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Poll: Eric Holder Contempt Vote Merited? Or House Too Fast, Furious?

Thursday vote was historic—first time a U.S. attorney general was held in contempt of Congress.

When House Republicans, led by North County Rep. Darrell Issa, voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, it was the first time in history that a U.S. attorney general has been sanctioned this way in Congress.
Issa led an 18-month investigation into Holder’s role in the Justice Department's botched Fast and Furious operation. Holder fired back, calling the vote a “regrettable culmination of what became a misguided and politically motivated investigation.” Who is right?

Things I Learned June 29, 2012 at 03:11 pm
"...Back in February, Assistant Attorney General Ron Welch, in response to the investigations by Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Chuck Grassley of the Fast and Furious gun "walking" program run out of ATF's Phoenix office, wrote a letter stating that the "allegation that ATF 'sanctioned' or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons is false."
The [ATF], Welch contended, "makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico." Another Friday document dump has confirmed what agent testimony and other information have already shown — this letter, and almost everything in it, was a complete fabrication. ... on Friday, Deputy [AG] James Cole... wrote: "Facts have come to light during the course of this investigation that indicate the Feb. 4 letter contains inaccuracies...." On Feb. 3, ATF Agent Gary Styers addressed a memo to top officials of the Bureau. In it he corroborated the testimony fellow agent Dodson had provided Sen. Grassley one week earlier, asserting Dodson was quite correct in claims that the bureau "divided and isolated agents" while facilitating the deliberate walking of guns across the Mexican border So the Friday letter withdrawing the February letter is itself full of "inaccuracies..." Friday's document dump shows that DOJ knew the letter was deceptive as it was being drafted and that it was a monumental effort to conceal the truth." http://tinyurl.com/7jbylt6
Summer Hemphill June 29, 2012 at 03:12 pm
Darrell Issa has it all wrong,Holder should be held in contempt for allowing the Justice Department to interfere with state sanctioned medical marijuana programs ! Fast & Furious was a program started during the Bush Administration in an attempt to stem the flow of firearms from straw buyers in Arizona to drug lords in Mexico. Issa is just another right-wing political grandstander whose charges are without significant merit once one fully understands the issues at hand. This is nothing more than an NRA backed attempt to embarrass the present administration & rally their supporters in an election year ! Todays Republican Party consists of anti-labor billionaires,gun nuts & bible based bigots. Looks like President Obama was right all along !!!
Things I Learned June 29, 2012 at 03:20 pm
George Bush unfairly kept his Halliburton 2000 time machine hidden from the public when he jumped forward to start Fast and Furious in 2009 during the Obama administration. We are lucky that America's largest and oldest civil rights group isn't intimidated by the present administration. When President Obama called Pennsylvania Democratic primary voters bitter clingers he sure was right !!!
Komfort June 29, 2012 at 03:49 pm
Congressional Record shows what Rep Cummins and DoJ knew:
" Mr. ISSA. I thank the Speaker. I submit the following: House of Representatives, COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM, Washington, DC, May 24, 2012. Hon. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member, Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Ranking Member Cummings: Last February, I joined Senator Grassley in investigating Operation Fast and Furious, the reckless and fundamentally flawed program conducted by the Phoenix Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). As you know, during Fast and Furious, ATF agents let straw purchasers illegally acquire hundreds of firearms and walk away from Phoenix gun stores. The misguided goal of this operation was to allow the U.S.-based associates of a Mexican drug cartel to acquire firearms so they could be traced back to the associates once the firearms were recovered at crime scenes. On December 15, 2010, two guns from the Fast and Furious operation were the only ones found at the scene of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's murder..." http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r112:2:./temp/~r112kJYGGW:e283095: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r112:2:./temp/~r112kJYGGW:e293381: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?r112:2:./temp/~r112kJYGGW:e304312:
Mary June 29, 2012 at 03:55 pm
Congressman Darrell Issa is an embarrassment to the San Diego area. When are the voters in his district going to vote him out of office? Issa specifically said he has no proof that Eric Holder or President Obama have done anything illegal, so why does he continue with a contempt charge? Maybe Congressman Darrell Issa would like to explain his felony record. Look it up, it's public record.
