for violent criminals or drug kingpins…" Running through Holder's statements, the increasing economic burden of over-incarceration was stressed. , the Smart on Crime program is not a legislative initiative but an effort "limited to the DOJ's policy parameters."


title: Eric Holder

text: During Holder's tenure as attorney general, he prohibited the Justice Department from working with local law enforcement in asset forfeitures (confiscation of assets by law enforcement in cases where criminal wrongdoing has not been alleged) in cases that did not involve joint federal-local investigations and gun and child-porn crimes. As a consequence, asset forfeitures declined sharply in the United States.


title: Eric Holder

text: In 2009, Holder announced and oversaw the federal government spending of $1 billion in grants to law enforcement agencies in every state to pay for the hiring of police officers. The money comes from the stimulus bill the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and covered the salaries of 4,699 law enforcement officers for three years.


title: Eric Holder

text: When questioned about weapons regulations during a news conference to announce the arrest of Mexican drug cartel members, Holder stated that the Obama administration would seek to re-institute the expired Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which he strongly supports.


title: Eric Holder

text: After the U.S. government filed suit against the Swiss bank UBS AG, whom Holder had represented during his time in private practice, the attorney general recused himself from all legal matters concerning the bank, which stands accused of conspiracy in U.S. tax fraud.


title: Eric Holder

text: Holder presented friend and predecessor Janet Reno, Attorney General under the Clinton Administration, the American Judicature Society's (AJS) Justice Award on April 17, 2009. The award is the highest given by the AJS, and recognizes significant contributions toward improvements in the administration of justice within the United States.


title: Eric Holder

text: After the United States diplomatic cables leak in December 2010, Holder said that "We have an active, ongoing, criminal investigation with regard to this matter. We are not in a position as yet to announce the result of that investigation, but the investigation is—is ongoing. To the extent that we can find anybody who was involved in the breaking of American law and who has put at risk the assets and the people that I have described, they will be held responsible," Holder said. "They will be held accountable." Holder's comments leave open a crucial question, which is whether the investigators are looking at how WikiLeaks obtained the documents (not unlike probing a news organization's source), or if they're looking at whether WikiLeaks staffers violated criminal law and should be the ones indicted. In May 2016, more than a year after leaving office, Holder told David Axelrod in an interview he thought Edward Snowden had "performed a public service by raising the debate that we engaged in and by the changes that we made", adding "I would say that doing what he did—and the way he did it—was inappropriate and illegal". Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell "lash[ed] out" at Holder, calling him "one of the worst attorneys general we've ever had" on "Fox & Friends".


title: Eric Holder

text: On December 8, 2014, Holder unveiled a new policy banning profiling on the basis of religion, gender, national origin, sexual orientation, and gender identity by federal law enforcement agencies. However, the new policy will not apply to screenings at border and airport, as well as in intelligence operations.


title: Eric Holder

text: Holder has been critical of "enhanced interrogation techniques" and the NSA warrantless surveillance program, accusing the Bush administration of a "disrespect for the rule of law... [that is] not only wrong, it is destructive in our struggle against terrorism." During his confirmation hearings, he deemed waterboarding a form of torture and therefore illegal. In response, some Republican senators questioned him whether he would prosecute those who took part in waterboarding and delayed the confirmation vote on Holder.


title: Eric Holder

text: Holder has stated that he favors closing the Guantánamo Bay detention camp; in 2002 he said that the detainees are not technically entitled to Geneva Convention protections. In March 2011, Holder left open the possibility that the Guantánamo Bay detention camp might remain open beyond President Obama's first term. Asked in a congressional hearing whether the prison would be closed by November 2012, Holder said: "I don't know." He said the Justice Department has established a task force to look at each of the 172 detainees being held at the Guantánamo prison to address how they should be dealt with. Holder's comments come just weeks after CIA Director Leon Panetta told a Senate panel that Osama bin Laden would probably be shipped to and held at the Guantánamo Bay facility if he were captured.


title: Eric Holder

text: Holder is opposed to the Bush administration's implementation of the Patriot Act, saying it is "bad ultimately for law enforcement and will cost us the support of the American people."


