The House of Representatives voted Thursday to hold Eric
Holder, the Attorney General, in contempt of Congress. They voted 255-67 to
file a criminal charge against him, and 258-95 for a civil charge. The criminal
charge was joined by 17 Democrats, who were either voting for the indictment as
a matter of bipartisan respect for the House, or because they represent
conservative districts.
Eric Holder becomes the first sitting cabinet official to be
held in contempt of Congress.
The criminal charge is going nowhere. A criminal contempt of
Congress charge is referred by law to the United States Attorney for the
District of Columbia. In short, the U.S
Attorney will convene a grand jury to consider indicting the Attorney General. It
won’t happen. James Cole, the Deputy Attorney General in the Justice Department
on Friday said no charges would be filed against the Attorney General because
no crime was committed.
Of course, since the House is interested in possible
misconduct by high officials in the Justice Department, it looks like a
coverup.
That leaves the civil charges, which the House can pursue on
its own, but probably will not be decided by a judge until after the November
elections.
The dispute arises out of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms & Explosives failed “Fast and Furious” Program. The facts are
relatively simple, except for the misrepresentations, written and oral, made to
Congress and the failure to closure critical facts about the operation. Here
are the facts, as we know them.
The Phoenix office decided to start a program that would
have American gun dealers legally sell guns to buyers for the drug cartels. The
agency would then trace the guns across the border to the cartel bosses in
Mexico. That was the theory.
Smaller operations were started during the Bush
Administration, but they had been shut down, without losing any of the guns.
The reality is that the agency lost track of the Fast and
Furious guns. About 2,000 are still unaccounted for. Over 300 of these guns,
mostly AK 47’s, were used in crimes in Mexico and the United States
Mexico was not told of the operation. Mexican officials were
irate when the American guns were used in
killings in Mexico.
The operation blew up when Fast and Furious guns were
involved in the killing of two federal agents.
Jaime Zapata and Victor Avila were Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) agents assigned as advisors in Mexico. They were gunned down in February
2011 on a Mexican highway. Avila survived, but Zapata was killed. The gun that
killed Zapata came from the United States.
ICE agent Brian Terry was shot to death in December 2010.
Two fast and Furious guns were found at the scene. The facts seemingly indicate
terry was killed by a third gun.
Assistant Attorney General Ronald Welch sent a letter to
Congress on February 4, 2011 denying that guns were allowed to walk across the
border.
Attorney General Holder testified to the House Judiciary
Committee on May 3, 2011 that he had first “heard about “Fast and Furious” for
the first time over the last few weeks.”
Both statements were false, or in the vernacular of the
Nixon Administration “Prior statement inoperative.”
President Obama said on March 23, 2011 that neither he nor
the Attorney General authorized Fast and
furious.
ATF agents started talking to Congress about fast and
Furious with numerous documents being leaked to Congressman Darrell Issa, Chair
of the House Oversight Committee.
Documents surfacing in October may have indicated that the
Attorney General may have been briefed on the operation as early as July 2010.
The Attorney General testified on November 11, 2011 that
neither he nor other top officials of the Justice Department were aware gun
walking tactics were used.
The Justice Department knew as early as March 2011 that
Ronald Welch’s letter was inaccurate, but did not send a correction to Congress
for eleven months. At a subsequent hearing Attorney General Holder said it wasn’t
days or weeks earlier, but months, when he first heard of Fast and Furious.
Some documents indicate that Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer approved 6
wiretap applications for Fast and Furious.
The House wants the documents that answer the Watergate
question “What did they know and when did they know it?”
Those are the documents that the Attorney General refuses to
turn over.
The Department has turned over 7,000 documents, but they are
heavily edited and redacted. It is refusing to turn over an additional 80,000
documents, which it has given to the Department’s Inspector General. The IG’s
report is expected in a few weeks.
On Tuesday evening last week AG Holder met with Congressman
Issa, purportedly to attempt to resolve the dispute. The AG offered to brief
the Congressman and provide additional documents, but only if the Congressman
agreed to drop contempt charges before the briefing and and documents
disclosure. That shows contempt for The Congressman’s intelligence.
Right before the House Committee met last Wednesday, Deputy
Attorney General Cole delivered a letter saying the President was asserting
Executive Immunity to block disclosure of the documents. The President was
standing by his man, close friend, and advisor on the 40th Anniversary of Watergate.
I’m really reliving Watergate now. The Nixon Administration unsuccessfully
claimed Executive Immunity to shield its crimes and misdeeds. The Obama
Administration will be equally unsuccessful.
The refusal to disclose the internal facts smells like a coverup.
Conspiracy buffs believe that Fast and Furious was actually
a plot by the Obama Administration to build support for gun control by having
American guns kill Mexicans in Mexico’s drug wars.
The problem is not contempt of Congress, but contempt for
Congress, or at least the Republican House.
When a athlete, like Roger Clemens lies to Congress, it’s
perjury and contempt of Congress.
When the Justice department misinforms Congress, it’s contempt
for Congress and contempt for the American people.
And when the time came to vote, about 100 Democrats, led by
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Black Caucus, walked out in solidarity with
Eric Holder.
That’s contempt for Congress.
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