The Hill reports that a panel for the House Judiciary Committee is investigating whether Attorney General Eric Holder lied under oath during his May 15 Congressional testimony about the Justice Department’s surveillance of reporters. When asked about prosecuting reporters, Holder told Congress, “In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material — that is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy.”
Holder’s testimony does not seem to match his actions, though. Last week we learned that Holder himself signed the application for a warrant to gain access to an email account and phone records held by James Rosen, a Fox News reporter. Moreover, in order to gain this access, the application accused Rosen of a crime by naming him as a co-conspirator to illegally obtain classified material under the Espionage Act of 1917.
Reports today claim the effort to obtain the Rosen warrant was so aggressive that the classic prosecutorial art of judge shopping might have been used
It should be interesting to hear how Holder attempts to reconcile his claim of not being involved in something he appears to have been very involved in — namely, accusing journalists of espionage in order to secretly seize their private emails and phone records.
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