Posted on 11/13/2011 8:04:40 PM PST by neverdem
The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday centered around efforts to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, but Ranking Member Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) used some of his allotted time to criticize Attorney General Eric Holder’s performance at Tuesday’s oversight hearing of the Department of Justice, specifically the botched Operation Fast and Furious gun-walking operation.
“On Tuesday, the attorney general finally admitted that the whistleblowers were right all along about gun-walking Fast and Furious,” Grassley said, referring to the committee’s oversight hearing on the DOJ earlier in the week where Holder testified. “While I’m pleased that the attorney general is no longer trying to deny the obvious, he did not fully own up to his responsibility.”
Operation Fast and Furious was a Justice Department operation that began in September 2009. In the operation, federal law enforcement officials in Phoenix, Ariz., knowingly allowed about 2,000 guns to flow to Mexican drug cartels.
Many of those guns subsequently were used in crimes. The program was halted in December 2010 after two guns found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry were identified as part of the operation.
At Thursday’s hearing, Grassley said he has never let stand attempts to “stonewall” Congress in its oversight efforts.
“I tell all these people that stonewall on giving us information, the longer you stonewall, the more egg you’re going to have on your face when the facts come out,” Grassley said. “[The DOJ] should have told us back on Feb. 4 what they knew about -- but no, in fact, a lie can go on for nine months and more egg on their face.”
Grassley was referring to a letter he received in February from Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, Holder’s deputy, assuring the committee that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms “makes every effort” to stop illegal weapons from getting into Mexico from the United States.
At another judiciary committee hearing back on Nov. 1, Grassley questioned Lanny Breuer, head of DOJ’s criminal division about the letter, and told Holder about that exchange on Tuesday.
“Last week, the head of the Criminal Division, Lanny Breuer, said that he deeply regrets his failure to tell you earlier about gun walking and Operation Wide Receiver, but what about his failure to tell Congress and correct false statements in the department's letter to me on February 4th?” Grassley asked. “Is that acceptable to you, that he did not tell us about those false statements in the letter of February 4th?”
Holder responded that some of the information in Weich’s letter was “inaccurate” and that it could have been “better crafted.”
“The letter could have been better crafted,” Holder said. “We were relying in the crafting of that letter -- people were relying on information provided to them by people who were, we thought, in the best position to know what was accurate.”
In Tuesday’s exchange, Grassley asked Holder why he would risk “contempt of Congress” charges by not responding to a House subpoena seeking drafts of the Feb. 4 letter.
Holder said he was “trying to work with you in providing all the relevant information we can.”
Grassley also said at Thursday’s mark-up that the committee was told it would be allowed to interview 12 individuals at DOJ about Operation Fast and Furious, but, to date, only one individual had been made available, a fact Grassley called “unacceptable.”
“If this controversy has taught us anything it is that you have to talk directly to the people who know the facts,” Grassley said. “If Congress had relied on the department’s official talking points we still wouldn’t know the truth today.”
More like: The longer you’ll be cleaning the toilet in your cell with a toothbrush.
Thanks neverdem.
I watched Holder on C-span for a little bit last night. I was struck dumb by how arrogant this guy is. You can tell he considers himself “untouchable”.
Well, H0lder’s been involved in a whole mess o’trouble over the decades w/o having to pay the price.
To my understanding it was not. In Wide Receiver the BATFE attempted to track the weapons and the effort proved unreliable. Hence, the program was discontinued. There was no attempt to track the weapons in Gun Walker, indeed, quite the contrary. This was purely a system to arm our enemies while simultaneously "justifying" the Small Arms Treaty wherewith effectively to annul the Second Amendment.
The two are substantially different. Sharyl Akisson's equation of the two is totally without merit.
Grassley is a nice guy but he gets it wrong re “more egg on your face.”
Holder and his political hacks couldn’t give a damn about egg on their face. They are playing the odds that Congress will not hold them in contempt for lying under oath, and that the Democrats will play the race-card in Holder’s defense.
Holder is both Obama’s “iceman” and is psychologically and pathologically an “iceman”, “stone-cold”, a “mechanic”, and a man bent on revenge against the white establishment. His participation in Clinton’s presidential pardons of hardcore terrorists and Marc Rich, a big Democrat donor (who used his wife to deliver a lot of money to the Clintons), reveals that he has no scruples, principles, or ethics.
He has loaded the Dept. of Justice with hardcore liberals and far-leftists from nearly every leftist legal group around.
They are there to prosecute their “class” enemies, including some Big Business organizations, independent truckers and farmers, land-owners, and conservatives.
This has been confirmed by former DOJ high-ranking officials who have broken out of the group-think and revealed, under oath, what Holder, Brauer, and others have done to corrupt, undermine, and destroy the Constitution.
What Grassley should have said to Holder and company is that that more you lie, the more jail time you will serve.
Grassley - time to shit or get off the pot. No more gentlemanly cojoling, threats, pleas, etc. Take off the velvet gloves and put on iron mail gauntlets, and slap these leftist bastards silly.
My only question is why they have issued contempt of congress citations already. They need to jack these corrupt arrogant creeps up a little.
My only question is why haven’t they have issued contempt of congress citations already?’
There fixed it.
Well, from his point of view I'd say that's not arrogance alone, based on past experience and the fact that he is now working for a man that A) breaks the law daily without consequence (ball-less congress), B) is pretty sure his boss will cover his ass, and C) sees no one on the horizon that could or would arrest him.
The Justice Department is run by criminals who are in turn backed by criminals in the WH. I'll feel pretty good about my prospects if I were him.
Everyone needs to own up to the truth. These people are going to walk, just like all the criminals in the Clinton WH. It was depressing to watch the hope in Americans that thought justice would prevail every time criminal activity was uncovered. And of course, it was not. It won't happen this time either.
bttt
"Better crafted?"
That's nothing more than legalize for saying: "We should have been more deceptive so that you wouldn't be able to call us on it later."
Egg would be an improvement upon what he will have on his face.
“...Take off the velvet gloves and put on iron mail gauntlets, and slap these leftist bastards silly...”
They won’t.
If the entire Repub contingent in the House and Senate would stand up and stand behind him, they could end both Holder and Obama.
They have no balls, and this POS Holder will walk.
I hope I’m wrong.
In Wide Receiver the BATFE attempted to track the weapons and the effort proved unreliable. Hence, the program was discontinued.
You're correct. I meant the net result was the same, i.e. guns walked. I meant that after their experience with Wide Receiver, why would they expect anything different with Fast & Furious?
From what I understand, when some ATF agents protested they were overruled. My take on this monster is that the idea originated in the Department of State as a way to justify ratifying the Small Arms Treaty while simultaneously driving Mexico into chaos to force more future Democrats to immigrate. Holder simply ran with it while Napolitano had her people shut up and look the other way. That means the decision to go had to have been concluded in the White House.
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