Politics

McCain rips AG: ‘Mr. Holder’s credibility with Congress is — there is none’

Jeff Poor Media Reporter
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Clarification added. See below.

On Sunday’s “State of the Union” on CNN, Arizona Sen. John McCain continued to request a special counsel to investigate intelligence leaks from the White House, which some contend were a politically motivated attempt to portray President Barack Obama and his administration positively.

On Friday, Attorney General Eric Holder appointed two U.S. attorneys — Ronald Machen, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, and Rod Rosenstein, the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland — to lead probes into the leaks. However, according to McCain, Holder’s Justice Department cannot be trusted to carry out the investigation.

“Well, first of all, Mr. Holder’s credibility with Congress is — there is none. As you know, we’ve continued to have this problem with him withholding information on Fast and Furious, which resulted in the killing of a border patrol agent in Arizona. He is close to being held in contempt. There is no credibility.”

McCain compared this situation to the Valerie Plame-Joe Wilson leak investigation from the mid-2000s and suggested that former Republican Utah Sen. Bob Bennett lead the investigation instead of the U.S. attorneys selected by Holder.

“[In] the Valerie Plame situation, they appointed a special counsel. This needs a special counsel, someone entirely independent of the Justice Department. I have great respect for the two individuals that were appointed, but this — if it is, and it certainly is a most egregious breach of intelligence in anybody’s memory, it certainly requires a special counsel who is completely independent, someone with credibility, like Mr. Bob Bennett.”

CLARIFICATION:

According to Brian Rogers, communications director for Sen. John McCain, McCain was referring to attorney Robert Bennett of the Hogan Lovells firm, not the former Utah senator:

Senator McCain was not referring to the former Senator Bob Bennett from Utah but instead to the noted and well-respected attorney Bob Bennett, who has represented major figures on both sides of the political spectrum in high-profile investigations, including President Clinton. Here’s his bio:

http://www.hoganlovells.com/robert-bennett/

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