Posted on 06/30/2012 9:33:19 PM PDT by neverdem
Congress held Attorney General Eric Holder in both civil and criminal contempt yesterday, in historic bipartisan votes, for his refusal to provide subpoenaed documents in the Fast and Furious investigation. This has never happened before. So what happens next?
The first consequence will be that the last media outlets trying to protect the Obama Administration by refusing to report on the worst scandal in Justice Department history will be obliged to mention it, in considerably more detail than they would like. They'll try to bury the details as much as possible, and they will still absurdly describe Fast and Furious as a "botched sting operation," but they'll have to explain why Congress wants those documents, and how long they've been waiting.
(For the benefit of those still working to catch up with the well-informed conservative blogosphere on this story, Fast and Furious was not a "sting operation." In a sting operation, law enforcement makes a serious effort to arrest the purchasers of the illegal merchandise they have dangled as bait. Absolutely zero effort was made to do this in Operation Fast and Furious. The only reason some of the weapons have been recovered is that they're turning up at crime scenes...not all of them in Mexico.)
Thus, there will be some political fallout from the contempt vote – even though it was, somewhat oddly, held in the shadow of the Supreme Court's ObamaCare decision. Public awareness of this story will grow, and that's deadly, as everyone trying to ignore it understands. Far less serious issues have become fatal to Washington careers due to saturation media coverage.
But what will become of Eric Holder? Well, his citation for criminal contempt will be turned over to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Ronald Machen. The U.S. Attorney has considerable discretion over how he wants to proceed. Technically he has a duty to convene a grand jury, but legal scholars are debating whether this would be "mandatory." Prosecutors are members of the executive branch, and we all know this particular executive branch doesn't have much respect for the powers and privileges of the other two.
As for Machen, he has a long working relationship with Eric Holder, going back over a decade. Here's the beginning of a Washington Post profile from April 2010, after Machen was appointed to the District of Columbia position by President Barack Obama:
Then-U.S. Attorney Eric H. Holder sat on the sofa of his fifth-floor office 13 years ago and listened to the young lawyer tell him what needed to change: Prosecutors spent too much time in their offices and the courthouse, and not enough time in the community.
Ronald C. Machen told his future boss in a job interview that they needed to have a regular presence throughout the District by attending community forums, meetings in church basements, youth summits and the like. Waiting until a crime is committed, Holder recalled Machen telling him, was too late to develop relationships.
The Post also noted that "Machen has long admired Obama — since his days at Harvard Law School, where Obama already was a 'legend,' Machen said." In 2003, Machen was one of the first people to donate to Obama’s U.S. Senate campaign, long before he emerged on the national political stage." He was also involved in vetting potential vice-presidential candidates for Obama.
Machen is young, just 42 years old, and black. That shouldn't matter a bit, but the Democrats have been laboring furiously to inject racial overtones into the Holder contempt drama. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) openly stated last week, "They're going after Eric Holder because he is supporting measures to overturn these voter suppression initiatives in the states. This is no accident. It is no coincidence. I'm telling you, this is connected. It is no accident. It is a decision and it is as clear as can be. It's not only to monopolize his time, it's to undermine his name. To undermine his name as he goes forward to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
It requires no presumptions about Machen's character to consider the nature and intensity of the pressure that will be directed against him to keep his boss out of the hot seat. He was also recently named one of the lead prosecutors on the matter of classified information leaking from the Obama Administration into the media, so any time he devotes to prosecuting Holder for contempt will surely be portrayed as a distraction from a much more important task.
And if he does decide to move forward against Eric Holder, Machen can always be over-ridden by his boss, the Attorney General of the United States, Eric Holder. Anyone who thinks Holder would be afraid to perpetrate such a political outrage hasn't been watching the same Attorney General, and Administration, that I have. Don't make the mistake of believing the media would excoriate him for such a transparently corrupt exercise of power. We're not talking about a Republican Administration here.
What's left, if Machen decides to ignore the contempt citations? Congress could go with a special prosecutor, but those appear to have fallen out of favor these days. Democrats may become very enthusiastic about them over the next four years, but for right now, they're strongly opposed to the notion. Senate Republicans have been pushing for a special prosecutor in the classified-leaks affair, and might not want to dilute that imperative by also insisting on a special prosecutor for Fast and Furious.
The most likely option for conscientious members of Congress – including the 17 House Democrats who voted to hold Eric Holder in criminal contempt, and the even larger contingent of 21 who voted to hold him in civil contempt – would be a civil suit, challenging the Administration's exertion of executive privilege to keep those sizzling-hot Justice Department documents away from congressional investigators.
However, civil courts have historically "resolved" such actions by telling Congress and the Administration to return to the negotiating table and work things out between themselves. An Associated Press analysis notes this has happened several times in the past, most pertinently when the Environmental Protection Agency under Ronald Reagan refused to hand over documents to Congress. The court in that case merely called for "compromise and cooperation" between Congress and the Reagan Administration.
Such a ruling would help Eric Holder run out the clock, which appears to have been Obama Administration strategy in the Fast and Furious cover-up all along. Contempt citations expire when a Congressional session concludes, and both Holder and Obama might well be gone in January anyway. Even if Obama wins re-election, Holder has not yet committed to serving as Attorney General in a second term. The game he's been playing only has to drag on for a few more innings, one way or the other.