Komfort June 29, 2012 at 04:08 pm
Was Henry Waxman an embarrassment when he went after the cover up of Pat Tillman's death at the hands of the US government?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/27/opinion/27fri2.html
Things I Learned June 29, 2012 at 04:26 pm
"`We have no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing, but the seriousness of these allegations, and the weight of circumstantial information, compel an effort to establish the facts...."
---Tom Foley (D) Speaker of the House ---George Mitchell (D) Senate Majority Leader Regarding uncorroborated eleven year old charges that George Bush 41 had snuck off to Paris just before the 1980 election to make a deal with the Ayatollah to delay the release of American hostages to help the Reagan-Bush campaign win. [FROM THE UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL, AUG. 6, 1991] http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1992_cr/h920205-october-clips.htm Americans do not believe in redemption. http://santee.patch.com/articles/poll-how-would-jesus-vote-on-the-paul-ryan-budget-plan-in-congress#comment_3680598
Kevin George June 29, 2012 at 04:26 pm
"so why does he continue with a contempt charge?
Brian Terry is permanently dead.
Ed Sorrels June 29, 2012 at 04:41 pm
Should there be any doubt in anyones mind about the absolute stupidity of " Fast and Furious " just ask the wife of the murdered (With a fast and furious gun) border patrol agent and now his refusal to comply with the demands of the congress for information on the really stupid idea that He as head lawyer of the United States put into motion, The reasons he felt it necessary, the timeing , the outcome that he was trying to achieve and a host of other questions pertaining to this whole mess. He deserves censure and removal from office, This was way beyond stupid and should never have happened. Now congress is trying to make it political. It is not, it is just plain stupidity of the highest order, and he must be held accountable.
Ed Sorrels June 29, 2012 at 04:47 pm
Right on Summer, But the Marijuana is another issue as is Holders unilateral making me a felon in my own country that I served in for 8 years, I have a card and I own guns so according to him I am now a felon also I can buy niether more ammunition or any other guns doing so I must either commit perjury or break (HIS ) law. and make myself subject to legal penaltys. I now wonder just why I went to war.
Kevin George June 29, 2012 at 05:11 pm
Summer ( the one hit wonder), Prop 215 was passed in 1996.
Under which administration were the medical marijuana dispensaries raided and closed? Ed, unless you started smoking mj after you bought your last gun, you already committed perjury. Don't get me wrong, I favor legalization, and gun ownership. But I could never figure how anyone would get a mj card if he was a gun owner. You know the question they ask: " Do you use marijuana" so if you have signed both documents you are a perjurer unless of course you started after buying your last gun. And even that is "iffy".
Summer Hemphill June 29, 2012 at 06:53 pm
The real questions are why are there over 800 firearms dealers in the Phoenix area alone & why are people allowed to purchase semi-automatic rifles by the hundreds daily to resell them to anyone they please with no restrictions under federal law ? The NRA & their Republican lackies are more responsible for thousands of gun deaths on both sides of the border than their Democratic rivals due to their refusal to even consider reasonable regulations concerning the sale of guns in this country. They're just trying to mislead the public in this matter because the bloods is obviously on their hands. There is no such thing as responsible gun ownership if the gun owners continue to support those who cite the 2nd Amendment to promote & preserve irresponsible gun laws.
