http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/02/holder-says-no-one-punished-yet-during-testimony-on-controversial-fast-and/
And Holder is claiming that "separation of powers" allows him to withhold over 80,000 documents that are in possession of his inspector general???
And to date, nobody in DOJ has been punished??? Of course not (except for agent whistle blowers who have been transferred out of Phoenix against their wishes). That's because Holder would have to punish himself. Besides, if he starts punishing his aides, someone might get mad and decide to cooperate with Congress.
Here is an update from Fox News:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/02/holder-says-no-one-punished-yet-during-testimony-on-controversial-fast-and/
"Holder said he didn't learn about Terry's murder until 24 hours after his death, and at the time did not hear that weapons tied to Fast and Furious were at the scene."
What?? Previous testimony reveals that one of his aides learned of the gun connection within 24 hours of being informed of agent Terry's death on December 15, 2010.
Furthermore, I seriously doubt that it took 24 hours for the attorney general to learn of the death of a federal agent-even if Terry was part of DHS. Ask any federal agent what happens when one of their own is killed on duty. Within hours, if not minutes, the news is flying from office to office by telephone and all other electronic means. In the 1980s, when three agents were shot and two killed in Los Angeles, I knew one of them from my time in Thailand. Everybody in DEA who knew any one of the agents was calling others all over the country. That is how I learned within hours of the incident.
If we are to believe Holder and his aides in DOJ, they are all incredibly out of touch with their daily responsibilites with no knowledge of what is going on out in the field. That alone would be enough to fire the lot of them. Unfortunately, however, it appears to be much worse.
"Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, also questioned Holder's having not discussed the case with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
Furthermore, I seriously doubt that it took 24 hours for the attorney general to learn of the death of a federal agent-even if Terry was part of DHS. Ask any federal agent what happens when one of their own is killed on duty. Within hours, if not minutes, the news is flying from office to office by telephone and all other electronic means. In the 1980s, when three agents were shot and two killed in Los Angeles, I knew one of them from my time in Thailand. Everybody in DEA who knew any one of the agents was calling others all over the country. That is how I learned within hours of the incident.
If we are to believe Holder and his aides in DOJ, they are all incredibly out of touch with their daily responsibilites with no knowledge of what is going on out in the field. That alone would be enough to fire the lot of them. Unfortunately, however, it appears to be much worse.
"Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, also questioned Holder's having not discussed the case with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.
"When people know that I'm going to be the subject of these kinds of hearings, you know six times and all that, nobody necessarily wants to get involved in these kinds of things or get dragged into it," Holder responded."
This is a damning statement from Holder (if true). In the case of Napolitano, she has two dead agents, and she is not discussing this with Holder??
As for Clinton, this is a major diplomatic incident, in which Mexico was not informed of this operation and they have 2-300 of their citizens killed by weapons linked to Fast and Furious. And she isn't discussing this with Holder???
Here we have two high government officials who should be jumping up and pounding on Holder's desk and if not getting answers, should be doing the same in the Oval office. In fact, we have heard virtually nothing from either of these officials, whose own jurisdictions were trampled upon. Aside from Holder's malfeasance, we have gross negligence on the part of Napolitano and Clinton.
Nothing that Holder says washes here.
2 comments:
Eric Holder is clever and slick. Let us hope that he slides right into jail on a contempt of Congress charge.
Squid
Squid--I believe I posted something like this a while back, but will repeat it here if Gary lets me. this is the best sense I can make of it.
Surely you do not expect an Obama-appointed agency head/U.S. Attorney/Attorney General/Special or Independent Counsel, to investigate this matter, do you?? There is, I believe, no “major jail time” in the offing here for anyone other than "underlings", for want of a better word and, therefore, no hammer no matter how much someone ducks and dodges or what comes out.
Alas, this is because he best I can figure it, the truly independent “Independent Counsel” (a la Kenneth Starr) went away in 1999. Either Congress or the AG could request the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to appoint such a counsel, and the AG could not dismiss counsel except for “good cause”. Again as I understand it, this Independent Counsel morphed into the, yes, “U.S. Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel”. There also appears exist another separate statutory ‘Independent Counsel” which is, of course, different from the first aforementioned one above. The problem is that both of these offices, and appointments to them, come under the authority/jurisdiction of the Attorney General who, unlike Janet Reno, is not about to appoint one.
About the only thing left I can see is the possibility of citation(s) for “contempt of Congress“, which does exist but which is essentially fairly toothless. Again, the best I can see, either body of Congress can have an individual “arrested” by the Sergeant-at-Arms and then imprisoned. The longest confinement I can find in recent history was for 10 days. For actual criminal proceedings, which are actually only misdemeanors anyway (max of a year in jail and $1,000.00 fine), it is again necessary for the Congress to, yes, refer the matter to the U.S. Attorney for the Dictrict of Columbia, who works for the Attorney General, for prosecution. See what I mean?? It is all kind of circular.
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