WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former FBI Director Louis Freeh said Friday that Attorney General-designate Eric Holder allowed himself "to be used" by the Clinton White House in the pardon process for then-fugitive financier Marc Rich in January 2001. Former FBI director Louis Freeh calls Attorney General-designate Eric Holder man of "tremendous integrity." But Freeh told senators at Holder's confirmation that Holder was nevertheless a man of "tremendous integrity" who "will never allow himself again to be put in that position." "The pardon of Marc Rich was a corrupt act," Freeh said, but was not Holder's responsibility. Freeh asserted that President Bill Clinton's White House staff kept the FBI and Justice Department "in the dark" and "actively conspired" to ensure that nobody knew what pardons were being considered shortly before Clinton left office.
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Former FBI director Louis Freeh calls Holder a man of "tremendous integrity"
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Freeh calls pardon of Marc Rich "a corrupt act" but not Holder's responsibility
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Holder admits he "made mistakes" in handling of pardon of financier Rich
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Holder faulted for recommending clemency for Puerto Rican nationalists
White House
"The [Clinton] @placeholder went to extraordinary lengths to deceive the attorney general, myself, the Department of Justice and everyone about who was on the secret pardon list.
Justice Department
"The [Clinton] White House went to extraordinary lengths to deceive the attorney general, myself, the @placeholder and everyone about who was on the secret pardon list.
Bill Clinton
Clinton
Holder, who was deputy attorney general during @placeholder's second term, acknowledged at the outset of his confirmation hearing that many of his past "decisions were not always perfect" and that he "made mistakes," but, if confirmed, he said, he would "faithfully execute" his duties in a "fair, just and independent manner."
Marc Rich
Marc Rich
Marc Rich
Rich
He was particularly quick to admit that he made mistakes during the @placeholder pardon incident at the end of the Clinton administration that were "not typical" of his conduct over most of his career.