Historic Contempt Charges Against AG Eric Holder
In a statement yesterday concerning the Congressional charges of criminal and civil contempt against him, Attorney General Eric Holder defiantly said that the charges are pure politics, and that this is essentially a “misguided and politically motivated investigation during an election year.” He arrogantly declared that Rep. Darrel Issa, R-California, and the others have focused on politics over public safety. The charges mark the first time in American history that an Attorney General has been held in contempt of Congress.
With bi-partisan support, House members approved the criminal contempt measure 255-67. Only two Republicans failed to vote affirmatively on the measure, while 17 Democrats reached across the aisle to vote with the majority. The civil measure passed with a vote of 258-95.
Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Florida stated “In the real world Americans are expected to comply with subpoenas. Is the attorney general any different? No he is not.”
The charges are the culmination of a year and a half of stonewalling Congress and failing to provide documents, in an attempt to discover who was responsible for the flawed Fast and Furious gunrunner program. Holder has failed to produce tens of thousands of pages of communications/emails pertaining to the gun running program, in which over two thousand firearms were delivered into the hands of members of Mexican drug cartels. The purported purpose of the program was to track these weapons, which would lead to the arrests of the leaders of these cartels and dismantle them. Two of these weapons were found at the site where Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was gunned down in 2009, more than eighteen miles away from the Arizona/Mexico border within the state of Arizona. It is also believed that over two hundred Mexicans have been murdered by these weapons.
Most House Democrats, led by the Congressional Black Caucus, walked out of Congress before the vote, with Rep. Nancy Pelosi calling the charges a “witch hunt” by the GOP.
Yes, this issue is being politicized, but not by the Republicans. The Democrats and the Congressional Black Caucus are making it political…and throwing in accusations of racism, just to stir things up a bit more.
Any decent person would look to reach across party lines in an attempt to get to the bottom of who was responsible for the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, in addition to ICE Agent Jaime Zapata and hundreds of Mexican citizens, and bring answers and closure to their grieving families.
Reports have been circulating that the Fast and Furious program was really an attempt to prove that the cause of escalating gang and drug cartel violence is a result of weapons that are being transported illegally from the United States into Mexico in an effort to impose stricter gun control legislation on the citizens of the United States.
Last week President Obama granted Holder Executive Privilege on the matter, raising questions as to whether the Obama Administration was involved in Fast and Furious. Many in the conservative blogosphere have been reporting on this since the beginning of the investigation. This scandal can no longer be ignored by the main stream media, and it is finally being reported by the major news networks and newspapers.
Isn’t it curious that we are not hearing any outrage from Mexican President Felipe Calderon? This is an international incident, and several hundred citizens of his country have been murdered with weapons provided by the U. S. federal government.
The truth must be revealed.
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