Steve Neavling

Attorney General Eric Holder defended the secret gathering of telephone records at the Associated Press on Wednesday, citing a serious national security leak, the AP reports.

Grilled by Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House, Holder testified that he has faith in those conducting the investigation and recused himself from the case because “I’m a possessor of information eventually leaked.”

Holder said he couldn’t explain the subpoenas or why the IRS didn’t try to negotiate with the news agency to get the records, the AP wrote.

Members of Congress weren’t happy.

“There doesn’t appear to be any acceptance of responsibility for things that have gone wrong,” Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., told Holder.

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said Tuesday that he recused himself from involvement in a Justice Department leak investigation that secretly acquired telephone records of Associated Press journalists.

But in response to questions at a news conference, he defended the department’s conduct in probing what he described as one of the damaging leaks he has seen.

Holder said he testified in June 2012 that he was interviewed by the FBI in connection with the probe into a leak of classified information to the AP. “To avoid any potential appearance of a conflict of interest,” he said, “I recused myself from this matter.”

Since then, he said, the investigation has been conducted by the FBI under the direction of the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia and the supervision of the deputy attorney general, James M. Cole.

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The Nixonian-like probing by the IRS into conservative organizations is causing a stir.

The Washington Post reports that Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered a criminal into the matter.

“I have ordered an investigation to be done,” Holder said Tuesday. ”The FBI is coordinating with the Justice Department to see if any laws were broken in connection with those matters,” he added. “We are examining the facts to see if there were criminal violations.”

Last time I checked, John Mitchell of the Nixonian era was no longer our Attorney General.

But you’d be hard pressed not to feel that the crooked Mitchell was heading up the Justice Department, which we now learn,  secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press. It’s something John Mitchell would have done.

AP calls it a “massive and unprecedented intrusion.”

I call it one of the most disgusting things to come out of Justice  in a long long time.

Eric Holder’s Justice Department has offered no public justification.

That’s because there is no justification in a nation where we have a First Amendment, in a nation where the government is not supposed to run amok and trample on the rights of press.

(Update: Holder said Tuesday that he recused himself from the probe involving AP and that deputy Attorney General James Cole supervised the probe. He said he’s certain everything was done according to the law, and that the aggressive probe into a leak was essential.)

In all, the government seized the records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012, according to AP.

AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt shot off a letter to Attorney Gen. Eric Holder Jr.:

“There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP’s newsgathering operations and disclose information about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know.”

The Obama administration has come under constant attack by the right. With offensive antics like this,  it may not be able to count on support from the other side of the aisle in the future.

This shouldn’t happen, that is, unless it’s really the ghost of John Mitchell who’s running the Justice Department.

I’m not sure Attorney General Eric Holder would like to be saddled with a legacy like that.

Allan Lengel

Last time I checked, John Mitchell of the Nixonian era was no longer our Attorney General.

But you’d be hard pressed not to feel that the crooked Mitchell was heading up the Justice Department, which we now learn,  secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press. It’s something John Mitchell would have done.

AP calls it a “massive and unprecedented intrusion.”

I call it one of the most disgusting things to come out of Justice  in a long long time.

Eric Holder’s Justice Department has offered no public justification.

That’s because there is no justification in a nation where we have a First Amendment, in a nation where the government is not supposed to run amok and trample on the rights of press. 

(Update: Holder said Tuesday that he recused himself from the probe involving AP and that deputy Attorney General James Cole supervised the probe. He said he’s certain everything was done according to the law, and that the aggressive probe into a leak was essential.)

In all, the government seized the records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012, according to AP.

AP President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt shot off a letter to Attorney Gen. Eric Holder Jr.:

“There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP’s newsgathering operations and disclose information about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know.”

The Obama administration has come under constant attack by the right. With offensive antics like this,  it may not be able to count on support from the other side of the aisle in the future.

This shouldn’t happen, that is, unless it’s really the ghost of John Mitchell who’s running the Justice Department.

I’m not sure Eric Holder would like to be saddled with a legacy like that.

Steve Neavling

Attorney General Eric Holder said he’s prevented the furloughs of prison staffers nationwide to protect prison staff, inmates and the public, the Associated Press reports.

Holder prevented the furloughs of some 38,000 employees at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons by moving $150 million from from Justice Department account, the AP wrote.

The Justice Department has already been forced to cut $1.6 billion from its budget.

It’s not yet clear which department agencies will absorb the $150 million that won’t be saved from furloughs.

“I am deeply troubled by the impact the sequester will have on the department’s capacity to prevent terrorism, combat violent crime, partner with states and local law enforcement agencies and protect the judiciary and our most vulnerable citizens,” Holder wrote.

Atty. Gen. Eric Holder Jr.

Two corporate-style jets that the FBI insisted it needed for the global fight against terrorism are primarily being used for personal and business trips by Attorney General Eric Holder, the former AG and FBI Director Robert Mueller, the Washington Guardian reports.

Taxpayers financed “non-mission flights” on the luxury Gulfstream V jet to the tune of $11.4 million between 2007 and 2011, the Guardian reported, citing an investigation by the Government Accountability Office.

Holder and his predecessor under the Bush administration took 88 personal trips, the Guardian wrote.

“If somebody asks for the expenditure of federal money for the Gulfstream, it’s to be used for the purpose it was meant to be be used for,” said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has oversight of the Justice Department and FBI.

Attorney General Eric Holder

 Attorney General Eric Holder will stay on the job for another year during President Obama’s second term, Fox News reports.

Citing senior administration officials, Fox News said Obama wants to prevent a mass exodus from his administration at the end of his first term.

That follows news that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton plans to leave soon.

Among those mentioned a potential replacements are Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.