Michelle Malkin » How Eric Holder fixed the FALN pardons

How Eric Holder fixed the FALN pardons

By Michelle Malkin • January 9, 2009 10:18 AM

The Los Angeles Times, mirabile dictu, breaks from the Obamedia pack and does some digging into Attorney General nominee Eric Holder’s past history as a political fixer for the Puerto Rican FALN terrorists (hat tip – Debra).

Attorney general nominee Eric H. Holder Jr. repeatedly pushed some of his subordinates at the Clinton Justice Department to drop their opposition to a controversial 1999 grant of clemency to 16 members of two violent Puerto Rican nationalist organizations, according to interviews and documents…

…President Clinton’s decision to commute prison terms caused an uproar at the time. Holder was called before Congress to explain his role but declined to answer numerous questions from angry lawmakers demanding to know why the Justice Department had not sided with the FBI, federal prosecutors and other law enforcement officials, who were vehemently opposed to the grants.

Some religious groups and influential individuals, including President Carter, had endorsed the commutations. But Clinton’s decision outraged law enforcement officials, who had tried to contain a bombing campaign in New York, Chicago and elsewhere in the 1970s and 1980s by groups seeking independence for Puerto Rico from the United States.

New interviews and an examination of previously undisclosed documents indicate that Holder played an active role in changing the position of the Justice Department on the commutations.

Holder instructed his staff at Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney to effectively replace the department’s original report recommending against any commutations, which had been sent to the White House in 1996, with one that favored clemency for at least half the prisoners, according to these interviews and documents.

And after Pardon Attorney Roger Adams resisted, Holder’s chief of staff instructed him to draft a neutral “options memo” instead, Adams said.

The options memo allowed Clinton to grant the commutations without appearing to go against the Justice Department’s wishes, Adams and his predecessor, Margaret Colgate Love, said in their first public comments on the case.

“I remember this well, because it was such a big deal to consider clemency for a group of people convicted of such heinous crimes,” said Adams, the agency’s top pardon lawyer from 1997 until 2008. He said he told Holder of his “strong opposition to any clemency in several internal memos and a draft report recommending denial” and in at least one face-to-face meeting. But each time Holder wasn’t satisfied, Adams said.

The 16 members of the FALN (the Spanish acronym for Armed Forces of National Liberation) and Los Macheteros had been convicted in Chicago and Hartford variously of bank robbery, possession of explosives and participating in a seditious conspiracy. Overall, the two groups had been linked by the FBI to more than 130 bombings, several armed robberies, six slayings and hundreds of injuries.

Bill Ayers approves!

Posted in: Barack Obama

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#587312

On January 9th, 2009 at 10:28 am, abstractmind said:

According to eaglehaslanded, from another thread…we’re all just too stupid to understand this.

Move along, nothing to see here.

Seriously though…no big surprise about Holder’s actions. i wish i could even feign surprise.
#587317

On January 9th, 2009 at 10:32 am, Flyoverman said:

Sweet….. Send Holder back over to Justice and have him do the same thing for Campeon and Ramos.

Whatever works.
#587324

On January 9th, 2009 at 10:36 am, JHSII said:

Let’s see…the new “president” wants to return the US back to when terrorism was treated as a law enforcement issue, and his attorney general has worked tirelessly to get successful pardons for convicted terrorists.

And Joe Biden says we’re going to be “tested” in the first six months…

I hope I’m not seeing a pattern here…
#587341

On January 9th, 2009 at 10:49 am, Flyoverman said:

JHSII,

Check out this quote yesterday from Obama on the people in Gitmo.

“Guantanamo, I’m going to close. How we do that is NOT simple, because we have people who have been detained there, many of them who may actually be dangerous. So we’ve got to do very careful reviews of how we do that.”

He’s clueless.
#587342

On January 9th, 2009 at 10:49 am, pueblo1032 said:

Well, it sure will be nice to have an AG who knows how to BEND THE RULES… He can hit the ground running form the start… I have to agree with previous entries, NO SURPRISE HERE, MOVE ALONG NOTHING TO SEE!!! HOPE and CHANGE????
#587354

On January 9th, 2009 at 10:58 am, RedDog said:

Some religious groups and influential individuals, including President Carter, had endorsed the commutations.

