U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has made his first public comments on the controversy surrounding the NYPD's surveillance program that targeted Muslims in New Jersey. Senator Robert Menendez and others have called on Holders to conduct an investigation into the legality of the NYPD's spying in NJ, and it appears that Holder is looking into it! In a video distributed by Senator Frank Lautenberg and obtained by the Star-Ledger, Holder describes the news reports about the spying as "disturbing."
Holder was answering questions during a Senate appropriations sub-commitee hearing when Lautenberg asked, "How can a law enforcement agency spy on another state’s residence, without notifying the authorities?" Holder replied, "At least what I’ve read publicly, again just what I’ve read in the newspapers, is disturbing... these are things that are under review at the Justice Department." To be sure, the Star-Ledger has also reported that the NYPD's surveillance operation in Newark was no secret, despite what Christie and Newark Mayor Corey Booker have insisted.
