Letter to Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney General - House Judiciary Committee to Holder: Explain Discrepancies Before Committee

Letter

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and all Judiciary Committee Republicans today sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder requesting that he appear before the Committee on June 18, 2013, or some other time before the July 4th recess, to explain the discrepancies between his sworn congressional testimony and his decision to obtain a search warrant for the emails of James Rosen, the chief Washington correspondent for Fox News, which stated Rosen was at the very least an "aider, abettor, and/or co-conspirator" of the person who allegedly leaked classified information.

Chairman Goodlatte and Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) originally wrote to the Attorney General on May 29, 2013 asking him to explain these discrepancies to the Committee by June 5, 2013. However, the Committee never received an on-the-record response from Attorney General Holder himself answering the questions asked. The Committee received a nonresponsive letter from his subordinate, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik, earlier this week. The Committee replied to Kadzik and stated his response was insufficient. Attorney General Holder sent a letter last night but he failed to answer any of the Committee's questions.

Below is the text of the letter. To read the signed letter, click here.

"Dear Attorney General Holder:

"We are in receipt of your June 5th letter endorsing the Department's previous letter regarding the veracity of your testimony before the Committee. We are disappointed that your response still fails to fully and adequately answer our questions. Neither the letter from Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik, nor your follow-up letter, constitutes a satisfactory on-the-record response by you to the Committee.

"You testified on May 15th that "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." This statement left members of the Committee and the American people with the clear understanding that the Department had never taken the unprecedented step of characterizing a member of the media as a criminal co-conspirator in a sworn court document.

"We do not believe our request -- that you provide the Committee with an on-the-record explanation of your on-the-record testimony -- is extraordinary. We believe the Committee and the American people deserve to hear from you directly. It is with this goal in mind that we invite you to appear before the Committee on June 18, 2013 at 10:00 a.m. to respond to our inquiry. If this date and time presents a conflict for you, please provide us with an alternative date between June 18 and June 28, 2013, for your appearance.

"Please reply by COB, Friday, June 14, 2013, to schedule your appearance. We look forward to your reply."

In addition to Chairman Goodlatte, Judiciary Committee members that signed the letter include Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.), Ted Poe (R-Texas), Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), Steve King (R-Iowa), Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Howard Coble (R-N.C.), Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Randy Forbes (R-Va.), Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.), Tom Marino (R-Pa.), George Holding (R-N.C.), Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).