DOJ Inspector General Report on Fast and Furious: Holder Incompetent but Innocent of wrongdoing

After reading the Executive Summary of the Inspector General's Report on Operation Fast and Furious, I'm struck by one thing. The biggest indictment of Attorney General Eric Holder may just be that he still has a job as Attorney General after these findings, not because the conclusions call for his removal but because Holder shouldn't be able to look himself in the mirror before going to work. Any real leader would literally step aside in utter disgrace or, at best, fall on the sword for his subordinates. If Holder does neither, he shouldn't have the trust of any subordinates.

Yes, Holder was found innocent of wrongdoing but the degree to which others close to him were found culpable makes him look like anything other than a leader.

As it was during the hearings and investigation, a huge stickling point for Holder is that now infamous February 4, 2011 letter in which the DOJ assured Senator Chuck Grassley that no gun-walking was taking place. DOJ didn't rescind that letter until December of 2011. It's clear, apparently even to IG Horowitz, that while the letter itself should not have been written, there is no way it should have taken ten months to rescind it.

From the Executive Summary via AZ Central:

The OIG concluded, as did the Department, that its February 4, 2011, response letter to Senator Grassley contained inaccuracies, particularly its assertion that ATF "makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico."

However, the OIG also found that, by March or April 2011, senior Department officials knew or should have known that ATF had not made "every effort to interdict weapons that [had] been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico," either in Operation Fast and Furious or other firearms trafficking investigations and therefore the February 4 letter contained inaccuracies.

Ok, so the IG says "senior Department officials" should have known the February 4th letter was bogus within one to two months of it being signed (not ten months afterward). Once you're talking about "senior Department officials", you're talking about Holder's inner circle. We're left to conclude that members of Holder's inner circle are culpable when it comes to not identifying the February 4th letter for what it was.

As such, shouldn't Holder by culpable as well? In fact, he should step aside before those identified by IG Horowitz do; it would be the most honorable thing to do.

Then again, the only thing Holder and honor have in common is that they both start with the letter "h".

As for the IG's analysis of how the February 4th letter got written...

The OIG found that a poorly executed information gathering and drafting process, as well as questionable judgments by Department officials, contributed to the Department's inclusion of inaccurate information in its February 4 response letter to Senator Grassley.

In preparing this letter, Department officials relied on information provided by senior component officials that was not accurate, primarily from U.S. Attorney Burke, ATF Acting Director Melson, and ATF Deputy Director Hoover. These officials failed to exercise appropriate oversight of the investigation, and to some extent were themselves receiving incorrect or incomplete information from their subordinates about it.

Once again, Holder's direct subordinates are guilty of "questionable judgments" and relying on information that was "not accurate". Horowitz then says theses "officials (Holder's immediate subordinates) failed to exercise appropriate oversight".

This next excerpt indicates a lack of leadership on the part of Holder, not by name, but based on what his immediate subordinates (plural) viewed as a correct course of action:

The OIG further concluded that the Department officials who had a role in drafting the February 4 letter should have done more to inform themselves about the allegations in Sen. Grassley's letter and should not have relied solely on the assurances of senior officials at ATF and the U.S. Attorney's Office that the allegations were false.

Again, Holder's direct subordinates are fingered by Horowitz as being incompetent. Yet, Holder was whistling in blissful and ignorant solitude somewhere while his underlings - whom he hired - were making all of these bone-headed decisions?!

Perhaps most damning was an admission by Horowitz that the DOJ should have corrected the assertions in its February 4, 2011 letter in its May 2, 2011 letter in response to Grassley:

The OIG further concluded that, by the date of its May 2 response letter, senior Department officials responsible for drafting the letter also knew or should have known that ATF had not made "every effort to interdict weapons purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico," either in Operation Fast and Furious or other firearms trafficking investigations, and that the Department's February 4 letter contained inaccuracies and could no longer be defended in its entirety.

Rep. Darrell Issa's team has been very quick in sending out emails in response to this report. Here is an excerpt from a mass email I received from Frederick R. Hill, Director of Communications for the Oversight Committee:

IG Report’s Findings on why Attorney General Holder was not aware of Crucial Information about Operation Fast and Furious and Other Gunwalking (p. 453):

“We concluded that the Attorney General’s Deputy Chief of Staff, the Acting Deputy Attorney General, and the leadership of the Criminal Division failed to alert the Attorney General to significant information about or flaws in those investigations.”

Shouldn't Attorney General Holder be held accountable for the incompetence of multiple direct reports?

If Holder remains on as Attorney General, it will actually (and paradoxically) be the biggest indictment of him, based on the incompetence of the people who he is directly responsible for.

Issa and Oversight Committee to file lawsuit against Holder today

While many may think the Fast and Furious investigation has run its course and that the Obama administration has successfully run out the clock, Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa appears to be moving froward; he's filing a lawsuit against Holder today.

