Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Napolitano (Unintentionally) Scolds Holder   [Marc Thiessen]

The Senate Republican Policy Committee reports that this morning on the Today show, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano (unintentionally) scolded Attorney General Eric Holder.

Napolitano was asked about Holder’s decision to appoint a special prosecutor to re-investigate certain matters involving the interrogation of certain detainees. She said: “I’m a former United States attorney. I’m a former [state] attorney general, a prosecutor. . . . I would never second-guess a prosecutor.”

She meant it, of course, as a defense of Holder. But in reality, she explained precisely what was wrong with Holder’s decision.

With his decision, Holder is second-guessing career prosecutors — the career prosecutors from the Eastern District of Virginia who reviewed the allegations in the CIA IG report and determined that there was nothing to warrant a criminal prosecution. Now Holder, a political appointee, is overruling their decisions, and in so doing questioning their judgment and impartiality.

This is wrong. So says Leon Panetta. And now, apparently, Janet Napolitano as well.

09/02 12:03 PMShare