Former Attorney General Eric Holder Eric Himpton HolderThe Hill's Campaign Report: Trump's rally risk | Biden ramps up legal team | Biden hits Trump over climate policy Biden campaign forming 'special litigation' team ahead of possible voting battle Pompeo, Engel poised for battle in contempt proceedings MORE says Justice Department leaders should “push back” against President Trump Donald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE, who contends he has an “absolute right” to run the nation’s law and order agency.

Holder called Trump's statement “dangerous” and “irresponsible,” adding that it “flies in the face" of American history.

“It flies in the face of the way in which every American president, Republican and Democrat, has viewed the Justice Department,” Holder told several reporters in a Senate hallway shortly after he watched Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) get sworn in.

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“It is dangerous, it is irresponsible, and it is something that I hope the people who are in the Justice Department now will push back on very, very strongly.

Trump made the remark in an interview last week with The New York Times.

“I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department,” Trump said.

Holder, who served as President Obama's first attorney general, is currently working on redistricting issues but didn’t rule out a run for office himself.

“We'll see,” Holder responded when asked if will run for office in 2018 or 2020.

Holder served as attorney general from

The House voted to hold him in contempt of Congress in June 2012 for not turning over documents related to a controversy in which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed dealers to sell guns that they believed could eventually be tracked to Mexican drug cartels. He's the only attorney general to ever be voted in contempt of Congress.

Seventeen Democrats backed Republicans on the vote.