Holder Backed Fox News Probe

Eric Holder has deftly sidestepped accountability for the Justice Department's spying on the AP by saying he recused himself from the case, but he can't pull the same trick in the Fox News case. The attorney general personally signed off on the search warrant targeting Fox reporter James Rosen, NBC News reports. "It was approved at the highest levels—and I mean the highest," NBC's source said, confirming that that included Holder.

When asked about Holder's role, the DOJ released a boilerplate statement about its review of its press policy. We also learned yesterday that the Department took steps to conceal the Rosen search warrant, asking the courts to keep it under seal. Even when it became unsealed in 2011, it wasn't added to the documents in the trial of Rosen's alleged source, analyst Stephen Kim. Google was also specifically forbidden from informing Rosen that his email had been accessed.