i even if, think about janet reno and john ashcroft, alberto gonzalez and now we have this with eric holder here, but it has gotten worse in each case, and now it has reached this fever pitch. so we have to ask yourselves, why has this occurred here? and to pair phase louie gohmert, i don't want to cast apersians on anybody'sasparagus here, but we have to ask the questions. nobody know what is's going on any individual's mind or heart at any given time, but it's been a couple of years since holder was held in contempt by this congress. now they're going to go after lois learner from the irs. but you have to ask, why is he being singled out and it's a fair question. >> but even before we get to lerner, which is another point i would argue against them, let me go gook you on this one, karen, let's not forget the attacks on reno, yes. the attacks on ashcroft, yes. but it's unprecedented on this attorney general. in american history, congress has never cited, never cited a sitting attorney general for contempt until eric holder, which dana just said. not one time. >> and the thing is act

alberto gonzalez, bush's appointment was brutalized by democrats in the senate and house.n ashcroft was brutalized, ed most brutalized, john mitchell may have deserved what he got but he sure got a lot worse treatment than this attorney general. so he makes these assertions like some lawyers do in opening statements, but then the trouble is, when it comes to putting on evidence, he has none. >> do you think he played the race card? >> he didn't say race, and he was very careful about that, and it doesn't matter to me. i can careless. i want to get to the bottom of it, and so that you and everybody else in the country can know exactly what care is, exactly what isna is. we are entitled in congress to see the evidence that his justice department turned over to the defendants that were convicted of terrorism. >> he seemed to be focused more not on what you were asking but the way. he seems to feel you spoke to him disrespectfully. >> listen, i've been asking for this for three years and when i send another letter again last june and they wait until this year to respond -- >>

holder's predecessor, one of his immediate predecessors, alberto gonzalez, he was pillaried by the congressicizing the firing of nine u.s. attorneys. and mr. holder should remember that. because he was around then. a special investigator, special prosecutor was named to look into this. she turned in a report four or five years ago it exxonner rates the attorney general holder is sitting it on it the president has received tough criticism. but he more than gives what he gets. i mean, here is a man who called his predecessor a failure tore asking for a increase in the debt ceiling. a man who excoriated the head of the house budget committee as being unamerican. the man who questions the motives. the attorney general has not being forthcoming for stonewalling for covering up, for misleading and for doing things that just bog gel the -- boggle the mind. we had that footage outside of apology place in philadelphia brandishing baseball bats and so forth and intimidating and threatening voters. charges were lodged against them after the 2008 election. this attorney general is the guy who dismissed

how about alberto gonzalez? >> another great example. >> how about colin powell?s a vicious double standard. eric holder was a disappointment to use the race card as a political weapon of mass destruction. >> richard, i have to be honest. those are legitimate questions. this administration has a lot of lawlessness. lies about the irs and health care that they sold to the american people. is this the way to intimidate people into silence, to play the race card? >> i wouldn't go that far. i can understand you, sean, being upset about how they handle benghazi or the irs. no attorney general has ever went through this type of treatment. >> excuse me. that's false. go back and check. let's look at the videotape. excuse me. excuse me. there's never been any administration as lawless as this one. look at george washington university law professor saying we're at a constitutional tipping point because of the abuse of power. >> real quick. richa richard, jackie robinson was a wonderful example. he had far more obstacles than this president and never complained. he was a ma

alberto gone zal ets is a different story. martha: i don't remember gonzaleznet reno when they were under intense fire saying it's because i'm latinoer to because i'm a woman. does it diminish your position to fall back on that position? >> i think he's telling you what he's thinking. i think that's the way the man feels. i don't think there is a lot of argument in the minorityre is a different standard. he has been given rough treatment without any understanding he was available, he did make the papers available and there was never ever any kinding of wrongdoing in terms of fast and furious and you would have thought at the time it was a scandal that was going to explode and blow out eric holder. nobody ever found such a thing. it's like irs. we are all looking, we are all curious, no wrongdoing has been found. >> lois lerner looking for a job with ofa while she is sending letters on how conservatives should be screened it does present a problem. it does present a problem when eric holder's office is trafficking guns to mexican drug cartels. they are real dea

but when i see eric holder now, i just think back to when alberto gonzalez was attorney general.r the doj when it was totally politicized. partisanship was pretty much a requirement to get into the doj at that time, there was all these different scandals. and yet during that time democrats held back at going after him because there was that sense that, well, he's the first latino attorney general and that would look bad. and now with eric holder it seems that republicans are emboldened to go after attorney general holder as an african-american, that gives them this free rein for this unparalleled disrespect that he is enduring in this office. >> and it could be about him being african-american, i think there's a hypothesis that's at the table. i think the other possibility is that it could be about how aggressively he and effectively he is at the core of implementing this. when we come back, i'm going to come to the issue you tried to take us to on the very first question, which is immigration and the extent to which civil rights as a central issue of our day right now is about i

bush, if you are john ashcroft, if you are alberto gonzalez because it got pretty brutal here a lot worse than anything our current attorney general has seen, and that's even without having to go back and recall the treatment that john mitchell got. i would say deservedly so john mitchell got the treatment he got, but for any attorney general to be so ignorant of what has happened in very recent maltreatment and slandernt and basically republican ns and president, and republican tonches general -- tones general, it's a bit breathtaking. -- attorneys general, it's a bit breathtaking. boycott liberalism, it has a lot of quotes from people, senator harry reid said president bush is a liar. i don't recall anyone saying that in our hearings with our current attorney general. the speaker of the u.s. house of representatives, nancy pelosi, said, bush is an incompetent leader. in fact, he's not a leader. i don't recall anyone saying nything of that magnitude of our current attorney general or president. not in any of our hearings. not -- hillary clinton, former secretary of state and u.s. senator