Newsweek is reporting that Eric Holder has accepted an offer to become Attorney General in President-elect Barack Obama’s upcoming administration.
Holder served a senior legal adviser to Obama’s presidential campaign and as a member of his vice presidential selection committee. Holder was also a deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration.
A source “close to the presidential transition” said that Holder accepted the job but still has to undergo a formal vetting process. The source told Newsweek that the formal announcement of Holder as attorney general isn’t expected until after Obama names his secretaries of State and Defense.
Holder worked as a federal prosecutor who went after public corruption. He has also been a critic of the Bush administration’s attempts to expand executive power.