WASHINGTON — Two senior GOP senators want an outside special counsel to probe leaks of classified information, rejecting Attorney General Eric Holder’s appointment of two US attorneys to lead a criminal investigation.
Holder’s probe “falls far short of what is needed and is not an adequate substitute for an outside special counsel,” Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) wrote to Fox News Channel.
McCain and Graham said that the seriousness of the leaks, which involved sensitive counterterrorism operations, calls for an independent probe that would be “free and clear of political considerations.”
“If there was ever a situation where we needed an outside special counsel that would enjoy bipartisan acceptance and widespread public trust, it is now,” the senators wrote.
They suggested Bob Bennett, a former Republican US senator from Utah.
Holder has assigned Ronald C. Machen Jr., the US attorney for Washington, DC, and Rod J. Rosenstein, the US attorney for Maryland, to lead the probes.