why did the attorney general, a democrat, in the new head ministration, let ted stevens off. -- let ted stevens off? he did not have to do any of it. >> eric said, i am not the secretary of justice. i am the attorney general. he is the chief law-enforcement officer for the country. the attorney general who does their job well and looks at it in that vein, regardless of republican or democrat, if something goes wrong or goes awry, it is their job to do with it. he looked at that case and he had worked in the public integrity section back when he was a young attorney at the justice department and he knew the standard that was supposed to be met in that particular place. he felt, in this case, there were some serious questions about how they performed their duties. >> how long have you known him? >> boy, i remember when he was the u.s. attorney for the district of columbia. i have known him probably over 15 years. >> who were you working for in the beginning? >> "washington post" in the beginning. >> is that how you get access to him? >> i like to think it he has a sense of me and how i go

this is your report on ted stevens pierre >> last fall, the 40-year political career of senator ted stevens ended in disgrace. but today, attorney general eric holder pull the plug on the case, saying evidence was withheld and it was in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial. >> the jury verdict here was attained unlawfully. the government violated the constitution of the united states. >> a jury convicted stevens of taking thousands of dollars of contributions. but after the trial, the court learned that prosecutors may have potentially allowed a witness to lead the jury. there may be even more allegations of possible material misconduct. prosecutors have tried to keep a key witness from testifying. one of the lead agents accepted gifts and even had them over for dinner. federal prosecutors face an internal prosecution, one of prosecuting themselves. >> the prosecution was tainted and it could not be satisfactorily removed. >> stevens was legendary for his temper and his ability to get billions of federal dollars for his state. throughout the who