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Republican report concludes Holder misled Congress on reporter targeting
House Republicans, in a lengthy report on the Justice Department's leak investigations, formally accused Attorney General Eric Holder of misleading Congress with "deceptive" testimony that he knew nothing of the "potential prosecution" of the press. The 70-page report was released late Wednesday by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee. To coincide with the release, lawmakers also wrote a letter to President Obama calling for a "change in leadership" at the Justice Department. "The deceptive and misleading testimony of Attorney General Holder is unfortunately just the most recent example in a long list of scandals that have plagued the department," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in a statement. The report delved into the department's aggressive investigations over various security leaks, but focused in large part on the FBI affidavit seeking a search warrant for Fox News correspondent James Rosen's emails in connection with one such probe. The DOJ sought access to the documents by arguing Rosen was a likely criminal "co-conspirator" in a leak case, citing the Espionage Act. Yet on May 15, shortly before the document was made public, Holder told the House Judiciary Committee that he hadn't heard of any effort to prosecute reporters. "With regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material, that is not something that I have ever been involved, heard of, or would think would be a wise policy," Holder said. He discussed the issue amid concerns about the DOJ grabbing phone records from Associated Press offices. The newly released House report concluded that this comment was "deceptive and misleading." The report said: "We believe that Mr. Holder's simple and direct statement had the intended effect -- to leave the members of the Committee with the impression that not only had the potential prosecution of a reporter never been contemplated during Mr. Holder's tenure, but that nothing comparable to the Rosen search warrant had ever been executed by this administration. ... On the basis of Mr. Holder's testimony, there was little doubt in the Members' minds that the legal machinery for such an undertaking had never been started." Justice spokesman Brian Fallon on Wednesday said the latest report "was produced on a purely partisan basis" and said its findings "are contrary to the record and strongly disputed by many of the committee's own members." Posted by: Beavis 2013-08-01 |
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