Via Sharyl Attkisson:

CBS News has learned that the House Oversight Committee expects to file a civil contempt suit against Attorney General Eric Holder Monday. The lawsuit is to try to force Holder to release documents from the Fast and Furious gunwalking operation.

The Republican-led House of Representative voted to hold Holder in contempt on June 28 for failing to turn over thousands of pages of subpoenaed documents. The Justice Department has said it is withholding documents under White House executive privilege.

Seventeen Democrats voted with 238 Republicans in the 255-67 vote for contempt. Democratic leaders called the contempt vote a "political witch hunt."

In a past subpoena dispute between Congress and the executive branch, a federal judge ordered the executive branch to turn over the disputed documents. However, before the executive branch could pursue an appeal, the two sides reached a compromise and certain documents were turned over.

If nothing comes of the Fast and Furious investigation, it won't be because Issa and a select few bulldogs on the Committee threw in the towel. They've already gotten much further than many expected. The Attorney General was held in criminal contempt of Congress as well as civil contempt.

As an example of the limited options Issa has, prosecuting Holder for criminal contempt is a non-starter because Holder's subordinate is responsible for doing so.

Virtually the only other option is for Speaker John Boehner to have Holder arrested.

Fast and Furious: GOP filing lawsuit against Holder in August

I'm not sure what the bigger story is here, that Rep. Darrell Issa is confirming the GOP will be filing its lawsuit against Attorney General Eric Holder this month over Fast and Furious or the fact that NBC News actually reported it.

h/t Katie Pavlich at Townhall:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Grassley's Renewed interest in ATF Memo

A February 3, 2011 memo penned by ATF Special Agent Gary Styers out of the Lubbock, TX Field Office is getting renewed interest from Senator Charles Grassley. The memo, initially made available on Grassley's website in December of 2011, details Styers' conversation with two members of Grassley's staff on February 2, 2011.

The now infamous date of February 4, 2011 is when then DOJ Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich signed a letter addressed to Grassley; that letter denied any gun-walking within ATF took place. The letter was withdrawn - coincidentally or not - around the time that the Styers memo was made public, in December of that year.

There are now apparently two primary reasons why Grassley is bringing up this memo again, which he has sent to Attorney General Eric Holder along with a letter demanding answers to certain questions.

Though Styers was working out of the Lubbock office of the Dallas Field Division at the time he was interviewed by Grassley's staff, he had previously worked out of the Phoenix Group VII Office on Fast and Furious. Some now familiar names were brought up by Styers, who wrote the memo while referring to himself in the third person. Here is an interesting excerpt:

Special Agent Styers was asked if he was familiar with the large firearms trafficking case in Phoenix Group VII and Special AGent Styers said he was. Downey and Donovan (Grassley staffers) asked if Special Agent Styers knew the name of the case and he responded that it was "Fast and Furious". Downey and Donovan then asked if Special Agent Styers knew who the case agent was and Special Agent Styers said it was Special Agent Hope McAllister. Special Agent Styers was also asked who the supervisor of the group was and Special Agent Styers said it was Group Supervisor David Voth. Downey and Donovan also asked who helped Special Agent McAllister, Special Agent Styers said that Special Agent McAllister had a Co-Case Agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as well as an agent from Group VII. Downey and Donovan asked who was the Agent from ICE and Special Agent Styers told them it was Lane France.

NOTE: At the end of this post, I'll address the name Lane France but since Grassley's letter deals with another aspect of the memo, I'll deal with that first.

Since the documents subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee seek documents that explain how the false February 4, 2011 was created and since Holder has gone to the mat not to release any of them, Grassley appears to be using what documents he DOES have to get some of those answers. This memo is one of them. Grassley makes the charge that this Styers memo traveled pretty quickly up the chain of command within ATF and seems to have reason to believe it went to the DOJ as well.

From Grassley's July 3, 2012 letter to Holder:

According to ATF personnel, the memorandum was discussed by high level ATF personnel and possibly forwarded to DOJ headquarters on February 3, 2011. Specifically, it has been alleged that individuals within the Deputy Attorney Generals (DAG's) office and the Office of Legislative Affairs (OLA) at the Department were aware of or actually read the memorandum before the Department's February 4, 2011, letter was sent. Some individuals who spoke with my office claim they were "alarmed" by the substance of the memorandum and it caused such a stir that ATF planned to put a panel together to address the allegations but someone within DOJ suppressed the idea.

Moreover, in his memo, Styers relayed a surveillance operation led by McAllister that involved some sort of weapons transaction:

While positioning to observe suspects, Special Agent Styers and other detailed agents were told by Special Agent McAllister that agents were too close and would burn the operation. Special Agent McAllister told all the agents to leave the immediate area. While the agents were repositioning, the transaction between the suspects took place and the vehicle that took possession of the firearms eventually left the area without agents following it.

