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Holder Doesn’t Know If Anyone Ever Prosecuted Under Born Alive Infant Protection Act (+video)

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Photo Credit: Penny StarrAttorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday he did not know whether there has been even one prosecution under the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.

“Have you ever enforced this law even one time?” Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) asked Holder during a House Judiciary Committee hearing after referencing abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who was convicted of three counts of first degree counts murder in the deaths of three babies whose spinal cords were severed after they were born alive.

“I don’t know,” Holder replied.

Franks described how the Born Alive Infant Protection Act, enacted in 2002, “provides that all federal protections … for persons apply to every infant born alive.”

“So will you enforce the Born Alive Infant Protection Act as attorney general, and will you consider carefully what’s happening in clinics across the country like happened in the clinic that Kermit Gosnell ran?” Franks asked.

Holder revealed that not only is he the father of three children, but his wife is an OBGYN, who is “very accomplished in her field,” so he shared “many” of the concerns that Franks had.

Read more from this story HERE.

Holder and Gohmert Go Full Contact in House Fight Over Boston Bombings

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Photo Credit: Daily Caller Attorney General Eric Holder and Rep. Louie Gohmert clashed Wednesday on how the FBI conducted its investigation into the Boston Marathon bombing.

Early in his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Holder said he felt the FBI’s investigation into the terrorist bombings had been “thorough.” Texas Republican Gohmert took issue with that idea, pursuing a line of questioning about what the FBI had and had not asked Tamerlan Tsarnaev after they received information from Russian intelligence indicating he had become radicalized.

Gohmert explained he was “trying to determine how the FBI blew the opportunity to save people’s lives by accepting the Russian information and following up on it.”

The Republican congressman claimed that the investigation had been derailed due to concerns about profiling of Muslims. Gohmert asked whether the FBI’s questions for Tsarnaev had focused on his Muslim beliefs and his involvement with the Islamic Society of Boston, an organization that holds radical views and has connections to terrorist front groups.

“A lot of people are concerned about profiling, but there are a lot more people concerned about getting blown up by a terrorist,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Holder Backing Into Corner, Blasts Issa’s Conduct as “Unacceptable” and “Shameful” (+video)

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Photo Credit: YouTubeDuring a House Judiciary Committee hearing today, a visibly agitated Eric Holder blasted Rep. Darrell Issa’s conduct as “unacceptable” and “shameful.”

As Holder continued to mouth off to Rep. Issa, Issa tried to gain control, asking the chairman to shut Holder up.

Holder responded, “No, no, no, that’s – I am not going to stop talking now.”

Holder, perhaps one of the most integrity-challenged attorney generals in recent US history then had the gall to say, “It is inappropriate and too consistent with the way in which you conduct yourself as a member of Congress. It is unacceptable. And it’s shameful.”

Eric Holder: Subpoenas For Hundreds Of Journalist Phone Records May Be Okay

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Photo Credit: AFP PHOTO/Brendan SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GettyAttorney General Eric Holder told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that he may be comfortable with subpoenaing the phone records of hundreds of journalists if warranted by the facts of a hypothetical case.

“In a hypothetical situation, we’re gonna go after and subpoena hundreds of phone lines, phone records for journalists. Does that offend you as an American?” Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) asked Holder.

“It would depend on the facts. You’d have to know what the facts were and why the actions were taken,” Holder responded.

But Holder insisted that his Justice Department “does not want to have its actions chill sources” or “have a negative impact on the newsgathering abilities” of reporters.

Holder was sharply questioned by members of Congress from both sides of the aisle about the Justice Department’s subpoena of Associated Press phone records as part of a probe into a national security leak. Holder revealed that he had voluntarily turned over his own phone records as part of the same investigation.

Read more from this story HERE.

Obama Supporters Suggest Holder May Need to Take a Fall to Correct Course of Presidency

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Photo Credit: Daily CallerBy Jeff Poor. President Barack Obama may need to accept the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder as part of a plan to “get control” of the three scandals hounding the administration, historian Douglas Brinkley advised Tuesday.

Action is more important than rhetoric in times like these, Brinkley told “Hardball” host Chris Matthews on MSNBC.

“I think immediately he’s got to get control over these three issues,” Brinkley said. “I think he might have to look at accepting a resignation from Eric Holder possibly. I think in Benghazi — it’s drug on too long. Just come clean, talk straight about the talking points, what happened and move on. Look, it’s the cover-up that always gets you in problems, and you just don’t need this. It’s not been a good season for Barack Obama, and I think he has an opportunity to just — I’m sure his poll numbers are going to still stay high. People trust him. But he can’t let his integrity get dented and then do some big things. Don’t just talk about it. If you’re going to close Guantanamo, close it. If you want the Keystone pipeline to happen, then say it’s going to happen. There have been too many trial balloons.” Read more from this story HERE.

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Reid slams Obama admin: ‘I have trouble defending what the Justice Department did’

By Alex Pappas. Very rarely do you hear Harry Reid call out the Obama administration, but the Democratic Senate majority leader had tough words for both the scandal-plagued Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service on Tuesday.

“I have trouble defending what the Justice Department did,” Reid told reporters during his weekly press availability off the Senate floor, referencing the revelation that the DOJ had secretly obtained two months worth of telephone records of Associated Press employees in 2012.

