It's Official: Eric Holder Subpoenaed

Well, it was reported yesterday that subpoenas being issued to Attorney General Eric Holder by the Oversight and Government Reform committee were imminent. Well, those subpoenas were issued today. What makes these subpoenas different from the ones issued earlier is that they are directed specifically at Holder, as opposed to a government agency that reports to the Department of Justice, which Holder leads. These subpoenas are asking Holder for his communications with several, NAMED individuals. This appeared in my inbox moments ago:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) today announced the issuance of a subpoena to Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. for Justice Department documents related to the "Operation Fast and Furious" gun walking scandal.

"Top Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Holder, know more about Operation Fast and Furious than they have publicly acknowledged," said Chairman Issa. "The documents this subpoena demands will provide answers to questions that Justice officials have tried to avoid since this investigation began eight months ago. It's time we know the whole truth."

The subpoena seeks the following:

In accordance with the attached schedule instructions, you, Eric H. Holder Jr., are required to produce all records in unredacted form described below:

All communications referring or relating to Operation Fast and Furious, the Jacob Chambers case, or any Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) firearms trafficking case based in Phoenix, Arizona, to or from the following individuals:

a. Eric Holder Jr., Attorney General;

b. David Ogden, Former Deputy Attorney General;

c. Gary Grindler, Office of the Attorney General and former Acting Deputy Attorney General;

d. James Cole, Deputy Attorney General;

e. Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General;

f. Ronald Weich, Assistant Attorney General;

g. Kenneth Blanco, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;

h. Jason Weinstein, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;

i. John Keeney, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;

j. Bruce Swartz, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;

k. Matt Axelrod, Associate Deputy Attorney General;

l. Ed Siskel, former Associate Deputy Attorney General;

m. Brad Smith, Office of the Deputy Attorney General;

n. Kevin Carwile, Section Chief, Capital Case Unit, Criminal Division;

o. Joseph Cooley, Criminal Fraud Section, Criminal Division; and,

p. James Trusty, Acting Chief, Organized Crime and Gang Section.

2. All communications between and among Department of Justice (DOJ) employees and Executive Office of the President employees, including but not limited to Associate Communications Director Eric Schultz, referring or relating to Operation Fast and Furious or any other firearms trafficking cases.

3. All communications between DOJ employees and Executive Office of the President employees referring or relating to the President's March 22, 2011 interview with Jorge Ramos of Univision.

4. All documents and communications referring or relating to any instances prior to February 4, 2011 where the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) failed to interdict weapons that had been illegally purchased or transferred.

5. All documents and communications referring or relating to any instances prior to February 4, 2011 where ATF broke off surveillance of weapons and subsequently became aware that those weapons entered Mexico.

6. All documents and communications referring or relating to the murder of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata, including but not limited to documents and communications regarding Zapata's mission when he was murdered, Form for Reporting Information That May Become Testimony (FD-302), photographs of the crime scene, and investigative reports prepared by the FBI.

7. All communications to or from William Newell, former Special Agent-in-Charge for ATF's Phoenix Field Division, between:

a. December 14, 2010 to January 25, 2011; and,

b. March 16, 2009 to March 19, 2009.

8. All Reports of Investigation (ROIs) related to Operation Fast and Furious or ATF Case Number 785115-10-0004.

9. All communications between and among Matt Axelrod, Kenneth Melson, and William Hoover referring or relating to ROIs identified pursuant to Paragraph 7.

10. All documents and communications between and among former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., former Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein referring or relating to Operation Fast and Furious or any OCDETF case originating in Arizona.

11. All communications sent or received between:

a. December 16, 2009 and December 18, 2009, and;

b. March 9, 2011 and March 14, 2011, to or from the following individuals:


Emory Hurley, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona;

Michael Morrissey, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona;

Patrick Cunningham, Chief, Criminal Division, Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona;

David Voth, Group Supervisor, ATF; and,

Hope MacAllister, Special Agent, ATF.

12. All communications sent or received between December 15, 2010 and December 17, 2010 to or from the following individuals in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona:

a. Dennis Burke, former United States Attorney;

b. Emory Hurley, Assistant United States Attorney;

c. Michael Morrissey, Assistant United States Attorney; and,

d. Patrick Cunningham, Chief of the Criminal Division.

