It’s time for Attorney General Eric — “I just don’t know” — Holder to resign!
He has lost credibility and put the Department of Justice under a cloud.
Ironically, he has done what no one else has been able to do: bring Fox News and the general media together in a common cause — freedom of the press.
He has escaped criticism from the liberal media on any number of important issues while most Democrats have rebuffed Republican criticism about Holder's actions being politically motivated — until now.
The top law enforcement official in the U.S. may have finally gone too far when he and his department went after Obama’s best and most loyal constituency — the media.
The first revelation was that DOJ had obtained telephone records of reporters at the Associated Press. In a letter to Holder, AP President and CEO, Gary Pruitt wrote:
"There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources . . . and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know."
The next and most recent shoe to drop was the discovery that Holder had signed off on a controversial search warrant that targeted Fox News correspondent James Rosen’s personal emails and accused him in an affidavit of being a possible criminal "co-conspirator" for pursing his First Amendment rights as a journalist.
Fox News chief Roger Ailes came out swinging in a memo to Fox employees:
“The recent news about the FBI’s seizure of the phone and email records of Fox News employees . . . calls into question whether the federal government is meeting its constitutional obligation to preserve and protect a free press in the United States . . . We will not allow a climate of press intimidation, unseen since the McCarthy era, to frighten any of us away from the truth.”
When asked about the assault on the First Amendment, Holder took a page out of the IRS playbook and replied with a chorus of “I don’t knows.”
And Obama?
He said that he had “raised” the issue with Holder and asked him to review guidelines on investigations involving reporters, to meet with media organizations, and to report back to him by July 12.
Many pundits are rightfully asking why Holder is investigating Holder — calling it a sham, charade, and conflict of interest. Just as the IRS is showing it can’t be trusted to investigate itself, Holder’s Justice Department can’t — and should not — investigate itself either.
As House Speaker John Boehner said with respect to the IRS scandal — “drip, drip, drip, everyday there is something new.”
The same can be said of Holder.
Holder’s other drips include:
- DOJ’s actions in the high-profile voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party.
- Being the first sitting Cabinet member to be held in contempt of Congress for failing to provide information related to Operation Fast and Furious — the government gun-running scheme that allowed guns to fall in the hands of Mexican drug cartels, including a gun later linked to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
- A May 13, DOJ Inspector General’s report confirming that the former U.S. Attorney for Arizona had leaked a document intended to smear an Operation Fast and Furious whistleblower.
If this were not enough, we now learn that the House Judiciary Committee is looking into whether Holder committed perjury when he told the Committee on May 15:
“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 . . .”
Really Mr. Holder?
Martin Niemoeller, the Protestant pastor arrested by Hitler, is best known for his powerful statement about the failure of Germans to speak out against the Nazi scourge and his own shortcomings in that regard. “Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me,” he said.
And so it could be said of the media’s blind eye to the Obama Administration. Here are but a few of the administration’s less than shining moments:
- Politicization of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and charges of race-based enforcement of civil rights laws
- Fast and Furious gun-running scandal
- Handling of the Fort Hood massacre
- Benghazi tragedy and the real role and responsibility of Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
- IRS scandal involving intimidation of conservative and tea party groups
Back in January I gave a few examples of why Obama’s “Big Mama Government” could not be trusted and quoted Patrick Henry:
“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel.”
Until Obama’s “Big Mama” government “came for” the jewel of public liberty — the press — the Obama administration pretty much got a free pass from the mainstream media.
The image, reputation and integrity of the Justice Department can’t and should not be compromised!
Having Holder serve out his term makes about as much sense as calling the Fort Hood massacre a “workplace killing.”
Instead of waiting to give his report to the president in July, Mr. Holder should submit his resignation now!
Clarence V. McKee is president of McKee Communications, Inc., a government, political and media relations consulting firm in Florida. He held several positions in the Reagan administration as well as the Reagan presidential campaigns and has appeared on many national and local media outlets. Read more reports from Clarence V. McKee — Click Here Now.
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