On his Tuesday Fox News Channel program during the “Talking Points Memo” segment, “The O’Reilly Factor” host Bill O’Reilly talked about a Monday Report that political appointees interfered in a prosecution of the New Black Panther Party in a case about a 2008 Election Day incident involving members of the New Black Panthers allegedly intimidating voters outside a Philadelphia polling location and violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Monday report, O’Reilly explained, is more trouble for the embattled Obama Department of Justice.
“As you may know, the Fast and Furious gun scandal has embarrassed the Obama administration and put Attorney General Eric Holder’s job in jeopardy,” O’Reilly began. “Mr. Obama has invoked executive privilege from Congress from finding out whether Mr. Holder and/or his assistants were involved in the botched gun sting operation that led to the death of a U.S. border patrol agent. Now we have another potential scandal that most media outlets will not report to you. On Election Day 2008, two Black Panthers stood outside a Philadelphia polling place acting in an intimidating matter.”
O’Reilly played the infamous 2008 video to point out what exactly happened, saying it warranted action from the Justice Department.
“Now, based on that video, the Bush administration filed a civil complaint against the New Black Panther party for allegedly violating the Voter Rights Act of 1965,” O’Reilly continued. “The Black Panthers subsequently did not show up for the court hearing and one was found guilty of a civil violation but not punished in any significant way. The Obama Justice Department refused to pursue criminal charges against the Black Panthers, although there was strong evidence that they did violate the law, Attorney General Holder saying there simply was not enough evidence to charge the men in federal criminal court. But some believe that’s not true, and politics allowed the Panthers to get away with it.”
But, O’Reilly said, the Monday ruling from Federal Judge Reggie Walton could be trouble for Obama Justice Department Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, who denied the presence of political appointees in the decision not to pursue charges against the New Black Panthers for the incident.
“Assistant Attorney General [Thomas] Perez, who you just saw there, is now in big trouble for making that statement. That’s because the watchdog organization Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information (FOIA) and they received documents — they obtained evidence — that Federal Judge Reggie Walton indicates political pressure was in play. Judge Walton writing, quote, ‘The documents reveal that political appointees within DOJ were conferring about the status and resolution of the New Black Panther Party case in the days preceding the DOJ’s dismissal of claims in that case, which would appear to contradict Assistant Attorney General Perez’s testimony that political leadership was not involved in that decision,’ unquote. Because of Judge Walton’s ruling, Mr. Perez may be investigated for perjury.”
But the main point O’Reilly made was that this was trouble for the entire Obama DOJ.
“But no matter what happens, this is another political embarrassment for the Obama administration and Attorney General Holder,” O’Reilly said. “It is widely believed that Mr. Holder blends justice with politics at times, and we say that without any agenda. Just last week, ‘The Factor’ praised the Justice Department for charging Andrew Goodman with federal crimes, circumventing a New York judge’s insane two-year prison sentence, which would have put the monster back on the street within weeks.”
“So we are not anti-Justice Department people here,” O’Reilly concluded. “However, this Black Panther thing should have been prosecuted. There’s no doubt those people were intruding upon a polling place. The video proves it. And now we find out the decision not to prosecute had political implications. Very bad news for Attorney General Holder and his friend, the president of the United States.”