House Memo Claims Eric Holder ‘Intensely Followed and Managed’ Fast and Furious Obstruction

While serving as attorney general, Eric Holder was involved in managing the Justice Department’s response to Congress’ investigation of Operation Fast and Furious, according to a memo by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah). The 12-page Chaffetz memo summarizes the review of a court-ordered release of some 20,500 Justice Department documents to the House committee probing the failed program that allowed about 2,000 U.S. guns to flow to Mexican drug-trafficking organizations. “More than previously understood, the documents show the lengths to which senior Department officials went to keep information from Congress,” the Chaffetz memo said. “Further, the documents reveal how senior Justice Department officials — including Attorney General Eric Holder — intensely followed and managed an effort to carefully limit and obstruct the information produced to Congress.”  The gun-walking program was halted in late 2010 after one of the Fast and Furious guns was found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. The memo states that the DOJ ignored evidence of gun-walking by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; politicized “decisions about how and whether to comply with the congressional investigation”; developed “strategies to redact or otherwise withhold relevant information from Congress and the public;” isolated the fallout of the Fast and Furious scandal to the ATF and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Arizona, while avoiding accountability at DOJ in Washington; and created “a culture of animosity toward congressional oversight.”...more