Based on what we already know about McAllister being personally implicated in allowing criminals to walk who were known to walk guns, we're left to conclude that Styers' account may have been one such instance. If that is the case and if Grassley can determine that this memo went to the highest levels of DOJ and was considered during the crafting of that February 4th letter, we'll be a whole lot closer to proving Holder lied again when he said the letter was not intentionally misleading.

On to Lane France... In the Styers memo, Lane France is identified as the Co-Case Agent from ICE, which rolls up under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). An Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) involves an operation that includes multiple agencies. Administration officials have done their best to play this down by insisting that Fast and Furious originated at the field level in Phoenix. OCDETF all but torpedoes that argument.

Here is an exchange from February 15, 2011 between Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA), who also sits on the Oversight Committee and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, who is thoroughly grilled here by Meehan, who asks her if she knows who Lane France is. She says, "no" and twists herself into knots attempting to play semantic word games about OCDETF not really being OCDETF and that Fast and Furious was all ATF.



I covered this particular angle during my June 17th program.

Boehner says Civil Suit forthcoming in Fast and Furious

On June 29th, Rep. Jason Chaffetz said there were three courses of action the House could take with respect to moving the ball forward after finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. The first was to go through the U.S. Attorney; that's out because Deputy Attorney General James Cole has already sent a letter to Speaker John Boehner, informing him that the DOJ will not be prosecuting Holder (big surprise).

That leaves two courses of action, one of which is instructing the Sergeant at Arms to arrest Holder. Chaffetz refused to discount that option but implied that a civil lawsuit would be the preferred course before slapping the cuffs on Holder. The encouraging news is that House Speaker Boehner told Face the Nation that a civil suit is exactly what the House will be doing. It is good to see this just a few days after the contempt vote.

Via Reuters:

"We are also going to file in District Court a civil suit over the issue of executive privilege," Boehner told the CBS program "Face the Nation."


"I would expect that to be coming in the next several weeks, but it needs to happen," Boehner said.

The lawsuit could lead to a prolonged court fight while a judge weighs the House demand against the Obama administration's claim of executive privilege to protect the documents.

In a letter to Boehner on Friday, Deputy Attorney General James Cole said Holder properly withheld the documents under executive privilege, which allows President Barack Obama to keep private documents on internal government discussions.

White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew on Sunday accused the House Republicans of carrying out "a political witch hunt." The timing of the planned lawsuit comes in the run-up to the November 6 election in which Republicans are trying to deny Obama a second term in office.

"What they're looking for now is internal kinds of documents that they know are not appropriate," Lew said on CNN's "State of the Union" program.

"The facts are that this was a bad plan, the Fast and Furious. It is something that started in the Bush administration. The attorney general did not know about it. ... And when the attorney general learned about it, what he did was stop it," Lew added.

First, while it is refreshing to see Boehner say this publicly so soon after the contempt vote, his doing so is likely more of a testament to the bulldogs on the Oversight Committee like Reps. Trey Gowdy, Jason Chaffetz, and Chairman Darrell Issa. That said, Boehner deserves some credit but he's someone who needs constant constituent supervision so don't take your eye off of him.

As for Lew, his "political witch hunt" meme is pathetic. There is enough evidence in the public domain right now to have a grand jury - if our system worked this way - indict high ranking DOJ officials for conspiracy to commit murder by intentionally placing guns in the hands of bad guys whom they knew would kill innocent people - all in the name of gun control.

Lew's contention that this is all about election year politics is even more absurd. The congressional investigation into Fast and Furious started in January of 2011. On February 4, 2011 Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich signed a letter to Senator Charles Grassley that was demonstrably false. It led Congressional investigators on a wild goose chase until December of 2011, when the DOJ formally retracted the letter as being "inaccurate."

The reason this scandal is reaching a crescendo in an election year is the fault of the Justice Department that Lew claims is being victimized.

Pa-freakin'-thetic.

Oversight Committee finds Holder in Contempt of Congress

Just received the following statement from Darrell Issa's office after his committee voted to find Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt on a party line vote:

“The Oversight Committee voted to hold Attorney General Holder in contempt for his continued refusal to produce relevant documents in the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious. This was not the outcome I had hoped for and today’s proceeding would not have occurred had Attorney General Eric Holder actually produced the subpoenaed documents he said he could provide.

“The President’s assertion of Executive Privilege this morning took us by surprise but did not alter the Committee’s conclusion that documents had been inappropriately withheld.  Executive Privilege only applies to materials that directly pertain to communications with the President and his senior advisors.  This assertion indicates that the White House’s role in Operation Fast and Furious and the response to whistleblower accusations has been greater than previously acknowledged.  Just yesterday, the Attorney General indicated a willingness to produce a small subset of documents on the condition that the Committee end its investigation before they were described or made available for review. Today, the President asserted Executive Privilege to ensure they are never produced.

