The U.S. Justice Department today defended the accuracy of Attorney General Eric Holder Jr.’s testimony about his role in leak prosecutions, refuting the notion among critics that he misled members of Congress and opened himself up to a potential perjury charge.
The dispute centers on whether Holder lied when he told the House Judiciary Committee on May 15 that he had never taken part in the potential prosecution of a journalist for the disclosure and publication of classified information. Holder said then that the prosecution of a journalist “is not something that I have never been involved in, heard of, or would think would be a wise policy."
DOJ, however, later acknowledged that Holder approved a search warrant in 2010 targeting the emails of Fox News reporter James Rosen. Prosecutors charged a government contractor, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, with leaking information about North Korea to Rosen. The reporter, however, identified in a search warrant affidavit as a "co-conspirator," was never charged.
In a letter sent today to House Judiciary Committee members, a Justice Department lawyer said Holder's testimony was "accurate and consistent" with the facts of the investigation and prosecution of Kim, who is set to appear in court Tuesday morning in Washington for a status conference in the leak case.
Continue reading "Justice Dept. Defends Holder Testimony on Leaks" »

Recent Comments