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Report: House Judiciary Committee Investigating Holder for Perjury (+video)

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Photo Credit: Reuters

By DAVID MARTOSKO. The House Committee on the Judiciary is investigating whether Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress during a May 15 hearing, with one Republican aide close to the investigation telling MailOnline that ‘perjury is on the table’ as one possible outcome of the congressional probe.

In the hearing, Holder addressed what was then the only known instance of his Justice Department obtaining private phone records of journalists without notifying them. That case involved the records of approximately 20 journalists at the Associated Press, and the DOJ spying to determine the source of a leak about a CIA operation in Yemen.

‘With regard to the potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material,’ Holder testified, ‘that is not something that I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be a wise policy. In fact, my view is quite the opposite.’

Days later, news emerged that James Rosen, a Fox News Channel correspondent, was also the subject of a DOJ subpoena targeting his phone records and personal emails, and that Holder personally signed off on the secret application to a judge for the seizure of those records.

That report, from NBC News, cited a statement from the DOJ acknowledging that the Rosen search warrant application was approved ‘at the highest levels’ of the agency, including ‘discussions’ with Holder himself. Read more from this story HERE.

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House Republicans express “great concern” about possible Holder perjury

By JAKE MILLER, JILL JACKSON, STEPHANIE LAMBIDAKIS. Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday expressing “great concern” about the possibility that Holder lied under oath during his testimony earlier this month on the Justice Department’s seizing of journalists’ records, CBS News has learned.

On May 15, Holder told the committee he wasn’t involved in “the potential prosecution” of a member of the press under the Espionage Act for disclosing classified information. “This is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy,” he said.

Shortly thereafter, reports began to surface that the Justice Department, in addition to seizing telephone and email records of Associated Press reporters, had seized the the emails and phone records of Fox News correspondent James Rosen. While Holder had recused himself from the AP proceedings, the Washington Post reported that the attorney general had personally signed off on the search warrant for Rosen’s records.

In the search warrant, the FBI called Rosen a “criminal co-conspirator” and suggested there’s probable cause that he violated federal law. Rosen was not charged with any crime.

House Judiciary Republicans, in their letter, raise the possibility that Holder perjured himself by issuing an ironclad denial of any involvement in the investigation and potential prosecution of reporters. “The media reports and statements issued by the Department regarding the search warrants for Mr. Rosen’s emails appear to be at odds with your sworn testimony before the Committee,” they wrote. “We believe – and we hope you will agree – it is imperative that the Committee, the Congress and the American people be provided a full and accurate account of your involvement in and approval of these search warrants.” Read more from this story HERE.

Is Attorney General Eric Holder About to be Thrown Under the Obama Bus?

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Photo Credit: Irish Central It’s getting pretty crowded under the Obama bus, but it looks like there might be room for one more.

In an Ominous sign for embattled Attorney General Eric Holder, longtime Obama confidante and senior campaign advisor David Axelrod, zeroed in on Holders handling of security leak investigations.

Axelrod, a shrewd political operative, would never openly call into question President Obamas closest cabinet appointee without prior approval from the President himself.

On MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Axelrod criticized the Attorney Generals Justice Department’s probe involving a Fox News reporter and said it raises some “very disturbing questions” about the department’s policies on leak investigations.

Axelrod said he was troubled by a search warrant that labeled Fox News reporter, James Rosen, a “co-conspirator” in a case involving national security leaks. “The notion of naming a journalist a co-conspirator is something I find disturbing,”

This is a signal that Holder is a liability for the Obama Presidency and might have to be sacrificed.

Holder was already tainted by being the first Attorney General in history to be censured by the House of Representatives. He had brazenly refused to turn over thousands of key documents to Congress in their investigation into the gun running scandal known as Fast and Furious.

But the Obama administration is now under the pall of three new major scandals, each one getting messier as the days go by. From IRS abuses, to press phone taps, to the explosive Benghazi scandal that resulted in the deaths of four Americans.

In all of these scandals President Obama has expressed outrage and has asserted any malfeasance or wrongdoing was done without his knowledge…..Yet no one has really been fired. This leads many observers to believe Presidents Obamas outrage is of the faux variety.

With new revelations that Attorney General Holder may have lied to Congress while he was under oath while being questioned about press surveillance, President Obama may have to show the country he is taking these scandals seriously and fire someone.

