enhanced_deficit
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Anti-climatic end of Zimmerman trial could be bad news for Obama as public attention shifts back to rel news.
The Obama administration scandals that wont go away: Benghazi and the IRS have staying power as Congress gears up for yet another series of public hearings
By David Martosko In Washington
PUBLISHED: 20:10 EST, 12 July 2013 | UPDATED: 20:10 EST, 12 July 2013
President Barack Obama's second-term scandals have become catnip for Republicans, but not all scandals are equal - and there's only so much mind-share to go around
Congressional Republicans will re-open two of the Obama administration's most persistent wounds next week, refocusing public scrutiny on the State Department's failures in Benghazi and the Internal Revenue Service's reputation for unfairly targeting conservatives.
House committees controlled by the GOP have regularly torn off the White House's rhetorical band-aids on the IRS and Benghazi, refusing to let the administration claim the healing power of closure.
The third of the mid-spring troika of scandals that beset the administration - the Justice Department's apparent pattern of spying on reporters, following government employees' leaks of classified information to the press - may, however, be well past the bloodletting stage.
Attorney General Eric Holder's office circulated a draft Friday afternoon of a report that he presented to the president. It outlines a narrowed set of circumstances under which the administration would be permitted to collect communications records from journalists.
The report capped a good will tour by Holder that included contentious meetings with journalists and a less antagonistic rap session - attended by MailOnline - with media executives.
Barely two months after the disastrous disclosure that the DOJ collected telephone records from the Associated Press and a variety of phone records and emails from Fox News reporter James Rosen, that embarrassing episode appears to be winding down. Main Justice also labeled Rosen a criminal 'co-conspirator' in an argument to a judge related to an investigation into a national security leak.
Attorney General Eric Holder (R) announced new Justice Department guidelines on Friday that are designed to keep the government on a short leash when it wants to snoop on reporters
I'm from the government and I'm here to help: IRS charity chief Lois Lerner refused to testify before Congress, and was put on paid leave. The House oversight committee later voted that when she offered an opening statement defending herself, she waived her Fifth Amendment right not to testify
But Holder later conceded in his June 4 meeting with media executives that Rosen 'wasn't aiding the enemy - he was just reporting news.'
Holder said Friday that the reforms he's now advocating 'will make a meaningful difference,' adding that 'there are additional protections that only Congress can provide. For that reason, we continue to support the passage of media shield legislation.'
The Obama administration scandals that wont go away: Benghazi and the IRS have staying power as Congress gears up for yet another series of public hearings
By David Martosko In Washington
PUBLISHED: 20:10 EST, 12 July 2013 | UPDATED: 20:10 EST, 12 July 2013
Congressional Republicans will re-open two of the Obama administration's most persistent wounds next week, refocusing public scrutiny on the State Department's failures in Benghazi and the Internal Revenue Service's reputation for unfairly targeting conservatives.
House committees controlled by the GOP have regularly torn off the White House's rhetorical band-aids on the IRS and Benghazi, refusing to let the administration claim the healing power of closure.
The third of the mid-spring troika of scandals that beset the administration - the Justice Department's apparent pattern of spying on reporters, following government employees' leaks of classified information to the press - may, however, be well past the bloodletting stage.
Attorney General Eric Holder's office circulated a draft Friday afternoon of a report that he presented to the president. It outlines a narrowed set of circumstances under which the administration would be permitted to collect communications records from journalists.
The report capped a good will tour by Holder that included contentious meetings with journalists and a less antagonistic rap session - attended by MailOnline - with media executives.
Barely two months after the disastrous disclosure that the DOJ collected telephone records from the Associated Press and a variety of phone records and emails from Fox News reporter James Rosen, that embarrassing episode appears to be winding down. Main Justice also labeled Rosen a criminal 'co-conspirator' in an argument to a judge related to an investigation into a national security leak.
But Holder later conceded in his June 4 meeting with media executives that Rosen 'wasn't aiding the enemy - he was just reporting news.'
Holder said Friday that the reforms he's now advocating 'will make a meaningful difference,' adding that 'there are additional protections that only Congress can provide. For that reason, we continue to support the passage of media shield legislation.'
