News broke on Thursday that Attorney General Eric Holder approved the Justice Department's seizure of a Fox News reporter's private e-mails. CNN took until almost 5 p.m. ET Friday to report this development, although the network found time to cover Brad Pitt's "face blindness" in that time span.
Host Jake Tapper had ripped [1] into the Obama administration on Wednesday for its investigation of Rosen, but on Thursday NBCNews.com reported [2] that Holder personally approved the search warrant, labeling Rosen a "possible co-conspirator" against the Espionage Act. Tapper finally reported the news on Friday at 4:41 p.m. ET.
Enlarging the controversy even more is that Holder, and not someone outside the department, will be the one reviewing the department's policies toward investigating journalists. CNN's Jessica Yellin reported the President's announcement on Thursday evening:
"Wolf, the President also addressed the uproar over leaks investigations at the Department of Justice which have caught up journalists in some of their subpoenas. He says his Attorney General is doing a 45-day review of their policies that involve journalists and investigations."
So the Justice Department will review the Justice Department. Yet CNN did not promptly report the news of Holder's approval of the Rosen investigation. Both CBS and Fox News had covered the story in that time, however.
Here was Tapper's line on Holder and Rosen: "In just the past hour, a Justice Department official told CNN's Joe Johns that Attorney General Holder was involved in the decision to apply for a search warrant for Rosen's e-mails and phone records."