Report: Holder to appoint prosecutor to investigate detainee abuse

Attorney General Eric Holder will appoint a prosecutor to investigate allegations that CIA agents tortured detainees suspected of terror during interrogations, the Washington Post reported Monday.

Holder will name John Durham, a Justice Department prosecutor, to investigate whether a broader inquiry into CIA agents’ tactics will be necessary, the Post reported.

President Obama had previously said that he doesn’t support prosecuting CIA officials for having followed the advice of legal counsel during the Bush administration, but the White House emphasized Monday that Holder was acting independently.

“As the president has said repeatedly, he thinks that we should be looking forward, not backward,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters following Obama at Martha’s Vineyard.

“Ultimately the decisions on who is investigated and who is prosecuted are up to the attorney general,” Burton added. “The president thinks that Eric Holder, who he appointed as a very independent attorney general, should make those decisions.”

Also expected Monday is a report from the CIA’s inspector general into potential detainee abuse.

The investigation and report come after the White House decided to take over the interrogation of high-level terrorist detainees through the National Security Agency.

The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Kit Bond (Mo.), criticized that move as a vote of no confidence in CIA Director Leon Panetta.