what the you remember of ted stephens, that senator? and is jeremy rockefeller still in the senate? >> jerry rockefeller is still in the senate. what do i remember of ted stevens? that he was a terrific senator, an honest man. did a lot for his state alaska and did a lot for america. and when he was being persecuted, which is what was happening, not prosecuted, i urge the attorney general to take a look at the case because i followed it very closely. i got the documents, took a look at them, and thought the case was being handled improperly. and as i mentioned earlier, i used to be the district attorney of philadelphia. so i've obviously had a lot of experience in that field. when eric holder was up for confirmation and i was the ranking republican, and i had some questions for eric holder about some of the things he had done when he was deputy attorney general and he came in to see me. and we had a long talk, and i ultimately supported him. i got an agreement from eric holder that he would take a fresh review of the ted stevens case. i couldn't get the republican attorney general to

court and federal judge here in washington who oversaw the corruption trial of the late senator ted stephens in 2008. that as stevens was convicted of failing to report improper gifts, more than $250,000 worth of gifts. and he lost his re-election that year. in the following spring -- well, after the conviction, there was an fbi agent came forward and said prosecutors failed to provide evidence to steven's defense attorneys. they called into question in the case that attorney general eric holder then in early '09 asked to have a conviction set aside in a absolutely stunning development. and the judge agreed to do that. then he appointed this gentleman to lead this investigation. we knew the outlines of the findings since last november. we knew that, you know, there were major, major, major problems inside the prosecution over the stevens case. i think what was stunning yesterday and yesterday's developments is when you go through the report, it's a lengthy report. it's over 500 pages. and then there's responses from the prosecutors and so folks involved in the case from justice department si

i'm going to give you full credit for dismissing the case against senator ted stephens when you learned of the corruption within that division of your department. i'm going to ask you questions because the report will be public within days, and if there is anything that you should take as your major responsibility, it is that the public corruption unit and the department of justice is fair and even-handed and clearly that was not the case in the prosecution of a great friend to many of us and a great patriot for our country who unfortunately was very badly abused by the department of did dismiss the case when you learned of the misbehavior, and i gave you credit on the senate floor for doing that and will again. but i do want to ask you about the report when we have time to ask questions. thank you. >> mr. attorney general. >> thank you. chairwoman mikulski, ranking member hutchison, other distinguished members of the subcommittee, i thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today and for your continued support of the justice department's critical work. i look forward to discus

i want to follow on to senator hutchison's questions regarding the prosecution of senator ted stephens. i think so many of us were absolutely shocked. i was horrified as a friend and as an alaskan to read judge sullivan's comments that this ill-gotten verdict not only resulted in the loss of senator stephens losing his seat, but in his word tipped the balance of power in the united states senate. pretty powerful in terms of what the department of justice did to a great man. i appreciate and i recognize and i thank you for your actions in dismissing that case and in your decision to not attempt to retry, and i join senator hutchison with that. there are questions that still remain. you know that. i have a long series of them. what i would like to do is submit them to you today and ask that you respond to them prior to the release of the report which is due to come out so i would appreciate your attention to that. i have a question regarding what is happening now with the release of this report. the "usa today" reported that the department of justice has spent $1.8 million in defending p

its bottom line is that there was clear and intentional misconduct by federal prosecutors in the ted stephenslty in 2008 of failing to report gifts from an oil industry executive. he nearly lost his bid for re-election at time he was the longest serving republican in the be senate, and he was later killed in a plane crash. after his death this it was shon that prosecutors did not provide the defense with evidence that would have helped their case. quote: >> reporter: the lawyer for the late senator issued a statement this morning that says in part: there was a two-year investigation, it shows each more wrongdoing -- even more wrongdoing by prosecutors who they believe were determined to win at all costs even if it meant abandoning the constitution and their ethical obligations. bill: this is a politically-charged case of sorts, right? >> very much so. former colleagues of the late senator have already called for the federal prosecutors to be disciplined or removed from their jobs. one of the federal prosecutors tried and fail today block the public release of this report, and the senators on