Posted on 12/16/2011 4:56:59 AM PST by marktwain
Nearly two-dozen Republicans are backing legislation stating that Congress “has lost confidence” in Eric Holder to continue as attorney general.
The resolution, introduced by Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and supported by 21 GOP co-sponsors, resolves “that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress has lost confidence in the Attorney General of the United States.”
Gosar pointed to Holder’s role, as the head of the Justice Department, in overseeing a botched gun-tracking operation called Fast and Furious as the main reason for the diminished level of confidence.
He said he hopes the resolution would bring an added level of public awareness to the debate over whether Holder is fit to serve as the country’s top law enforcement officer.
“By filing this resolution, we are anticipating a debate on the House floor and a floor vote,” Gosar said in a news release. “This will bring needed inquiry, exposure and transparency to the issue itself.”
An aide on the House Judiciary Committee, where the resolution was referred to be marked up, said the panel did not have plans to consider the measure before the end of the year. It has not finalized its legislative schedule for next year, the aide said.
Republicans have been investigating and heavily scrutinizing Holder and the Obama administration over the operation for the majority of the year. Both Holder and Obama have said they did not authorize Fast and Furious and that they will hold those who did responsible.
Republicans said the operation — which oversaw the sale of about 2,000 weapons to known and suspected straw buyers for Mexican drug cartels — is indicative of an incompetent agency and that Holder must take responsibility for it because it occured under his watch.
“It is imperative that the citizens of our nation have confidence in our Attorney General,” Gosar said in the release. “After months of evasive answers, silence and outright lies, it is time that Congress speak up on behalf of the many people who have or will fall victims to the firearms in the flawed gunrunning operation Fast & Furious.”
The resolution is backed by Republican Reps. Trent Franks (Ariz.), David Schweikert (Ariz.), Jeff Duncan (S.C.), Connie Mack (Fla.), Paul Broun (Ga.), Lynn Jenkins (Kan.), Gus Bilirakis (Fla.), Kenny Marchant (Texas), Michael Grimm (N.Y.), Blake Farenthold (Texas), Renee Ellmers (N.C.), Jeff Landry (La.), Dan Burton (Ind.), Alan Nunnelee (Miss.), Francisco Canseco (Texas), Vicky Hartzler (Mo.), Bobby Schilling (Ill.), Steve Pearce (N.M.), Bill Johnson (Ohio), Walter Jones (N.C.) and Allen West (Fla.).
Holder came under fire last week before the Judiciary Committee over the operation, with Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) suggesting that impeachment charges could be brought against the attorney general if Republicans continue to feel as though the administration is blocking their attempts to get more information about the program.
Holder maintains that DOJ has complied with congressional subpoenas and requests for information as much as possible, citing several ongoing criminal cases involved with the operation and an independent investigation by the DOJ’s inspector general that has been under way for nine months.
One of the issues on which Republicans have focused their anger is a February letter from the DOJ to Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), in which the agency stated that it did not let guns “walk” — willingly enter the hands of suspected criminals with no plan to intercept or repossess them.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have testified, and documents uncovered by congressional investigators have revealed, that the operation did in fact let guns “walk,” a practice that began on a smaller scale in a separate operation during President George W. Bush’s administration.
In an unprecedented move, Holder turned over scores of internal DOJ emails to lawmakers earlier this month in an attempt to show that the agency was acting on information that it believed true. Holder has said repeatedly that DOJ officials did not intentionally mislead members of Congress.
According to the Daily Caller, 56 lawmakers have called for Holder’s resignation.
Gunwalker ping.
The PROPER response is called “a bill of impeachment”.
Buncha wimps—RINOs.
They don't have the Stones.
They huff and they puff..
and then they go wee wee wee all the way home.
Gutless wonders!
Holder should be hung by his nether parts for 24 hours in the city square, then hauled off to the worst jail in the country to spend the rest of his life.
That’s always IMHO, of course.
Congress should impeach Eric Holdup, criminally convict him, and then hand him over to Sheriff Joe.
There might be something else brewing. Last night on his radio show, Todd Schnitt mentioned something about another gun smuggling operation out of Florida going to Central America. He said he would talk about it today once his info was put together. Stay tuned!
No confidence? No just us, no peas.
INDICT the mutha brutha!
PING!
That reminds me.....is anyone checking to see if there was any CIA involvement in this mess?
If it’s the Tampa thing, we already have it.
Yes, and there was.
And when did we switch to parliamentary government?
We do? What is the Tampa thing?
Walking guns out of Tampa to Guatamala. Castaway.
Did Operation Fast and Furious have a Tampa twin, Operation Castaway?
That would first take courage, and second it would open a can of worms where holder could start letting secrets out of the bag. Remember when Congress was investigating barney frank and he threatened to revel the names of homo members of Congress? All of a sudden a slap on the limp wrist.
No my friend, Congress will do nothing but rattle their swords. Just as they will never make it illegal for members of Congress to sue their insider info for gain, neither will they ever take the risk of showing their soft and corrupt underbelly.
Keep up the good work, your information is invaluable to many of us, or at the very least me.
I agree with you. If you're gunna do it, do it.
Reminds me of a neighbor that would come to my house about every 6 months and tell me he was going to sue me. I finally told him to go ahead and sue me but quit coming over and talking about it.
Crumpler, 64, was a key player in a major international gun smuggling network. It was taken down by the Tampa Field Division of the ATF with Operation Castaway, a six-month investigation that federal prosecutors called "the most significant firearms trafficking investigation in Central Florida history."
Nothing in the more than 500 pages of Operation Castaway court documents, which are public records, indicate anything other than a textbook operation culminating in the interdiction of a large shipment of firearms bound for Honduras. Eight traffickers including Crumpler were convicted and sentenced to between two and a half and seven years in federal prison.
Despite this winning outcome, Operation Castaway is under attack from right-wing bloggers and Fox. These critics are disregarding basic standards of fact checking in their rush to link the Tampa investigation to Operation Fast and Furious, the failed ATF initiative in which agents knowingly allowed firearms to be trafficked across the border into Mexico.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.