Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday leading members of the Justice Department should "push back" against President Donald Trump, after he claimed to have the "absolute right" to command the agency.
"I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department," Trump told The New York Times in an interview last week. More recently, he tweeted the DOJ is part of a "deep state" within the government.
Holder described this statement as "dangerous," and "irresponsible," in remarks to reporters after watching the swearing in of Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., according to The Hill.
He added Trump's comment "flies in the face of the way in which every American president, Republican and Democrat, has viewed the Justice Department," and he hopes DOJ officials "will push back on [this] very, very strongly."
Holder also told reporters the accusations of favoritism toward Democrats by the FBI and Justice Department are "unfounded," according to Business Insider.
"I think for something that is for short-term partisan gain, people are not looking at the long-term consequences of that," Holder reportedly said. "When you try to delegitimize a probe and try to delegitimize the FBI and you try to delegitimize the Justice Department, that has long-term collateral consequences."
He also called out current Attorney General Jeff Sessions for not doing more to defend the department from Republican detractors.
"And I'm disturbed by that — uniquely disturbed by the fact that I've seen nothing from this attorney general to defend the people of the Justice Department who are patriots and who do their jobs without any regard to partisan politics," Holder said. "They need to be defended."
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