Robert Heyder, the cousin of slain U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry – who died under a hail of bullets from Fast and Furious guns – observed mournfully on Thursday that "given the Obama Administration’s steadfast refusal to level with the American people, Congress was left with no choice but to vote Mr. Holder in contempt." It's hard to see how anything about the contempt citations will make the Obama Administration any less steadfast, unless they are the prelude to something even more dramatic.
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“What’s next for Attorney General Eric Holder? “
Why....Disney World, of course!
Probably on the taxpayer’s dime!
machen has already refused to prosecute.
Issa can order his arrest, but that is highly unlikely ...so now what?
The speaker should order the Capital Police to prepare a jail cell in the House Office building. Then send them to the entrances of the DOJ with an arrest warrant for Eric Holder. Period.
Deposition by counsel for the family of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry to determine Holder’s role in the wrongful death (murder).
Impeach him, and then dump an impeached Holder et al. on the Senate prior to the August recess. They're defending at least 23 seats this November. Let them deal with the consequences of removing them or not on Election Day! They ran and won with a bunch of moderates and centrists to win the Senate in 2006.
Issa was on Hannity’s radio show on Friday and stated that he will be seeking private council over the next 8 days that will assist in filing the civil lawsuit against Holder in DC court. He believes since this case involves 2 branches of the federal government in conflict with each that the court will expedite the matter (Obama and Holder want to delay past the election as Nixon did in ‘72).
The civil case is to get access to the subpoenaed documents. The criminal matter (who committed what crimes - we already know Eric Holder perjured himself to Congress) will be undertaken with the new POTUS and US AG.
What’s next for Attorney General Eric Holder?
Congress held Attorney General Eric Holder in both civil and criminal contempt yesterday, in historic bipartisan votes, for his refusal to provide subpoenaed documents in the Fast and Furious investigation. This has never happened before. So what happens next?
The first consequence will be that the last media outlets trying to protect the Obama Administration by refusing to report on the worst scandal in Justice Department history will be obliged to mention it, in considerably more detail than they would like. - They'll try to bury the details as much as possible, and they will still absurdly describe Fast and Furious as a "botched sting operation," but they'll have to explain why Congress wants those documents, and how long they've been waiting.
"Machen has already refused to prosecute.
"Issa can order his arrest, but that is highly unlikely...so now what?"
. . . . Check out article.
Thanks, MestaMachine.
Machen is a protected class too...
I don’t think holder can run from this forever. One way or another, he will get what’s coming to him.
BTW, I have caps but refuse to capitalize that which I do not respect.
NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO HOLDER. EVER.
Americans need to understand that there ARE 2 Americas: The DC crowd that is allowed to live OUTSIDE of the laws they impose on the rest of us, and then there is US, people like you and me.
These people in DC are 99% IMMUNE. The law means ABSOLUTELY **NOTHING** TO THESE PEOPLE. >>> NOTHING <<< Meanwhile YOU, and the rest of us peasants, are 99.9% RESPONSIBLE.
Holder can oversee an operation that is a violation of federal law and is responsible for ACTUAL HUMAN DEATHS and he gets to walk away. You hear that? WALK AWAY.
On the other hand if YOU fail to pay a parking ticket the cops will show up at your house or workplace to arrest you on a warrant. Even if they don’t show up at your house you will most certainly be arrested the next time you are held accountable to the law (ie: ANY traffic violation). At that time YOU WILL GO TO JAIL.
Congress will do this and that, but when January 20, 2013 arrives, if Obama is defeated, NONE of it will mean a damn thing. The matter will simply disappear. HOLDER WILL WALK.
The facts are simple: THE LAW IS ONLY FOR ***YOU***, NOT THOSE WHO IMPOSE IT ON YOU.
All of the political posturing is pure crap because the GOP isn’t going to arrest anyone. Not Holder, not anyone else. They don’t have the guts and they want to protect themselves.
THEY IMPOSE, YOU OBEY. That’s the new reality.
F&F can rightly be interpreted as an Act of War against a friendly county.
Yes. Holder will walk. Clinton walked. Algore’s e-mail disappeared. Repubs suck
“NOTHING WILL HAPPEN TO HOLDER. EVER.”
Sad but true.
Nothing will ever happen to Eric the Black.
In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s going to be AG for as long as he wants the job.
Worst case scenario:
‘bam get re-elected.
What happens to the Holder then?
He preezy are tight, but Holder has seen ‘bam pitch more than a few comrades under the bus.
Sure he probably has the goods on ‘bam, but how well will
his charges stick once congress has worked him over and ‘bam’s delivered the coup de grace?
You need a little credibility to make allegations stick;
he has none at this point and will have even less by then.
And then there’s Fort Macy Park.
Eric, the Republicans may be the least of your problems.
Holder has the goods on Bambi. He's not going under the bus, certainly not alone. Anyone who tries to take him down better be prepared to go down just as hard. That's the only reason he's still at the job now. And no, it would never occur to him to fall on his sword like a good soldier.
Obama is a dilettante at almost everything he does. He has no real interest in anything except himself, his comfort and his ego gratification. Holder, on the other hand is an old style radical, leftist thug. I think he secretly holds Obama in contempt. And Daley's machine may be nasty, but his is just as bad. Nope. He's going to be around just as long as Obama is.
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