Senate panel wants testimony about Eric Holder

The former pardon attorney, Roger Adams, told the Los Angeles Times this week that Holder pushed subordinates to drop their opposition to President Bill Clinton's consideration of clemency in that case.

The clemency application received strong resistance from law enforcement officials and the Pardon Office, which typically offers an up or down recommendation on such requests. But the request was backed by a few Democratic members of Congress, religious groups and former President Jimmy Carter.

Adams' statements -- and accompanying documents disclosed in the news accounts -- provided the committee with new information about Holder's role in the controversial case, said one GOP committee staff member who asked not to be identified.

The staffer, who was not authorized to speak on the topic, said the disclosures elevated concerns about Holder's independence in cases where there may have been political pressure from the White House.

Holder, a highly regarded former prosecutor who served as Clinton's deputy attorney general, is likely to be confirmed easily in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

But some Republicans, including the ranking GOP member of the Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, are intent on grilling the former deputy attorney general over his role in three Clinton-era controversies, including the clemency granted to 16 members of the FALN (the Spanish acronym for Armed Forces of National Liberation) or a splinter group known as Los Macheteros.

They had been convicted in Chicago and Hartford variously of bank robbery, possession of explosives and participating in a seditious conspiracy. Most had already served lengthy prison terms.

Adams' interview with the Times revealed new details about Holder's role, including Holder's office ordering a neutral "options memo" on the clemency, which was prepared despite strong objections from Justice Department staff.