Obomination: President’s Confidence in Holder Misplaced

Obama recently said of Attorney General Eric Holder, "I have complete confidence in him."  The president’s comments in support for his attorney general have come after five documents to Holder surfaced about Operation Fast and Furious, a program that the Attorney General denied knowledge of under oath. The Justice Department has tried to rectify the situation by saying that Holder doesn’t read all the memoranda he receives.  The nation’s chief law enforcement officer is guilty of perjury or is grossly incompetent.  Neither should generate a vote of confidence.

Operation Fast and Furious is a program where the U.S. tried unsuccessfully to track guns as they were passed to elite drug traffickers in Mexico by selling thousands of guns to Mexican drug dealers.  These guns have surfaced in a number of crime scenes.  Members of Congress are investigating who in the executive branch knew about this controversial program.

On May 3, 2011, Holder testified to the Judiciary Committee, “I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.”  However ten months before that, Holder had received at least five memoranda about Operation Fast and Furious.  In the summer 2010, Holder received briefing memos from National Drug Intelligence Center Director Michael Walther on July 5, July 12, July 19, July 26 and August 9.

Holder has been criticized by various members of Congress.  House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa said, “Attorney General Holder has failed to give Congress and the American people an honest account of what he and other senior Justice Department officials knew about gun-walking and Operation Fast and Furious. The lack of candor and honesty from our nation’s chief law enforcement officials in this matter is deeply disturbing.” Representative Raul R. Labrador (R-Idaho) called on the attorney general to resign and said, "It is clear he has not been honest about the extent of his involvement with the failed Fast and Furious program and should not be entrusted with managing the Department of Justice.” Senator John Cornyn asked Holder to return to Capitol Hill and "clear this up as soon as possible."

Obama said at a White House news conference, "He's [Holder] indicated that he was not aware of what was happening in Fast and Furious. Certainly I was not. And I think both he and I would have been very unhappy if somebody had suggested that guns were allowed to pass through that could have been prevented by the United States of America."  Somebody did suggest the gunrunning operation to Holder, but he did not prevent it.  That’s something to fast be furious about.