Judicial Watch Sues over Fast and Furious Stonewall
The "Fast and Furious" scandal, where the Obama administration allowed weapons to "walk" across the border into the hands of Mexican drug cartels directly resulting in the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and countless Mexican citizens.
Fast and Furious took place between September 2009 and December 2010. Yet, to this day, Attorney General Eric Holder is fighting tooth-and-nail to keep these records secret - from Judicial Watch and from Congress. (You can read all about our Fast and Furious work here. )
And so, once again, we are forced to go to court to get to the truth in the matter. This time we want to know why "settlement negotiations" between Congress and the Department of Justice (DOJ) remain, in a word, unsettled.
Specifically, on September 5, 2013, we filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, against the Obama DOJ to obtain all records of communications between DOJ and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform relating to the settlement discussions in the Committee's 2012 contempt of Congress lawsuit against Attorney General Eric Holder.
This contempt citation was extraordinary. It marked the first time in U.S. history a sitting Attorney General was held in contempt of Congress. So let's take a step back and review how and why Holder received this dubious distinction and how JW ended up in court.
After press reports outed Fast and Furious, Eric Holder flatly refusal to turn over documents to Congress related to the gunrunning scandal, thereby obstructing the congressional investigation. Most of the records request related to a February 4, 2012, memo from DOJ claiming it had no knowledge of, nor did it participate in, Fast and Furious. This, of course, turned out to be a complete and utter lie and the DOJ withdrew the letter .
After the contempt citation, President Obama then stepped in to protect Holder by improperly invoking "executive privilege" to keep the records concealed. This invocation also had the effect of protecting Holder from being prosecuted for contempt, because it is the "practice" of the DOJ not prosecute contempt of Congress charges if the documents in dispute are being withheld pursuant to executive privilege claims. In other words, President Obama's executive privilege gambit was a "get out of jail free card" for his friend and operative Eric Holder.
So all this is why the House Oversight Committee sued Holder to enforce subpoenas in its Fast and Furious probe. On March 18, 2013, after a breakdown of settlement talks between the Committee and DOJ, a federal judge ordered the two sides to enter into mediation .
Since that time, Eric Holder has been dragging out the "settlement" talks to the point where Congress has called them a " waste of everyone's time ." And that's why JW is now taking action to get records detailing these negotiations.
This is not the first lawsuit Judicial Watch has filed against the Obama administration seeking records related to the Fast and Furious scandal. On October 11, 2011, the organization sued the DOJ and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to obtain Fast and Furious records, including all records submitted to the House Oversight Committee.
On September 13, 2012, it filed a lawsuit against the DOJ after the agency denied its October 2011 FOIA request for records regarding President Obama's claim of executive privilege after Holder's refusal to produce records for the House Oversight Committee. But on February 15, 2013, U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia John Bates stayed that FOIA lawsuit , relying, in part, upon the DOJ's assertion that if the case were to move forward, it would interfere with the ongoing settlement discussions between the DOJ and the Oversight Committee.
After waiting for nearly seven months, Judicial Watch is now suing for the records of those purported settlement discussions.
Pursuant to its original FOIA request submitted on March 20, 2013, here is a description of the records we now seek:
(Incidentally, our lawsuit has garnered significant press attention. See Fox News.com and the Washington Free Beacon and Town Hall stories.)
Eric Holder is using his legal battle with Congress to keep the American people from knowing the full truth about the Obama administration's Fast and Furious killings and lies. The Obama gang would rather stall for time than defend the Obama's administration secretive claims of executive privilege on Fast and Furious in court.
Observers expect the judge to rule in the next few weeks on the litigation between Holder and Congress. But given the high probability of appeal, that won't put an end to the matter. "Those involved say it is possible the case won't be resolved until Obama has left office," notes Fox News; which is just fine by this president and his "top cop." But we won't wait for Congress and other politicians to figure where their tails are. Our litigation arguably remains the last, best hope for finally getting serious accountability on the Fast and Furious outrage.
PROOF HOLDER LIED TO CONGRESS THAT HE DID NOT KNOW ABOUT F&F!
The "Fast and Furious" scandal, where the Obama administration allowed weapons to "walk" across the border into the hands of Mexican drug cartels directly resulting in the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and countless Mexican citizens.
Fast and Furious took place between September 2009 and December 2010. Yet, to this day, Attorney General Eric Holder is fighting tooth-and-nail to keep these records secret - from Judicial Watch and from Congress. (You can read all about our Fast and Furious work here. )
And so, once again, we are forced to go to court to get to the truth in the matter. This time we want to know why "settlement negotiations" between Congress and the Department of Justice (DOJ) remain, in a word, unsettled.
