House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) fired off a biting letter to Attorney General Eric Holder today, rebuking him for misleading congressional investigators even as new documents show that senior Justice Department officials had detailed information about Operation Fast and Furious tactics.
Six wiretap applications in the gunwalking scandal were submitted to DoJ officials in Washington for justification and approval. The wiretaps have been sealed by a federal judge, but committee members were able to gain access to them — after Holder refused to turn them over under subpoena.
“In a May 15, 2012 letter, the Deputy Attorney General 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,” Issa wrote Holder.
The chairman said the wiretap details, which can’t be released to the public, show “shocking” involvement by Justice officials.
“You have repeatedly either denied involvement by senior officials in Fast and Furious, or asserted that the wiretap applications do not contain rich detail about irresponsible investigative tactics,” Issa wrote, outlining several statements Holder has made over the past several months. “We now know that all of these statements are not accurate.”
The chairman warned how the revelations could play into his plan for contempt proceedings against the attorney general.
“The new information contained the wiretap applications places us in a position to begin the process of assigning accountability among senior Department officials, some of whom were responsible for approving the wiretap applications,” Issa wrote. “After having reviewed these applications, we now understand why the Department has been resisting our efforts to secure full cooperation and compliance with the subpoena.”
Well, this is all well and good, but what happened to charging Eric Holder with Contempt of Congress? We keep hearing threats from Issa, but very little solid offensive action. Sending “strong” letters isn’t going to do much of anything. Holder will just ignore them. Either get a Federal prosecutor to bring Holder and anyone else involved with “Fast and Furious” to justice, or drop it. How much more “investigating” does Issa need to do? Time to put up or shut up, or else people will really start believing that nothing important happened. And that would be just, plain, wrong.
Nothing is going to happen because the GOP will freely let your all else be washed away lest they be accused of going after African-Americans. “Especially after Trayvon.”
Trayvon is a non issue. The facts in that case are irrefutable. I say tack Holder’s hide to a barn door and then bar the door. Obama is already inflaming racial tensions. Bring it on.
The pot will keep simmering until the heat gets turned up too high and Issa has his hand on the flame control. Hopefully this will be the death rattle for the left in America for the next 50 years.
NOW WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS, HOPE YOU DON’T JUST FILE IT, YOU MUST GO AFTYER HOLDER NOW.
I saw on one the blogs I read that Boehner had told Issa to stop pursuing contempt proceedings against Holder. I do not know if that is true, but if it is, it would be a crime in and of itself. I do not want our Justice Department to abuse its power and cover up anything; so if Issa and the others truly do have enough evidence, then they should proceed without hesitation. If the shoe was on the other foot, the DOJ would not only hold them in contempt, but arrest them for crimes against the US.
Impeach, Impeach, Impeach, Impeach, Impeach, Impeach, Impeach . . . .
No, convict, convict, convict … (in a Mexican court).
This administration has a very solid track record of threatening anyone that “investigates” anything to do with accountability, whether fiscal or otherwise; just ask any inspector general etc etc. I commend Issa for his work, but at the same time he and any of his buddies know all too well that attempting to show corruption at the highest levels; is akin to being on a list for Al Capone’s trigger men.
Fear has been holding people back … that’s it in a nutshell. Well … it’s TIME
to rock an’ roll … “let’s do some good!”
Issa is as fearless as they come. I don’t see him being intimidated. The slime is slowly oozing to the surface. With an election coming up the timing of all this is likely impeccable. An experienced pol would have cut Holder loose long ago and forced him to take the blame with a pardon in the wings. However, Obama is, after all, an amateur.
Impeach, and where would the hearing be held? The Democrat controlled Senate. I really believe this is being drawn out in the hopes that the Democratic hold on the Senate is broken in this election so that a fair hearing can be held. The way things are now, he would get nothing worse than a slap on the wrist if even that much.
18 U.S.C. § 1001(a):
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully—
(1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device, a material fact;
(2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or
(3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry
Check, check, and check.
…and Zero trumps that with a full pardon for Holder and all loyalists involved at high levels. Especially if he doesn’t get reelected. They’ll leave the lower echelon to twist.
Well well well – who didn’t see this coming? That the executive branch lied? Put this in the context of Iran. “if you don’t admit or submit,…..well….we will send you yet ANOTHER letter and may denounce you!!” ha ha. Example: the UN. Congress is the UN of the US. And when the executive branch is the transgressor (aka, they’ve been Iran-icized) well, then, they can do whatever they want. It is like a child when threatened with “stop that or else” and who answers “or else what?”
This is a farce. Stick a fork in this country we are done. Rule of law…..right…..keep on thinking that and I have a bridge to sell ya.
This is an amazing story, the history of wholly unreported crimes within DoJ. It is a bigger scoop than Watergate, Abu Ghraib, and Gitmo combined. But if you ask most Americans, they have never heard of it. Some folks’ motivation are obvious; high level lawyers do not want to go to jail. Other’s motivation is less obvious. The minority leader, Congressman Cummings, has been wholly disinterested that hundreds of Mexicans, and two US peace officers were murdered, in a seeming criminal conspiracy with the DoJ. The ATF, created by DoJ to stop illegal weapon traffic, walked thousands of military weapons to drug lords, killers. DoJ management repeatedly, under oath, denied any knowledge, prior to the crimes, but this sealed information purportedly exposes the criminal conspiracy and perjury, at the highest levels of DoJ.
