Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday that he recused himself from a case involving a Department of Justice decision to subpoena phone records from Associated Press reporters and editors.
Holder also said that the Justice Department has ordered a criminal investigation into the IRS' targeting of different conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. Holder called it "outrageous and unacceptable." He said the Justice Department and FBI were coordinating to determine if any laws were broken.
On the AP phone probe, Holder said that the leak being investigated was one of the "top two or three" leaks he has ever seen, claiming it put the American people at risk.
"That is not hyperbole. It put the American people at risk," Holder said, emphasizing his earlier comments.
The Justice Department subpoena stemmed from an AP story published on May 7, 2012, the news company said on Monday. The story detailed the CIA's thwarting of a Yemeni al-Qaeda affiliate's plot to detonate an upgrade of the so-called "underwear bomb" on a U.S.-bound airliner.
The AP said on Monday that it published the story after officials' concerns about national security were allayed.
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