DOJ, Eric Holder and Media Matters colluding to attack Fox, Tea Party and help quell negative stories

Internal Department of Justice emails obtained by The Daily Caller show Attorney General Eric Holder’s communications staff has collaborated with the left-wing advocacy group Media Matters for America in an attempt to quell news stories about scandals plaguing Holder and America’s top law enforcement agency.

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Dozens of pages of emails between DOJ Office of Public Affairs Director Tracy Schmaler and Media Matters staffers show Schmaler, Holder’s top press defender, working with Media Matters to attack reporters covering DOJ scandals. TheDC obtained the emails through a Freedom of Information Act reques

In a January 2012 email chain, Schmaler sent a Media Matters writer lines from House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa’s comments at a recent hearing. She reportedly underlined passages where the California Republican tries to explain the difference between Operation Fast and Furious and other anti-gunrunning operations under former President George W. Bush.

Hours later, an article appeared on Media Matters’ site titled “Rep. Issa Ties Himself in Fast and Furious Knots.”

Daily Caller editor Tucker Carlson, also a Fox News contributor, said the emails show “moment-to-moment coordination” between the department and Media Matters.

“We received a massive amount of these communiques that indicate direct coordination between the Obama Justice Department … and Media Matters to subvert news stories,” he said Tuesday. “This proves coordination.”

Emails from late 2010 also reportedly showed Schmaler sending Media Matters information to help challenge claims that the department dealt lightly with New Black Panther members who allegedly intimidated voters in Philadelphia in 2008.

Another March 12 email showed Schmaler pointing out “false” statements made by Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips in a Fox News interview. Phillips called Operation Fast and Furious a “political operation” — pushing a claim that the administration let guns walk across the Mexico border to build a case for gun control.

The Media Matters writer then wrote a blog slamming Phillips’ “right-wing conspiracy theory,” and also sent the text to Schmaler.

photo Pete Welsch via Flickr