Specifically, on September 5, 2013, we filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, against the Obama DOJ to obtain all records of communications between DOJ and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform relating to the settlement discussions in the Committee's 2012 contempt of Congress lawsuit against Attorney General Eric Holder.
This contempt citation was extraordinary. It marked the first time in U.S. history a sitting Attorney General was held in contempt of Congress. So let's take a step back and review how and why Holder received this dubious distinction and how JW ended up in court.
After press reports outed Fast and Furious, Eric Holder flatly refusal to turn over documents to Congress related to the gunrunning scandal, thereby obstructing the congressional investigation. Most of the records request related to a February 4, 2012, memo from DOJ claiming it had no knowledge of, nor did it participate in, Fast and Furious. This, of course, turned out to be a complete and utter lie and the DOJ withdrew the letter .
After the contempt citation, President Obama then stepped in to protect Holder by improperly invoking "executive privilege" to keep the records concealed. This invocation also had the effect of protecting Holder from being prosecuted for contempt, because it is the "practice" of the DOJ not prosecute contempt of Congress charges if the documents in dispute are being withheld pursuant to executive privilege claims. In other words, President Obama's executive privilege gambit was a "get out of jail free card" for his friend and operative Eric Holder.
So all this is why the House Oversight Committee sued Holder to enforce subpoenas in its Fast and Furious probe. On March 18, 2013, after a breakdown of settlement talks between the Committee and DOJ, a federal judge ordered the two sides to enter into mediation .
Since that time, Eric Holder has been dragging out the "settlement" talks to the point where Congress has called them a " waste of everyone's time ." And that's why JW is now taking action to get records detailing these negotiations.
This is not the first lawsuit Judicial Watch has filed against the Obama administration seeking records related to the Fast and Furious scandal. On October 11, 2011, the organization sued the DOJ and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to obtain Fast and Furious records, including all records submitted to the House Oversight Committee.
On September 13, 2012, it filed a lawsuit against the DOJ after the agency denied its October 2011 FOIA request for records regarding President Obama's claim of executive privilege after Holder's refusal to produce records for the House Oversight Committee. But on February 15, 2013, U.S. District Judge for the District of Columbia John Bates stayed that FOIA lawsuit , relying, in part, upon the DOJ's assertion that if the case were to move forward, it would interfere with the ongoing settlement discussions between the DOJ and the Oversight Committee.
After waiting for nearly seven months, Judicial Watch is now suing for the records of those purported settlement discussions.
Pursuant to its original FOIA request submitted on March 20, 2013, here is a description of the records we now seek:
Any and all records of communications, correspondence, and contacts between the Department of Justice and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform concerning or relating to a settlement in Committee on Oversight and Government Reform v. Holder , 1:12-cv-01332, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington). Such records include, but are not limited to, records of the settlement discussion themselves. The timeframe for this request is October 1, 2012 to March 20, 2013.
(Incidentally, our lawsuit has garnered significant press attention. See Fox News.com and the Washington Free Beacon and Town Hall stories.)
Eric Holder is using his legal battle with Congress to keep the American people from knowing the full truth about the Obama administration's Fast and Furious killings and lies. The Obama gang would rather stall for time than defend the Obama's administration secretive claims of executive privilege on Fast and Furious in court.
Observers expect the judge to rule in the next few weeks on the litigation between Holder and Congress. But given the high probability of appeal, that won't put an end to the matter. "Those involved say it is possible the case won't be resolved until Obama has left office," notes Fox News; which is just fine by this president and his "top cop." But we won't wait for Congress and other politicians to figure where their tails are. Our litigation arguably remains the last, best hope for finally getting serious accountability on the Fast and Furious outrage.
PROOF HOLDER LIED TO CONGRESS THAT HE DID NOT KNOW ABOUT F&F!
Attorney General Eric Holder at the Mexico/United States Arms Trafficking Conference
CUERNAVACA, MEXICO ~ Thursday, April 2, 2009
Last week, our administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels. My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner, DEA is adding 16 new positions on the border, as well as mobile enforcement teams, and the FBI is creating a new intelligence group focusing on kidnapping and extortion. DHS is making similar commitments, as Secretary Napolitano will detail.
http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2009/ag-sp...90402.html
Last week, our administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels. My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner, DEA is adding 16 new positions on the border, as well as mobile enforcement teams, and the FBI is creating a new intelligence group focusing on kidnapping and extortion. DHS is making similar commitments, as Secretary Napolitano will detail.
http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2009/ag-sp...90402.html
