“The Attorney General’s authorization is normally required”
DOJ can say this wasn’t a normal case.
Apparently, the claim is that Holder recused himself from approving the subpoena because he had already testified to Congress about the leak that was supposedly at the center of the request.
Now they will try to to say that because he recused himself, he was not responsible and had no knowledge. But that is not the case. In order to recuse himself, he had to know about the subpoena in the first place. Just because he did not actually sign the actual subpoena request does not absolve him of all knowledge and responsibility in the situation.