By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the first black to become the nation’s top lawyer, announced his resignation from the Obama administration Thursday.
“I come to this moment with very mixed emotions,” Holder said at a joint press conference with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House. “I want to thank you, Mr. President, for the opportunity that you gave me to serve and for giving me the greatest honor of my professional life.”
Holder is one of only three original Cabinet members still in office from Obama’s first term.
“Eric has done a superb job,” Obama said while lauding the Attorney General who spent six years in the post.
The president said that Holder has prosecuted hundreds of terror cases, fought corruption and violent crime, safeguarded ''our markets from manipulation and consumers from financial fraud," and "worked passionately to make sure our criminal justice system remains the best in the world."
Holder has been a vocal proponent of minority rights, and has staunchly defended the administration’s sometimes-controversial counter-terrorism policies.
“We have kept faith with our belief in the power of the greatest judicial system the world has ever known to fairly and effectively adjudicate any cases that are brought before it, including those that involve the security of the nation that we both love so dearly,” Holder said.
He will remain in office until the U.S. Senate confirms a successor.
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