“At the heart of the Congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious are disastrous consequences: a murdered Border Patrol Agent, his grieving family seeking answers, countless deaths in Mexico, and the souring effect on our relationship with Mexico.  Congress has not just a right, but an obligation to do all that it can to uncover exactly what happened and ensure that it never occurs again.  After the Justice Department’s earlier false denial of reckless conduct, the Committee has a duty to pursue all options to gather and evaluate key evidence.

“I still believe that a settlement, rendering the process of contempt unnecessary, is in the best interest of the Justice Department, Congress, and those most directly affected by Operation Fast and Furious.  I urge Attorney General Holder and President Obama to reconsider their decision to withhold documents that would allow Congress to complete its investigation.”

 Five words. Reaches to the White House.

Video: Holder grilled by Lindsey Graham at Senate Committee Hearing

There seems to be a very interesting dynamic developing among members of Congress. First, there appears to be more outrage over the national security leaks that Democratic pollster Pat Caddell says rather emphatically came from National Security Advisor Tom Donilon than over Fast and Furious. This is very likely because the leaks have some prominent Democrats like Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) outraged where support for the Fast and Furious investigation is still largely partisan. Second, at least on the Republican side of the aisle, these leaks seem to have compounded what anger did exist over the botched gun walking program previously.

Senator John Cornyn provided one example of this at the June 12th Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing, when he referenced both and concluded - to Holder's face - that the Attorney General should 'resign.'

Senator Lindsey Graham provided another example. While Graham referenced Fast and Furious, he did so in the scope of a larger argument about the leaks. In particular, what has the Senator from South Carolina's dander up here is who Holder appointed to investigate the leaks - two Justice Department Attorneys. Graham wants someone a bit more independent. He also makes very sound arguments while making reference to two scandals that took place under the Bush Administration - Valerie Plame and Jack Abramoff.

Holder has literally no coherent response to the inconsistencies pointed out by Graham when it came to Democratic insistence that independent counsel be provided under the previous administration but not here, with national security leaks that potentially border on treason.



One of the arguments from those who have a big problem with these leaks is that people have died - and will continue to die - as a result. That does sound a bit like Fast and Furious, does it not? Hundreds of Mexicans have been killed already and more will, which Holder himself has admitted, as long as F&F guns are out there. Another similarity is Holder's insistence that the DOJ Inspector General conduct the investigation into Fast and Furious. That investigation coverup has been going on for well over a year and a half.

Videos: Darrell Issa and Trey Gowdy go after Eric Holder (again) over Fast and Furious

As expected, the exchange between Eric Holder and Darrell Issa at today's House Judiciary committee hearing was the most compelling but in watching these hearings over a span of a year and a half now, there doesn't seem to be any new ground being broken with respect to holding the Attorney General accountable. It's good theater but it's becoming tiresome theater as well.

Nonetheless, this might be the most visibly agitated Issa has been to date. He relies on the optics of the copies of the wiretap applications that have come into his possession and doesn't let up despite Holder's continued stonewalling and interruptions from Democratic committee members.

If there's one thing today's hearing confirmed, it's that unless that contempt citation is issued to Holder, no new ground is going to be broken.



The other exchange of note came courtesy of Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC). Here, Gowdy takes aim at Holder's charge that the Fast and Furious investigation is politically motivated.

Again, however, for new ground to be broken, that contempt citation needs to be issued.

KA BOOM! Issa has copies of Wiretap Applications

This may just be among the most explosive developments yet in the Fast and Furious investigation. Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa has sent a letter to Eric Holder but that's not the news. In fact, these letters have become tiresome because most of them are a bit redundant and are more often than not met with silence.

Not this time. This letter to Holder is more of a big, fat FYI than it is a demand for information. One of the things that Holder's DOJ has been extremely reticent about relinquishing has been the wiretap applications. The latest letter from Issa to Holder is meant to convey one very simple message; Issa has copies and those copies name names at the highest levels of DOJ.

Additionally, it looks like Issa has caught another high ranking DOJ official in a bald-faced lie. The first one came in the form of the February 4, 2011 letter signed by Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich that the DOJ rescinded. It now appears that Issa has caught Deputy Attorney General James Cole's hand in the cookie jar thanks to what he now knows about the wiretap applications.

Via Issa's letter:

In a May 15, 2012 letter, the Deputy Attorney General (James Cole) reiterated the Department's position that the "inappropriate tactics used in Fast and Furious... were not initiated or authorized by Department leadership in Washington." We now know that statement is false.

The Committee has obtained copies of six wiretap applications in support of seven wire intercepts utilized during Fast and Furious.

The implication is obvious. Issa has seen copies of the wiretap applications and they disprove Cole's statement.

