Stonewalled author Attkisson to testify on Obama’s AG nominee

A former CBS investigative reporter who has filed a $35 million lawsuit against the Obama administration for hacking will be among the witnesses at a hearing on President Obama’s attorney general nominee.

Sharyl Attkisson has accused the Obama administration of breaking into her computer and phone after she reported stories that were critical of the administration, such as the events surrounding the 2012 attack on an American compound in Benghazi, Libya, and the failed “Fast and Furious” operation. She told her story in the book Stonewalled.

{mosads}She will testify during this week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Loretta Lynch, Obama’s nominee to replace Eric Holder as attorney general, a testimony announced by panel Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) Monday evening.

Also testifying will be Catherine Engelbrecht, the founder of the Tea Party-aligned True the Vote, which was unfairly targeted by the IRS, she has said, when it attempted to seek tax-exempt status.

The two will testify separately from Lynch, on a second panel alongside legal experts and former and current law enforcement officials.

The inclusion of Attkisson and Engelbrecht points to a fiery hearing that could turn into a referendum on Holder’s time at the helm of the Justice Department.

Conservatives accused Holder of politicizing his post to help Obama, and have pointed to the alleged hacking of Attkisson’s devices and the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups as evidence.

Both Attkisson and Engelbrecht have sued the Obama administration over the actions.

A federal judge tossed out the case brought by Engelbrecht and other groups last October. Attkisson filed her lawsuit just this month and is seeking $35 million. 

The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.