The Issue: The Obama administration’s entanglement with the “Fast and Furious” investigation.
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President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are acting like a couple of cornered rats by not clarifying the issues and releasing documents requested by Congress (“What’s Bam Hiding?” Editorial, June 22).
The American people deserve honesty and responsibility from their leaders.
John Fox
Galloway, NJ
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With Holder in danger of being held in contempt of Congress, perhaps it would be best if we combine the attorney general’s problems and simply call them “Fast and Furious Leaks.”
Two for the price of one, and Obama can take credit for saving the country money.
Harold Frydman
Staten Island
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In movies, when a guy offers a deal like Holder did, it’s always blackmail, and the guy offering is always guilty.
Steven Bosky
Brooklyn
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Holder decided that two politically appointed underlings should investigate his boss with respect to a cascade of intelligence leaks that appear to originate from the White House.
He declined to appoint an independent special counsel, which would seem to be the surest path to uncovering the truth of what occurred, for better or worse.
Fast forward one week and we see Obama step forward in the 11th hour and assert executive privilege over documents requested by Congress and withheld by Holder.
In both cases, the most charitable conclusion is that the truth is being concealed.
And that’s without speculating what that truth might be or mentioning that the whole progression of events has a definite tit-for-tat feel to it.
James Slater
Manhattan
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Is anyone keeping an eye on Holder to ensure he doesn’t follow Sandy Berger’s example?
We wouldn’t want classified “Fast and Furious” documents to wind up in anyone’s socks and underpants.
Steve Coscia
Havertown, Pa.
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If there were true executive privilege in the “Fast and Furious” matter, it would’ve been asserted during one of Holder’s many appearances before the House committee over the past year.
Instead, the White House claims it at the last minute.
It would now seem that the White House has been involved in this matter early on, despite all its prior denials.
H. Fishman
Manhattan
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One creative way for Holder to avoid a constitutional crisis is to give Rep. Darrell Issa’s committee the subpoenaed documents revealing who in the Justice Department managed the “Fast and Furious” gun-running until Holder ended that murderous program.
The attorney general could have sought credit for the latter but accepted no responsibility for the former. Instead, Holder’s testimony has been obtuse, opaque and dodgy.
Holder is now reaping what he’s sown: contempt.
Ray Arroyo
Westwood, NJ
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If Holder is held in contempt of Congress, I volunteer to be the one who puts the handcuffs on him, if so ordered.
Robert McKenna
Staten Island
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How will things further unfold?
The most likely scenario is one skillfully practiced by President Clinton during his term.
Obama can wait until a major holiday or other distracting time and then dump a limited and incomplete number of documents on the Issa committee. He would then proclaim to the world that he has fully complied with the subpoena.
The benefits for Obama, Holder & Co. are many, including hosannas that they have fully complied — thus, case closed.
And when Republicans complain that the subpoena was not fully met, the fight can start all over again.
Go for it, Barry! You’ve got the mainstream media and your party on your side.
Andrew MacDonald
Fanwood, NJ