But cannibals and the Pope’s butler leads the news. Congressman Cummings was a young man when Marin Luther King said, Americans will some day be “…able to judge a man, not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character.” We are seeing history made, but that day has not yet arrived..
I don’t see this as a farce; and I would suggest that everyone who is interested in reining in DOJ lawbreakers get solidly behind Issa’s and his committee’s efforts to expose the facts and take appropriate legal action.
If you walk into this thinking it’s all a farce then you’re expecting defeat and signaling that you’ll just go quietly into the night if proven right instead of raising holy hell like you should. Man UP, for Pete’s sake, and demand that Holder and co. be dealt with according to the law. And write to Boehner, call his office, and tell them that you will not tolerate anything less than a full-court-press against the renegades at DOJ.
Wimps don’t materialize in DC unless the folks back home are pansies.
Actually, if they wait to prosecute under a Romney administration, Obama can’t give Holder a pardon on the last day of his administration. You have to be charged to be pardoned.
Then again we all know that a program that involves (or should involve) State, DOJ, Homeland Security, and possibly Defense would have to go through the oval Office for approval.
The only question would be how involved was Biden since he would be Potus if Obowma gets impeached. If Biden gets impeached too, the Boehner would take over until Romney gets sworn in.
I’m hoping Issa will keep this tar-pot boiling away, popping out newsworthy blobs that stick to Holder and his boss right through the election season, with a nice messy contempt/impeachment boil-over in, say, October.
I think a lot of you are forgetting that we are talking about the US House of Representatives. Do you remember Maxine Waters? Do you know what happened to her investigation? Three of the Republicans on the committee quit because they knew that they would have to find her guilty and that would hurt them back home in the next election. Issa is worth about $250 MILLION dollars so he is immune to worry about his job. F&F was a scheme to make gun control easier by Obama and the left wing Demorats. They were going to show how out of control gun sales are in the US and use that argument to expand gun controls. They had actually already started to use the info in some of their political documents when the siht hit the fan. They are in this up to their necks and know that eventually it will come out and they will be charged. I think Holder would like for it to be soon so he can get a pardon from his twin incompetent.
Regardless of the side issues, keep in mind that these things take time.
Watergate took time to ferret out, and every last prime-time news anchor and his brother’s dog were baying for it.
Patience.
TRVTH has an inexorable way of coming out. And more and more, like with this wiretap revelation, it’s looking like Eric Holder’s nuts are on the block.
/”State’s witness”, anyone? … heh
Keep in mind that the media hated Nixon (I confess I didn’t like him either back then), so they were happy to go after him. In contrast, the media today are still backing, and covering for, Obama. They’ll keep this a “non-story” as long as they can.
The drip, drip, drip of information is better than a full frontal assault. Fast and Furious, green energy schemes gone bankrupt, sticking it to the Catholic Church over $10 of contraception pills and abortafacents, etal will slowly kill whatever good will O’Dismal is said to have. And its really better to chase down the information on a rept. watch.
If Romney gets elected and the house and senate are republican (a likely scenario at this juncture) Holder will have become his own worst enemy by firmly digging in and letting info trickle out. We’ll have a president that is unlikely to cast a pardon his way – unlike Zero who will be dealing pardons like it was Casino Day at the White House on Jan 19th 2013.
Maybe thats Issa’s strategy but I’d rather see the dirty laundry hung out for all to see in late September – early October.
How can there be comtempt of congress when congress is comtemptable? One is asking the brotherhood of foxes who guard the hen house to prosecute one of their own, or one who has something on someone else, or favors to deal to end the good times of power. How can we think that “put up or shut up” would work in an election year when timing, lieing, subterfuge, and having one’s own facts are everything? Does the fairness docterine and “no one is above the law” apply to least of all the department of justice? Courage of conviction applies to patriots, and the rest of them can shuffle to seek re-election. The system is broken.
Outstanding!!
“You have repeatedly either denied involvement by senior officials in Fast and Furious, or asserted that the wiretap applications do not contain rich detail about irresponsible investigative tactics,” Issa wrote, outlining several statements Holder has made over the past several months. “We now know that all of these statements are not accurate.”
–
You have to love the neutered language in the last bit of that quote: “We now know that all of these statements are not accurate.”
Is it completely beyond the boundaries of Congressional decorum to speak plainly? I was thinking of something like “Everything you’ve told us is a flat-out lie.”
“We now know that all of these statements are not accurate.”
I picked up on this softspeak as well. What he REALLY means is that “we have long known these statements to be false, but now we have unimpeachable proof”.
Yes, I think Holder WILL resign in a cloud of smoke, fairly soon. The noose is tightening, for sure. I agree, dragging this out until after the kinyun boss can no longer extend a “pardon” will allow criminal charges to be persued that will stick, and Holder WILL get his due. Hopefully, along with al the other complicit public “servants”, including the one temporarily residing on Pennsylvania Avenua.
