Is Attorney General Eric Holder going to be held in contempt of Congress?
That’s up to him — but it sure seems so.
After battling Holder’s Justice Department for more than a year over subpoenaed documents related to the “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal, House Government Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa has scheduled a committtee vote on contempt of Congress charges for next Wednesday.
If that passes, the issue goes to the full — Republican-controlled — House.
Issa’s threat may have gotten Holder’s attention: Testifying before a Senate committee on Tuesday, Holder sounded penitent — maybe open to real negotiations.
And Issa responded yesterday that he’s open to delaying a vote if Holder submits a “serious [compromise] proposal.”
But skepticism is warranted: However much trouble Holder may be in now, the weeds would likely be much deeper if DOJ coughs up all the information being sought.
That is, continued stonewalling could be his best hope.
Fast and Furious was the code name for an ill-fated sting operation in which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives — part of DOJ — let 2,000 guns be purchased by drug cartel-connected traffickers and “walked” into Mexico.
ATF fumbled the sales and lost track of the weapons until they showed up in multiple crime scenes in Mexico.
Two such guns were tied to a Border Patrol agent’s murder. Others have turned up at crime scenes on both sides of the border. Indeed, the death toll associated with ATF-provided weapons is estimated to be in the hundreds.
Obviously, errors in judgment were made, and Issa has been looking for details.
Holder has been stonewalling.
And his credibility — and that of his agency — has been blown six ways from Sunday. Multiple public statements have been retracted — including whether DOJ was involved in gunwalking in the first place.
Most recently, Holder testified that conversations caught on a wiretap explicitly referring to “Fast and Furious” weren’t talking about that “Fast and Furious.”
This scandal has been hovering over the DOJ for most of the Obama administration.
Certainly, the American people have a right to know how government operation led to so many deaths.
If Holder continues to refuse to cooperate, Issa needs to act.
Then let President Obama pick up the pieces.