Is anyone surprised at this? Did Jimma consult families of the victims beforehand? Doubtful. Jimmy Carter is a disgrace.
#587365

On January 9th, 2009 at 11:04 am, RedDog said:

Keep in mind that this is essentially a Clinton III presidency given all his cronies are back in place. I would not be surprised to find Bill pulling puppet strings here. Ironic how the lefties shrieked bloody murder at the appointments of Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others under GW. Hilarious.
#587384

On January 9th, 2009 at 11:14 am, right_on said:

Send Holder back over to Justice and have him do the same thing for Campeon and Ramos.

In order for that to happen, Campeon and Ramos, would have had to secretly belong to an Aztlan Militant Army, or have been heard screaming “Allah U Akbar” as they shot that escaping POS. Also, the “victim” would have had to have been shot some place more serious than his nalgas.
#587393

On January 9th, 2009 at 11:20 am, Danceswithdachshunds said:

Eric Holder got his first appointment, to be an associate judge for the DC Superior Court, from Ronald Reagan. Of course we also ended up with Anthony Kennedy….

Sometimes it just makes you wonder.
#587396

On January 9th, 2009 at 11:21 am, Rogue said:

On January 9th, 2009 at 10:36 am, JHSII said:
Let’s see…the new “president” wants to return the US back to when terrorism was treated as a law enforcement issue, and his attorney general has worked tirelessly to get successful pardons for convicted terrorists.

And Joe Biden says we’re going to be “tested” in the first six months…

I hope I’m not seeing a pattern here…

You forgot: President launched career in the living room of a terrorist.
#587406

On January 9th, 2009 at 11:27 am, DBNinKY said:

New interviews and an examination of previously undisclosed documents indicate that Holder played an active role in changing the position of the Justice Department on the commutations.

I can’t believe the LAT could be this bold – I only hope it keeps up and spreads to the rest of the media!
#587409

On January 9th, 2009 at 11:29 am, walterc said:

The way things are going, Campean and Ramos will be the only ones left in prison.

Load more ammo, and stock up on supplies, it’s going to be a rough 4 years.
#587533

On January 9th, 2009 at 1:00 pm, md1964 said:

Jimmy Carter being FOR SOMETHING should be all that is needed to say no. He hasn’t been right about a single G.D. thing in his jewish hating Life.
#587538

On January 9th, 2009 at 1:04 pm, Elm Creek Smith said:

I hope this isn’t the “Last Great Act of Defiance” before the LA Times files bankruptcy. It’d be nice to think that they actually get it.

ECS
#587552

On January 9th, 2009 at 1:17 pm, Rogue Cheddar said:

——————————————————————————–
D-Day: War’s over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: Over? Did you say “over”? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he’s rolling.
Bluto: And it ain’t over now. ‘Cause when the goin’ gets tough…
[thinks hard]
Bluto: the tough get goin’! Who’s with me? Let’s go!
[runs out, alone; then returns]
Bluto: What the f**k happened to the Delta I used to know? Where’s the spirit? Where’s the guts, huh? This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you’re gonna let it be the worst. “Ooh, we’re afraid to go with you Bluto, we might get in trouble.” Well just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I’m not gonna take this. Wormer, he’s a dead man! Marmalard, dead! Niedermeyer…
Otter: Dead! Bluto’s right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part.
Bluto: We’re just the guys to do it.
D-Day: Let’s do it.
Bluto: *Let’s do it*!
#587562

On January 9th, 2009 at 1:23 pm, ArizonaNeanderthal said:

Eric Holder is indeed one slimy, dishonest thug. He fits in well with the Chicago Connection. The FALN rap sheet was, or could be, a pretty good templet for President Elect Obama’s buddy Williams Ayers and his friends. Hell, none of these “activist” hurt the “Beautiful People”. Eric Holder will make a great Obama/Leftist Attorney General.

That every man be armed-you too ladies.
#588187

On January 10th, 2009 at 12:00 pm, GraniteMan said:

I have it on strong authority Obama is considering naming Blagojevich his Director of Communications after Blago’s strong performance at Friday’s press conference.