The House Judiciary Committee has just released a report declaring that Attorney General Eric Holder misled House members during sworn testimony about the Justice Department’s investigation of Fox News reporter James Rosen. “The Committee finds that Mr. Holder’s sworn testimony in the Rosen matter was deceptive and misleading,” the report reads. They call for a shakeup at Justice: “No amount of law-making can restore credibility and professionalism to the Justice Department in the wake of these revelations. The only way to achieve this goal is through an improvement in the quality of leadership at the Justice Department.”
The Republicans on the committee accuse Holder’s Justice Department of “tarnishing a journalist as a suspect in a national security investigation,” referring to a DOJ affidavit signed by holder naming Fox News’s Rosen as a “possible co-conspirator” in its prosecution of State Department leaker Stephen Kim. On May 15, Holder claimed that he knew nothing about a possible prosecution of Rosen; he told the committee, “With regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material, that is not something that I have ever been involved, heard of, or would think would be a wise policy.” The affidavit seeking access to Rosen’s e-mails was disclosed shortly thereafter.