title: Eric Holder

text: Holder gave a speech on racism on February 18, 2009, during Black History Month. "Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot in things racial, we have always been, and we, I believe, continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards," said Holder. "Though race-related issues continue to occupy a significant portion of our political discussion, and though there remain many unresolved racial issues in this nation, we, average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about things racial," he said.


title: Eric Holder

text: The speech stirred some controversy, with some reacting favorably to Holder's comments and others sharply criticizing them. Obama later clarified Holder's comments, saying that "I think it's fair to say that if I had been advising my attorney general, we would have used different language... I think the point that he was making is that we're oftentimes uncomfortable with talking about race until there's some sort of racial flare-up or conflict, and that we could probably be more constructive in facing up to the painful legacy of slavery and Jim Crow and discrimination."


title: Eric Holder

text: In May 2009, Holder's Department of Justice completed a civil suit originally brought by J. Christian Adams of the Bush Justice Department against the New Black Panther Party, its chairman, and two of its members for voter intimidation due to their conduct during the 2008 election. Two members of the Party had stood outside a polling station during the election in paramilitary uniforms, one carrying a nightstick. Claiming a lack of evidence, the Department of Justice dropped charges against the party, its chairman, and one of the two members who had stood outside the polling station. With the evidence presented, the Department of Justice successfully obtained a narrow injunction against the other. Former lawyers who had served under the Bush Administration have stated that the current DOJ under Holder is unwilling to prosecute minorities for civil rights violations. Three other Justice Department lawyers, in recent interviews, gave the same description of the department's culture, which department officials strongly deny. In the months after the case ended, tensions persisted. Eventually, Christopher Coates (of the Justice's Civil Rights Division) acknowledged telling attorneys at a September 2009 lunch that the Obama administration was interested in filing cases – under a key voting rights section – only on behalf of minorities.


title: Eric Holder

text: During a meeting with a House subcommittee, Holder argued that the behavior of the New Black Panther Party was not comparable to historical voter intimidation against minorities, which often involved acts of violence and murder. Holder said, "When you compare what people endured in the South in the '60s to try to get the right to vote for African Americans, to compare what people subjected to that with what happened in Philadelphia… I think does a great disservice to people who put their lives on the line for my people."


title: Eric Holder

text: Critics have interpreted this comment as evidence of racial bias on Holder's part, with conservative James Taranto of "The Wall Street Journal" arguing that "If he [Holder] approaches the job with the attitude that any group smaller than all Americans is 'my people', he is the wrong man for the position." Claiming the issue was politicized from the start, Democrats have argued that those on the political right, particularly Adams, used this incident for purely political gain.


title: Eric Holder

text: In May 2011, House Oversight Committee chairman, California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley sent Attorney General Holder a letter requesting details about Operation Fast and Furious, which had been a failed federal firearms sting operation that allegedly allowed some 2,000 weapons to reach Mexican drug gangs. Grassley and Issa urged Holder to cooperate and turn over subpoenaed records that would reveal the scope of the alleged government coverup.


title: Eric Holder

text: In October 2011, the Justice Department released 7,600 pages of documents on Operation Fast and Furious. Republicans claimed some of those documents indicated that Holder had been sent early memos about Fast and Furious and therefore must have known about it before early 2011, which is when he had testified that he had learned about it to the House Judiciary Committee; a later report from the Justice Department's independent inspector general found that Holder had "no prior knowledge" of the operation before early 2011.


title: Eric Holder

text: In April 2012, Issa announced that his committee was drafting a Contempt of Congress resolution against Holder in response to the committee allegedly being "stonewalled by the Justice Department" on additional documents.


title: Eric Holder

text: On June 19, 2012, Holder met with Issa in person to discuss the requested documents. Holder said he offered to provide the documents to Issa on the condition that Issa provided his assurance that doing so would satisfy the committee subpoenas and resolve the dispute. Issa rejected the offer. Holder then told reporters "They rejected what I thought was an extraordinary offer on our part."


title: Eric Holder

text: On June 20, 2012, the Oversight Committee voted 23–17 along party lines to hold Holder in contempt of Congress for not releasing the additional documents the committee had requested. A memo from Holder's office said of the vote: "It's an election-year tactic intended to distract attention." Although the vote was not directly relevant to gun legislation, the National Rifle Association announced that it would be scoring the contempt vote, due to Holder's previous stances on gun control legislation, placing political pressure on Democrats that wished to avoid repercussions from the gun lobby.


