Fast & Furious: Holder Gets His Boss to Bail Him Out

This morning Eric Holder dodged appearing before the House Oversight Committee.  He was to have been there to answer to contempt charges over the failure of his DOJ to produce 60,00 plus documents related to the Fast & Furious Operation. (There is some question here, since last week Holder said there were now 140,000 documents.)  He has consistently stonewalled this release of documents since last May.  But he has always maintained that there was nothing of much importance in the documents.

Last night Holder sent a letter to the President to request Executive Privilege.  His letter said those documents pertain to the "deliberative process" on how to respond to congressional and media inquiries. Obama granted it in a letter given to the Committee this morning from Deputy Attorney General James Cole.
"We regret that we have arrived at this point, after the many steps we have taken to address the committee's concerns and to accommodate the committee's legitimate oversight interests regarding Operation Fast and Furious," Cole wrote. "Although we are deeply disappointed that the committee appears intent on proceeding with a contempt vote, the department remains willing to work with the committee to reach a mutually satisfactory resolution of the outstanding issues."

See here: House-republicans-tee-up-imminent-contempt-vote-against-holder
And here:  WSJ Article

"This untimely assertion by the Justice Department falls short of any reason to delay today's proceedings," Issa said.

So today it seems maybe Holder has been lying all along.  This is sort of like invoking the 5th Amendment - everyone then surmises you are guilty.  The general assumption now will be that there is incriminating evidence in the documents that can be politically damaging to the Administration, right before an election. 

The quote from James Cole above is classic stonewalling language similar to that which Holder and DOJ have been using for over a year to avoid a substantive response the the Committee's subpoenas for documents and witnesses.

Unfortunately, this 11-th hour action by the President has touched off a nasty spat between Democrat and Republican members of the Committee.  To my observation, the Democrat members are trying their best to sidestep the basic issues and to make like this investigation into F&F look like a political witch-hunt. for instance, Rep. James Quigley, D-IL, made a long speech about how the Arizona gun dealers are supplying "hundreds of  thousands" of AK-47s to Mexican cartels.  This is false, and merely highlights the anti-gun side's willingness to use bogus stats to change the subject.

If you listen to the hearing on C-Span, especially watch Trey Gowdy, R-SC, a former federal prosecutor, highlight the grievousness of the Committee's task.  He brings it all back to the reality of dead agents and dead Mexicans and probable conspiracy in DOJ and State to continue an ill-conceived and illegal operation.
See here:  C-SPAN - Meeting-to-Consider-Attorney-General-Holder-Contempt-Citation

I also recommend comments by Jackie Speier, D-CA, about investigation into DOJ's practices.  I rarely agree with her, but do on this point. (Of course she also displays her anti-gun bias later on.)

Then watch Rep. Raul Labrador, R-ID, discuss Holder's evasive testimony practices over the past year.

To me, this hearing today sums up the reasons why there has been such slow progress in this matter.  F&F could have been cleanup by Holder and DOJ easily last year.  Instead, they pursued the stonewalling tactic.  It is sad to see the partisanship being played by some Democrats on the Committee.  I see the Republication being more concerned with finding the truth, while the obstructive Democrats are concerned with politics. 

Bottom line:  Brian Terry is dead and his mother still doesn't know why.  Hundreds of Mexicans are dead and there is no explanation from DOJ.  Justice and truth are not being served yet.