President Obama invokes executive privilege to block release of Fast and Furious documents - Polidicks

[quote]A House committee voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt Wednesday for not releasing documents related to Operation Fast and Furious, a botched gun-tracking operation in which federal agents permitted Mexican drug smugglers to buy thousands of firearms that were eventually used in crimes.  Earlier, President Obama had invoked executive privilege to deny the committee the papers it sought. Obama’s assertion of executive privilege -- the right of the president to withhold information from Congress or the courts -- was the first of his presidency and an escalation of a protracted power struggle between his administration and congressional Republicans. As a senator in 2007, Obama condemned the use of executive privilege by President George W. Bush, saying “there’s been a tendency on the part of this administration to try to hide behind executive privilege every time there’s something a little shaky that’s taking place.” The Mitt Romney campaign quickly labeled Obama a hypocrite. “President Obama’s pledge to run the most open and transparent administration in history has turned out to be just another broken promise,” campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subpoenaed the documents last October as part of its investigation of Fast and Furious, a program run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and Holder has refused to provide them. In a letter to the committee’s Republican chairman, California Representative Darrell Issa, Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote that “the compelled production to Congress of these internal executive branch documents ... would have significant, damaging consequences.” Unmoved, the committee voted, 23-17, Wednesday afternoon to approve a contempt citation against Holder, with the vote falling along party lines. The move makes possible a wide range of scenarios: It could prove to be purely symbolic or could, with a full House vote to hold Holder in contempt of Congress, lead to Holder’s prosecution by the US attorney in Washington -- a tricky prospect because US attorneys are Holder subordinates. Contempt of Congress is a misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine and 12 months in prison. No attorney general has ever been held in contempt of Congress. The committee is seeking documents produced after Feb. 4, 2011, when the Justice Department sent a letter to the committee denying the use of “gunwalking” tactics in Fast and Furious. The Justice Department later retracted the letter, after whistleblowers said federal agents did use such tactics between 2009 and 2011, when they neglected to stop the purchase of about 2,000 guns by members of a Mexican drug cartel and allowed the smugglers to “walk” the guns over the border. Federal agents hoped to trace the weapons back to the cartel. But the agents lost track of most of the guns, which have since been used in multiple crimes, including the December 2010 shooting death of US Customs and Border Protection agent Brian Terry. The failed operation sparked a congressional investigation that centers on questions about who knew of and authorized the risky gunwalking, and who tried to cover it up. Both Holder and Obama have denied involvement. But Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, who initiated the investigation into Fast and Furious, said Obama’s invocation of executive privilege casts serious doubt over his administration’s claim that it knew nothing about the gunwalking or its cover-up. “How can the president assert executive privilege if there was no White House involvement?” Grassley said in a statement. “How can the president exert executive privilege over documents he’s supposedly never seen? Is something very big being hidden to go to this extreme?” Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the oversight committee, said he believes Holder has acted in good faith. “People talk about, ‘He should know.’ Sometimes you don’t even know what people are doing in your own office of 21 people,” Cummings said. “This guy’s got people all over the country, in Mexico, in ATF.” Cole’s letter to Issa repeated the Justice Department’s position that “leadership did not intend to mislead Congress” when it stated falsely that no gunwalking had occurred. It also noted that the Justice Department has issued a ban on the “flawed tactics” used in the operation. Issa and fellow Republicans insist the probe is about accountability and transparency; during deliberations before the contempt vote Wednesday, they talked about justice and closure for Terry’s family. Some Democrats on the committee suggested Issa’s dogged pursuit of the documents is aimed at embarrassing Holder and the Obama administration in an election year. Obama used his executive privilege at the request of Holder, who tried unsuccessfully to reach a compromise with Issa and committee leaders on Tuesday. The Justice Department offered to provide the committee with “an understanding of the documents that [it] could not produce,” according to Cole’s letter, but the committee did not accept that. Cole said in the letter to Issa that the Justice Department “has substantially complied with the outstanding subpoena,” noting it has already furnished the committee with more than 7,600 pages of documents and made its top officials, including Holder, available for several public hearings. “The documents responsive to the remaining subpoena items pertain to sensitive law enforcement activities, including ongoing criminal investigations and prosecutions,” Cole explained. Callum Borchers can be reached at [email]callum.borchers@globe.com[/email]. Follow him on Twitter @callumborchers.[/quote] [url=http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/06/20/president-obama-invokes-executive-privilege-for-first-time-block-release-fast-and-furious-documents/LRhJebB0MuDLiEgQWyGReI/story.html]Source: The Boston Globe[/url]

