Civil Liberties

Justice Department Insists Holder Didn't Lie About Press Investigation

He said he didn't know about prosecuting journalists, not spying on them

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U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder didn't lie to Congress about a leak probe because probing a reporter isn't prosecuting one, a Justice Department deputy said.

"At the outset, it is important to note the difference between an investigation and a prosecution," Peter Kadzik, principal deputy assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, said in a letter to House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.

An investigation of potential criminal activity "typically comes before any final decision about prosecution" and can be conducted with a lower burden of proof, the letter said.

It referred to Holder's approval of a search-warrant request for Fox News reporter James Rosen's private correspondence after he reported in June 2009 about a North Korean nuclear test that had not been made public.