He’s not looking to be Barry’s pen pal:
In a letter to President Obama, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) wrote that the White House’s decision to withhold documents requested in the investigation “means one of two things.”
“Either you or your most senior advisors were involved in managing Operation Fast & Furious and the fallout from it … or, you are asserting a Presidential power that you know to be unjustified solely for the purpose of further obstructing a congressional investigation,” Issa wrote. “To date, the White House has steadfastly maintained that it has not had any role in advising the Department with respect to the congressional investigation. The surprising assertion of executive privilege raised the question of whether that is still the case.”
Issa said that federal courts have previously ruled that executive privilege assertions should apply only to White House staffers and not to Executive Branch officials working outside the West Wing.
In his letter, Issa held out hope that Holder will comply with congressional requests “so that we can work towards resolving this matter short of a contempt citation.” He added that he also hopes Obama “will define the universe of documents over which you asserted executive privilege and provide the Committee with the legal justification.”
Good luck with that last part.
The full House is expected to vote on the contempt of Congress resolution Thursday.
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