Obama pays glowing tribute to tearful departing Attorney General Eric Holder as a liberal civil rights champion

Attorney General Eric Holder fought back tears on Thursday as President Barack Obama praised his legal legacy as a civil rights champion after Holder announced his sudden resignation.

Although Holder will leave the Justice Department under a cloud of controversies, the president gushed in his political eulogy that America's top cop 'believes, as I do, that justice is not just an abstract theory. It’s a living and breathing principle.'

Obama said in the State Dining Room that he believes Holder's proudest achievement' was his record on civil rights reform, what he calls 'the conscience of the building' that the DOJ occupies just six blocks down Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House.

'Under his watch,' Obama said, 'the department has brought a record number of prosecutions for human trafficking, and for hate crimes – because no one in America should be afraid to walk down the street because of the color of their skin, the love in their heart, the faith they practice, or the disabilities that they live with.'

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