title: Eric Holder

text: On June 20—the same date as the Oversight Committee vote—President Obama asserted executive privilege over the remaining documents requested by the committee. While Democrats argued that Holder was carrying out his constitutional role by honoring the executive privilege claim, on June 28, 2012, House Speaker John Boehner scheduled a vote on the contempt resolution anyway. Holder became the first U.S. attorney general in history to be held in both criminal and civil contempt. He was held in contempt by the House of Representatives in a 255–67 vote, with 17 Democrats voting for the measure, 2 Republicans voting against the measure. The remaining Democrats refused to vote and marched out of the House, led by Nancy Pelosi, as a means of protesting the actions of Republicans. Holder responded to the vote, describing it as "the regrettable culmination of what became a misguided and politically motivated investigation in an election year."


title: Eric Holder

text: The congressional action evoked reactions from across the political spectrum. Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry called on Holder to resign, stating "America simply cannot tolerate an attorney general who arms the very criminals he is supposed to protect us from". Republican Sen. John Cornyn, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security also called on Holder to resign. Among those opposing the contempt citation, Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings, the ranking member on the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said, "Holder has acted honorably; he's done everything he could to allow us to do our job, which is to investigate this matter."


title: Eric Holder

text: The Justice Department declined to prosecute the attorney general on the contempt charge, citing the fact that President Obama had asserted executive privilege.


title: Eric Holder

text: In September 2012, after a nineteen-month review, the United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General cleared the Attorney General of any wrongdoing with regard to Fast and Furious, stating that there was "no evidence" that Holder knew about the operation before early 2011. The report did cite fourteen lower ranking officials for possible disciplinary action. Holder responded to the internal investigation, saying "It is unfortunate that some were so quick to make baseless accusations before they possessed the facts about these operations – accusations that turned out to be without foundation and that have caused a great deal of unnecessary harm and confusion."


title: Eric Holder

text: In retrospect, David Weigel of "Bloomberg Businessweek" called the contempt of Congress vote "both popular and stunningly ineffective, enraging Holder and turning him into a more outspoken and implacable foe of Republican policies on voting rights and policing."


title: Eric Holder

text: In August 2014, federal judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered the Justice Department to provide Congress with a list of the previously withheld documents. In October 2014, Jackson rejected a House bid to hold Holder in contempt of court, stating that it was "entirely unnecessary." In January 2016, Jackson tossed out Obama's executive privilege claims but stressed that her ruling wasn't based on the merits of the claim, but instead on the fact that many of the documents had by then become public as part of the 2012 inspector general's report.


title: Eric Holder

text: Operation Choke Point was an ongoing initiative of the United States Department of Justice that was announced in 2013 and investigated banks in the United States and the business they did with payment processors, payday lenders, and other companies believed to be at higher risk for fraud, money laundering, and terrorist financing. This operation, first disclosed in an August 2013 Wall Street Journal story was controversial for the potential threat to due process, as the government was pressuring financial institutions to cut off a company's access to banking services without first having shown that the targeted companies were in fact violating the law.


title: Eric Holder

text: On March 6, 2013, Holder testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee that the size of large financial institutions has made it difficult for the Justice Department to bring criminal charges when they are suspected of crimes, because such charges can threaten the existence of a bank and therefore their interconnectedness may endanger the national or global economy. (See financial contagion). "Some of these institutions have become too large," Holder told the committee, "It has an inhibiting impact on our ability to bring resolutions that I think would be more appropriate."


title: Eric Holder

text: In a January 29, 2013 letter to Holder, Senators Sherrod Brown and Charles Grassley had criticized this Justice Department policy citing "important questions about the Justice Department's prosecutorial philosophy." After receipt of a DOJ response letter, Brown and Grassley issued a statement saying, "The Justice Department's response is aggressively evasive. It does not answer our questions. We want to know how and why the Justice Department has determined that certain financial institutions are 'too big to jail' and that prosecuting those institutions would damage the financial system."