Did Eric Holder Lie To Congress? House Judiciary Committee Investigating In Light Of James Rosen Scandal

Did U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder lie to Congress? The House Judiciary Committee is investigating whether that was the case when he testified before the committee earlier this month.

Holder was asked during a May 15 Judiciary Committee hearing if the U.S. Department of Justice could prosecute reporters and gave the following response:

“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,” the attorney general said.

Since Holder made that statement, NBC News reported that the attorney general approved a search warrant for the email account and phone records of Fox News reporter James Rosen. The Judiciary Committee members were unaware of the actions taken by the Justice Department when Holder testified.

Rosen caught the attention of the Justice Department over his interactions with a source at the State Department, whom the Fox News reporter looked to for scoops on North Korea. Justice labeled Rosen a potential “co-conspirator” in its investigation of leaks given to the reporter. The official was also considered a target of the investigation.

In light of the NBC News report, the Judiciary Committee is looking into whether Holder lied when he said he doesn’t get involved or has ever heard about potential prosecutions of members of the media for leaked information, The Hill reported.

Before the report about the committee’s investigation, Fox News contributor Karl Rove suggested that the panel look into whether Holder lied to Congress.

“If NBC is right and Mr. Holder approved going after Mr. Rosen, then the attorney general has a lot of explaining to do to Congress,” Rove wrote on Friday. “House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte might well want to ask Mr. Holder to appear again and explain why he said targeting journalists was ‘not something I've ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy’ after he had heard of it, had been involved in it, and had signed off on it as a matter of policy.”