13. All communications sent or received between August 7, 2009 and March 19, 2011 between and among former Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual; Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer; and, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz.

14. All communications sent or received between August 7, 2009 and March 19, 2011 between and among former Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual and any Department of Justice employee based in Mexico City referring or relating to firearms trafficking initiatives, Operation Fast and Furious or any firearms trafficking case based in Arizona, or any visits by Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer to Mexico.

15. Any FD-302 relating to targets, suspects, defendants, or their associates, bosses, or financiers in the Fast and Furious investigation, including but not limited to any FD-302s ATF Special Agent Hope MacAllister provided to ATF leadership during the calendar year 2011.

16. Any investigative reports prepared by the FBI or Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) referring or relating to targets, suspects, or defendants in the Fast and Furious case.

17. Any investigative reports prepared by the FBI or DEA relating to the individuals described to Committee staff at the October 5, 2011 briefing at Justice Department headquarters as Target Number 1 and Target Number 2.

18. All documents and communications in the possession, custody or control of the DEA referring or relating to Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta.

19. All documents and communications between and among FBI employees in Arizona and the FBI Laboratory, including but not limited to employees in the Firearms/Toolmark Unit, referring or relating to the firearms recovered during the course of the investigation of Brian Terry's death.

20. All agendas, meeting notes, meeting minutes, and follow-up reports for the Attorney General's Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys between March 1, 2009 and July 31, 2011, referring or relating to Operation Fast and Furious.

21. All weekly reports and memoranda for the Attorney General, either directly or through the Deputy Attorney General, from any employee in the Criminal Division, ATF, DEA, FBI, or the National Drug Intelligence Center created between November 1, 2009 and September 30, 2011.

22. All surveillance tapes recorded by pole cameras inside the Lone Wolf Trading Co. store between 12:00 a.m. on October 3, 2010 and 12:00 a.m. on October 7, 2010.

It looks like Holder's Justice Department has quite a bit of homework to do. These requests are EXHAUSTIVE.

More Here.

SunPower: Is this Solyndra on Steroids?

The SunPower deal is really starting to reek. In addition to shady dealings, it smacks of a disgusting level of crony capitalism involving the son of Rep. George Miller (D-CA). As Solyndra was in the process of declaring bankruptcy last month, another company in the same line of work - SunPower - was in the process of securing a loan more than twice that of what Solyndra received. Though the company that bought SunPower, which was reportedly sold right before the Obama administration signed the loan guarantee that wasn't supposed to put taxpayer dollars at risk, hasn't declared bankruptcy, it appears to be headed for triage. SunPower and the company that had purchased a 60% interest and was exposed to the most risk - Total S.A. - both sold SunPower to NRG Energy right before the Obama administration signed the deal that put taxpayers on the hook.

Via Daily Caller:

In April of this year, Chu offered SunPower a conditional commitment for the loan guarantee. At that point, there was no taxpayer money on the line per se.

Less than a month after SunPower received the conditional commitment from the Obama administration, a French oil giant, Total S.A., bought majority ownership — 60 percent — of the company. SunPower investors backed the move. A Total S.A. executive told the New York Times the company believed in solar energy, and its move was an attempt to capitalize on it.

“We believe the winners in the solar industry will be fully integrated, financially solid, advanced technology and worldwide,” Total Gas & Power President Philippe Boisseau said. “SunPower has the technology. We already have some of the technology, but we’ve also got the market and the finance. It’s a full industrial combination.”

The Obama administration — which says it was continuing to vet SunPower after it granted the company a conditional commitment for the $1.2 billion loan guarantee — saw the company as promising and continued to move forward.

Then, right before the Obama administration signed the deal giving SunPower its $1.2 billion loan guarantee, SunPower and Total S.A. sold the project — which taxpayers are now responsible for — to NRG Energy, Inc. The loan guarantee still went through, despite the sudden pullout from Total S.A.

Sure looks like a shell game with $1.2 Billion of your money at stake, doesn't it? Why did SunPower and Total S.A. pull out right before getting a huge infusion? Who is NRG Energy? Is it a company of suckers or hucksters?

How about that crony capitalism involving the son of a US Congressman?

How the company got the loan guarantee, and the players involved paint a picture of what at least appears to a combination of political favoritism and crony capitalism.

