BREAKING: DOJ Turns Over 64,000 Fast and Furious Documents Held Under Obama's Executive Privilege

[Valin]

Tipsheet:

Katie Pavlich

Nov 04, 2014

 

After years of legal battles between the House Oversight Committee and Attorney General Eric Holder, 64,280 redacted Operation Fast and Furious documents held under President Obama's assertion of executive privilege since 2012, have been turned over by the Department of Justice after an order from U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson. The Justice Department was originally ordered to turn over a list of documents, better known as a Vaughn Index, with explanations as to why documents fall under executive privilege claims by November 1.

 

“When Eric Holder wants to know why he was the first Attorney General held in criminal contempt of Congress, he can read the judge’s order that compelled the production of 64,280 pages that he and President Obama illegitimately and illegally withheld from Congress. Since these pages still do not represent the entire universe of the documents the House of Representatives is seeking related to the Justice Department’s cover-up of the botched gun-walking scandal that contributed to the death of a Border Patrol agent, our court case will continue," Chairman Darrell Issa said in a statement. "I am deeply concerned that some redactions to these documents may still be inappropriate and contrary to the judge’s order in the case. This production is nonetheless a victory for the legislative branch, a victory for transparency, and a victory for efforts to check Executive Branch power. As the production is extensive and may contain sensitive information, our investigative staff will be carefully examining the documents turned over last night.”

 

These documents being turned over is long awaited confirmation from both DOJ and the White House that officials withheld 64,280 documents that do not, and never did, fall under President Obama's executive privilege claims. As a reminder, President Obama asserted executive privilege in this case just moments before Holder was voted in contempt of Congress in June 2012.

 

(Snip)

[WestVirginiaRebel]

National Review:

Justice Department officials provided House investigators with thousands of documents related to Operation Fast and Furious that President Obama had previously claimed were exempt from congressional review.

 

In an “election eve dump,” as House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) put it, DOJ handed over 64,280 pages of documents, a release that is still only a partial fulfillment of the committee’s request.

 

“This production is nonetheless a victory for the legislative branch, a victory for transparency, and a victory for efforts to check Executive Branch power,” Issa said of the release.

 

DOJ handed over the documents pursuant to a court order. “When Eric Holder wants to know why he was the first Attorney General held in criminal contempt of Congress, he can read the judge’s order that compelled the production of 64,280 pages that he and President Obama illegitimately and illegally withheld from Congress,” Issa said. “Since these pages still do not represent the entire universe of the documents the House of Representatives is seeking related to the Justice Department’s cover-up of the botched gun-walking scandal that contributed to the death of a Border Patrol agent, our court case will continue.”

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While you were out voting

[Valin]

More Here

[Geee]

Washington Times:

The Justice Department sent Congress 64,280 pages of documents it had previously withheld from the botched Fast and Furious gun-walking operation on Tuesday, in a move Republicans said was an admission by President Obama that he overstepped his legal bounds.

 

Investigators had sought the documents for years, with the House even suing in federal court to force their release. Mr. Obama had asserted executive privilege, claiming the documents were part of the “deliberative process” of White House decision-making and therefore didn’t need to be divulged, but the court rejected those claims.

 

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“When Eric Holder wants to know why he was the first attorney general held in criminal contempt of Congress, he can read the judge’s order that compelled the production of 64,280 pages that he and President Obama illegitimately and illegally withheld from Congress,” said Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican and chairman of the House Oversight Committee.

 

[Geee]

Holder email dissed ‘Issa and his idiot cronies’

 

Attorney General Eric Holder tipped his disdain for Rep. Darrell Issa and his legislative cohorts on the Fast and Furious investigation, outright slamming the representatives as idiots on a political witchhunt, according to a just-surfaced email.

 

The email chain was part of the thousands of documents Mr. Holder’s Justice Department released on the eve of the election.

 

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It begins with Matthew Axelrod, the then-associate deputy attorney general, explaining that Mr. Issa’s House Oversight Committee was planning to subpoena a witness to testify about the federal government’s Fast and Furious gun-running scandal, The Blaze reported.

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/nov/6/eric-holder-writes-of-issa-and-his-idiot-cronies-i/

[Valin]

Emails show Holder said of critics: 'Kiss my a**'

Fox News/AP

November 07, 2014

 

WASHINGTON – Newly released emails show Attorney General Eric Holder said that Justice Department prosecutors who were critical of the department's handling of the fallout of the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal could "kiss my ass."

 

(Snip)

 

In one email from March 2011, after being sent a news story about the Fast and Furious investigation, Holder told staff, "I hope there is another side to the story." Later, after the ATF deputy director told Holder aides that "we did not allow guns to walk," Holder responded to staff with, "Do they really, really know?"

 

That August, Holder was told by staff that a group of U.S. attorneys was upset that the resignation of Dennis Burke, then the U.S. attorney in Arizona, was announced simultaneously with the reassignment of ATF Acting Director Ken Melson.

 

Holder replied, "Some people can kiss my ass."

 

 

 

[Geee]

I really hope our new AG is as classy as the old.