Simply Politics & News

[Long2Retire]

Why is Sharyl Attkisson testifying at Loretta Lynch’s confirmation hearing?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/01/28/why-is-sharyl-attkisson-testifying-at-loretta-lynchs-confirmation-hearing/

If Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. had an enemies list, it might look a lot like the list of witnesses who will testify at a Senate confirmation hearing for his potential successor, Loretta Lynch.

At least the four witnesses have been called by Republicans.

That half of the list includes not one, but three people involved in lawsuits against the administration. And among them, none is more well-known than ex-CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson, who is a household name among many conservatives.

In her book, "Stonewalled," Attkisson alleges that the Obama administration hacked into her computer as she reported on "Fast and Furious," Benghazi and the Affordable Care Act. She is seeking $35 million in damages. Expect to hear all about her claims at the hearing, which Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) has promised will be a tough one.

Attkisson happens to be testifying before a separate panel Thursday, but expect Lynch to have to answer for all the claims made against Holder and the Justice Department, particularly on executive powers.

Along with Attkisson, here's who Republicans have called on to help press the case against Holder's DOJ:

Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of True the Vote: A Texas conservative whose group aims to root out voter fraud, Engelbrecht says she was a target of the Internal Revenue Service because of her political leanings and efforts pushing for voter identification laws. She filed a lawsuit against the IRS and is at odds with the DOJ on voting laws.

Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, senior fellow in constitutional studies at the Cato Institute and contributor to The Washington Post's Volokh Conspiracy blog: No stranger to Hill hearings, Rosenkranz recently testified against President Obama's executive orders on immigration and the Affordable Care Act.
David A. Clarke Jr., sheriff of Milwaukee County: Clarke criticized Holder over his remarks about race and policing, saying that the attorney general left "a sour taste in the mouths of all law enforcement officers” as a result. “He knows what justice is. He claims he wants justice for all, but apparently he doesn't want justice for police officers,” said Clarke, who is black, according to Newsmax.

Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School: Turley is House Speaker John Boehner's lawyer in his suit against the administration over the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. A frequent critic of executive overreach in Democratic and Republican administrations, Turley also is likely to get into Obama's move on immigration reform.

Lynch and Holder, of course, will have their backers, too -- a pastor, a law professor, a former FBI agent and a lawyer -- and she is likely to be confirmed. But the hearings will offer conservatives one more high-profile way to jab at Holder and for Democrats to see whether Lynch will be Obama's new heat shield.

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America has her moral compass. We prefer criminal mafia thugs to honest people. Lynch has already declared that the law doesn't matter. It will take Republicans to confirm her. Republicans in name only.