Last October, President Barack Obama’s Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and California Democratic Rep. George Miller toured SunPower’s plant in California. Both touted the company. Miller said SunPower was an example for “renewable energy” production and “America’s future economic growth.”

But, Miller failed to mention how his son, George Miller IV, is SunPower’s top lobbyist in California. Miller’s son was pushing for the $1.2 billion loan guarantee taxpayers are on the hook for now. Miller is a powerful Democratic congressman, and currently serves as the ranking minority member of the House Education and Workforce Committee.

Miller’s congressional office has not returned TheDC’s requests for comment on what role he and his son had in securing the loan guarantee. SunPower has not returned TheDC’s requests for comment on that revelation or any others.

The tour of SunPower by Miller and Salazar was only the beginning.

While the company formerly known as SunPower hasn't yet declared bankruptcy, the circumstances surrounding its deteriorating state should anger taxpayers far more than what happened with Solyndra. This administration continues to sham and scam the American people, whose anger still doesn't match the level of anger that's warranted.

Neil McCabe at Human Events has even more.

Video: Holder's 'Terror Plot' News Conference Turns to Fast and Furious; Holder Turns and Exits

Earlier in the morning, it was announced that House Oversight Committee chairman, Darrell Issa would be issuing subpoenas to Attorney General Eric Holder directly. By early afternoon, news broke that Holder would be holding a news conference about a terror plot allegedly hatched in Iran, in which Saudi and Israeli ambassadors to the US were being targeted. FBI Director Robert Mueller also made an appearance at that news conference. Both men - especially Holder - are facing some very real heat relative to the Fast and Furious scandal. The timing of this news conference was so coincidental, suspicions that it was intended to distract from news of the imminent subpoenas are more than valid, especially since Obama was first briefed on the plot back in June.

That leads us to what happened at the news conference after a reporter asked Holder about the forthcoming subpoenas. As soon as the Attorney General answered that question, he appeared to turn tail and run when it became apparent that the next question was about the same subject.

Afghanistan: Ten Years later, Zero Christian Churches

Remember when our troops were ordered to burn Christian Bibles in Afghanistan? Chalk this one up to proof that should have been a red flag. The US went into Afghanistan in direct response to 9/11 but when we got there, it became even more apparent how repressive the Taliban regime had been when it came to their implementation of Islam. The battle for hearts and minds included liberating people from the grip of the Taliban. With that liberation came the implied option that people would want an alternative to Islam - an alternative like Christianity. So, how does one explain this?

Via CNS News:

There is not a single, public Christian church left in Afghanistan, according to the U.S. State Department.

This reflects the state of religious freedom in that country ten years after the United States first invaded it and overthrew its Islamist Taliban regime.

In the intervening decade, U.S. taxpayers have spent $440 billion to support Afghanistan's new government and more than 1,700 U.S. military personnel have died serving in that country.

The last public Christian church in Afghanistan was razed in March 2010, according to the State Department's latest International Religious Freedom Report. The report, which was released last month and covers the period of July 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010, also states that “there were no Christian schools in the country.”

A post-Saddam Hussein Iraq has also seen an increase in the persecution and mass exodus of Christians since the US invasion. Perhaps it has something to do with how we allowed the Constitutions in those countries to take shape. A Congressional Research Service report looked at the reasons why Afghanistan is devoid of Christianity. One particular reason sticks out:

The report acknowledged that Afghanistan’s post-Taliban constitution, which was ratified with the help of U.S. mediation in 2004, can be contradictory when it comes to the free exercise of religion.

While the new constitution states that Islam is the “religion of the state” and that “no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam,” it also proclaims that “followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of the law.”

However, “the right to change one’s religion was not respected either in law or in practice,” according to the State Department.

“Muslims who converted away from Islam risked losing their marriages, rejection from their families and villages, and loss of jobs,” according to the report. “Legal aid for imprisoned converts away from Islam remains difficult due to the personal objection of Afghan lawyers to defend apostates.”

There it is. Sharia Law. It doesn't matter what is in the Iraqi / Afghanistan constitutions. If Islam is the supreme law of the land, all other religions must be rejected. It's a non-negotiable the policy makers in the US conceded.

Want proof? Remember when US troops were ordered to burn Christian Bibles in Afghanistan because our leaders were afraid they would be used to convert people to Christianity?

Pathetic.

More at CNS News