http://hotair.com/archives/2013/05/24/did-eric-holder-lie-in-congressional-testimony-last-week/
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/05/24/Justice-Department-wanted-indefinite-tracking-of-Fox-reporters-email/UPI-46581369440484
Did Eric Holder lie in Congressional testimony last week?
POSTED AT 10:01 AM ON MAY 24, 2013 BY ED MORRISSEY
That’s the question asked by Katie Pavlich and Jim Hoft after the revelation that Attorney General Eric Holder personally approved the application for a warrant on Fox News’ James Rosen as a potential co-conspirator in espionage. Last week, under relatively friendly questioning from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) about the Department of Justice seizure of Associated Press phone records, Johnson asked about the potential to prosecute reporters under the Espionage Act of 1917. ”You’ve got a long way to go to try to prosecute the press for publication of material,” Holder responded. Later, though, he returned to the topic unbidden, emphasis mine (at the 5-minute mark):
In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material. This is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy.
As it turns out, Holder not only heard of it, he personally approved it. The warrant in the Rosen case specified that he was considered a potential suspect in the leak of classified material, the reason that the DoJ didn’t bother to follow the existing Watergate-era statute in coordinating the records request with Fox News. And note that Holder’s testimony in this case wasn’t produced by some sophisticated perjury trap sprung by a Republican, but as a freely-offered representation to no particular question during the question period of a Democrat.
There is no other way to view this except as a lie. Even if Holder wasn’t under oath, that would constitute a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. It certainly should produce at least a resignation, and almost assuredly would require the appointment of a special prosecutor, especially since the next person down in the organization, James Cole, is suspected of doing the same thing with reporters.
Update: Looks like a wide bipartisan consensus has formed for Holder’s resignation. TheHuffington Post wants him gone, as does Esquire. A resignation at this point is probably not enough, either, if the House decides that further action is required after this false representation on a key issue.
Update: According to Guy Benson and Gabriel Malor, Holder was under oath:
http://dailycaller.com/2013/05/24/obama-asks-holder-to-investigate-holders-investigation/
President Barack Obama has asked his friend Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate Holder’s unprecedented investigation of a Fox News reporter.
Holder approved the Justice Department’s extraordinary 2010 investigation of contacts between a Fox News reporter and a State Department official who has since been charged with leaking classified information, according to NBC.
The Justice Department searched the reporter’s e-mails and phone calls under the legal claim that he may have contributed to a crime.
The Fox News revelation followed the news that the Justice Department had investigated the phone records of reporters working for The Associated Press.
On May 24, however, Obama reacted to growing alarm in the media by asking Holder to review the Justice Department’s procedures for investigating the media.
“We must keep information secret that protects our operations and our people in the field,” the president said at a speech in Washington D.C.
“But a free press is also essential for our democracy [and] I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable,” he said.
“Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs … [and] I have raised these issues with the Attorney General, who shares my concern. So he has agreed to review existing Department of Justice guidelines governing investigations that involve reporters, and will convene a group of media organizations to hear their concerns as part of that review,” he said.
“I have directed the Attorney General to report back to me by July 12th.”
The president’s announcement contradicts numerous statements by his press secretary that the president does not comment on current investigations. The uproar over media surveillance has soured the frequently adulatory news coverage Obama received over his first term, and the administration is under pressure to minimize the damage.
WASHINGTON, May 24 (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors asked a judge to defer indefinitely notifying a Fox News reporter his email was being monitored in a national security probe, records indicate.
Court documents unsealed this week show U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ron Machen argued in 2010 the normal practice of notifying people of such monitoring within 30 days should not apply to James Rosen, who was being investigated in a national security leak case, The Hill reported Friday.
A separate court order allowed Machen to prevent Google from notifying Rosen his Gmail account was being monitored, the report said.
Machen, in court pleas, said prosecutors should get access to all of Rosen's email -- including deleted items and all attachments sent or received by Rosen, who currently serves as chief Washington correspondent for Fox.
Fox News Chief Executive Officer Roger Ailes called the surveillance of Rosen an attempt by the Obama administration to "intimidate Fox News and its employees."
In a companywide memo Thursday, Ailes suggested the administration has created "a climate of press intimidation, unseen since the McCarthy era."
President Barack Obama Thursday asked Attorney General Eric Holder to evaluate Department of Justice policy on investigations involving leaks and news organizations.
Citing a law enforcement official it did not identify, NBC News reported this week Holder had personally signed the warrant authorizing surveillance of Rosen, who was targeted in the investigation as a criminal co-conspirator while covering the State Department for Fox News.
State Department employee Stephen Jin-Woo Kim -- who faces charges for disclosing classified national security information -- allegedly provided Rosen with classified data. Rosen had written a 2009 story about U.S. intelligence officials' suspicion North Korea planned to carry out further nuclear weapons tests but attributed the report to sources in North Korea, The Hill said.
Court documents unsealed this week show U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ron Machen argued in 2010 the normal practice of notifying people of such monitoring within 30 days should not apply to James Rosen, who was being investigated in a national security leak case, The Hill reported Friday.
A separate court order allowed Machen to prevent Google from notifying Rosen his Gmail account was being monitored, the report said.
Machen, in court pleas, said prosecutors should get access to all of Rosen's email -- including deleted items and all attachments sent or received by Rosen, who currently serves as chief Washington correspondent for Fox.
Fox News Chief Executive Officer Roger Ailes called the surveillance of Rosen an attempt by the Obama administration to "intimidate Fox News and its employees."
In a companywide memo Thursday, Ailes suggested the administration has created "a climate of press intimidation, unseen since the McCarthy era."
President Barack Obama Thursday asked Attorney General Eric Holder to evaluate Department of Justice policy on investigations involving leaks and news organizations.
Citing a law enforcement official it did not identify, NBC News reported this week Holder had personally signed the warrant authorizing surveillance of Rosen, who was targeted in the investigation as a criminal co-conspirator while covering the State Department for Fox News.
State Department employee Stephen Jin-Woo Kim -- who faces charges for disclosing classified national security information -- allegedly provided Rosen with classified data. Rosen had written a 2009 story about U.S. intelligence officials' suspicion North Korea planned to carry out further nuclear weapons tests but attributed the report to sources in North Korea, The Hill said.
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