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.