During the daily White House Press briefing today, Press Secretary Jay Carney gave a full defense of Attorney General Eric Holder and his response to Congressional inquires about Operation Fast and Furious as the House Oversight Committee moves to vote on contempt charges against him next week for his on going stonewalling of their investigation. Carney repeated the same talking points Holder and his DOJ have been pushing for nearly a year now:
-Holder has testified eight times before Congress about this topic
-The Justice Department has submitted 7000 documents to Congress (even though 140,000 Fast and Furious documents exist)
-Holder has acted responsibly in ordering his inspector general to investigate the situation
-There is an ongoing internal investigation by the DOJ inspector general
-"This is politics"
First off, Holder admitted last week during testimony before the House Judiciary Committee that he had been in contact with White House officials, including President Obama's campaign manager David Axelrod, about how to craft a response to both Congressional and press inquiries about Fast and Furious, so Carney urging the same talking points as DOJ is no surprise. Second, for Carney to say contempt charges against Holder are "politics," is simply inaccurate. Thirty-one Democrats sent a letter to President Obama a year ago, June 2011, asking him to urge Attorney General Eric Holder be transparent in his response to Congressional inquiries regarding Fast and Furious. Today, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa said he believes 31 Democrats will vote to hold Holder in contempt next week. Third, the White House has its fingerprints all over Fast and Furious. Three of President Obama's national security advisors, including his senior advisor to Latin America Dan Restrepo, received emails about the lethal operation.
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