Holder: Notion That Barack Obama, People Surrounding Him Did Something Inappropriate ‘Absurd’

Tuesday, during an appearance on MSNBC’s “All In,” former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder dismissed so-called “Obamagate” claims that former President Barack Obama and the people around him committed any wrongdoing regarding investigations into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Holder said the Trump and his administration were likely motivated by politics in this instance.

“This is a very troubling concern that I have, that they are going to try to use the department, use the power that’s in the department, use the tools of the Justice Department to go after people they perceive to be their political enemies,” he said. “The notion that Barack Obama or people surrounding him did something inappropriate, describing it as ‘Obamagate’ by the president, is absurd. It doesn’t mean, however, that — you’re going to watch, you will now hear “Obamagate” repeated, repeated and repeated, whether or not there’s any basis to it, and there is not. That is going to be the new way. And the thing that as I said is extremely troubling, this is something that I would have dismissed out of hand if you had raised it with any other administration, Republican or Democrat. But that is not something that you can dismiss with regard to this administration, this attorney general.”

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