Attorney General Eric Holder found in contempt of Congress

[AJ]

 ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER FOUND IN CONTEMPT OF CONGRESS




           




Originally published: June 28, 2012 3:33 PM
Updated: June 28, 2012 4:38 PM
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


WASHINGTON - With a vote of 255 for and 67 against, the House of Representatives moved Thursday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress in a document dispute related to a bungled gun-tracking operation.

Republicans had the votes to make Eric Holder the first sitting attorney general to be held in contempt, while members of the Congressional Black, Hispanic, Asian Pacific American and Progressive Caucuses, as well as other members, walked off of the House floor during the vote.

Supporters of the contempt move cited Holder's refusal to meet Republican demands to hand over — without any preconditions — documents that could explain why the Obama administration initially denied that a risky "gun-walking" investigative tactic was used in Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed hundreds of guns to be smuggled from Arizona to Mexico.


             


The vote on a criminal contempt resolution will send the matter to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, who is under Holder. A separate vote on civil contempt will allow the House to go to court in an effort to force Holder to turn over the documents the Oversight and Government Committee wants. In past cases, courts have been reluctant to settle disputes between the executive and legislative branches of government.

The NRA urged House members to vote for contempt, contending the administration wanted to use Operation Fast and Furious to win gun control measures. Democrats who normally support the NRA but who vote against the contempt citations would lose any 100 percent ratings from the group. That could affect whether they get endorsements from the powerful organization, particularly if Republican opponents surface who are strong NRA backers.

The 42-member Congressional Black Caucus had said before the vote that its members would walk out and refrain from voting.

"Contempt power should be used sparingly, carefully and only in the most egregious situations," a letter from the caucus to House members said. "The Republican leadership has articulated no legislative purpose for pursuing this course of action. For these reasons, we cannot and will not participate in a vote to hold the attorney general in contempt."

Members of the Hispanic, Asian Pacific American and progressive caucuses said they also would not vote.
The dispute is both legal and political. Republicans asserted their right to obtain documents needed for an investigation of Operation Fast and Furious — focusing on 10 months in 2011 after the Obama administration initially denied guns were allowed to "walk" from Arizona to Mexico. By year's end, the administration acknowledged the assertion was wrong.

President Barack Obama asserted a broad form of executive privilege, a legal position designed to keep executive branch documents from being disclosed. The assertion ensures that documents will not be turned over any time soon, unless a deal is reached between the administration and congressional Republicans.
In debate, however, Republicans framed the issue as the need for closure for the family of Brian Terry, a Border Patrol agent killed in December 2010 in a shootout with Mexican bandits. Two guns from Fast and Furious were found at the scene.

Democrats said the contempt issue was a political stunt to embarrass the Obama administration in an election year, and added that holding the attorney general in contempt will do nothing to bring closure to Terry's family. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said the contempt motions were "Fast and foolish, fast and fake." Rep. Rich Nugent, R-Fla., took the opposite view, arguing, "A man died serving his country, and we have a right to know what the federal government's hand was in that." Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said Republicans picked an odd day to schedule the contempt vote. "I find it interesting that the Republican leadership has scheduled this nonsense for the floor today when it is certain to be buried under the avalanche of news and reaction to the Supreme Court's health care decision," he said.


                     


In email exchanges with subordinates in February and March 2011, Holder and the department's second-highest official expressed growing concern that something might have gone wrong Fast and Furious.
Two of Holder's emails and one by Deputy Attorney General James Cole were among documents the Justice Department showed Tuesday to Democratic staff members of the Oversight committee, let by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

"We need answers on this. Not defensive BS. Real answers," Holder wrote. Holder, however, has refused to turn over these and other communications unless the Oversight panel dropped its subpoena for the records — a condition unacceptable to Issa. The department withdrew the Feb. 4 letter denying gun walking took place on Dec. 2, 2011, after documenting what had taken place not only in Operation Fast and Furious, but in three other gun-walking operations going back to 2006.

