Attorney General Eric Holder was grilled by members of the Senate Appropriations committee on subjects as varied as the probes into the Associated Press, the closing of Guantanamo Bay and how long Holder plans on holding on to his job, CNN reports.
Holder was adamant that the recent probes by the Justice Department were never an attempt to stop journalists from doing their jobs; they simply were trying to find the sources of a leak within the government. Holder said that for as long is at the helm of the department journalists will never be prosecuted for doing their job, according to CNN.
"The department goal in investigating leak cases is to identify and prosecute government officials who jeopardize government secrets," Holder said.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., didn't waste time in getting to the point; he wanted to know how much longer Holder plans on remaining Attorney General, reports the Washington Post.
"I'm interested to know what criteria you will use to determine whether you can continue to lead the department," Shelby said. "In other words, what's the tipping point here?"
"The tipping point might be fatigue," Holder answered. "You get to a point where you just get tired."
Holder would go on to explain the process with which he would step down, if he chooses to do so.
"I will sit down with the president and we will talk about a transition to a new attorney general," Holder said. "I think that change is frequently a good thing for an organization, a new perspective...This has been the honor of my professional life, to serve as attorney general. But I also have such respect for the Department of Justice that I want to make sure that it operates at peak efficiency and that new ideas are constantly being explored. And when the time comes for me to step aside for my successor, I will do so."
Referencing the Verizon records that the government has searched Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., asked Holder if the Justice Department was sure that none of the phone records they tapped into had belonged to members of the legislature or possibly Supreme Court Justices.
"Could you assure us that no phones inside the Capitol were monitored of members of Congress that would give a future executive branch...unique leverage over the legislature?" Kirk said.
"There has been no intention to do anything of that nature, that is, to spy on members of congress, to spy on members of the Supreme Court," Holder said.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., had no issues with the Department of Justice looking at anyone's records.
"I'm a Verizon customer," Graham said. "It doesn't bother me one bit for the National Security Administration to have my phone number, because what they're trying to do is to find out what terrorist groups we know about and individuals, and who the hell they are calling."