As hypocritical as it is for Obama to be operating his entire administration with such little transparency after that was one of the most important promises he made during the election, I find the idea of Romney criticizing him on hypocrisy absolutely hilarious.

This is not a good thing to be honest

Obama what are you doing :suicide:

This could kill Obama's chances for re-election. I'm scared.

In case FP doesn't know, this operation wasn't just a failure, one of the guns was used to kill an American Citizen

Ha. Say goodbye to re-election.

Republican or Democrat, they're just different shades of shit. [QUOTE=LoLWaT?;36420703]Welp, say goodbye to Obama if this is brought to everyone's attention :suicide:[/QUOTE] This happened during the Bush years, so anything previous officials should get in trouble along with those currently in office trying to make this go away. We can't keep our jobs if we fuck up, so government officials should be held to the same standards.

On one side i am disappointed in how untransparent the obama administration has been. On the other hand, somebody made a mistake and the president is going to be blamed for it, even though it was not directly his fault. It's not something that needs to be over-publicized and pinned solely on the president.

What the fuck is Vin Diesel going to do about this.

[QUOTE=Remscar;36420850]On one side i am disappointed in how untransparent the obama administration has been. On the other hand, somebody made a mistake and the president is going to be blamed for it, even though it was not directly his fault. It's not something that needs to be over-publicized and pinned solely on the president.[/QUOTE] Except now he has the responsibility about saying how these people fucked up, and releasing this information. This is unacceptable.

Hello, Freedom of Information Act, my name is the executive branch im going to break your kneecaps and call it national security

[QUOTE=Lankist;36420949]Hello, Freedom of Information Act, my name is the executive branch im going to break your kneecaps and call it national security[/QUOTE] And put you in jail for no reason, if I see fit. Don't forget that part.

[QUOTE=Remscar;36420850]On one side i am disappointed in how untransparent the obama administration has been. On the other hand, somebody made a mistake and the president is going to be blamed for it, even though it was not directly his fault. It's not something that needs to be over-publicized and pinned solely on the president.[/QUOTE] Guess what, if Obama is defending these criminals, he's just as involved as they are. Fast and Furious was [U]stupid[/U], a blatant violation of the very same laws that would land the average American 30 or more years in jail. Every single son of a bitch involved should be punished to that same extent you or I would face, they aren't and should not be above the law because they hold a position in government. It's bullshit like this that has robbed all trust I have in the Government to the point where I consider them the worst enemy to America and it's people today, I just wish more people would wake up and see beyond what Fox News and the various other media go on about (Or don't go on about in the case of Fast and Furious).

Guys, news flash. This isnt going to kill his re-election. I dont think you know how many things like this happen but you never hear about it.

[QUOTE=areolop;36421115]Guys, news flash. This isnt going to kill his re-election. I dont think you know how many things like this happen but you never hear about it.[/QUOTE] Please tell us about these things.

[QUOTE=areolop;36421115]Guys, news flash. This isnt going to kill his re-election. I dont think you know how many things like this happen but you never hear about it.[/QUOTE] It makes sense to invoke such privileges in times of extreme importance. This is not one of them, and is the opposite of what should be kept from public view.

