House Oversight Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., stated today he believed that Attorney General Eric Holder acted honorably regarding the controversial fast and furious federal operation.
The Los Angeles times, which has a bevy of information, summarizes the operation effectively:
A federal operation dubbed Fast and Furious allowed weapons from the U.S. to pass into the hands of suspected gun smugglers so the arms could be traced to the higher echelons of Mexican drug cartels. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which ran the operation, has lost track of hundreds of firearms, many of which have been linked to crimes, including the fatal shooting of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.
What’s happening now is House Republicans have been considering holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Charles Grassley, have accused Holder of withholding documents regarding the operation.
Holder and Issa are expected to meet today.
“When Eric Holder found out about these tactics, he immediately stopped it,” Cummings told Willie Geist this morning. “I think Eric Holder has acted honorably, he’s done everything he could to allow us to do our job, that is to investigate this matter.”
Holder and the Justice Department have made available roughly 7,600 documents and “millions of emails” as Cummings stated. Issa is requesting more documents regarding fast and furious, but he has consented to taking off the table some documents that would have been illegal for the attorney general to produce. Those documents include wiretap applications and information about confidential informants, Cummings mentioned. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., have also voiced their support for Issa regarding Fast and Furious. The meeting between Holder and Issa is scheduled to happen today at 5 p.m.
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