"I welcome this debate," President Obama said of the NSA revelations. But with swaths of the security state still shrouded by classification, open debate is hard to come by. Which is why a group of senators introduced a bill Tuesday to expose at least one element of those measures to a little more openness. Will it work? Can anything? That might come down to the word "terrorist."
The timing for Eric Holder's visit to Capitol Hill today was perfect. On the heels of the staggering revelation that the FBI requested — and received — authorization for the NSA to vacuum up phone records from Verizon, a Senate committee had the chance to grill him on why. That is not in the least what happened.
Too bad that the meeting between various media entities and the attorney general discussing the subpoenas of media entities was off-the-record. That means we're left with only a handful of detailed reports of what happened in it (not a lot) and only a few anonymous sources reporting on what comes next (to be determined).
The Justice Department's hearts and minds campaign to the media just hit a snag: The Associated Press and the New York Times have refused to attend a meeting with Eric Holder.
Eric Holder's heavy-handed subpoenas and search warrants have aligned the media for the first time with the interests of Republicans antsy to see Holder go. So the administration has launched an effort to rebuild his reputation, operating under the assumption that it's still salvageable.
Eric Holder does not always love his job, but the controversies surrounding his tenure as attorney general have mostly remained stuck in the conservative side of the Internet. But the Justice Department's leak investigation is different.
The White House took a step Wednesday to try and limit any political fall-out of the seizure of phone records from the AP. By making overtures to renew a media shield law, the administration gets to have its beloved subpoena power and condemn it, too.
The attorney general probably wishes that this afternoon wasn't the afternoon one on which he'd agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. It is, and right in the middle of several brewing controversies, but it's unlikely that the hearing will be job-threatening.
Attorney General Eric Holder and White House Press Secretary Jay Carney tried, in near-simultaneo
In case you missed the most boring hack in the history of hacking — unless you're worried about the terms of Kim Kardashian's mortgage (it's 30 years!) — allow us to get you up to speed.
Attorney General Eric Holder has answered Sen. Ran Paul's question of whether the government can use a drone to kill an American citizen on American soil if that person is not engaged in combat: "The answer to that question is no."
Though it's no surprise that president's in favor of same-sex marriages, one or two heads were turned on Thursday when the Obama administration inserted itself into California's Prop. 8 debate.
If you're ever in a meeting with the leader of the free world, you know it's important. Or rather, you better show it's important.
Attorney General Eric Holder will remain in his position at the Justice Department into President Obama's second term, a White House official said, despite being a punching bag for House Republicans for much of the last three and a half years.
Eric Holder will stay on as attorney general for "about a year" into President Obama's second term, even though he's reportedly wanted to quit since 2010, and even as the rest of the cabinet remains up in the air.
There isn't a shred of evidence to suggest that Attorney General Eric Holder knew about the botched "gun-walking" scandal known as "Fast and Furious" before Congress began asking him about it in early 2011, according to a long-awaited report by the Justice Department's inspector general.
Nothing to see here: The Justice Department closed its investigation into the deaths of CIA detainees overseas and will not bring any charges, Attorney General Eric Holder announced today.
The Justice Department's botched gun-smuggling program Fast & Furious is no longer the exclusive obsession of Republicans and gun owners. Turns out, advocates of marijuana legalization want in on the conspiracy too.
About 30 conservative youngsters had their fun ruined Monday when their protest calling for the firing of Attorney General Eric Holder was broken up by a suspicious package. What they demonstrated was not so much the need for Holder's exit as the folly of youth.
Having failed to reach a deal Wednesday, the House voted 255-67 to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over his handling of the "Fast and Furious" gun running scandal, Thursday, CSPAN reported.
On the day the House of Representatives votes to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for not turning over documents related to the Fast and Furious case, new reports show problems with the Republicans' theory of the case.
It's the first time in history the House of Representatives is voting to hold the highest-ranking American law official in contempt of Congress, and since Eric Holder's current predicament is so new and different, you're probably wondering what to expect.
If you could choose how to spend the night before vote to hold you in contempt of Congress, would you go to a barbecue with the people who hold your fate in their hands? Eric Holder must really like hot dogs.
CBS DC is inexplicably shocked that Attorney General Eric Holder bored a good portion of the 700 kids who saw him speak at the Boys and Girls Club in Washington Tuesday, lulling the kids to sleep.