Additionally, the wiretap applications also point the perjury finger directly at Holder, who on multiple occasions, asserted that the applications did NOT contain information about tactics.

The applications in Issa's possession apparently don't square with that either:

Even a perfunctory review of the wiretap applications amply demonstrates the immense detail documenting gun walking tactics that should have prompted senior officials in the Criminal Division to shut down the program immediately.

After chronicling the many instances where Holder spoke of what the wiretap applications did not contain, Issa wrote the following:

We now know that all of these statements are not accurate.

Here is Oversight Committee member, Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) questioning Eric Holder on February 2, 2012 about these wiretaps.

Fast forward to the 5:00 mark if pressed for time.



Here is Oversight Committee member, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) grilling Holder on wiretap applications at a December 8, 2011 House Judiciary Committee hearing.

Reminder: Gowdy is in his first term.



Holder's Justice Department being caught lying to Congress is not new relative to Fast and Furious. Here is Gowdy at the same December 8th hearing, grilling Holder over the now infamous February 4, 2011 letter.



Almost forgot Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) at the same hearing. He reminded Holder that lying to Congress is a felony and invoked the "I" word. Holder also said, "nobody in the Justice Department has lied."

There's another lie.

"Civil Rights" Coalition lobbying Boehner not to hold Eric Holder in Contempt

A coalition of civil rights communist organizations have banded together to put pressure on House Speaker John Boehner not to issue the contempt citation to Eric Holder over the Attorney General's refusal to turn over documents subpoenaed in the Fast and Furious scandal.

Via CNN, h/t Sipsey Street:

With the threat of a contempt charge hanging over Attorney General Eric Holder, 14 civil rights, labor, and liberal activist groups Tuesday urged Speaker of the House John Boehner not to proceed to a contempt vote.

The organizations which are closely allied with the Obama administration charged that to hold the attorney general in contempt for failing to turn over demanded documents on the "fast and furious" investigation "seems to be a rush to judgment intended to create a stain on the office of the attorney general."

The two-page letter, written by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights repeats the claims made by the Justice Department in refusing to provide sensitive internal law enforcement documents. The organizations said Holder has already turned over the disputed documents to the inspector general for his ongoing investigation into the flawed gun-smuggling operation. "They reportedly include law enforcement information, grand jury transcripts, and other information that would compromise ongoing investigations and prosecutions," the letter said.

Of course, the letter to Boehner was only signed by fourteen of the many groups that make up the Leadership Conference. Conspicuously absent from the list of signatories on this particular letter were Hispanic groups that are part of the Conference. Why? Because hundreds of Hispanics have been murdered as a direct result of Fast and Furious.

Here is an excerpt from the letter to Boehner:

To put it simply, the attempt to cite General Holder for contempt seems to be a rush to judgment intended to create a stain on the office of the Attorney General. It is contributing to an environment of accusatory vitriol and malignant suspicion that is both unwarranted and a significant distraction at a time when the Attorney General needs to focus on the nation’s core problems. The harshness of the attacks themselves is misplaced, and to the extent these attacks are intended to divert the Attorney General from the vigorous enforcement of the nation's laws—including those protecting civil rights, voting rights, disability rights, and other core concerns—we are deeply troubled. We are concerned that the contempt threat is intended to create a hostile environment aimed at pressuring the Attorney General to resign.

In case you'd like to get a taste for what fine, upstanding civil rights communist groups make up the Leadership Conference, here is but a sampling via the coalition's website. Groups in bold are supposed to be fighting for the rights of Hispanics.

1. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
2. American Association for Affirmative Action
3. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
4. AFL-CIO
5. Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN)
6. Hip Hop caucus (yes, the Hip Hop caucus)
7. American Islamic Congress
8. Amnesty International
9. Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF)
10. National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEAO)
11. La Raza
12. SEIU
13. Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)

MALDEF, NALEAO, and La Raza may not have signed the letter but neither have they repudiated it or left the Leadership Conference for its clearly ideological stance at the expense of the Hispanic cause.

What will Boehner do?

**UPDATED** POLITICO: Boehner IS holding up Fast and Furious

Ever since the February 2nd Oversight Committee hearing, at which, Attorney General testified about Fast and Furious for the first time (to that committee), rumors began percolating that House Speaker John Boehner had told Committee Chairman Darrell Issa to back off of the investigation. Those rumors seemed to be given a degree of credibility when Issa appeared to go softer on Holder than he had in previous House Judiciary Committee hearings.

Now, POLITICO is reporting that Boehner is, in fact, slowing Issa's investigation out of fear that it could be too radioactive in an election year:

Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of California have decided to slow Rep. Darrell Issa’s drive to hold the attorney general in contempt over the controversial Fast and Furious program, a move that could infuriate conservatives who have been calling for Holder’s resignation.

The delay could be a month or even longer, according to lawmakers and aides familiar with the issue.

