Tonight, in the latest in Fox News' long line of witch hunts on Obama administration officials, Bill O'Reilly came after Tony West, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Civil Division:

O'REILLY: Check two. Washington Times reporting that Attorney General Eric Holder has on his staff nine lawyers who have legal connections to captured terrorists. The latest guy is Tony West, who worked on American Taliban John Walker Lindh's case. West was reportedly OK'd by President Obama.

Couple of problems here. First of all, assistant attorney general is a Senate-confirmed position. West wasn't just “OK'd by President Obama” -- he got the thumbs-up from 82 senators, including 28 Republicans. Only four GOP senators opposed his confirmation.

I'm also not sure where O'Reilly is getting his claim that West is “the latest” DOJ staffer who has “legal connections to captured terrorists” -- West's representation of Lindh is probably his best-known work, and was prominently mentioned in the ledes of several articles reporting on his nomination.

Here's the first sentence of the January 25, 2009, San Francisco Chronicle article reporting on West's nomination:

Tony West, a high-powered San Francisco lawyer whose clients have ranged from corporate giants to “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh, has been nominated by President Obama as an assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's Civil Division.

And the first two sentences of the write-up that ran in the San Jose Mercury News, Oakland Tribune, and Contra Costa Times (accessed from Nexis):

President Obama on Thursday nominated Oakland attorney Tony West, a former federal prosecutor and prolific Obama campaign fundraiser, to head the U.S. Department of Justice's civil division.

West, 43, is a litigation partner at Morrison & Foerster in San Francisco, representing people and companies in civil and criminal matters since 2001; perhaps his highest-profile case there has been helping to defend “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh.

And it's not like the Senate missed out on this salient detail because they weren't reading the West Coast papers. Here's an excerpt from Sen. James Inhofe's (R-OK) floor speech the day of the vote on West's candidacy:

I'd also like to speak for a moment on a couple of the nominees that we'll be voting on this evening. Tony West, the nominee for Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, served as co-counsel for John Walker Lindh. As you all know, Lindh joined the Taliban and fought against our very own American soldiers in the liberation of Afghanistan. Lindh is a traitor and terrorist, but after a plea deal that Mr. West helped obtain, he is only serving 20 years in prison.

And the Democrats weren't exactly hiding West's representation of Lindh. From Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Pat Leahy's (D-VT) opening comments at the committee's hearing on West's candidacy:

The President has nominated Tony West, a former Federal and state prosecutor, to head the Civil Division at the Justice Department. The former chairman of the California Republican Party, George Sundheim, writes that Mr. West is admired by “both sides of the aisle” for his “integrity, honesty and decency,” and that there is no one “more qualified to assume a position of leadership in the Department of Justice.” The Federal prosecutors who worked across the table from Mr. West during the high-profile prosecution of John Walker Lindh witnessed Mr. West's “extraordinary professionalism,” and “smart advocacy . . . executed with the highest degree of integrity.” I believe he will be an outstanding leader for the Civil Division.