Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Holder Feeling the Pressure From Issa

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/holder-calls-contempt-charges-against-him-an-impending-constitutional-crisis/

Our disgrace of an Attorney General has made overtures to the effect that he may get off his high horse.

After months of stalling and stonewalling, Eric Holder indicated that he may be willing to release documents pertaining to the "Fast and Furious" gun walking program.

Well, the documents were only subpoenaed in October of 2011 and our Attorney General has been really busy since then.....


"However, Holder now says he is willing to work with Republican lawmakers in order to avoid the charges – or as he called it, the “impending constitutional crisis.”

During the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Holder for the DOJ’s (Department of Justice) stance on the recently leaked wiretap applications relating to Fast and Furious and whether his department was willing to provide additional documents. Surprisingly, the attorney general seemingly extended his hand to the GOP saying, he is prepared to make “compromises with regard to the documents that can be made available.”

“I want to make it very clear that I am offering – I myself – to sit down with the Speaker, the chairman, with you,[Bolding added] whoever, to try and work our way through this in an attempt to avoid a constitutional crisis, and come up with ways, creative ways, in which to make this material available. But I’ve got to have a willing partner. I’ve extended my hand, and I’m waiting to hear back,” Holder said in response to a question posed by Grassley."

Note that Holder is still actually falling quite short of full cooperation. If I were required by subpoena to turn over documents, would I be able to state that I was willing to come up with "creative ways" to produce the documents? Would I be able to make counter demands for "a willing partner"? The only thing that I can guess he meant was that only the three people that he mentioned above should be able to see them. When Holder indicates that he may be willing to allow only three people to have access to the documents, I have to think that these are potentially damning for lots of important people. Perhaps the AG is hoping that he can persuade the three that what they will read is too big to release in a public setting.

"The response could mean that the continued pressure coming from Congressional investigators like Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is working. Issa recently argued that the wiretap applications, which he claims were leaked from a group of “furious whistleblowers,” indicate that senior DOJ officials were aware of the tactics being used in Fast and Furious well before Holder and his department claim."

This program is believed by many to have been designed with the intent to demonstrate that the Mexican Drug Cartels were obtaining many of their weapons from straw purchasers in the US, thus providing an argument for stricter gun control legislation in a nation that is not a Narco-State. Firearms dealers were in some cases apparently pressured by ATF Agents to make the sales despite their concerns about the intentions of some of the buyers. The firearms that were purchased were then allowed to "walk" across our southern border. One of these weapons was used in the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

More on this in the posts linked below:

http://thehotgates480bc.blogspot.com/2011/10/fast-and-furious-lapierre-speaks-out.html

http://thehotgates480bc.blogspot.com/2011/11/erick-holder-declines-to-apologize-for.html

Recently, Holder again obstinately refused to cooperate with Congressional Investigators. Ca. Representative Darrell Issa has been absolutely heroic and steadfast in his determination to get Holder to come clean about what those in the upper echelons of the Justice Department (And possible the White House) knew about this operation. Issa had made it clear on more than one occasion that he prepared to move to have Holder charged with Contempt for failing to cooperate with Investigators.

Holder continued to refuse to cooperate and cited his "superior knowledge" of the situation.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/i-have-superior-knowledge-holder-pressed-on-dojs-involvement-in-fast-furious-dismisses-evidence/

But, when a vote was scheduled for this matter with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Holder reconsidered his stance.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/real-news-from-the-blaze-holder-in-hot-water-committee-to-vote-on-contempt/

The information gleaned from wiretaps recordings that the Committee obtained leads one to believe that Senior Justice Dept officials knew far more about this than Holder indicated:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/issa-fast-and-furious-wiretap-information-shows-involvement-of-senior-doj-officials/

"On what basis did Issa make such a bold accusation? He says the investigating committee is basing their information on six wiretap applications that have been obtained by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and relate to the failed operation.

“The wiretap applications show that immense detail about questionable investigative tactics was available to the senior officials who reviewed and authorized them,” Issa wrote. “The close involvement of these officials – much greater than previously known – is shocking.”

The six wiretap applications were approved by senior Justice Department officials from March through July, 2010, according Issa. All of the applications included a “memorandum” from Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer to Paul M. O’Brien, Office of Enforcement director."

From the time that the Fast and Furious made the news (And the mainstream media has been brutally silent on this event), I held that it had the potential to get really ugly for a lot of bigwigs in our current Administration.




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