Latest GOP Target Is New Deputy Attorney General James Cole

James Cole has been given a recess appointment by President Obama to be the Number 2 person in the Justice Department, after Republicans held up his nomination longer than any recent deputy attorney general nominee.

Cole’s view that “the Sept. 11 attacks were criminal acts of terrorism against a civilian population” doesn’t sit well with the GOP. The soon-to-be deputy attorney general wrote that the country “has faced many forms of devastating crime, including the scourge of the drug trade, the reign of organized crime, and countless acts of rape, child abuse, and murder. The acts of Sept. 11 were horrible, but so are these other things.”

Rep. Pete King (R-NY) said in a statement that Cole “may be one of the worst appointments by President Obama during his presidency.” King said he found it “absolutely shocking that President Obama would appoint someone who has diminished the 9/11 terrorist attacks by comparing them to the drug trade and who believes that a civilian courtroom is the appropriate venue for 9/11 trials.”

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton is one of the critics, which is ironic, given that he was a recess appointment himself, by George W. Bush, after Democrats battled for months with Republicans about his nomination. And it just so happens that his statement about the nature of the 9-11 crime is correct.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.