Some within House GOP leadership circles would like Issa to abandon his plan for a committee and floor vote, which was sparked by a 64-page memo last week, which laid out the case for contempt.

They fear negative political fallout from citing the U.S. attorney general with contempt of Congress in an election year.

House GOP leaders are remaining mum on their plans. On Wednesday, Boehner, Cantor and McCarthy met privately — without any staff present — to discuss how to handle what many House Republicans complain is a glacially slow investigation into the scandal, according to several sources with knowledge of the meeting. Under the Fast and Furious program, federal agents allowed roughly 2,000 guns illegally purchased in the United States to “walk” to Mexican drug cartels as part of a botched plan to track down who was behind the purchases. Two U.S. law enforcements agents, as well as dozens of Mexican citizens, were killed by weapons obtained through the program.

Republican leaders are pushing Issa to do more committee work and to build bipartisan support for the contempt resolution before they let it come to the floor for a vote.

Boehner wants bipartisan support from a party in which not one member broke ranks to impeach and convict a president who committed perjury? Please.

This isn't about getting bipartisan support. It's about doing the right thing and placing this big fat Watergate-with-murder turd squarely in the court of public opinion. That's the only thing that will get Democrats to move.

With Clinton, Democrats were able to turn perjury into a politically-motivated lynching that was just about sex. With Fast and Furious, the Dems will have a much tougher time explaining how the Justice Department has the blood of hundreds of minorities on its hands as well as the blood of at least one Federal agent.

Contrast these two Republicans. First, John Boehner shortly after the 2010 election, when he knew he would become the next Speaker:



Now, Rep. Trey Gowdy, who was elected for the very first time in 2010, speaking on the House Floor one day before the aforementioned POLITICO report:



**UPDATE** In response to an inquiry I made of Issa's office about the POLITICO story, I received this response from his spokesperson, Becca Watkins:

"Chairman Issa appreciates Speaker Boehner's support for the Oversight Committee's investigation into Operation Fast and Furious. While no decisions have been made, the committee will continue to make the case to Members that contempt is a necessary response to the Justice Department's continued refusal to provide critical documents."

Watkins directed me to Boehner's office for more information.

h/t War on Guns 

Video: Congressman Trey Gowdy's Goes OFF on the House Floor over Fast and Furious

There are righteous rants and then there are rants so passionately righteous that sparks shoot out of the mouths of those who deliver them. Enter Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), who while on the House Floor, called out Eric Holder and the Justice Department. This was shortly after a fiery speech from Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) on the same subject.

Anyone think the Tea Party is dead? Gowdy was elected to his first term in 2010 on a wave of Tea Party anger. When is the last time you saw anyone with such little tenure deliver a speech like this? Not only does Gowdy lampoon Democrats across the aisle who are standing by Holder but he embarrasses senior Republicans who have been conspicuously silent on Fast and Furious.

This is inspirational, folks.

Via Oversight and Reform:

Norfolk's WAVY targets Bill O'Reilly over Black on White attack

This is a continuation of the story about two white reporters for a local Norfolk, VA newspaper being beaten by several black men. Bill O'Reilly and his guy in the field - Jesse Watters - reported on this earlier in the week. One of the men featured in that report was the editor for the Virginian-Pilot, Denis Finley, who came off in the O'Reilly segment as being reluctant to find out what happened in the beating.

When I reached out to Finley, he asserted that O'Reilly got the story wrong and blew it out of proportion. One of the claims by Finley was that there was no evidence of the attack being racially motivated.

Now, a television in Norfolk - WAVY - is targeting O'Reilly's coverage of the story while echoing the sentiment of Finley. O'Reilly's point in response to WAVY's reporting is that instead of going after him, they should spend their time getting to the truth about the beating. At one point in this segment, O'Reilly reports that his staff reached out to WAVY News Director, Jim Gilchriest for an appearance on the show and that Gilchriest declined.

Via Fox News:



O'Reilly also spoke with Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli about the case. Presumptively, Cuccinelli appeared on the show because O'Reilly's report that aired two days earlier was not flattering to the AG. Cuccinelli, who is running for Governor of Virginia next year, holds his own in this exchange but O'Reilly raises some very good points.

Do you call this one a draw?



Via Fox

Video: Former Reagan Attorney General Mum on Fast and Furious Accountability

This is a head-scratcher. Edwin Meese, former Attorney General under Ronald Reagan, is unwilling to comment on who should be held accountable over operation Fast and Furious. No comment on the falsified letter; no comment on Holder's inconsistent testimony; no comment after this thing has been dragging on for over a year.

Via Daily Caller:


As someone who knows how the Department of Justice works, it's shocking that Meese would rather appear ignorant than informed. There has been far more than enough information made public over the last year for Meese to have a more substantive take than that.