The Attorney General seems to be the likely candidate.

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Ed Farnan is the conservative columnist at IrishCentral, where he has been writing on the need for energy independence, strong self defense, secure borders, 2nd amendment, smaller government and many other issues. His articles appear in many publications throughout the USA and world. He has been a guest on Fox News and a regular guest on radio stations in the US and Europe.

Holder: Now Even Liberal Media, Democrats are Attacking Him (+video)

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The Republican criticism of Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department — first, over the failed Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation and now, the subpoena of reporters’ phone and email records — is growing to include outcry from liberal media outlets and Democrats.

“It seems to me clear that the actions of the department have in fact impaired the First Amendment,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., said earlier this month. “Reporters who might have previously believed that a confidential source would speak to them would no longer have that level of confidence.”

The congresswoman has been joined in her concerns by Democratic commentators and the liberal-leaning Huffington Post, which recently ran a giant headline saying it’s time for Holder to go.

Read more from this story HERE.

GOP Pushes for Independent Investigations of DOJ, IRS

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Photo Credit: J. Scott ApplewhiteSenators say Holder can’t ‘review’ himself on news media snooping

By David Eldridge. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s direct involvement in the Justice Department’s decisions to spy on the press should disqualify him from heading any review of the unfolding controversy, Republicans said Sunday.

Questions have been raised about the attorney general’s role in two Justice Department investigations of leaks, one involving a massive seizure of Associated Press phone records and another an aggressive probe of Fox News reporter James Rosen’s private emails.

According to multiple media reports, Mr. Holder personally approved targeting Mr. Rosen. He earlier told Congress that he had recused himself from the decision to seize AP phone records.

President Obama, responding to critics from both parties who say the Justice Department is undermining press freedoms, said Thursday he has directed Mr. Holder to lead a “review.” That idea has been flatly rejected by Republicans, several of whom voiced their objections on Sunday’s political talk shows.

“A total conflict of interest,” Sen. Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Republican, said Sunday on CBS‘ “Face the Nation.” Read more from this story HERE.

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GOP reiterates push for independent IRS investigation

By Valerie Richardson. Republicans ramped up calls Sunday for an independent investigation into the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups for special scrutiny.

“This really does call for a special counsel,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, on “Fox News Sunday.” “The culture of going after tea party groups that were on the president’s case about ‘Obamacare’ did not accidentally happen. I think it comes from the top with the tone.”

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, reiterated his call for a special counsel to investigate the scandal, warning that President Obama risks losing his “moral authority” as the nation’s leader unless he shows that he’s taking the problem seriously.

“I think the constellation of these three scandals ongoing really takes away from the president’s moral authority to lead the nation,” Mr. Paul said on ABC’s “This Week.” “Nobody questions his legal authority, but I think he’s really losing the moral authority to lead this nation. And he really needs to put a stop to this. I don’t care whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat; nobody likes to see the opposite party punishing you for your political beliefs, using the power of government to do so.”

Sen. Richard J. Durbin, Illinois Democrat, defended a letter he wrote to the IRS in October 2010 asking the agency to look into the tax-exempt status of Crossroads GPS, a group founded by GOP strategist Karl Rove. Read more from this story HERE.

Did Holder Perjure Himself? (+video)

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By Jason Howerton. During last week’s hearing, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) asked Holder 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 answered.

He later added: “In regard to potential prosecution of the press for disclosure of material, this is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, of would think would be wise policy.” Read more from this story HERE.

As we reported yesterday, however, Holder was personally involved in the approval of the warrant and investigation of Fox News reporter Rossen.

ACLU: ‘Never Before has the Government Argued that Newsgathering is Illegal’

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Photo Credit: APWhile Attorney General Eric Holder is taking heat for his department’s seizure of reporter records, the U.S. attorney who is personally overseeing those investigations is himself starting to face complaints that he’s gone too far in pursuing leaks.

Ronald Machen Jr., the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, was nominated by President Obama in 2009 and now runs the biggest federal prosecutor office in the country. His hundreds of attorneys handle everything from gang violence to corruption.

But in recent years, leak investigations have become a hallmark of his portfolio. And his dogged pursuit of the squeaky wheels in government has led him into the tenuous — and some say unprecedented — territory of lumping in leakers with journalists.

