More on Holder's Global Crossing lobbying

Reported AG-nominee Eric Holder is currently a partner at D.C. white-shoe law firm Covington & Burling, where he handles "complex civil and criminal cases, domestic and international advisory matters and internal corporate investigations," according to the company's Web site.

Holder has registered to lobby for only a few clients since leaving the Justice Department. In 2002 and 2003, one of those clients was Global Crossing, an Internet and telecommunications company that was recovering from one of the largest bankruptcies in U.S. history at the time and hoping to be bought out by a joint venture between Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa and Singapore Technologies Telemedia, a Singapore-government-owned company. Any acquisition of a U.S. company by a foreign firm can be blocked by the U.S. government. Global Crossing turned to K Street to smooth the way.

Holder and four associates were among the lobbyists on Covington's Global Crossing account. Covington was paid about $1 million to sway Congress, the White House and a number of government agencies, including the Commerce, State, Defense, Treasury and Justice Departments, according to lobbying disclosure forms [here, here and here] on file at the Senate Office of Public Records.

Ultimately, the efforts of Holder and other influence-peddlers retained by Global Crossing may have paid dividends. The initial deal ran into regulatory roadblocks over concern that it would compromise national security by bringing Global Crossing's fiber-optic network under Chinese control. But after Hutchison Whampoa backed out, the government approved the acquisition by Singapore Technologies Telemedia.