Attorney General Eric Holder and Deputy Attorney General David Ogden were slated to attend the investiture of Eastern District of Virginia U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride on Friday. But unavoidable circumstances kept one official home and made another late.

Chris MacBride (right) holds the bible for her husband, U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride, at his swearing in ceremony. (DOJ)

Ogden, who was supposed to give remarks at the ceremony, was unable to attend due to illness, Eastern District First Assistant U.S. Attorney Dana Boente told about 100 Justice Department officials, judges, family members and friends gathered at the Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse in Alexandria, Va.

Holder made it, but he arrived late because he was coming from a funeral.

“I know most of you came to hear the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General, but it is 2:13 and I’m up,” said MacBride, after some reshuffling in the program brought him up to the podium to deliver his remarks.

Then, as if on cue, the Attorney General came into the courtroom as MacBride discussed what he’s learned from Holder, who once worked with MacBride in the District of Columbia U.S. Attorney’s office.

Holder, a former D.C. U.S. Attorney, said MacBride is a friend, who has “intelligence, diligence and integrity.”

“Wherever he has served, he has served well and with distinction,” said Holder, who has named MacBride to the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys. “I know this because I hired Neil.”

Eastern District Court Judge Henry Coke Morgan Jr. recalled being a reference for MacBride, a former Eastern District Court clerk. Morgan said he was reluctant to give up MacBride to Holder.

“I started to wonder if the whole, unvarnished truth would be the best option,” Morgan said at the ceremony. He added: “I soon discovered truth was the only option because I was being examined by the head of the office, Eric Holder.”

MacBride, who is the first clerk from the Eastern District to become U.S. Attorney, recalled one of his more embarrassing days in Morgan’s courtroom 17 years ago.

As a clerk, he had to start court proceedings by saying, “All rise. Oyez, oyez, oyez, all manner of persons having any matter to present before … judges in the United States District Court in and for the Eastern District of Virginia may at present appear and they shall be heard. God save the United States and this honorable court. Court is now in session, please be seated.”

But the last time he was in the Alexandria courthouse, MacBride forgot his notes and was only able to get out “All rise. Oyez, oyez, oyez.” before his mind went blank, he recalled. To keep things moving, he then said, “Sit down and be quiet.”

“The pressure is really off for me,” MacBride said during his remarks today. “I can’t go downhill from there.”

MacBride, who was confirmed in September, said he will focus on fighting terrorism and protecting national security as U.S. Attorney.

Although the EDVA lost out to the Southern District of New York in internal DOJ jockeying for the Khalid Shaikh Mohammed trial, MacBride said he was honored to have prosecutors from the Eastern District assist their counterparts in Manhattan in the prosecution of the alleged 9/11 attacks mastermind and four other suspected terrorists in New York.

“I will work hard everyday to continue the tremendous legacy of the Eastern District of Virginia in every way I can,” MacBride said.

Holder has now attended four U.S. Attorney investitures including ceremonies for Joyce Vance in the Northern District of Alabama, Preet Bharara in the SDNY, and B. Todd Jones in Minnesota.

Career prosecutor Dana Boente will retain a leadership position in the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia, The Washington Examiner reported.

U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride, who was confirmed Sept. 15, named Dana Boente as his top deputy. Boente served as the acting head of the office after Chuck Rosenberg resigned in October 2008. Boente was also Rosenberg’s First Assistant U.S. Attorney. The EDVA, in the suburbs of Washington, became one of the premier venues for national security cases after the 9/11 attacks.

Here are some highlights from the Examiner’s interview with Boente:

Examiner: What brought you to a career in prosecuting?

Boente: When I was first getting started in my legal career I came out to Washington to work in the Department of Justice. I thought I’d work there for three or four years and then move back to the Midwest and engage in corporate law. That was 26 years ago. It wasn’t the plan I started out with, but I enjoy it.

Examiner: How does newly appointed U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride compare with your old boss, Chuck Rosenberg?

Boente: They’re both low key guys, which is as helpful in that position as it is in mine. They have relaxed personalities.

Associate Deputy Attorney General Neil MacBride was nominated for Virginia Eastern District U.S. Attorney Thursday night, according to a White House news release.

The Washington Post reported earlier this week that MacBride was going through FBI background checks for the job.

Neil MacBride (Business Software Alliance)

Democratic Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Jim Webb recommended that President Obama nominate either MacBride, Eastern District Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik R. Barnett, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District Robert P. Crouch or Dwight Holton, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Oregon and the brother-in-law of Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine (D) brother-in-law. Read our previous post on the senators’ U.S. Attorney recommendations here.

Law enforcement officials told The Post that it is vital to install a Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District as soon as possible since the office is vying for the opportunity to prosecute self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and his alleged accomplices. The office is currently led by interim U.S. Attorney Dana Boente.

MacBride has served as an associate deputy attorney general since January. He was previously chief counsel to Vice President Biden and a vice president at the Business Software Alliance, where he lobbied the Senate, according to The Post.

Some governmental watchdogs have expressed concern over Obama nominating MacBride because of his past in lobbying, The Post said. They have pointed out that such an appointment would run against Obama’s attempts to reform D.C. lobbying customs, according to the newspaper.

But DOJ officials and former co-workers told The Post that MacBride’s past as a lobbyist and a prosecutor would make him a perfect candidate for U.S. Attorney.

This post was updated to reflect MacBride’s formal nomination by the White House on Thursday.