Attorney General Eric Holder did not produce any of the documents he and Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa agreed on. The Department of Justice agreed to hand over 1300 pages in order to postpone tomorrow’s contempt vote. Chairman Issa demanded them by Wednesday morning.
Wednesday morning came and went. Mr. Holder turned up to the 20 minute meeting empty handed as well. Instead Mr. Holder briefed Chairman Issa and others on the documents.
Chairman Issa released this statement after the meeting:
I had hoped that after this evening’s meeting I would be able to tell you that the Department had delivered documents that would justify the postponement of tomorrow’s vote on contempt. The Department told the Committee on Thursday that it had documents it could produce that would answer our questions. Today, the Attorney General informed us that the Department would not be producing those documents. The only offer they made involved us ending our investigation.
While I still hope the Department will reconsider its decision so tomorrow’s vote can be postponed, after this meeting I cannot say that I am optimistic. At this point, we simply do not have the documents we have repeatedly said we need to justify the postponement of a contempt vote in committee.
Ranking Minority Member Elijah Cummings quickly came to Mr. Holder’s defense. He said Mr. Holder “was quite gracious and very forthright when he made the offers when he did.” Mr. Cummings forgets that the DOJ did commit to provide the documents Chairman Issa requested.
Senator Charles Grassley said Mr. Holder’s offer is unacceptable. He added, “I’m not going to buy a pig in a poke.”
“The ball’s in their court,” Mr. Holder said afterwards. “We made what we thought was an extraordinary offer.”
Operation Fast & Furious led to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry December 2010 and over 300 Mexicans. Guns have been found at 12 crime scenes across America.