Holder Unfit to Serve as Nation's Chief Law Enforcement Officer

(WASHINGTON) – On Wednesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform passed a resolution to hold U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for failing to provide the necessary documentation and supporting materials relating to the investigation into “Fast and Furious.” Fast and Furious was a program in which the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) allegedly allowed guns to be sold to 'straw purchasers' in the U.S. who would then carry those firearms across the border to be tracked in order to surveil the flow of weapons. Two of the weapons were found at the crime scene where border patrol agent Brian Terry was found murdered in December.

Minutes before the hearing began on Wednesday morning, President Obama informed the Committee he would use executive privilege to conceal documents related to the Brian Terry case and the gun-running operation.

Congressman Tim Huelskamp, who does not serve on the Committee, but who has called for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign, issued the following statement about the contempt resolution:

“  I am 100 percent behind the efforts of Chairman Issa and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and I look forward to the opportunity to show my support for the contempt measure when it comes before the entire House in the next week,” Congressman Huelskamp said. “Attorney General Holder has had plenty of opportunities to cooperate with the investigation into the death of border patrol agent Brian Terry, yet has failed to help whatsoever. There are no more chances for him to act in good faith. I will continue to call for Attorney General Holder’s resignation – as I have done since last year – as he is unfit to serve as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer.”  

“The decision by President Obama to employ executive privilege to conceal evidence is quite hypocritical for the man who pledged to have the most open and transparent administration in history. It is also revealing that the President uses executive privilege for something about which he claims to know nothing. The parents of a slain border patrol agent remain in the dark about their son’s death, yet President Obama has once again put politics and self-preservation ahead of anything and everything else.”

House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor have indicated that a full House vote will be held next week.