Democrats claim the postponement happened because they don’t want to miss the health-care bill signing or the White House party celebrating its passage.
Attorney General Eric Holder finally sent his answers from a November hearing to Senate Republicans Monday, on what was presumed to be the eve of an expected showdown between Holder and the GOP lawmakers over plans to close Guantanamo Bay prison and put detainees on trial in civilian courts….
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, postponed the hearing late Monday to the consternation of both the Justice Department and the GOP. Holder is out of town on travel the rest of this week, and Congress is out the following week, so no new hearing date is scheduled.
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, postponed the hearing late Monday to the consternation of both the Justice Department and the GOP. Holder is out of town on travel the rest of this week, and Congress is out the following week, so no new hearing date is scheduled.
But what if, “We don’t want to miss the White House party” is actually the manufactured excuse calibrated to make them look better than the real one? Shudder.
Why? Word is that it’s because of the signing ceremony for the national health care bill, but well-informed Republicans suspect the occasion may also have given Democrats an opportunity to put off what could turn into another embarrassing performance by the attorney general.
Holder’s recent appearance before a House Appropriations subcommittee was a “disaster,” says one Republican. The attorney general’s insistence that Osama bin Laden will never be taken alive and his odd statement about Mirandizing bin Laden’s corpse; his comparison of bin Laden to Charles Manson; his assertion that the 50 minutes spent questioning Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a “fairly long period of time” — those and other statements amounted to a blooper reel from just one Holder appearance.
Holder’s recent appearance before a House Appropriations subcommittee was a “disaster,” says one Republican. The attorney general’s insistence that Osama bin Laden will never be taken alive and his odd statement about Mirandizing bin Laden’s corpse; his comparison of bin Laden to Charles Manson; his assertion that the 50 minutes spent questioning Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a “fairly long period of time” — those and other statements amounted to a blooper reel from just one Holder appearance.
The Justice Department’s submission to the panel today suggests they still can’t find the “hundreds” of terrorists brought to justice in federal courts to which Holder has referred:
According to today’s submission to the Committee, the Department remains unable to provide any detail to explain the claim that hundreds – specifically over 300 – terrorists have been successfully tried in federal civilian criminal courts. Senator Kyl first asked for this information in May 2009. As of yesterday, the Department could only provide the following response: “The Department is working to develop information responsive to this request and will advise the Committee when it becomes available.”
