Video

Eric Holder To Media: ‘We’re Not In A Time Of War’ [VIDEO]

Chuck Ross Investigative Reporter
Font Size:

Attorney General Eric Holder denied on Tuesday that the U.S. is at war, mere days after President Obama asked Congress to authorize the use of military force against ISIS, and as the U.S. continues a bombing campaign against the terror group which began in August.

Holder made the comment at the National Press Club in response to a reporter’s question about the Justice Department’s prosecution of reporters.

“I will use an extreme example, perhaps unfair. In World War II, if a reporter had found out about the existence of the Manhattan Project, is that something that should have been disclosed?” Holder said.

“Now, we’re not at a time of war, I understand, and I said it’s an extreme example,” he added.

The Authorized Use of Military Force proposal Obama submitted to Congress last week will, if approved, allow the U.S. military to use ground troops, expand air operations and conduct a war without geographic boundaries.

Holder’s comment — while seemingly off-the-cuff — puts him at odds with Secretary of State John Kerry, who was forced to admit last year that the U.S. is at war with both ISIS and al-Qaida.

“In terms of al Qaeda, which we have used the word ‘war’ with, yeah…we are at war with al Qaeda and it’s affiliates,” Kerry told “Face the Nation” in September. “And in the same context if you want to use it, yes, we are at war with ISIL in that sense,” Kerry said. “But I think it’s waste of time to focus on that. Frankly, lets consider what we have to do to degrade and defeat ISIL.”

Kerry acknowledged the U.S.’s war status after he received criticism for downplaying the fight against ISIS.

“If somebody wants to think about it as being a war with [ISIS], they can do so, but the fact is that it’s a major counterterrorism operation that will have many different moving parts,” Kerry had previously told CNN.

“I don’t think people need to get into war fever on this,” he also told CBS.

In other remarks on Tuesday, Holder mocked Fox News for hammering the Obama administration for its refusal to use the term “radical Islam” to describe recent terror attacks. (RELATED: Eric Holder Blames Fox News For Concern Over ‘Radical Islam’)

“If Fox didn’t talk about this, they would have nothing else to talk about, it seems to me,” Holder said. “Radical Islam, Islamic extremism; I’m not sure an awful lot is gained by saying that.”

WATCH:

[h/t The Daily Beast]

Follow Chuck on Twitter

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel