The relationship between President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder “is beginning to attract criticism and complications,” says National Public Radio (now known simply as NPR). Holder has said, “There has to be a distance between me and the president.” Still, their families have shared dinners, celebrated the first lady’s birthday and occupied the same box at the Kennedy Center.
This week, Republican senators flagged White House rhetoric on the controversial Arizona immigration law that they say was designed to influence the Justice Department case. Robert Driscoll, a Republican who served in the Bush administration, said, “It certainly appeared that the White House came up with the result first, and the Justice Department was directed to come up with the rationale for the result second.” The Justice Department’s investigation of BP for its role in the Gulf oil spill is also coming under fire.