Issa letter questions Holder’s ‘credibility’ to serve

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.'s "lack of trustworthiness" in explaining what he knew about the failed "Fast and Furious" weapons investigation has "called into question his overall credibility" to serve as the nation's top prosecutor, the chairman of a House committee investigating the operation said Monday.

In a blistering letter, Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican, who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told Mr. Holder that it was time for him "to come clean to the American public" on what he knew and when about the weapons investigation, saying Mr. Holder has made numerous statements about the operation that have "proven to be untrue."

"The time for deflecting blame and obstructing our investigation is over," Mr. Issa wrote. "Operation Fast and Furious was the department’s most significant gun-trafficking case. It related to two of your major initiatives — destroying the Mexican [drug] cartels and reducing gun violence on both sides of the border.

"On your watch, it went spectacularly wrong. Whether you realize yet or not, you own Fast and Furious. It is your responsibility," he wrote, adding that Mr. Holder had an obligation to say who is going to be held accountable "for failing to shut down a program that has already had deadly consequences, and will likely cause more casualties for years to come."

Mr. Issa has been investigating Fast and Furious for several months with Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The operation involved the purchase of weapons at Phoenix-area gun shops that eventually were "walked," or taken, into Mexico, where they were delivered to Mexican dug bosses.

Two of the weapons, both AK-47 assault rifles, were found at the scene of the killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry in December.

Mr. Issa said the Justice Department from the beginning of the probe has offered "a roving set of ever-changing explanations to justify its involvement in this reckless and deadly program."

A Justice Department spokeswoman dismissed Mr. Issa's letter Monday as "recycled" partisanship.

But Mr. Issa said Justice's defenses were aimed at undermining the congressional investigation.

The Justice Department insisted from the start that no wrongdoing had occurred and asked that he and Mr. Grassley defer their oversight responsibilities because of concerns they would interfere with an ongoing investigation by the department's Office of Inspector General, Mr. Issa said.

Additionally, he said, the department steadfastly insisted that none of the Fast and Furious guns had been "walked" into Mexico.

"Once documentary and testimonial evidence strongly contradicted these claims, the department attempted to limit the fallout from Fast and Furious to the Phoenix field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives," he said. "When that effort also proved unsuccessful, the department next argued that Fast and Furious resided only within ATF itself, before eventually also assigning blame to the U.S. attorney’s office in Arizona.

"All of these efforts were designed to circle the wagons around [Justice] and its political appointees," he said.

Last month, Mr. Holder claimed Fast and Furious did not reach the upper levels of the Justice Department, Mr. Issa said, although documents discovered through the course of the investigation proved that "each and every one of these claims advanced by the department to be untrue."

"It appears your latest defense has reached a new low," he said, adding that Mr. Holder in a letter Friday said he was unaware of the Fast and Furious operation because his staff failed to inform him of information contained in memos that were specifically addressed to the attorney general.

"At best, this indicates negligence and incompetence in your duties as attorney general," Mr. Issa said. "At worst, it places your credibility into serious doubt.

"Instead of pledging all necessary resources to assist the congressional investigation in discovering the truth behind the fundamentally flawed Operation Fast and Furious, your letter instead did little but obfuscate, shift blame, berate and attempt to change the topic away from the department’s responsibility in the creation, implementation and authorization of this reckless program."

On Friday, Mr. Holder denied that emails sent to his office showed that he knew of the Fast and Furious operation and did nothing about it. He said public comments about the inquiry and his involvement with it had become "so base and so harmful to interests that I hope we all share" that he had to publicly address the matter.

Mr. Holder said he took "decisive action" when he learned earlier this year about Fast and Furious in ordering the Office of Inspector General to investigate the matter. He said he also overhauled the leadership at ATF and the U.S. attorney's office in Phoenix, which oversaw the investigation.

"It has become clear that the flawed tactics employed in Fast and Furious were not limited to that operation and were actually employed in an investigation conducted during the prior administration," Mr. Holder said, referring to a separate initiative known as "Operation Wide Receiver" managed by federal authorities during the George W. Bush administration.

"Regardless, those tactics should never again be adopted in any investigation," he said.

Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said the Issa allegations, no matter how many times they are repeated, continue to be "baseless." She said Mr. Holder took concerns about tactics used in Fast and Furious to the Office of Inspector General, where the operation is now under investigation.

"The department will continue to cooperate with both the inspector general and congressional investigations," she said. "In the meantime, what the American people deserve is less partisan showboating and more responsible solutions to stopping gun violence on the Southwest Border."

In the letter, Mr. Issa said documents obtained by congressional investigators show Mr. Holder was aware of Fast and Furious in the summer of 2010 at the latest, not April or May of this year as he testified. Mr. Issa said Mr. Holder was informed about the ATF investigation on at least five occasions and was told that straw buyers were responsible for the purchase of 1,500 firearms that were then supplied to Mexican drug-trafficking cartels.

"Yet, you did nothing to stop this program," Mr. Issa said. "You failed to own up to your responsibility to safeguard the American public by hiding behind" attorneys in your office, "who you now claim did not bring this information to your attention."

Mr. Issa said the "most disturbing aspect of this intransigence" is that the Justice Department "has been lying to Congress ever since the inquiry into Fast and Furious began."

"These firearms were not interdicted. They were not stopped. Your agents allowed these firearms purchases to continue, sometimes even monitoring them in person, and within days some of these weapons were being recovered in Mexico," he said.

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