Investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson, who has filed a $35 million lawsuit against the Obama administration for allegedly hacking her computer, will testify at a congressional hearing on attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch.
The former CBS News reporter and author has been added to the witness list for this week’s Senate Judiciary Committee inquiry into President Barack Obama’s replacement for Eric Holder as attorney general.
Her planned testimony was revealed by the committee’s chairman, Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, on Monday evening,
according to The Hill.
In her lawsuit, the
Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist says the federal government engaged in illegal surveillance of her work as she reported on the scandals surrounding the attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Obamacare and the failed "Fast and Furious" gun-running sting.
Attkisson, who wrote the book "Stonewalled" on her government investigation, alleged in the suit, filed in Washington, D.C., that the Justice Department hacked into her work computers between 2011 and 2013, a claim the agency has publicly denied.
Catherine Engelbrecht, the founder of the tea party-aligned True the Vote, will also be testifying, according to The Hill, which noted that the group had claimed in a lawsuit that it was unreasonably targeted by the IRS when it attempted to seek tax-exempt status.
A federal judge threw out the case against the government brought by Engelbrecht and other conservative groups last October.
The proposed testimony of Attkisson and Engelbrecht suggests that the hearing could turn into a contentious affair with the GOP and Democrats battling over Holder's term in charge of the Justice Department.
Conservatives have accused Holder of politicizing his post to help Obama, The Hill reported.