Holder Won't Say If Justice Department Is Investigating Rep. Sestak's Claim

Attorney General Eric Holder would not answer whether the Justice Department is looking into an allegation by Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) that the White House offered him an administration job as an enticement to drop his primary challenge against Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.).

After five minutes of evading the question from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Holder’s final answer was no comment.

“It’s the department’s policy not to comment on any matters to say there is an investigation, to say there is not an investigation,” Holder said during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee. “That’s not the way the Department of Justice under a Republican or Democratic administrations have conducted. That’s not what we do. That is the way I would answer the question.”

Both Issa and Specter, as well as other legal commentators, have said that offering someone a federal job in exchange for taking a specific action could constitute bribery or other federal crimes.

Issa, ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, asked Holder in an April 21 letter to name a special prosecutor to look into the matter. Issa first sought answers from White House counsel Robert Bauer in two previous letters, one on March 10, and one on March 22.

More