WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder told Senators Thursday that while he still led the Department of Justice, it would never prosecute a reporter in any leak investigation.
“The Department’s goal in investigating leak cases is to identify and to prosecute government officials who jeopardize national security by violating their oaths, not to target members of the press or to discourage them from carrying out their … work,” Holder said in an opening statement addressing the Senate Appropriations Committee on a hearing that was intended to focus on the DOJ’s 2014 Fiscal Year budget.
“Second, the Department has not prosecuted, and as long as I have the privilege of serving as the Attorney General of the United States, will not prosecute any reporter for doing his or her job,” he said.
Holder said the Department was engaged in a process of reviewing DOJ guidelines governing investigations involving reporters to ensure “balance” between security concerns and First Amendment rights.