Former Attorney General Eric Holder may join the already crowded Democratic presidential candidate roster.
Holder, who served as the attorney general from 2009-2015 in the Obama administration, heads to Iowa to speak at Drake University Law School in Des Moines. He will decide on his potential candidacy for president within the next two weeks.
Iowa is a critical presidential state, adding more speculation about a potential White House run.
According to NPR, Holder's speech will target President Trump's policies and his sometimes divisive language.
"We should be dissatisfied with an administration rife with corruption, stunning incompetence, and shameful intolerance," Holder will say in his speech, according to prepared remarks. "Most of all, we should be dissatisfied by that same administration's total abdication of moral and policy leadership — and its failure to address the many other urgent challenges we face: A democracy that's under attack. A climate crisis that's ignored. And racial and cultural divisions that are weaponized and exploited for political gain."
Some issues from his past political history may come up, such as his involvement and failure to turn over documents in the gun-trafficking operation where almost 2,000 AK-47s were lost. This incident led to him becoming the first sitting cabinet member ever held in contempt by Congress.
Holder was also criticized for saying "when they go low, we kick 'em" while helping other Democratic candidates during the 2018 midterm elections, a sarcastic twist on former first lady Michelle Obama's "When they go low, we go high." He later clarified that he did not condone violence with that statement.
Holder will close his speech at Drake University with the following remarks:
"Together, we must call out — and throw out — public officials who seek power by bringing out the worst in us. Now in that effort, we must seek civility — but not at the expense of truth-telling or the protection of treasured principles," Holder will say. "The fact is: America is at its best when we face difficult questions and hard truths. America is at its best when we open our arms — and widen the circle of opportunity — for everyone who loves this country enough to make it their home."
If Holder announces his candidacy for president, this would be his first time running for public office.
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