Thread: Holder Denies He’s Lost Public’s Confidence, Rejects Resignation Calls

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Holder Denies He’s Lost Public’s Confidence, Rejects Resignation Calls
By Fred Lucas
February 2, 2012
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Eric Holder

Attorney General Eric Holder testifies in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Nov. 8, 2011. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

(CNSNews.com) – Embattled Attorney General Eric Holder told a House panel investigating the botched Operation Fast and Furious gun sting operation that there was no cover up and he has not lost the confidence of Americans.

Already 103 members of Congress have called for Holder to resign over the Justice Department operation that allowed guns to flow to Mexican drug cartel. The operation was halted in December 2010 after two weapons the department lost track of in the program were found at the murder scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Holder insisted he did not know about the program until early 2011.

Holder insisted the committee take his entire record into account, but conceded the operation was “a flawed investigation both in content and execution.”

Holder was responding to a question from committee member Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.) regarding how he might regain the trust of Americans after the failed operation.

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“I’m not sure I have lost the trust of the American people,” Holder told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) was among members of the committee who brought up Holder’s resignation.

“Me and some of my colleagues have concluded that you should resign,” Farenthold said.

During the exchange, Holder said, “You ask me if I should resign, I want to respond to that.”

Holder said the Justice Department was a “dispirited department” that had “been politicized” under the Bush administration. He said he has had a strong record in the criminal, anti-trust and national security divisions of the department.

“If he wants to say I’m not a qualified person to be attorney general, you take that into account as well,” Holder said.

Farenthold responded that he was still concerned about the department withholding documents and suggested the administration might have allowed the continuation of the program in order to justify gun control laws.

“I’m concerned some of those documents are going to show the theory that has been floating around there was a delay on stopping Fast and Furious because based on some of the things people on the other side of the aisle have called for additional and stricter laws,” Farenthold said.

Holder earlier said there was never a cover-up with regard to dealing with Congress on Operation Fast and Furious.

“We’re not going to be hiding behind any executive privilege or anything,” Holder said. “With regard to post Feb. 5, Feb. 4, we will respond to those requests. The only thing we have talked about not responding to is deliberative material.”

Holder was referencing a Feb. 4, 2011 letter from the Justice Department to Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) denying that gunwalking ever happened. The Justice Department later admitted the letter was incorrect, but officials said it was not meant to intentionally mislead.

According to the oversight committee, the Justice Department has only made public eight percent of the documents that have been identified as related to Fast and Furious, or about 6,000 of a total 80,000 documents. Meanwhile, out of the 22 categories of documents subpoenaed by the committee, the department has withheld two-thirds.



Holder Denies He

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Holder: ‘I’m Not Sure’ How I Found About Fast and Furious
By Edwin Mora
February 2, 2012
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Holder

FILE - In this Sept. 7, 2011 file photo, Attorney General Eric Holder listens to a question about Medicare fraud enforcement at the Justice Department in Washington. Holder says an investigation of arms traffickers called Operation Fast and Furious was flawed in concept as well as in execution and never should have occurred. Facing tough questioning by Senate Republicans about the operation, He says he wants to know why and how firearms that should have been under surveillance could wind up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

(CNSNews.com) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told members of the House oversight panel that he knows when, but not how he heard of the controversial gun- walking Operation Fast and Furious.

“I mean I found out about it as I said I think in January, February of 2011 and I’m not even sure how I found out about it,” said Holder. “It might have been even through either the letter I received from Sen. [Chuck] Grassley [R-Iowa] on February 9th, I’m not sure if it was contained in there. There were certainly media reports about it in February. Again, I’m not sure exactly how I found out about the term Fast and Furious.”

Under Fast and Furious, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) under Holder’s Department of Justice knowingly allowed the sale of almost 2,000 weapons to straw purchasers that were destined for Mexican drug cartels. The intention was to trace the weapons to cartel higher-ups, but ATF lost track of the firearms.

One of the Fast and Furious weapons has been linked to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, who was gunned down on Dec. 14, 2010 by Mexican bandits near the Arizona-Mexico border.

That ignited a congressional investigation into Fast and Furious headed by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sen. Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

During Thursday’s hearing, Holder told Chairman Issa that he heard about Terry’s death within 24 hours of when it happened.

Issa then asked Holder, "When you were informed about that within 24 hours, did anyone inform you or allude to the fact that the weapons found at the scene were from Fast and Furious?"

"No," the attorney general responded. "I didn't know about Operation Fast and Furious until the beginning parts of 2011 after I received that letter from Senator Grassley, I guess at the end of January, and then that was about Operation Gun Runner. I actually learned about the Fast and Furious operation in February of that year."

Then, Issa asked, “We would like to know why someone kept that from you?”

“I’m not sure anybody kept it from me,” Holder replied.