Komfort June 29, 2012 at 07:04 pm
From the Congressional Record:
"MARCH 2010 WIRETAP DETAILS HOW FAST AND FURIOUS FIREARMS HAD BEEN FOUND AT CRIME SCENES IN MEXICO The wiretap affidavit also details the very sort ``time-to-crime'' for many of the firearms purchased during Fast nd Furious. For example, on November 6, 2009, November 12, 2009, and November 14, 2009, Straw Purchaser Y purchased a total of 25 AK-47 type firearms from an FFL in Arizona. On November 20, 2009--just eight days later--Mexican officials recovered 17 of these firearms in Naco, Sonora, Mexico. Another straw purchaser, Straw Purchaser Q, purchased a total of 17 AK-47 type firearms from an FFL on November 3, 2009, November 10, 2009, and November 12, 2009. Then, on December 9, 2009, Mexican officials recovered 11 of these firearms in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, along with approximately 421 kilograms of cocaine, 60 kilograms of methamphetamine, 48 additional firearms, 392 ammunition cartridges, $2 million in U.S. currency, and $800,000 in Mexican currency. Once again, although ATF was aware of these facts, no one was arrested, and ATF failed to even approach the straw purchasers. Upon learning these details through its review of this wiretap affidavit, senior Justice Department officials had a duty to stop this operation. Further, failure to do so was a violation of Justice Department policy."
Things I Learned June 29, 2012 at 07:09 pm
The fake questions are the real questions.
Things I Learned June 29, 2012 at 09:50 pm
"Grassley and Issa said that in early 2011, right around the time Grassley first made public the whistleblowers’ allegations about Fast and Furious, Scot Thomasson – then the chief of the ATF’s Public Affairs Division – said, according to an eyewitness account: “We need to get whatever dirt we can on these guys [the whistleblowers] and take them down.”
Thomasson also allegedly said that: “All these whistleblowers have axes to grind. ATF needs to f—k these guys...." Grassley and Issa have given Horowitz until July 6 to answer whether Thomasson was “admonished” for those threats against whistleblowers, how he got his job in the first place and how the DOJ and ATF are going to make sure he doesn’t retaliate against whistleblowers moving forward. The two lead Fast and Furious investigators also released new, never-before-public documents that show officials in ATF’s Washington headquarters were trying to cover up Fast and Furious two weeks before Grassley ever even asked about it.... Grassley and Issa released other internal documents, including emails [that] show that soon-to-be-former Assistant Attorney General Ron Weich – who is resigning to lead the University of Baltimore School of Law – may have been in on this cover-up plan. Weich was the author of a false Feb. 4, 2011 letter to Grassley, in which he denied – on behalf of Holder – gunwalking ever took place. Holder’s DOJ withdrew that letter 10 months later, in December 2011.
Things I Learned June 29, 2012 at 09:50 pm
http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/29/issa-grassley-release-details-about-fast-and-furious-whistleblower-retaliation-cover-up/
Ed Sorrels June 30, 2012 at 06:08 pm
Kevin, Yes other than a few hits back in the 60's along with the rest of the world I started using after I already owned my weapons, which as a former Marine and team shooter with both the pistol and rifle I would think makes me a responsiable user of firearms. The rst of my objection to holder's unilateral making of this law remain the same, as I thought it was our congress that made the laws of this country (Altho lately that hasn't been the case).
David Secor June 30, 2012 at 06:09 pm
As all NRA members know - Guns Don't Kill People, People Kill People.
No upstanding NRA member is alarmed by the Phoenix man on food stamps who purchased 450+ weapons over a 6-month period with over $300.000 in cash, because guns DON'T kill people, people kill people. Arizona law does not ALLOW ATF agents to do a damn thing about massive gun purchases for cash or credit. If you are 18 and with no criminal record you can buy as many guns as you want with no tracking of the purchase. Neither Issa, Mica or good NRA members would do anything to change that, because guns don't kill people, people kill people. 70% of ALL cartel weapons come from the USA, and 50,000 people in Mexico have been killed in drug-related violence since 2006. That should not concern you because, as you KNOW, it is NOT about guns, because guns don't KILL PEOPLE, people kill people. Is the ATF a bunch of total screw-ups? Beyond any doubt YES! Did everyone all the way up the chain try to cover their own worthless a33es? No question! But these morons are not CAPABLE of a conspiracy! The one FTA agent who DID by weapons was the WHISTLEBLOWER in the case, agent Dotson, who after purchasing them went on a 4-day vacation. The 5 Phoenix agents who know what was going on have NEVER been brought before Issa's committee, and won't be, because this is a circus event, not an investigation. Issa doesn't care about agent Terry, or massive gun purchases, so what is the point of this?