In Operation Fast and Furious, agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in abandoned the agency's usual practice of intercepting all weapons they believed to be illicitly purchased. Instead, the goal of the tactic known as "gun-walking" was to track such weapons to high-level arms traffickers who had eluded prosecution and to dismantle their networks. Gun-walking long has been barred by Justice Department policy, but federal agents in Arizona experimented with it in at least two investigations during the George W. Bush administration before Operation Fast and Furious. The agents in Arizona lost track of several hundred weapons in that operation.

[AJ]

This was a witch hunt done by the Republicans. Well I hope that they're all happy because when they're not happy, they are like a bunch of spoiled children always throwing their temper-tantrums.






                             

[Chimera]

[el Spaceio]

Congress is playing with fire big time right now.

Executive Orders are no joke.

i'm 99% sure i remember reading years ago that going against a "wartime President" was a capital offense hopefully someone out there with more knowledge on this subject could confirm or say i crazy :P

 but since Obama is a "wartime President" and this is a "drug war" he could technically i guess declare Marshal Law hogtying Congress then all the rules go out the window.

come to think of it maybe that's why months ago they had the whole Cartel smuggling Arabs and WMD fiasco.

[el Spaceio]

also this whole gun smuggling is just like all across time America has armed it's enemies enemies

only thing different here is every drug war enemy was at war so USA armed them to kill each other off in the border region

[J]

I don't know if I buy that the guns weren't deliberately crossed, on BB we have been reading about this for at least 18 months, if not more.  Even if it wasn't deliberate, the level of incompetence and ineptness is worthy of scandal, if not the hysteria currently surrounding it.  Law enforcement at all levels probably make mistakes every week, it's part of the job, and it's a not a me blaming thing, just the reality of job.  However, I do think this is politically motivated, and made to cast the current admin in an unfavorable light.  It really doesn't interest me that much, never did.  Federal agencies have a record, (as expected) of botched schemes and investigations.  

[Chimera]

el Spaceio wrote

Congress is playing with fire big time right now.

Executive Orders are no joke.

i'm 99% sure i remember reading years ago that going against a "wartime President" was a capital offense hopefully someone out there with more knowledge on this subject could confirm or say i crazy :P

 but since Obama is a "wartime President" and this is a "drug war" he could technically i guess declare Marshal Law hogtying Congress then all the rules go out the window.

come to think of it maybe that's why months ago they had the whole Cartel smuggling Arabs and WMD fiasco.

Congress has to declare war, and it  has to be against another actual state. I don't think there's any law about contradicting the President, whether we're at war or not. There is a lot of social pressure not to contradict him -- look at what happened with GWBush!

So, no, nobody's gonna get "The Chair" for trying to keep getting the papers they want. They'll just go to court for them. And lose, since an Executive Order trumps courts.

Where it would get interesting, if it got that far, is if the House went to court for these papers and it ended up in the Supreme Court. Then we'd have the Executive Branch vs. the Judicial Branch, and that would be a Constitutional crisis of epic proportions.

[AJ]

No one ever mentions how easy it is to buy guns in Arizona, where probably most of the guns were bought. They say that it's as easy to buy a gun in Arzona as it is to buy a sandwich from Subway.


Here are a few AZ stats:


* There are 853 federally licensed firearms dealers in the Phoenix area alone, a city which is only 200 miles away from Mexico

* Arizona is known for having some of the weakest gun control laws in the country

* There are no waiting periods

* No need for permits

* Buyers are allowed to resell their guns

* 87% of illegally smuggled fire arms seized in Mexico originated in the U.S.

* They also make it harder for law enforcement to effectively stop drug trafficking

* The ATF is prohibited from establishing a comprehensive electronic database of gun sales thanks to lobbying by the NRA

* People are able to by large amounts of high powered guns at one time

* By January 2010, agents had identified 20 suspects who had paid some $350,000 in cash for more than 650 guns from straw purchases including one suspect who used food stamps to buy 476 firearms in 6 months

* Prosecutors have gone out of their way to block the ATF's attempt to go after these guns with no help from the U.S. attorney


SHAME ON THE NRA, JAN BREWER AND THOSE DAMN CONSERVATIVES AND REPUBLICANS.

AND FUCK WAYNE LAPIERRE!