A former Bush administration official who prosecuted fugitive financier Marc Rich is supporting the attorney general candidacy of Eric Holder — the man who helped Rich win a controversial presidential pardon.

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who refused to certify the Bush administration’s domestic surveillance program, said Holder’s involvement in the Rich case was a “huge misjudgment” but that Holder nonetheless “has the institutional knowledge, humility and integrity to be a fine attorney general.”

As an assistant U.S. attorney, Comey was the lead prosecutor in the Rich case from 1987 to 1993, and helped lead a global effort to apprehend him. When Rich was pardoned by President Bill Clinton on Clinton’s last day in office in January 2001, Comey said he was “stunned.” Holder green-lighted a pardon for Rich as a deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration.

However, Comey said Holder has “appropriately paid dearly in reputation,” and that the episode actually contributes to his qualifications.

“I hope very much he is confirmed,” Comey wrote. “I know a lot of good people who have made significant mistakes. I think Mr. Holder’s may actually make him a better steward of the Department of Justice because he has learned a hard lesson about protecting the integrity of that great institution from political fixers … The error should not disqualify him.”
Judiciary Committee staffers did not know if Comey’s letter was unsolicited. An Obama spokesman would not comment.

Comey is best known as the former deputy attorney general who refused to certify the Bush administration’s domestic surveillance program in March 2004 while acting as attorney general due to John Ashcroft’s hospitalization. He resigned from the Justice Department in 2005 to become a senior vice president of Lockheed Martin, and now lives in McLean, Va.

During the fight over the surveillance program, Comey rushed to Ashcroft’s hospital bed to head off White House counsel Alberto Gonzales, who wanted Ashcroft’s assent on the controversial program.

Comey also testified before the Judiciary Committee in 2007 about the Justice Department, telling the panel that the department’s reputation had been damaged by “political appointees.”

The Rich case became a focal point of criticism against Holder. Senate Republicans publicly pushed Leahy into slowing the confirmation process for Holder. Leahy had wanted to start the hearings on Jan. 8, but later delayed them to Jan. 15 to accommodate Republicans who said they wanted more time to scrutinize Holder.

Separately, a former Republican congressman also wrote to Leahy and Specter to offer support for Holder.

Former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.), also a past U.S. attorney and administrator of the Drug 
Enforcement Administration, noted that Holder once recommended to then-Attorney 
General Janet Reno an expansion of the independent counsel investigation of Clinton.

"His decision demonstrates that Mr. Holder can make the tough call even when it goes against the administration in which he serves," Hutchinson wrote.

In all, 49 different letters backing Holder's nomination were released Monday by Leahy. They include Democrat-friendly groups such Planned Parenthood, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the AFL-CIO. There are also five letters from law enforcement groups such as the National District Attorneys Association, the National Association of Police Organizations and the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys.