The chairman of the Republican National Committee says Attorney General Eric Holder should resign because the Department of Justice “has trampled on the First Amendment” by secretly obtaining phone records of reporters.
“Because Attorney General Holder has so egregiously violated the public trust, the president should ask for his immediate resignation,” RNC chairman Reince Priebus said Tuesday. “If President Obama does not, the message will be unmistakable: The President of the United States believes his administration is above the Constitution and does not respect the role of a free press.”
The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that two months worth of telephone records of their reporters and editors had been obtained by the Justice Department in April and May of 2012. They called it a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into their news gathering operations.
“Freedom of the press is an essential right in a free society,” Priebus said. “The First Amendment doesn’t request the federal government to respect it; it demands it. Attorney General Eric Holder, in permitting the Justice Department to issue secret subpoenas to spy on Associated Press reporters, has trampled on the First Amendment and failed in his sworn duty to uphold the Constitution.”
During the 2012 election, Priebus — along with other Republicans — called on Holder to resign over the Fast and Furious scandal.