ATLANTA (AP) – Former Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that he worries some Obama administration criminal justice reforms could be in jeopardy under President Donald Trump.
Holder commented during a panel discussion on race at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta.
When Holder and the other panelists entered the room a surprise guest walked in with them: recently ousted Acting Attorney General Sally Yates. As Holder held his hand over her head, the crowd cheered loudly and gave Yates a standing ovation as she took her seat in the front row.
Yates, an Atlanta native and former U.S. Attorney in Atlanta, was fired by Trump last month after she declined to defend his executive order banning refugees and immigrants from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Holder, the first black U.S. attorney general, served under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2015. The Obama administration implemented policies meant to narrow the gap between minorities and law enforcement, he said.