Fox reporter presses Carney: Why do we have to have this firewall between the White House and the DOJ?

This is kind of technical. But it seems arguable that because he didn’t or may not have recused himself in writing that he didn’t actually recuse himself. And if that’s the case then the law still mandates that Holder was the only one (because it’s tied to a media organization) who could actually approve that AP subpoena. Like I said, technical. But not nothing under current circumstances.

Late Update: We’re looking again at the statute and it seems it may refer to situations where a special counsel is appointed. So may not apply in this case.

There’s a generally pretty strained line of questioning right now between Rep. Spencer Bachus and Attorney General Holder. But one thing Bachus has zoomed in on is that the Justice Department apparently doesn’t have a formal process of committing a recusal decision to writing. To be clear, I don’t think there’s any reasonable question whether Holder in fact recused himself. But a recusal in a significant enough thing that I would think you’d always want to formally put something on paper.