Juan Williams got under Brit Hume’s skin on Fox News Sunday today when he suggested there’s a tad of disingenuousness about Republican hissy fits over Attorney Genera Eric Holder’s investigation into national security leaks that included investigating Fox News reporter James Rosen. Not that Williams didn’t jump on the same pro-Rosen bandwagon most others in the media have jumped on (and ignored what Rosen did to flag investigators’ attention) but still, he’s one of the few on Fox to point out that Holder didn't just concoct some war against the press – but was engaging in the very behavior Republicans were accusing him of not doing before they were against him for doing it.
Video Café at Crooks and Liars has the scoop:
“Republicans have been hammering Eric Holder... to go after the leaks, that they have wanted him to pursue leaks that had to do with how bin Laden was killed to secret prisons to the attack on the cyber network in Iran,” Williams explained. “That came from Republicans. And it has been something that the Bush administration started and it has been continued with a vengeance—to everyone’s surprise—by this administration.”
“Eric Holder did not conduct the probe that led people to somehow come to the madhouse conclusion that James Rosen is somehow a co-conspirator, is somehow to be suspected,” he continued. “He signed the affidavit as attorney general of the United States, he did not conduct the probe.”
At that point, Hume blew up at Williams for arguing that Holder is the “exact right person” to investigate the subpoenas of Rosen’s phone records.
What Williams didn’t say is that Republicans – and their pals at Fox News – have been on a witch hunt against Holder since long before this particular controversy. They either complain about him following the Constitution too carefully or they complain he’s trampling on it. Holder could have personally shot Bin Laden himself and Republicans Fox News would have found something to complain about.
Video below via Crooks and Liars.