It looks like Issa is trying to force Holder to resign — easier and faster than impeachment. W/a new head of DOJ, Issa should be able to get even more incriminating documents which, then, will secure a conviction. And, as has been said before, Obama won’t be able to pardon Holder if he is no longer POTUS.
Seems like a good strategy.
Gee,I’m shocked, shocked I say./
Is it old weepy that’s putting the brakes on?
Is every single member of government a crooked POS?
What is the remedy? Hint, it’s NOT the ballot box.
Eric Holder will be convicted. There’s lots of information that the justice department is withholding- gotto get more of that info to determine how bad to burn ‘em!
Elijah Cummings’ letter to Issa only goes so far. It is true that federal law enforcement agencies send perhaps thousands of wiretap applications to Justice for review and approval each year. It is true that most of them go no further than line attorneys who review them for legal basis. It would not be realistic to expect that the attorney general or even his immediate deputies be familiar with each one, let along review them. It is also true that the wiretap application could have left out certain investigative details, such as the “walk” aspect.
However, Operation Fast and Furious was so out of the ordinary-involving an operation in which thousands of weapons were allowed to be purchased under surveillance then proceed across the border into Mexico without interdiction and without any involvement of the receiving country (Mexico), that the question still begs-who originated this idea? If indeed, as Issa claims, information that reveals this technique is contained in the application documents sent to line attorneys in DOJ, that would have raised a red flag, would it not? Even if the applications did not disclose the “walk” technique involved, the question still begs-who originated this idea? Cummings’ letter does not address this.
Cummings also drags up the Bush-era operation Wide Receiver, which involved putting tracking devices on weapons and attempting to follow them to the border with the Mexican police cooperating on the other side. It was discontinued because the investigators learned that some weapons were still getting across the border absent such control. To use this different operation as a defense is a red herring.
It is entirely conceivable that wiretap applications sent to DOJ could have been written without that one little investigative detail (that weapons were being purchased under surveillance and deliberately allowed to “walk” into Mexico and disappear). In that case, line attorneys could have processed the applications without higher involvement. For the third time, I repeat; that still doesn’t tell us who originated the operation. If the applications did, in fact, mention this technique was being used, the line attorney, upon seeing this in the application, would have had to alert his or her superiors that something very much out of the ordinary was going on.
It just doesn’t square.
Gary Fouse
dea retired
Just who arrests a sitting AG?
Anybody in law enforcement who took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. Holder is NOT above the law and should be treated like any other criminal. Any ‘orders’ he gives are null and void.
Send the head of the FBI to arrest Holder. He should have been gone after his decision on the black panthers. Ir should have been noted then that he caved in to his racist beliefs. It’s long overdue that the congress begin telling the truth and forget about collegially. Getting along together is a two way street. If this country falls because of lack of it. so be it; it hasn’t happened ovenight and no group deserves all the blame. Efforts have been made for 40 years to give a certain minority group advantages (and this includes the nation’s highest elected office) but they have made a mess of their opportunities.
Timing is everything and the threatening letters are the center of the “drip” process which is coordinated with the calendar, to land right in front of the election. Good on Issa.
Dear Cong. Issa – as Sean Connery asked Kevin Costner while lying in a pool of his own blood in the movie The Untouchables (sorry, I cannot italicize the title), “…..What are you prepared to do?” Well, Congressman…..?
Yes, well…..until I see Issa declare, “You sir, are a liar and responsible for hundreds of deaths! Security! Escort Mr. Holder to a prison cell!”, I won’t hold my breath.
@#27 Lolly
I understand how you feel, but please get a grip on yourself. The refresh yourself on the U.S. Constitution. A Congressman has no authority to place the AG under arrest. The only way that Holder could be arrested is if he did it himself, or his boss (the ‘Bamster’) places him under arrest. The Senate has the authority to impeache him, but that will not happen with Harry Reid running the place. If Issa can create enough public pressure that would force Obama to appoint a Special Prosecutor in the vein of Ken Starr (who investigated Clinton’s perjury) or Archibald Cox (who investigated Nixon and his campaign following Watergate) then this hypothetical person would have the power to arrest Holder. I think it’s a damn good idea. Do you think the NY Times and NBC will get on board? No? Me neither.
But please stop presuming Issa has powers that he doesn’t have and SHOULDN’T have.
If impeachment is not in the cards due to a democratic senate, what does Issa do? Let the clock run out? Can Congress go back AFTER 01/20/2013 and hold the previous administration officials accountable? I understand the strategy of not charging Holder or anybody else until pardons are no longer possible. But, will Romney’s administration have the balls to start rooting out every scrap of corruption in every department of the executive office? Seems to me that the Republicans have a challenging new year ahead.
Obama Administration Asks Judge to Undo Order Against NDAA Indefinite Detention
http://www.democracynow.org/2012/5/29/headlines/obama_administration_asks_judge_to_undo_order_against_ndaa_indefinite_detention