Goodlatte and Sensenbrenner Statement on Holder’s Response to Committee’s Questions

Washington, D.C. – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wisc.) issued this joint statement upon receipt of a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder regarding the discrepancy between his sworn testimony before the House Judiciary Committee last month and the Department of Justice’s decision to obtain a search warrant for the emails of James Rosen, the chief Washington correspondent for Fox News. 

Chairman Goodlatte and Subcommittee Chairman Sensenbrenner: “Tonight we received a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder, which includes answers to the original questions we asked him nearly four weeks ago.  While we are pleased that Attorney General Holder has finally seen fit to follow through on his responsibility to Congress and the American people by providing answers to the House Judiciary Committee’s legitimate oversight questions, it is perplexing that he found it necessary to dodge our questions for so long.

“We found several of the Attorney General’s answers troubling, including his acknowledgement that the Department of Justice regulations do not explicitly cover the procedures for gathering emails belonging to members of the media and the Department’s interpretation of the Privacy Protection Act of 1980. We intend to discuss both of these matters with Mr. Holder when he comes to Capitol Hill in the coming days to meet with us.”         

Background: Chairman Goodlatte and Subcommittee Chairman Sensenbrenner originally wrote to the Attorney General on May 29, 2013 asking him to explain these discrepancies to the Committee by June 5, 2013.  However, the Committee never received an on-the-record response from Attorney General Holder himself answering the questions asked.  The Committee received a nonresponsive letter from his subordinate, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Peter Kadzik.  The Committee replied to Kadzik and stated his response was insufficient.  Attorney General Holder sent a letter on June 5, 2013, but he failed to answer any of the Committee’s questions, prompting all Judiciary Committee Republicans to send a letter to Attorney General Holder requesting that he personally clarify his previous testimony. On June 14, 2013, Chairman Goodlatte and Subcommittee Chairman Sensenbrenner announced that Attorney General Holder had agreed to fully answer the Committee’s questions in writing by June 19, 2013 and that Mr. Holder planned to meet with senior Committee leaders on Capitol Hill before the July 4th recess.