Shocker: DOJ seeks to dismiss Fast & Furious lawsuit

Attorney General Eric Holder was found to be in both criminal and civil contempt of Congress for not releasing documents subpoenaed in the Fast and Furious investigation. As was expected, the criminal conviction would go nowhere because Holder's subordinate is the individual responsible for prosecuting it (gotta protect the boss). That left the civil contempt conviction. The House Oversight Committee filed a lawsuit to demand the release of the documents. Barack Obama asserted Executive Privilege in order to prevent their release. He did so on the day Holder was found to be in contempt.

Now, the Justice Department is seeking a dismissal of the civil suit.

Via CBS News:

The Justice Department says federal courts should stay out of a political dispute between the Obama administration and Congress over documents in a botched law enforcement probe of gun trafficking.

In court papers filed Monday night, the department is seeking dismissal of a lawsuit by a Republican-led House committee, which is demanding that Attorney General Eric Holder produce records about Operation Fast and Furious.

The Justice Department says the Constitution does not permit the courts to resolve the political dispute between the executive branch and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The political branches have a long history of resolving disputes over congressional requests without judicial intervention, the court filing said.

President Barack Obama has invoked executive privilege and the attorney general has been found in contempt of the House for refusing to turn over records that might explain what led the department to reverse course after initially denying that federal agents had used a controversial tactic called gun-walking in the failed law enforcement operation.

There seems to be a slight problem with this argument. In U.S. v. Nixon, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that president could not assert Executive Privilege to cover up any crimes that had been committed.

A central component in the documents subpoenaed in Fast and Furious has to do with a February 4, 2011 letter signed by then Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich and addressed to Senator Charles Grassley. That letter alleged that the ATF was not allowing guns to walk into Mexico. Ten months later, the letter was withdrawn because its main assertion had been disproven.

Many of the documents subpoenaed are thought to provide some answers as to how that letter was written in the first place as well as what transpired in the months afterward.

If the precedent in this case is U.S. v. Nixon, a dismissal at this stage should not be considered likely. Then again, we've all seen some bizarre rulings these days.

Allen West saying to Obama what Romney should be saying to Obama

Rep. Allen West (R-FL) is now calling for Obama to release the Fast and Furious documents that have been subpoenaed by Congress in response to the campaign's demand for Romney to release multiple years of tax returns. This is such a blatantly obvious response to Obama's tactics that it makes Romney look politically weak not to do so. Thank goodness West is out there doing it for him (somebody has to do it).

Via The Hill:

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) set high stakes in an offered “deal” with President Obama on Friday.

Obama’s campaign isn’t backing down on requests to see Mitt Romney’s tax returns — on Friday, campaign manager Jim Messina offered to stop asking if he releases five years' worth — but the freshman Florida congressman had a counteroffer for Obama.

“Show us your sealed college records and Operation Fast and Furious White House memos, and we will all show you our tax returns,” West wrote on his Facebook page Friday.

The Hill goes on to say this is not new, that Trump has called on Obama to release his college transcripts. The problem is that demanding the release of the Fast and Furious documents is a much more salient argument because it goes to the very heart of many of the Obama campaign's claims about what Romney is guilty of doing / not doing.

The collective charges against Romney represent the penultimate example of projection.

Regular readers to this blog know that I have been calling on Romney to hit back at the Obama campaign by demanding Obama release the Fast and Furious documents. Romney has had countless opportunities to do so.

1. When Obama granted amnesty to illegals and attempted to portray himself as someone who cared for the welfare of Mexicans, Romney should have pointed to Fast and Furious, an operation that led to the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans.
2. When David Axelrod compared Mitt Romney to Richard Nixon for being too secretive, Romney should have pointed to the fact that Obama more closely mirrors Nixon by asserting Executive Privilege to prevent Congressionally subpoenaed documents from being released.
3. When the Obama campaign raised cain about when Romney left Bain and said that Romney might be a 'felon', Romney should have pointed to Fast and Furious. If anything is felonious, it's that operation, which included the involvement of officials at the highest levels of Obama's Justice Department.
4. When an Obama Super PAC ad implied that Mitt Romney is responsible for the death of a woman who got cancer, Romney should have brought up Fast and Furious, an operation that the Obama administration is ultimately responsible for. Hundreds of people are dead as a direct result of it, including Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
5. When the Obama campaign demands that Romney release his tax returns, Romney should demand that Obama release the documents over Fast and Furious that he asserted Executive Privilege over as Eric Holder was being found in both criminal and civil contempt of Congress.

If you're in the camp of those who believe Romney needs to fight, harping on Obama's actions in response to his Attorney General being held in criminal and civil contempt of Congress - bipartisan in both cases - going after the president over Fast and Furious is a no-brainer.

West shouldn't be saying what Romney should be saying; Romney should.