Darrell Issa appeared on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopolous and Fox News Sunday to sell his contempt vote against Attorney General Eric Holder; Rick Perry called President Obama's use of executive privilege "Nixonian;" and Tim Pawlenty shied away from some of his VP hype.
When Rep. Dan Burton shot a pumpkin in his backyard in an attempt to prove Vince Foster had been murdered by Bill Clinton's henchmen, he almost ruined Republican congressional investigations.
The House Oversight Committee has voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt for not tuning over documents related to the Fast and Furious operation.
News that the Justice Department is delaying cases involving married same-sex couples in anticipation of the repeal of Defense of Marriage Act -- coming just after the President's decision to stop deporting young illegal immigrants -- makes "stalling while awaiting some other branch of the federal government" seem like the hot immigration policy strategy of the week.
President Obama has granted Attorney General Eric Holder permission to assert executive privilege to withhold documents related to the failed gun-running operation Fast and Furious, The Associated Press reports, just as the House of Representatives was getting ready to vote on holding Holder in contempt of Congress for not turing the documents over.
Darrell Issa is going go ahead with holding Eric Holder in contempt of Congress on Wednesday, after the two sides couldn't come to a deal during a last minute meeting Tuesday evening, unless he gets documents relating to the Fast & Furious program by 10 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Washington is united in outrage over a series of U.S. national security leaks, and it's far from certain who will get burned, but the crackdowns could backfire on the Obama administration, Republicans, Congressional members, and the press.
Woodward and Bernstein talk leaks on CBS; McCain and Axelrod spar over Eric Holder on CNN; Scott Walker and Mitch Daniels think Wisconsin spells the end of public-employee unions. Oh, and two more names can be crossed off the VP watch list.
Two U.S. attorneys have been tasked with finding out if there's any truth to rumours the White House leaked classified information to help the President's national security reputation.
Sometimes "enhanced interrogation" doesn't feel like torture until you see it happening to someone you can relate to.
The long tentacles of John Edwards criminal trial, which begins today, will drag in a host of familiar faces from his 2008 presidential campaign and a number of Obama administration officials.
Apparently unsatisfied with just the attention of New Hampshire's attorney general for his January voter-fraud stunt, James O'Keefe and Project Veritas are now taunting the feds, releasing a video Monday of an operative asking for, and getting offered, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's ballot.
The Department of Justice released a memo written at the request of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals affirming the federal courts' right to overturn Congressional laws in the wake of Obama's much politicized comments on the topic that reads like Attorney General Eric Holder had to write an A.P. U.S. History paper.
He just got finished with a drubbing from the right over Operation Fast and Furious and now it's the left's turn to attack U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
After the United States killed Anwar al Awlaki, a U.S. citizen, in a drone strike last year, people had a lot of uncomfortable questions about why that was OK under U.S. law. On Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder tried to answer them without mentioning the specifics of Awlaki's case.
At least as recently as 2005, new Army recruits watched videos instructing them, "Do not attempt a gay marriage."
House Oversight Committee chair Darrell Issa says he'll "move forward with the contempt process" against Attorney General Eric Holder if the Justice Department doesn't at least describe the Fast and Furious documents it won't turnover to Issa's committee, Talking Points Memo reports.
South Carolina's Attorney General Alan Wilson filed a lawsuit Tuesday after the Justice Department blocked South Carolina's controversial law requiring voters to present a photo I.D.
Attorney General Eric Holder testified before Congress today in what was the most confrontational hearing over the botched "gunwalking" scheme, a.k.a. Operation Fast and Furious, to date.
Also: An update on Tracy Morgan's Sundance collapse, Eric Holder had to see Red Tails like a regular paying customer, and Angelina Jolie was very mean to George Clooney's new girlfriend.
The Justice Department blocked a South Carolina law that would require voters present photo I.D., saying it would discriminate against minority voters, weighing in today for the first time on one of several new state laws seeking to combat voter fraud.
After weeks of knife sharpening, Republican lawmakers grilled Attorney General Eric Holder at a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday, inquiring into a growing backlog of complaints related to Operation Fast and Furious and other pet issues.
Republicans want a special counsel to investigate perjury in the Operation Fast and Furious case
That doesn't mean the country won't be prepared
Says the war on drugs is "a virtual race war"
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