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House Republican Leadership Schedule Contempt Vote

June 21, 2012 by

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) released a statement yesterday that the vote on the contempt citation for Attorney General Eric Holder will be held next week. The resolution to find Holder in contempt has been amended to reflect the claim of executive privilege and may be amended more before the final vote.

“Despite being given multiple opportunities to provide the documents necessary for Congress’ investigation into Fast and Furious, Attorney General Holder continues to stonewall. Today, the Administration took the extraordinary step of exerting executive privilege over documents that the Attorney General had already agreed to provide to Congress. Fast and Furious was a reckless operation that led to the death of an American border agent, and the American people deserve to know the facts to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. While we had hoped it would not come to this, unless the Attorney General reevaluates his choice and supplies the promised documents, the House will vote to hold him in contempt next week. If, however, Attorney General Holder produces these documents prior to the scheduled vote, we will give the Oversight Committee an opportunity to review in hopes of resolving this issue.”

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Issa Interview After The Contempt Vote

June 21, 2012 by

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) was the lead guest on Fox’s On the Record with Greta van Sustern last night. He discussed in detail the contempt citation for Attorney General Eric Holder, the executive privilege claim, and other items related to Operation Fast and Furious.

Of note was that Issa was not notified of President Obama’s decision to claim executive privilege on the subpoenaed materials until about 10 minutes before the 10am meeting was to begin. It came to him in an 8-page document from the Attorney General’s office. As to the claim of executive privilege itself, Issa said the White House was either trying to create an executive privilege that doesn’t exist or that has a loosely held meaning.

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

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Condolences

June 21, 2012 by 1 Comment

Condolences to David Codrea and his family on the passing of his father this morning. David’s father had been ill for some time. Nonetheless, nothing really prepares one for the loss of a parent.

Also keep Mike Vanderboegh in your prayers as well. He went in the hospital on Monday for what was scheduled to be an out-patient procedure to place a stent in his esophagus. The out-patient procedure turned into an overnight stay and I’m still not sure if he has returned home yet.

It is a cruel twist of fate that the two citizen journalists who broke the news of Operation Fast and Furious were not able to participate in today’s events. Without their groundbreaking work and their introduction of certain whistleblowers to Congressional investigators, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee would never have voted to hold Eric Holder in contempt. We owe them a debt of gratitude for their tireless work on this scandal. We should also keep them and their families in our prayers during this trying time for both families.

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23-17

June 20, 2012 by 1 Comment

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee just voted 23 in favor and 17 opposed to send the contempt citation of Eric Holder to the full House of Representatives. They voted, as expected, along party lines.

As a reminder, it only takes one house of Congress to vote in favor of a contempt citation.

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Epic Rant

June 20, 2012 by

Rep. Trey Gowdy was in fine form this morning at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s business meeting to discuss the contempt citation for Attorney General Eric Holder. His summation of the case against Holder was excellent and was forceful.

You knew it was going to be good when you saw the slight glimmer of a smile on Chairman Darrell Issa’s face when he recognized Gowdy.

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Grassley On The Assertion Of Executive Privilege

June 20, 2012 by

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has responded forcefully to the White House’s claim of executive privilege for the documents involved in Operation Fast and Furious. He says it now raises even more questions.

Senator Chuck Grassley made the following comment about the President’s action today claiming executive privilege in response to congressional oversight of the government’s Fast and Furious gun-walking program. The congressional investigation began with Senator Grassley’s inquiry into whistleblower allegations that the government had allowed the transfer of illegally purchased weapons found at the scene of the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. The Department of Justice denied the allegations to Senator Grassley for 10 months before being forced to withdraw its denial in face of evidence to the contrary.

Grassley comment:

“The assertion of executive privilege raises monumental questions. How can the President assert executive privilege if there was no White House involvement? How can the President exert executive privilege over documents he’s supposedly never seen? Is something very big being hidden to go to this extreme? The contempt citation is an important procedural mechanism in our system of checks and balances. The questions from Congress go to determining what happened in a disastrous government program for accountability and so that it’s never repeated again.”

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NRA Will Score Contempt Vote On Holder

June 20, 2012 by 1 Comment

In a letter to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), Chris Cox of the NRA-ILA indicated that the NRA will be using the vote on the contempt citation for Eric Holder to evaluate candidates. They also said that they support the contempt citation for Holder.

The American people – including millions of NRA members and tens of millions of NRA supporters – deserve the truth about these issues, and we will support any effort that leads us to that truth. This is an issue of utmost seriousness and the NRA will consider this vote in future candidate evaluations.