An unlikely pairing is springing up, and the two polar opposites are calling for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation. RNC chair Reince Priebus and former MSNBC and Current TV host Keith Olbermann have both called for the Attorney General’s resignation due to the spying the Department of Justice did on Associated Press reporters. The DOJ was tracking what calls came in or out and for how long, which is an attack on the First Amendment. In the First Amendment, there is a promised freedom of the press, which the Department infringed upon.
Reince Priebus’s statement:
“Freedom of the press is an essential right in a free society. The First Amendment doesn’t request the federal government to respect it; it demands it. Attorney General Eric Holder, in permitting the Justice Department to issue secret subpoenas to spy on Associated Press reporters, has trampled on the First Amendment and failed in his sworn duty to uphold the Constitution. Because Attorney General Holder has so egregiously violated the public trust, the president should ask for his immediate resignation. If President Obama does not, the message will be unmistakable: The President of the United States believes his administration is above the Constitution and does not respect the role of a free press.”