[QUOTE=purvisdavid1;36421170]It makes sense to invoke such privileges in times of extreme importance. This is not one of them, and is the opposite of what should be kept from public view.[/QUOTE] They're probably afraid that if all the bullshit they get away with got out they'd be facing an armed uprising the next morning.

[QUOTE=RR_Raptor65;36421224]They're probably afraid that if all the bullshit they get away with got out they'd be facing an armed uprising the next morning.[/QUOTE] Thing is, Americans would never go to such lengths. We're too comfortable in our lives to ever uprise in such a way against the government. Yeah, we'll get pissed, complain on the internet, but no one is going to manage to get enough support to have a full blow revolution. Honestly? I'd rather not. It's a bloody mess that's more likely to instill even more fear and dictatorship than actually promote an actual healthy democracy.

[QUOTE=Loriborn;36421260]Thing is, Americans would never go to such lengths. We're too comfortable in our lives to ever uprise in such a way against the government. Yeah, we'll get pissed, complain on the internet, but no one is going to manage to get enough support to have a full blow revolution. Honestly? I'd rather not. It's a bloody mess that's more likely to instill even more fear and dictatorship than actually promote an actual healthy democracy.[/QUOTE] I would, if there was an armed uprising tomorrow I'd jump at it so quick I'd leave a smoke trail, I'd rather fight now and get it over with rather than later. Course I'd rather not have to fight at all, I'd like to be living a nice peaceful life on equal terms with everyone else where the government isn't constantly trying to tighten it's grip on good people, who wouldn't? But that's not the case. The government will not fix itself, people are going to need to push back at some point or they'll keep going on like they are and we're the ones who are going to get the cuts and bruises from their actions.

Welp

[QUOTE=LoLWaT?;36420631]Holy shit, they fucked up BIG TIME[/QUOTE] They weren't even tracking the guns. If they wanted to do that, they would've hid microchips or whatever on the guns. They gave the guns to the gangsters so that the Obama administration would have a scapegoat for more gun control and limiting your rights.

[QUOTE=cqbcat;36421903]They weren't even tracking the guns. If they wanted to do that, they would've hid microchips or whatever on the guns. They gave the guns to the gangsters so that the Obama administration would have a scapegoat for more gun control and limiting your rights.[/QUOTE] hey broski it isnt a conspiracy the obama administration has not given two shits about guns. in fact, obama has signed into law multiple bills which [I]decrease[/I] limits on guns.

[QUOTE]As hypocritical as it is for Obama to be operating his entire administration with such little transparency after that was one of the most important promises he made during the election, I find the idea of Romney criticizing him on hypocrisy absolutely hilarious. [/QUOTE] [QUOTE]On one side i am disappointed in how untransparent the obama administration has been. On the other hand, somebody made a mistake and the president is going to be blamed for it, even though it was not directly his fault. It's not something that needs to be over-publicized and pinned solely on the president. [/QUOTE] I am noticing a trend here. Bring up a failure of the current administration and then blame something else.

American politics are a barren wasteland.

I thought this meant there was some kind of a lawsuit against the movie and Obama was stopping it but yeah I hope this doesn't kill his chances of reelection

This just in: People can lie and go against what they said earlier and even [I]change their minds[/I]! Back to you in the Old News Room Bob. More on this at 11:00. [img]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/ratings/clock.png[/img] [B]X 1[/B]

[QUOTE=LoLWaT?;36420631]Holy shit, they fucked up BIG TIME[/QUOTE] Pretty sure the program was started in 2006 under Bush, this entire thing has turned into nothing but a Republican attempt to stick it onto Obama but the truth is nothing is even as close to as bad as the shit that went on under Bush, because there were so many. All of those scandals and stuff, the RNC needs to pin something similar on Obama but they aren't going to get anything.

idk about you guys, but I vote Mexican Drug Smugglers for president this coming election

Fast and Furious was a complete failure. Covering it up only makes things worse.