Justice, House GOP tangle over Fast and Furious documents
WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Eric Holder lashed out Thursday at Republican members of a House panel investigating a botched federal gun-trafficking inquiry that allowed hundreds of firearms to flow to Mexico, refusing at one point to answer a New York congresswoman who asked Holder how many more federal agents would have to "die" before the attorney general took action.
Two weapons traced to the gun operation, known as "Fast and Furious," were recovered at the scene of the 2010 murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. The agent's death brought an end of the gun-trafficking operation.
"That kind of question is beneath a member of Congress," Holder told Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle.
The hearing, marking the sixth time Holder has been questioned about the flawed gun operation by Congress, was contentious from the start. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Mi., compared the actions of another Justice Department official in the case to the limited steps taken by now-deceased former Penn State University football coach Joe Paterno after learning of sex abuse allegations against former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
In that case, Paterno passed the information to his superiors, but did not report the alleged activity to police.
Holder, clearly irritated, described some of the Republicans' comments akin to "character assassination."
"I am the attorney general of the United States, okay," Holder said, before launching into a defense of his actions in the gun inquiry and his management of the Justice Department.
Earlier, committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., openly threatened Holder with a contempt citation if the Justice Department did not provide the panel with additional documents for its inquiry.
Holder said Justice already has turned over more than 6,000 documents related to the case, again assserting that the tactics used in gun investigation were "misguided" and "wholly unacceptable." Two of the weapons found at the scene of Agent Brian Terry's murder were traced to the gun case. The gun used in the murder has not yet been identified..
"I think you are hiding behind something here," Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., told Holder, adding the department had given its inspector general more than 80,000 documents to assist a separate investigation of the matter. "You should give us the documents. There are things in those documents that you don't want us to see."
On Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General James Cole said the department will provide material created after Feb. 4, 2011, the day the department gave incorrect information to Congress about Fast and Furious.
Cole said the department had made an exception to longstanding policy in order to provide material on how the erroneous Feb. 4 letter was created, but other documents about the congressional inquiries on Fast and Furious would not be turned over.
A committee spokesman, Frederick Hill, said the department is under investigation for Fast and Furious but also for its response to whistle-blowers and investigators who expressed concern about the operation.
"If the Justice Department cannot provide assurances that it will meet its legal obligations" and provide the documents, "the committee has no other option than moving to hold Attorney General Holder in contempt," Hill said.
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