Eric Holder: I Had to 'Rebuild' Justice Dept. After Bush

Outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder has defended himself against a barrage of criticism that emerged in his absence during the confirmation hearings of his likely replacement, Loretta Lynch, The Washington Post reported.

At a news conference Tuesday, Holder hit back at claims by members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that he politicized the Justice Department.

"This notion," he said, that under his watch, "this Justice Department has been politicized is totally inconsistent with the facts.

"You want to look at a politicized Justice Department, you look at the one I inherited, all right? You look at the way in which hiring was done here for political reasons."

Holder said that his team "had to rebuild this department" and that it was "a little irresponsible" for those on Capitol Hill to characterize policy differences "as political."

Lynch is expected to be approved by the committee during the last week of February, with a full vote in the Senate to confirm her in the first or second week in March.

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