E-Newsletter 6/22/12

Statement

Wednesday's vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his role in the botched Operation Fast and Furious was historic: it is the first time in our nation's history that a sitting attorney general has been found to be in contempt of a House of Representatives committee. While I regret we had to take this extraordinary step, I cast my vote in the interests of duty and justice.

I felt it was my duty because I firmly believe that in America the rule of law is fundamental to the health of our republic and that no man is above the law. I seek justice because the family of murdered U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry deserves to know why their son died at the hands of Mexican cartel members who used guns supplied by our own government.

It has been 18 months since I first asked the Oversight and Government Reform Committee to look into Operation Fast and Furious. When I first read a letter from a constituent about this, I was in disbelief. Selling guns to Mexican drug cartels using straw purchasers in America and letting them literally walk across the border didn't seem like something America would do. But it happened.

In total, it is estimated that 2,000 guns were sold during the Obama administration to Mexican cartels and to this day nearly 1,000 are still unaccounted for. The Mexican government estimates approximately 200 of its citizens have been killed with these guns, and also our own U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

We may have never known about Operation Fast and Furious under the Obama administration had it not been for a few, brave Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BAFTE) agents who blew the whistle by going to the media with information. Fortunately there were a few within the Department of Justice who knew the difference between right and wrong.

Attorney General Eric Holder, the head of the Department of Justice, the highest law enforcement official in the land, stands at the top of the agency that directed Operation Fast and Furious. When we began the investigation, I had little expectation that Mr. Holder knew much about this operation, if at all. However, when we summoned him to our Committee to brief us on what had happened, the man presented himself as either totally unprepared to testify or as a man unable to fulfill the obligations of such an important, demanding position on behalf of the American people. Even worse, I realized quickly the attorney general may have been lying about what he did know.

After several appearances before Congress I came to the conclusion that Mr. Holder was either lying or grossly incompetent and therefore in October of 2011, I called upon him to resign. I have since been joined by over 100 other Members of the House and Senate.

The Oversight and Government Reform Committee continued to pursue its requests for all relevant documents on Operation Fast and Furious so the American people could see what happened, who authorized it, and ensure that those who made these terrible decisions were held accountable. Laws were broken, but apparently without punishment or prosecution.

As most Americans, I was surprised by President Obama's claim of executive privilege on Wednesday in an attempt to cut off our investigation of the Department of Justice's handling of Fast and Furious. I did not believe the White House would want to associate itself with the Attorney General's stonewalling of our investigation. Usually, claims of executive privilege are made when high level officials are communicating directly with the President or his official staff. Until Thursday morning all witnesses, including Attorney General Holder, have testified that the White House was never part of the botched operation. But their exertion of executive privilege leads us now to question what did the President know and when did he know it.

The full House of Representatives has scheduled a contempt vote for next week, so Attorney General Holder has the weekend to think about his next moves. I hope he and the White House decide to release all of the relevant documents Congress has requested. These documents will finally reveal the entire truth to America about Operation Fast and Furious.

The family of Brian Terry and the families of all the victims deserve such a resolution and the American people deserve to know that such a dangerous, terrible operation will never take place again.

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