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Human
Events...
Eric
Holder’s contempt of Congress citation takes shape
It’s go
time
by John
Hayward
05/03/2012
Rep.
Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, is
preparing
contempt of Congress charges against Attorney General Eric Holder for
his
failure to cooperate fully with the investigation into Operation Fast
and
Furious, the Obama Administration’s deadly gun-running program. Warnings were issued,
deadlines have passed,
and it’s just about “go time.”
To this
end, Issa has prepared an extensive staff briefing on the case, along
with a
draft of Holder’s contempt citation.
A
press release from the House Oversight Committee says the briefing
paper
“explains what happened in Operation Fast and Furious, the hardships
faced by
the family of fallen Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in getting
truthful
answers about his death, how agents who blew the whistle on the
reckless
operation have faced retaliation, and the carnage in Mexico that Fast
and
Furious has helped fuel.”
Among the
lowlights of this paper are the ATF’s discovery that two of the top
ostensible
“targets” for the operation that pumped thousands of American guns into
the
hands of Mexican cartel killers were actually FBI informants; Holder’s
failure
to provide documents in 12 of the 22 categories set forth in House
subpoenas;
the stone walls thrown before Agent Terry’s family as they investigate
his
death; an ATF whistleblower whose career was ruined on the pretext of
punishing
him for downloading $8 worth of applications to his smartphone; the
appearance
of Fast and Furious guns at crime scenes across Mexico, including the
murder of
a state Attorney General’s brother; and the dismaying decision of
Patrick
Cunningham, criminal division chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in
Arizona,
to take the Fifth instead of testifying before Issa’s committee.
At 44 pages
in length, Issa’s briefing paper is one of the most comprehensive
summaries of
the Fast and Furious scandal you can read online. Issa appeared on Fox
News
this morning to discuss the case against Eric Holder, noting his
reluctance to
“say to the Administration that we’ve come to the end.”
He was very blunt about saying Holder’s
Justice Department has lied to his committee.
In the
middle of his appearance, the Justice Department released a statement –
read to
Issa while he was sitting in the studio – that said they’ve offered
just about
all the compliance they’re going to.
The
Congressman did not seem terribly surprised to hear it.
Further stonewalling, he said, would be like
Richard Nixon offering to release the Watergate tapes in fifty years,
and the
“drop dead date” for DOJ compliance with those House subpoenas is
“immediately.”
Read this
and other articles at Human Events
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