Holder:

Holder Wants 'Some Credit’ for What ‘This Justice Department Has Done’
By Edwin Mora
February 2, 2012
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Eric Holder

Attorney General Eric Holder testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in the arms trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

(CNSNews.com) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, during a House oversight panel hearing on the botched gun-walking Operation Fast and Furious, said that he should be held accountable, but also given credit for what the Justice Department has accomplished under his leadership.

During the hearing, Rep. Ann Buerkle (R-N.Y.) played a video for Holder showing testimony given by the family of slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry during a previous House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing. Terry’s murder has been linked to a gun that was allowed to walk into criminal hands under Fast and Furious.

She then grilled Holder about his lack of accountability and asked, “How many more Border Patrol agents would have had to die as a part of Operation Fast and Furious for you to take responsibility?”

“You know I should be held accountable for certainly my role in whatever I did or didn’t do in connection with the supervision of Fast and Furious,” responded Holder, “but yeah I’m Attorney General of the United States, and I should also be held accountable and perhaps even given some credit – imagine that – given some credit for the things that this Justice Department has done under my leadership whether it deals with national security, revitalize anti-trust, revitalize civil rights enforcement efforts, so one has to balance all of these things.

“I’m not claiming to be a perfect person or a perfect attorney general,” he continued. “I get up everyday and try to do the best job that I can. I weigh faith in the people that work in the department, and you know that kind of question, I think is frankly, and again respectfully, I think that’s beneath a member of Congress.”

Democrats on the Republican-led panel were telling Holder not to answer Buerkle’s question.

Terry’s December 2010 death has been connected to Fast and Furious, which was spearheaded by an Arizona division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), a component of Holder’s Department of Justice.

Under the operation, the ATF allowed thousands of guns to “walk” into the hands of Mexican criminals in an effort to trace the guns and build larger cases against cartel members.

One of those weapons was found at the murder scene of Agent Terry, which sparked a congressional investigation by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The New York congresswoman, in grilling Holder, pointed out that she has called for the attorney general’s resignation.

“I would suggest that the president has been eerily quiet about coming to your defense,” she also told Holder.

Buerkle, honoring a request from Agent Terry’s family, also asked Holder if everyone involved in Operation Fast and Furious will “be brought up on charges.”

“We will hold accountable, seek to hold accountable those people responsible for Agent Terry’s death,” the attorney general responded, later adding “we are endeavoring to find out who made the determinations to allow guns to walk.”

“I should be held accountable for things that are factually correct as opposed to those things that are politically desired, and I’m more than willing to admit mistakes when I had made them,” he added, “but I also think that if we’re really going to get ahead here, if we’re really going to make some progress, we need to put aside the political gotcha games in an election year and focus on matters that are extremely serious.”

Throughout the hearing, Holder denied having knowledge of gun walking taking place under his leadership, and Democrats accused the Republican-led investigation into the operation of being politically motivated.


Holder Wants 'Some Credit


By all means let give him is credit where it is due!!!!!!!! BYE BYE

Obama Has ‘Complete Confidence’ in Attorney General Holder amid Fast and Furious Questions
By Fred Lucas
October 6, 2011
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Eric Holder

Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Monday, Oct. 4, 2010, that the Justice Department has sued the three largest U.S. credit card companies for anti-competitive practices. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama has “complete confidence” in his attorney general, Eric Holder, who has come under fire this week regarding questions as to whether he was honest under oath during his May 3 congressional testimony concerning the botched gun-sting program known as Operation Fast and Furious.

“I’ve been very clear that I’ve got complete confidence in Attorney General Holder, and how he handles his office has been very aggressive in going after gunrunning and cash transactions that have been going to these transnational drug cartels,” Obama said at a White House news conference on Thursday.

“He’s indicated that he was not aware of what was happening in Fast and Furious,” said the president. “Certainly, I was not. And I think both he and I would have been very unhappy if someone had suggested that guns were allowed to pass through that could have been prevented by the United States of America.”

“He’s assigned the inspector general to look into how exactly this happened,” said Obama. “And I’ve got complete confidence in him and I’ve got complete confidence in the process to figure out who, in fact, was responsible for that decision.”

Newly released documents show that Attorney General Eric Holder was informed about Operation Fast and Furious in memos from July 2010, which apparently contradicts his May 3 testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, when he said: “I’m not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.”

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) has called for a special counsel to probe whether Holder told Congress the truth when he was under oath.

Operation Fast and Furious was a botched gun-sting operation in which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) knowingly allowed guns to flow to Mexican drug cartels. The ATF lost track of most of the near 2,000 guns that it intended to track.

The program that began in September 2009 was halted in December 2010 when two guns from the operation were found at the murder scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. The matter is under investigation by Congress and the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General.


Obama Has


Crooked is as crooked does

We should have known the end of Western Civilization was on the horizon
way back when it became social suicide to call evil, evil, or to judge sin as sin.

Now the criminals control law enforcement. Tomorrow... ?

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