Meese concedes knowing about Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's death and the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans but is unwilling to identify who should be held accountable after more than a year?!

His answer, in part, was that as a former Attorney General himself, it's hard to get to the truth. Uh, if it's that hard to get to the truth about something like a decision to put guns in the hands of bad guys, perhaps Mr. Meese, at the very least, would agree that the government is far too big.

Sipsey Street has an interesting take on Meese's reticence to assign blame.

Holder Condemns Illegal Firearms (Not what you think)

Well, one of Saul Alinsky's rules is to always 'keep the pressure on.' Put another way, always stay on offense. Despite a powerful hand of practically every relevant agency being caught in the proverbial cookie jar relative to Fast and Furious - an operation that intentionally put guns in the hands of drug cartels - Attorney General Eric Holder continues to use politics to push for gun control.

File this one in the 'unmitigated gall' department.

Via POLITICO:

The number of officers killed in the line of duty jumped 13 percent in 2011 compared with the year before — and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder condemned the increase as “a devastating and unacceptable trend” that he blamed on illegal firearms.

The number of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty rose to 173 this year, from 153 in 2010, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund announced Wednesday. This year’s figure is 23 percent higher than 122 killed in the line of duty in 2009.

Holder said “too many guns have fallen into the hands of those who are not legally permitted to possess them,” in explaining the increase.

If, as has been suspected, Fast and Furious was about allowing people to be killed by criminals with guns given to them by the ATF, to create the environment that would make it politically palatable to enact more gun control measures, this latest narrative from the Attorney General only serves to further make the case.

I understand the benefits of always staying on offense but this would be like running a low percentage pass play from inside your own two-yard line with a third string QB who hasn't even had a chance to warm up.

Holder is scheduled to be in front of Darrell Issa's Oversight Committee on January 24th. Statements like this aren't going to help him.

h/t Hot Air

Video: Krauthammer calls Eric Holder 'Cowardly' and 'Incompetent,' then says 'Merry Christmas'

Here is Charles Krauthammer at his best, slamming Attorney General for being 'incompetent' and 'cowardly' relative to how the latter has handled a myriad of fiascos. Holder's use of the race card seems to be particularly troubling to Krauthammer, as it should be.

In light of all the political hot water Holder is in, his decision to whip out the race card last week may just be indicative of how unaware he is about the temperature of that water.

Krauthammer nails Holder in under a minute:



h/t Weasel Zippers

Attorney General Eric Holder Plays the Race Card

The man who boasts that he's not the tall Attorney General but the black Attorney General has apparently taken the stance that he has become a lightning rod because he's black. As the way Holder's Justice Department handled the New Black Panther Party (NBPP) voting case illustrates, many of the problems people have with Holder are rooted in race but not because of his but because of an alleged racial bias on the part of his department.

Via New York Times:

For nearly three years, Republicans have attacked Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on national security and civil rights issues. For months, they have criticized him over a gun-trafficking investigation gone awry, with dozens of leaders calling for his resignation. Last week, more than 75 members of Congress co-sponsored a House resolution expressing “no confidence” in his leadership. 

The intensifying heat on Mr. Holder comes as the Justice Department is stepping into some of the most politically divisive social issues of the day, including accusing an Arizona sheriff known for his crackdowns on illegal immigrants of racial profiling, scrutinizing new restrictions on voting in search of signs that they could lower turnout among minorities and telling judges that a law banning federal recognition of same-sex marriages is unconstitutional. 

As Mr. Holder’s third year as attorney general draws to a close, no member of President Obama’s cabinet has drawn more partisan criticism. In an interview last week, Mr. Holder said he had no intention of resigning before the administration’s term was up, although he said he had made no decision about whether he would continue after 2012 should the president win re-election. 

“I think that what I’m doing is right,” Mr. Holder said. “And election-year politics, which intensifies everything, is not going to drive me off that course.” 

With F.B.I. agents standing guard outside his hotel room on Tuesday, Mr. Holder spoke hours before delivering a speech at the Lyndon B. Johnson presidential library here that criticized the largely Republican-led efforts to put new restrictions on voting in the name of fighting fraud.At that moment, protesters were rallying outside the library, some in support of stricter voter identification laws and others holding signs urging Mr. Holder to resign over the disputed gun-trafficking investigation, known as Operation Fast and Furious. Several dozen jeered when his motorcade arrived. 

In the interview, Mr. Holder offered a glimpse of how he viewed the criticism. He said he thought some critics — like Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who favors allowing the military to handle terrorism suspects over the criminal justice system — are expressing “good faith” arguments about their policy disagreements. 

But Mr. Holder contended that many of his other critics — not only elected Republicans but also a broader universe of conservative commentators and bloggers — were instead playing “Washington gotcha” games, portraying them as frequently “conflating things, conveniently leaving some stuff out, construing things to make it seem not quite what it was” to paint him and other department figures in the worst possible light. 

