Hoekstra goes after Axelrod regarding Christmas Day bomber

The top Republican on the House intelligence committee on Monday slammed White House senior adviser David Axelrod, who said the administration correctly handled the Christmas Day terror suspect.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) said it was "crazy" for Axelrod to support the decision to have Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's Miranda rights read to him after 50 minutes of FBI interrogation.

The Michigan Republican said on Twitter:

Axelrod statements on tv yesterday are crazy.We got all of the intell in 50 min from Christmas Day bomber that we could get.

Axelrod said Sunday on NBC's "Meet The Press" that the administration has gathered information on the Nigerian terror suspect who is in federal custody outside of his interrogation.

"Over time they have had additional opportunities to question; my sense is that he has given very valuable information. ... We have not lost anything by how his case has been handled," Axelrod said.

But that was not enough to satisfy Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) who suggested Attorney General Eric Holder should resign, saying that the decision to end the interrogation was likely his idea.

Cross-posted to the Briefing Room