Things I Learned June 30, 2012 at 06:59 pm
Guns don't kill people. People who sell guns to Mexican drug lords who can't be prosecuted because they are FBI informants kill people.
If you exclude the 68% of weapons that Mexico doesn't even bother to submit to the ATF for tracing because the guns are obviously not from the U.S. like the RPGs from China and the full-auto AKs from former Soviet bloc countries and the C-4 explosives from El Salvador then 70% of the guns that can be traced from the 32% that are submitted including the 2500 that Barack Obama's ATF sold to Mexican drug lords are from the United States. Obama's executive branch is too stupid to carry out a conspiracy unlike George Bush who personally detonated the World Trade Center. Democrats are powerless to bring compliant ATF agents to a fake hearing like they did with Sandra Fluke. Whistleblowing is unpatriotic again. "ATF Special Agent John Dodson has testified how in one instance guns were sold to known illegal buyers who took them to a stash house. Against orders from his superiors, Dodson kept the stash house under surveillance and when a vehicle showed up to transfer the weapons to their ultimate destination, he called for an interdiction team to move in, seize the weapons and arrest the traffickers. His superiors refused, and the guns disappeared without surveillance." http://tinyurl.com/6rcorge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5Y6UQLWPyY
Robert Paulson June 30, 2012 at 08:22 pm
This entire problem is the responsibility of the NRA including Terry's death. His blood is on their hands.
Things I Learned June 30, 2012 at 08:38 pm
"Attorney General Eric Holder's refusal to fully disclose the documents associated with Operation Fast and Furious and President Obama's assertion of executive privilege serves to compound this tragedy. It denies the Terry family and the American people the truth. Our son, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, was killed by members of a Mexican drug cartel armed with weapons from this failed Justice Department gun trafficking investigation. For more than 18 months we have been asking our federal government for justice and accountability. The documents sought by the House Oversight Committee and associated with Operation Fast and Furious should be produced and turned over to the committee. Our son lost his life protecting this nation, and it is very disappointing that we are now faced with an administration that seems more concerned with protecting themselves rather than revealing the truth behind Operation Fast and Furious."
---Josephine Terry ---Kent Terry Sr. 2012 Holders of the Cindy Sheehan Absolute Moral Authority Card
David B Secor July 1, 2012 at 01:01 am
Issa doesn't give a damn about agent Terry. Nothing that the committee is doing will aid in finding the killer or stopping the flood of U.S. weapons going to Mexican cartels. Issa and the committee are opposed to ANY restrictions on gun sales and ANY attempts to register those sales, or track them. Agent Terry and his family are just pawns in the Issa game. Issa's use of them is a disgrace, as was his how-could-this-not-be-criminal rise to the top of the food chain in the private sector.
As previously noted, the ATF is nothing but a bunch of screw-ups. They have no idea what they are doing. On the other hand, that snake in a snakeskin jacket Issa knows exactly what he's doing. It's only FoxNews viewers that are incapable of seeing what's right before their eyes. A sleaze using the pain of a slain agent's family to advance his personal vendettas. What Holder did or didn't know about what the ATF idiots were doing has nothing to do with Terry's death. The vast majority of cartel weapons 70% are coming from us, to arm the cartels so they can bring more drugs to us. Agent Terry was killed with a gun from the U.S. Issa and his committee have absolutely no intention of doing anything that would solve that crime, or prevent more agents from being killed by weapons from the U.S. He wants to chew on Holder. He's chewing on Holder. When this circus is over, the Terry family won't know a damn thing more than they know today. Issa knows it, and you know it, too.
Things I Learned July 1, 2012 at 02:18 am
http://lamesa.patch.com/articles/poll-eric-holder-contempt-vote-merited-or-house-too-fast-furious#comment_3819173
Libi Uremovic July 1, 2012 at 11:41 am
fast & furious illustrates the basis of our economic problems; for years the feds have been running up debt by authorizing wasteful expenditures like fast & furious instead of using funds for the basic needs of the country and reducing the debt.

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