“I really believe in the First Amendment,” Reid continued. “I think it’s one of the great things we have as a country. And I don’t know who did it or why it was done. But it’s inexcusable. And there’s no way to justify it.” Read more from this story HERE.

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By Mark Memmott. As his Justice Department faces bipartisan outrage for searching phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors, Attorney Gen. Eric Holder says he is not sure how many times such information has been seized by government investigators in the four years he’s led Justice.

During an interview with NPR’s Carrie Johnson on Tuesday, Holder was asked how often his department has obtained such records of journalists’ work.

“I’m not sure how many of those cases … I have actually signed off on,” Holder said. “I take them very seriously. I know that I have refused to sign a few [and] pushed a few back for modifications.”

On Morning Edition, Carrie added that Holder declined to say whether there will be a review of the Justice Department’s policy on searches of reporters’ records.

Tuesday, NPR and other media organizations joined in a letter sent to Holder by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. In it, the news outlets ask that the Justice Department: — “Immediately return the telephone toll records obtained and destroy all copies, as requested by The Associated Press.” Read more from this story HERE.

Feds Charge 89 People, Including Doctors, Nurses, with Millions in Medicare Fraud

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Photo Credit: J. Scott Applewhite / APIn a major crackdown on healthcare fraud across the country, 89 people, including 14 doctors and nurses, were charged for their roles in various Medicare scams that bilked taxpayers of some $223 million through bogus charges, federal officials said Tuesday.

Some people allegedly posed as doctors and wrote bogus prescriptions for drugs and psychotherapy therapy and then billed the government $12 million.

Others are accused of bribing Medicare patients for their ID numbers, then using those numbers to bill $20 million in home health care never performed or not medically necessary.

The lead suspect in that case used the money to buy luxury cars, including two Lamborghinis and a Ferrari, officials said.

About 400 federal agents were involved in Tuesday’s arrests, raiding businesses, seizing documents and charging suspects in Miami, Los Angeles, Houston, New York City, Detroit, Chicago, Tampa, Fla., and Baton Rouge, La.

Read more from this story HERE.

Holder Threatens Kansas Over New Gun Law

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photo credit: USDAgovKansas Governor Sam Brownback received a letter today from Attorney General Eric Holder threatening action against the state should it enforce SB102, the pro 2nd Amendment law Brownback signed into law last month.

The new law declares that the federal government has no power to regulate guns manufactured, sold and kept only in Kansas.

Any act, law, treaty, order, rule or regulation of the government of the United States which violates the second amendment to the constitution of the United States is null, void and unenforceable in the state of Kansas.

The legislation made it a felony for a federal agent to enforce any law, regulation, order or treaty regulating ammunition made, sold and kept in the state because the federal government does not [have] “interstate commerce” authority over such items.

The law became effective only a week ago, but already Holder has leapt into action, firing off a letter to the governor of Kansas threatening to take “all appropriate action including litigation if necessary” to prevent the state of Kansas from protecting the 2nd Amendment. (Amazing for a guy who didn’t even know about his own department’s gun-running operation, Fast and Furious until months after a border patrol agent was killed by one of its guns.) But when a state passes a law he doesn’t like – this Attorney General is FAST!

Read more from this story HERE.

Holder: "Amnesty is a Civil Right" and Other Idiocy (+video)

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Photo Credit: DonkeyHoteyAmnesty “is a matter of civil and human rights,” Eric Holder claims. If that’s the case, then amnesty opponents are a bunch of Bull Connors.

Holder stated in remarks in an April 24 speech to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund MALDEF) Awards Gala that “creating a mechanism for [illegal aliens] to earn citizenship and move out of the shadows… is a matter of civil and human rights.”

Let’s just tear down the fence and hand out EBT cards at the border, and bring the American experiment to an end.

We used to celebrate Rosa Parks, an American citizen, for defying segregation and demanding equal treatment as an American citizen. Now, Holder drapes non-citizens in the mantle of civil rights, even though they are driving down American wages — especially those of low-skilled blacks.

Three members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights recently wrote to the Congressional Black Caucus, warning that amnesty “will likely disproportionately harm lower-skilled African-Americans by making it more difficult for them to obtain employment and depressing their wages when they do obtain employment.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Video: Ted Cruz Grills Eric Holder

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Senator Cruz grills Attorney General Eric Holder on drones, enforcement of federal law, and more.

It is refreshing to see someone actually try to hold this administration accountable. And the Attorney General’s obfuscation illustrates why we need folks like Ted Cruz on the Hill.

Watch Cruz have to ask repeatedly to get a straight answer from the Attorney General.

Cruz Goes After Holder About Constitutionality Of Using Drones To Target Americans On US Soil

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Photo Credit: Gage SkidmoreAttorney General Eric Holder and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, got into a heated discussion during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about the use of drones against American citizens.

Questioning Holder about a letter he sent to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in which the attorney general said it would take an “extraordinary circumstance” to use a drone to kill an American on U.S. soil, Cruz asked if such lethal force would be constitutional.

“If an individual is sitting quietly at a café in the United States, in your legal judgment, does the Constitution allow a U.S. citizen on U.S. soil to be killed by a drone?” Cruz asked Holder.

Watch video here:

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