Friday, March 12, 2010

Eric Holder Withheld Information During Confirmation

Is there an honest person in this administration?:

During his confirmation more than a year ago, Attorney General Eric Holder failed to notify lawmakers he had contributed to a legal brief dealing with the use of federal courts in fighting terrorism, the Justice Department acknowledged on Wednesday.

“The brief should have been disclosed as part of the confirmation process,” Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller said in a statement. “In preparing thousands of pages for submission, it was unfortunately and inadvertently missed.”

Still, the “amicus brief,” filed with the Supreme Court in 2004, resonates years later as Holder finds himself defending the handling of some recent terrorism cases, particularly the interrogation of alleged “Christmas Day bomber” Umar F. Abdulmutallab.

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Two former Bush Administration officials accused Holder of being disingenuous.

“Now that Holder is attorney general, he no longer acknowledges the risks to national security of treating terrorists as criminals,” former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino and former Deputy White House Counsel Bill Burck said in a column posted on the National Review web site Wednesday. “Holder could never admit that now, of course.”

After President Obama nominated Holder to be Attorney General, the Senate Judiciary Committee sent Holder a 47-page questionnaire, including a request for any briefs he had filed with the Supreme Court “in connection with your practice.”

In response, Holder said he participated in a total of five such briefs, none of which dealt with terrorism-related issues. He did not include the Padilla brief, and he signed a statement saying the information he provided was accurate and complete “to the best of my knowledge.”

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