OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder canceled plans to deliver a speech to a group of Oklahoma City police cadets on Thursday amid a planned protest by conservative lawmakers and organizations.
Conservative lawmakers holding the protest heralded the cancellation as a “victory,” but a Justice Department spokesman said in a statement that Holder will still be traveling to Oklahoma City on Thursday, just not taking part in the speech.
“The Attorney General will still be traveling to Oklahoma City but unfortunately a meeting at the Justice Department delayed his departure from Washington this morning and he will not arrive in Oklahoma in time for the graduation ceremony,” spokesman Brian Fallon said in a statement.
U.S. District Judge Vickie Miles LaGrange will speak instead to the 42 graduating police cadets.
Holder’s planned visit to Oklahoma City drew the ire of several conservative lawmakers, including state Rep. Paul Wesselhoft, R-Moore, who still planned to hold the demonstration.
“We will still hold the demonstration because we believe that Holder should be impeached,” Wesselhoft said in a statement. “This is a significant lesson in political activism. When conservatives organize, we often win.”
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