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Darrell Issa: Eric Holder 'owns' Fast & Furious
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) excoriated Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday over a controversial Department of Justice gun program, writing in a letter, “whether you realize yet or not, you own Fast and Furious. It is your responsibility.”
On Friday, Holder wrote to Congress denying charges that he misled lawmakers over his knowledge of Fast and Furious, asserting he only learned of the tactics of the operation in early 2011 and denouncing as “irresponsible and inflammatory” some of the Republican rhetoric that has been used to criticize him.
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But Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, hit back Monday morning, writing that Holder’s letter was “deeply disappointing.”
“Instead of pledging all necessary resources to assist the congressional investigation in discovering the truth behind the fundamentally flawed Operation Fast and Furious, your letter instead did little but obfuscate, shift blame, berate, and attempt to change the topic away from the Department’s responsibility in the creation, implementation, and authorization of this reckless program,” Issa wrote.
Issa asserts the Department of Justice has been continually contradicted over its successive explanations of the nature of the operation, and then later over Holder’s involvement in Fast and Furious - first denying gunwalking occurred and then later saying the activity was limited to the Phoenix field office of the ATF; then blaming the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona; and claiming it didn’t reach the upper levels of the Justice Department and later admitting it had.
Holder and the DoJ maintain that Issa’s accusations are based on quotes taken out of context, and insist that there has been no contradiction. “My testimony was truthful and accurate and I have been consistent on this point throughout. I have no recollection of knowing about Fast and Furious or of hearing its name prior to the public controversy about it,” Holder said in his letter Friday. “Prior to early 2011, I certainly never knew about the tactics employed in the operation.”
Holder has been under fire in recent months for Fast and Furious, which was an attempt to investigate drug cartels and weapons traffickers by tracking illegally purchased guns. The mission ended in failure – investigators lost thousands of firearms, many of which crossed the border into Mexico. Weapons linked to the program were later involved in the December 2010 shooting death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, and at least one other incident of violence involving law enforcement.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65556.html#ixzz1aViZ9km4
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