MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton said Thursday that he is “engaged in immediate conversations” with the White House to find a replacement for Attorney General Eric Holder, who has just announced his resignation.
“The resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder is met with both pride and disappointment by the Civil Rights community. We are proud that he has been the best Attorney General on civil rights in U.S. history and disappointed because he leaves at a critical time when we need his continued diligence most,” Sharpton said in a statement released shortly after Holder’s impending resignation was first reported.
“We are engaged in immediate conversations with the White House on deliberations over a successor whom we hope will continue in the general direction of Attorney General Holder. His accomplishments in working to protect American’s from terrorism, fighting to protect voter rights, challenging unfair sentencing, directing U.S. attorneys on fair prosecution, and being the only Attorney General to visit the site of a civil rights complaint in Ferguson must be noted in American history,” the statement added.
Sharpton called on the Justice Department to continue investigating the deaths of Michael Brown, an unarmed 19-year-old Missouri teen who was shot by a police officer, and Eric Garner, who was killed by police during an arrest in New York City.
“As I stood with the families of Michael Brown of Ferguson, MO and Eric Garner of Staten Island, NY, and called on the Justice Department to take over the criminal investigation of those cases … we hope Attorney General Holder will authorize this before his departure or that it becomes the first order of business for his successor,” Sharpton said.
“Policing of Americans is the critical challenge of today, especially Blacks and Browns in particular. We will aggressively pursue the Justice Department’s involvement in dealing with these matters in his remaining days and in the days ahead of his successor,” he added.
Sharpton has enjoyed a cozy relationship with the Obama administration, establishing himself at one point as the president’s “go-to” man on race issues, according to a recent Politico profile. However, it’s questionable whether the cable news personality actually holds enough political clout to influence the president’s nominee to succeed Holder.
