I received an email from Congressman Raúl R. Labrador’s office today, with a letter attached that began thus: “Today, Idaho First Congressional District Congressman Raúl R. Labrador called for the resignation of United States Attorney General Eric Holder after evidence of discrepancies in his previous testimony before the House Committee on the Judiciary was brought to light.”
The letter is dated October 6, 2011.
In the body of the letter, Congressman Labrador wrote pointedly:
“The Attorney General of the United States has an obligation to provide truthful and accurate testimony to Congress. When Attorney General Eric Holder testified before Congress on May 3, his statements were either untrue or deliberately misleading. It is clear from recently-released documents that Mr. Holder did in fact know about Fast and Furious well before he publicly admitted. Attorney General Holder has a troubling pattern of failed cooperation with the legislative branch. Because of this intentional stonewalling and his misleading testimony, I now call for Mr. Holder’s resignation. 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.”
When coupled with Congressman Lamar Smith’s (R-TX) call for a Special Counsel to investigate Holder’s statements before Congress, Labrador’s demand for Holder’s resignation may indicate that the tide has turned and that justice is being pursued regarding Fast and Furious.
Of course, President Obama is still a mile behind the curve on this one, and he’s still trying to give the impression that he believes Holder was honest with his answers to the House Oversight Committee on May 3.
Therefore this morning, following a press conference, Obama answered a Fast and Furious question by saying:
“The bottom line is the Attorney General’s testimony to both the House and the Senate was constistent and truthful. He said in both March and May of this year that he became aware of the questionable tactics deployed in the Fast and Furious Operation in early 2011 when ATF agents first raised them publically. He then asked the inspector general to investigate the matter, demonstrating how seriously they took them.”
I like Congressman Labrador’s take on things much better: particularly his assessment that Holder “cannot avoid responsibility for his involvement with a government program that directly led to the tragic death of a decorated U.S. Border Patrol agent.”
Yet while it’s time for Holder to go, he can’t be allowed to go away quietly the way U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke was allowed to do in Phoenix. Instead, he needs to resign and upon resigning he has to be prosecuted for the crimes to which he was an accessory via Fast and Furious.
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