Just dropped · Trial Balloon · Ep. 187
Bad Instincts
Former Attorney General Eric Holder that the next Democratic president should “seriously” consider adding additional seat to the United States Supreme Court should they be elected alongside a Democratic majority in the Senate, the Daily Beast reports.
“Holder’s willingness to entertain the idea of court packing makes him one of the most senior Democratic officials to do so. To date, virtually all elected Democrats have either ignored the proposal or dismissed it out of hand.”
Eric Holder: “Though I will not run for president in 2020, I will continue to fight for the future of our country through the National Democratic Redistricting Committee and its affiliates. For too long, Democrats have lost sight of the state and local races that shape the day-to-day lives of the people we serve. With state legislatures set to begin drawing new voting districts in 2021, what happens in those races over the next two years will shape the next decade of our politics.”
“Our fight to end gerrymandering is about electing leaders who actually work for the interests of the people they are supposed to represent. I will do everything I can to ensure that the next Democratic president is not hobbled by a House of Representatives pulled to the extremes by members from gerrymandered districts.”
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced late Tuesday that he’ll decide on a 2020 presidential run in about three weeks, NBC News reports.
“No, no. When they go low, we kick ’em. That’s what this new Democratic Party is about.”
— Former Attorney General Eric Holder, quoted by the Washington Post.
CNN: “Holder’s travels have taken him to Arizona, Indiana and Ohio for state Democratic Party dinners, as well as Florida, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida and Georgia for events and meetings with local activists. Holder’s meetings generally focus on combating gerrymandering, his cause célèbre since leaving the Obama administration, but his events are often peppered with politics and — invariably — comments about his future.”
Former Attorney General Eric Holder told Stephen Colbert that he’s considering a presidential bid in 2020, ABC News reports.
Said Holder: “What I’ve said is that I’d make a determination sometime early next year. My focus, really, now, is on 2018, the midterms and trying to make sure that Democrats take back the Senate, take back the House and do well, importantly, at the state level.”
Former Attorney General Eric Holder told an audience in New Hampshire that even if President Trump is using his pardon power to send a signal to potential witnesses in the Mueller probe, people who are pardoned can still go before a grand jury, Axios reports.
Said Holder: “If Bob Mueller, for instance wants to take a pardoned person, put that person before a grand jury, that person no longer has the ability to say, ‘I’m going to invoke my Fifth Amendment right’ and that person then becomes a perfect witness for the special counsel.”
Former Attorney General Eric Holder (D) told the Washington Post that he won’t rule out a 2020 bid for president.
Said Holder: “I care a great deal about this country… I think I’ve got ideas I hope would resonate with the American people. I think I’ve got the guts to potential do the things that I think the next president would have to do.”
“A Democratic group backed by former President Obama intends to pour millions of dollars into an eclectic array of elections in a dozen states, in an effort to block Republicans from single-handedly drawing congressional maps after 2020,” the New York Times reports.
“The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, formed last year under the leadership of Eric Holder, the former attorney general, has settled on a strategy to contest a combination of governorships, legislative seats and more obscure state offices to chip away at Republicans’ sweeping control of the redistricting process.”
“More than two years after leaving the Obama administration, former Attorney General Eric Holder is reentering the political fray,” Yahoo News reports.
“His goal: to lead the legal resistance to Donald Trump’s agenda — and perhaps even run against the president in 2020.”
“Seized by a sense of urgency to oppose Trump and restore what he regards as America’s best self, Holder is mulling a White House bid of his own, according to three sources who have spoken to him and are familiar with his thinking.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.