Of that group of critics, Mr. Holder said he believed that a few — the “more extreme segment” — were motivated by animus against Mr. Obama and that he served as a stand-in for him. “This is a way to get at the president because of the way I can be identified with him,” he said, “both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we’re both African-American.”

Meanwhile, the ATF, an agency under Holder's purview, engaged in a gun-walking program it knew would result in the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans so - as ATF supervisor David Voth said - someone could 'make an omelette' by 'scrambl(ing) some eggs.'

As we're learning, the eggs appear to have been innocent Mexican citizens and the omelette was gun control.

If that is indeed proven, the statement made by Holder that he and Obama are both disliked because they are "African-American" will let you eat the hypocrisy with a knife and fork.

Read it all.

Video: Obama Stands By Holder on Fast and Furious

It's become obvious that Barack Obama is going to stand by Attorney General Eric Holder when it comes to Fast and Furious. In light of what has become known about Holder's role in the scandal and the latter's inconsistent testimony about when he first heard of the operation, Obama's role in the operation should become more suspect. Back in March, when interviewing with Jorge Ramos at Univision, Obama said neither he nor Eric Holder authorized Fast and Furious. After documents were released this week, Holder may have committed perjury. At yesterday's news conference, Obama made a slight adjustment to that assertion. In March, he said forthrightly that Holder didn't authorize it. Here, he says that Holder 'indicated he was not aware' of the operation. Obama also took it a step further and said he (Obama) didn't know about it.

Another thing to watch for here is that Obama said both he and Holder would have been 'very unhappy' with whoever authorized it. At minimum, they should know who that is by now. It's been known for several months now that it was made by someone above ATF Director at the time, Kenneth Melson. That certainly narrows the field. For someone who would have been 'very unhappy,' it's certainly taking a long time to find the source of that unhappiness. The memos sent to Holder came directly from Asst Attorney General Lanny Breuer. If Holder's pleading ignorance, Breuer seems to be the person to target at this point.

Via CBS:

Rep. Darrell Issa Now Investigating Project Gunrunner

The burgeoning scandal that involves an alleged policy by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) allowing guns to 'walk' into Mexico has now caught the attention of House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). In classic bureaucratic doublespeak, ATF's Project Gunrunner was put in place to prevent weapons from illegally crossing into Mexico. Under that umbrella, the agency - ostensibly with the approval or at the direction of the Department of Justice - formed Operation Fast & Furious (FF).

According to a whistleblower from the ATF - Agent John Dodson - his agency leaders instructed agents to allow straw purchasers to buy very powerful weapons and cross into Mexico under the auspices of going after bigger drug cartel fish.

Now CBS's Sharyl Attkisson, the reporter responsible for breaking the story is reporting that Issa has assembled a team that will begin to investigate:

Republican Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is calling on the ATF to answer questions and produce documents about "gunwalking" operations where guns were allegedly allowed into Mexico in order to track drug cartels.

A CBS News investigation revealed that thousands of guns have found their way into criminal hands in Mexico as part of Operation Fast and Furious and Project Gunrunner.

In a letter sent to Kenneth Melson, acting director of the ATF, Issa urges him to "act decisively to assuage the public's deep suspicions" about the program.

HERE is a copy of that letter. Several days ago, Attorney General Eric Holder told Kay Bailey Hutchison that letting guns 'walk' is wrong and that such a tactic should not and is not the policy of the ATF. Unfortunately for Holder, the U.S. Attorney's office in Phoenix was fully aware of the problem. The question now becomes, who at the Phoenix office authorized the operation and will anyone be fired?

The most damage done to the ATF in this case has come from one of its own - Agent John Dodson - who has blown the whistle on the operation and even implicated the Department of Justice. Watch the interview HERE.

To this point, the ATF has been stonewalling Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA). Odds are better than not that it will do the same with Issa. It would be nice to see more agents like Dodson come forward. Stonewalling has become a way of life for this Justice Department, perhaps more than any DOJ in history. Again, as in other cases, suspicions will rise the longer Holder's DOJ obfuscates.

Click HERE to listen to interview with Darrell Issa.

Video: Arizona Governor Counter-Sues the Feds

h/t to Barrackaid #22. Remember SB 1070? After Federal Judge Susan Bolton issued an injunction back in July that prevented Arizona from enforcing the tough immigration law, it's been wallowing in relative obscurity, not making any news and not getting resolved. That's likely part of the reasoning behind Arizona Governor Jan Brewer's decision to counter-sue the Feds. If nothing else, it should help to get the issue back in the public discourse.

HERE are the details about the suit.

Before checking out Brewer's interview with Greta about the counter-suit, take a look at this excerpt from the Declaration of Independence that refers to King George:

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

I'd say Obama is channeling King George when it comes to Arizona.