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."
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-...older-perjury/
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The leak investigation sprang from Rosen's report in 2009 that North Korea would respond to sanctions with more nuclear tests. That information was classified when Rosen reported it, leading to an FBI investigation to uncover Rosen's source that quickly shifted focus to scrutinize Rosen himself.
Agents monitored Rosen's movements in and out of the State Department. They searched his personal emails and combed through his cell phone records, an unprecedented level of government surveillance of a journalist.
Last week, President Obama, who's come under bipartisan criticism for the digging into journalists' records, said he directed Holder to conduct a review of Justice Department's guidelines for probes that involve journalists and said Holder would meet with media groups as part of that review.
Those meetings will begin on Thursday, with Holder scheduled to meet the Washington bureau chiefs of several major media organizations to chart a path forward for leak investigations that balances law enforcement and national security concerns with a respect for press freedom.
An official close to Holder told CBS News the meetings would be "forward looking," and will not include a discussion of the facts surrounding the AP subpoena and the Rosen search warrant.
On Tuesday, Holder voiced optimism about the likelihood that the meetings will result in a truce of sorts between the Justice Department and the press, which has savaged Holder's department and the rest of the Obama administration for what they see as an overzealous prosecution of security leaks.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-...older-perjury/
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N.Y. Times will not attend DOJ session, citing opposition to off-the-record provision
New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson has announced that her paper will not attend an off-the-record session with Attorney General Eric Holder to discuss the Justice Department's monitoring of reporters, due to the fact that the meeting is to be conducted "off the record."
“We will not be attending the session at DOJ. It isn’t appropriate for us to attend an off the record meeting with the attorney general. Our Washington bureau is aggressively covering the department’s handling of leak investigations at this time," Abramson said in a statement.
"Evidently, there will be a future session with department officials on the substance of how the law should be applied in leak cases and I am hopeful that our counsel, David McCraw will be able to participate in that meeting," she wrote.
The Justice Dept. had planned to hold a meeting with Washington bureau chiefs from all major national news organizations this week to discuss guidelines for subpoenas of reporters. On Wednesday, The Huffington Post reported that those meetings would be conducted off-record, meaning the bureau chiefs would not be free to report on Holder's remarks.
It is unclear whether the Times's boycott will inspire other news organizations to follow suit.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/...on-165005.html
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