The Department of Justice conceded today that Attorney General Eric Holder "carefully considered", "discussed in detail" and "signed off" on the secret investigation into Fox News' correspondent James Rosen, an investigation which included labeling Rosen a criminal co-conspirator in espionage. The DOJ then went secretly went through all of Rosen's emails, his phone records, the phone records of Rosen's parents and the phone records of Rosen's employers (among other things.) Although this fact was reported yesterday by some media, the admission by the Department of Justice is still startling.
Let's examine what this means. First, Holder appears to have committed perjury just ten days ago when he testified under oath before Congress. Holder said this under oath:
In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material. This is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy.
So there you have it. Holder himself approved the "potential prosecution" of reporter Rosen for the disclosure of material on multiple occasions in since 2009. When Holder siad he had never been involved in or heard of such actions, he was not telling the truth. Now, for this to be perjury, Holder would have to know that what he was saying was wrong; in other words, it is not a crime if he truly forgot about Rosen (and who knows what other matters). But remember, Holder was being asked about all this because Congress had just learned that Holder's DOJ had secretly gotten the phone records of the Associated Press. You can be sure that before Holder entered that room to testify, he was briefed by his staff with regard to everything that DOJ had ever done to get materials from the press. Holder's staff are all lawyers, and this type of briefing is exactly what lawyers do. In my view, it is seems likely that Holder intentionally lied to Congress.
But let's move beyond Holder's likely commission of a crime to the second issue affected by today's DOJ admission about Holder's activities. Remember that president Obama announced earlier this week that he had ordered the Attorney General to investigate the propriety of what happened in both the Rosen and AP matters and to report back to Obama within 45 days. That means that it is now undeniable that Obama has Holder investigating Holder. Even for Washington under Obama, that is a travesty. You really have to wonder, will Holder take the Fifth when he has to answer his own questions? Will he complain that his questions to himself are unclear? Has Washington collectively lost its mind?
Eric Holder has to go. If he does not, then there must be a Special Prosecutor appointed to look into this.
One last note is necessary on this subject. The DOJ is now pointing out that before they got to invade Rosen's privacy by going through his email and phone records, a federal magistrate signed off on the matter. The DOJ thinks that this somehow absolves them of wrongdoing. That is total nonsense. What happened is that the DOJ presented a sworn statement to the magistrate which outlined why they needed to gain access to Rosen's records. That affidavit stated that Rosen was a co-conspirator to commit espionage. The magistrate necessarily assumed that the government was speaking in good faith and truthfully. On that basis, the magistrate signed off. But according to what we know, the government's affidavit was false. Rosen had not acted as co-conspirator. Rosen had just gathered information as a journalist. It seems that DOJ never had any intention to prosecute Rosen, it just wanted to go through his records. As a result, DOJ -- under the express supervision of Holder -- gave a false affidavit to a federal court to trick that court into signing the authorization allowing the invasion of Rosen's privacy.
Let's examine what this means. First, Holder appears to have committed perjury just ten days ago when he testified under oath before Congress. Holder said this under oath:
In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material. This is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy.
So there you have it. Holder himself approved the "potential prosecution" of reporter Rosen for the disclosure of material on multiple occasions in since 2009. When Holder siad he had never been involved in or heard of such actions, he was not telling the truth. Now, for this to be perjury, Holder would have to know that what he was saying was wrong; in other words, it is not a crime if he truly forgot about Rosen (and who knows what other matters). But remember, Holder was being asked about all this because Congress had just learned that Holder's DOJ had secretly gotten the phone records of the Associated Press. You can be sure that before Holder entered that room to testify, he was briefed by his staff with regard to everything that DOJ had ever done to get materials from the press. Holder's staff are all lawyers, and this type of briefing is exactly what lawyers do. In my view, it is seems likely that Holder intentionally lied to Congress.
But let's move beyond Holder's likely commission of a crime to the second issue affected by today's DOJ admission about Holder's activities. Remember that president Obama announced earlier this week that he had ordered the Attorney General to investigate the propriety of what happened in both the Rosen and AP matters and to report back to Obama within 45 days. That means that it is now undeniable that Obama has Holder investigating Holder. Even for Washington under Obama, that is a travesty. You really have to wonder, will Holder take the Fifth when he has to answer his own questions? Will he complain that his questions to himself are unclear? Has Washington collectively lost its mind?
Eric Holder has to go. If he does not, then there must be a Special Prosecutor appointed to look into this.
One last note is necessary on this subject. The DOJ is now pointing out that before they got to invade Rosen's privacy by going through his email and phone records, a federal magistrate signed off on the matter. The DOJ thinks that this somehow absolves them of wrongdoing. That is total nonsense. What happened is that the DOJ presented a sworn statement to the magistrate which outlined why they needed to gain access to Rosen's records. That affidavit stated that Rosen was a co-conspirator to commit espionage. The magistrate necessarily assumed that the government was speaking in good faith and truthfully. On that basis, the magistrate signed off. But according to what we know, the government's affidavit was false. Rosen had not acted as co-conspirator. Rosen had just gathered information as a journalist. It seems that DOJ never had any intention to prosecute Rosen, it just wanted to go through his records. As a result, DOJ -- under the express supervision of Holder -- gave a false affidavit to a federal court to trick that court into signing the authorization allowing the invasion of Rosen's privacy.
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