“What’s astonishing here is that never before has the government argued that newsgathering — in this case, asking a source to provide sensitive information — is itself illegal,” Gabe Rottman, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union, told FoxNews.com.

Machen was an early and frequent campaign donor to Obama during the 2008 election, giving close to the maximum amount allowed by law. He gave $2,300 in the general election and nearly as much during the primary.

Read more from this story HERE.

His Days are Numbered: Holder Personally OK’d Search Warrant for Fox News Reporter’s Private Emails

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Photo Credit: Chip SomodevillaAttorney General Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a “possible co-conspirator” in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday.

The disclosure of the attorney general’s role came as President Barack Obama, in a major speech on his counterterrorism policy, said Holder had agreed to review Justice Department guidelines governing investigations that involve journalists.

“I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable,” Obama said. “Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs.”

Rosen, who has not been charged in the case, was nonetheless the target of a search warrant that enabled Justice Department investigators to secretly seize his private emails after an FBI agent said he had “asked, solicited and encouraged … (a source) to disclose sensitive United States internal documents and intelligence information.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Admin. Assassinated Four Americans in Drone Strikes

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Photo Credit: APFour American citizens have been killed in counter-terrorism drone strikes since 2009, the Obama administration acknowledged for the first time Wednesday.

Attorney General Eric Holder disclosed the previously classified information in a letter to a top senator that also included the names of those killed and the revelation that only one was directly targeted in the strikes that began in 2009. He did not specifically call them drone strikes – rather, he referred to “counterterrorism operations” – but most of the individuals he mentioned are known to have died in drone strikes.

The targeted individual, Anwar al-Awlaki, was a radical Muslim cleric whom U.S. officials said was involved in planning Al Qaeda operations and terror attacks. He was killed in September 2011 in Yemen.

The acknowledgement came ahead of a major counterterrorism policy speech by President Obama scheduled for Thursday.

Holder said in the letter that the Obama administration is “aware” of three other U.S. citizens killed in such counter-terrorism operations besides al-Awlaki: Samir Khan, Jude Kennan Mohammed and Awlaki’s son Abdulrahman Anwar al-Awlaki, Holder said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Pick to Replace Holder Assails House GOP on Obamacare

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Photo Credit: WEBN-TVMassachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, reported to be President Obama’s pick to replace Attorney General Eric Holder, has attacked House Republican foes of Obamacare, raising new questions about the politicization of the Justice Department.

Patrick signed a Democratic National Committee letter blasting the House GOP’s Thursday vote to repeal the president’s health care reform. The Democratic-controlled Senate is not expected to follow suit.

In his letter he accused the Republicans of playing to their extreme wing. “Yesterday, Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to repeal Obamacare for the 37th time — just to appease their extreme right-wing base,” said Patrick, an Obama ally.

“They just want to do whatever they can to block, repeal, or damage Obamacare — just to block the president’s agenda,” he added.

The Chicago Sun-Times, which has deep sources in the administration, reported that Patrick is Obama’s pick to replace the embattled Holder. His Justice Department has been slapped by critics for politicizing policies including efforts to block voter identification programs.

Read more from this story HERE.

Congressman to Holder: ‘Throw the President Under the Bus’

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Photo Credit: Breitbart In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) unloaded on Attorney General Eric Holder, offering up the possibility that the nation’s top law enforcement official may turn on President Barack Obama and shed light on one or several of the many scandals facing the White House.

“Here’s your chance, Eric: You can throw the president under the bus, too, just like he’s going to throw you under the bus,” Gosar, a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in the phone interview.

Gosar has previously called for Holder’s resignation. He introduced a resolution, which attracted many cosponsors, demanding Holder’s immediate resignation as a result of Operation Fast and Furious. He told Breitbart News he is currently “pushing” his resolution calling for Holder’s immediate resignation “hard.”

“We want his job,” Gosar said. “We have had renewed interest already.”

Calls for Holder’s resignation have resurfaced in recent days, and mainstream media outlets have come to call Obama’s top cop “embattled.” A report from the Chicago Sun Times suggests that President Obama is considering naming Deval Patrick, the Democratic governor of Massachusetts, to replace Holder. Patrick’s name has been mentioned for other cabinet positions, including Attorney General.

Read more from this story HERE.