Eric Holder: NYPD Spying Controversy 'Disturbing' - East Idaho News
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Eric Holder: NYPD Spying Controversy ‘Disturbing’

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GETTY N 110811 EricHolderJPG?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1331237581804Mark Wilson/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — The New York Police Department has come under criticism for spying on Muslims outside their jurisdiction. Now the U.S. Attorney General says the operation is under federal review.

The recently-disclosed tactics of New York City police monitoring Muslims across the Hudson River at New Jersey businesses and mosques has drawn the scrutiny of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.  

Testifying on Thursday before a senate committee, Attorney General Eric Holder added that he, too, is concerned, calling press reports on the situation “disturbing.”

“Just what I’ve read in the newspapers is disturbing and these are things that are under review in the Justice Department,” he said.

The head of the FBI’s New Jersey field office says the NYPD surveillance has damaged trust between federal agents and the Muslim community.

While FBI Director Robert Mueller on Wednesday declined to wade into the issue when asked about it, the Special Agent in Charge of the New Jersey field office, Mike Ward, expressed his opinion on the matter, asserting that the NYPD operating in New Jersey has damaged trust between the FBI and the Muslim community.

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