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Issa backs down on Holder Fast and Furious deadline
Examiner
Anthony Martin, Conservative Examiner
2/10/2012
Excerpt:
"Congressman Darrell Issa, R-California, has backed down on the deadline he issued to Attorney General Eric Holder, giving him until 5 p.m. yesterday to turn over subpoenaed documents in the Fast and Furious scandal.
The Congressman granted a Justice Department request for an extension late last evening.
But no announcement was made as to whether or not a new deadline, if any, was issued to Justice.
According to a CNN report, an aide to Issa stated that Holder had shown some flexibility on the documents, which led to Issa's willingness to back off of the deadline, but quickly added, "They won't have forever."
It is unclear, however, as to how Holder has been flexible in turning over the documents. For an entire year the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Issa, has been met with incessant Holder stonewalling, refusing to allow witnesses to testify, and resisting subpoenas to release documents that are vital to the investigation.
The controversy centers on thousands of documents in the possession of the Justice Department that Issa says are essential to the ongoing probe into the Fast and Furious scandal, during which government operatives deliberately sent thousands of firearms to Mexican drug cartels in order to make a case for gun control in the U.S.
Holder has released to the Issa committee only 8% of the subpoenaed documents, claiming that the rest, 92% of the material, do not fall under Congressional oversight due to 'separation of powers.'
In asking for the extension, an aide to Eric Holder told Issa that it was impossible to turn over all of the requested documents by the deadline. But the Justice Department has already done exactly that in releasing the material to the Inspector General, who works for the Justice Department.
Critics have noted that the investigation conducted by the Inspector General is automatically suspect due to the fact that he works for Holder."
View the complete article at:
http://www.examiner.com/conservative...alerts_article
Examiner
Anthony Martin, Conservative Examiner
2/10/2012
Excerpt:
"Congressman Darrell Issa, R-California, has backed down on the deadline he issued to Attorney General Eric Holder, giving him until 5 p.m. yesterday to turn over subpoenaed documents in the Fast and Furious scandal.
The Congressman granted a Justice Department request for an extension late last evening.
But no announcement was made as to whether or not a new deadline, if any, was issued to Justice.
According to a CNN report, an aide to Issa stated that Holder had shown some flexibility on the documents, which led to Issa's willingness to back off of the deadline, but quickly added, "They won't have forever."
It is unclear, however, as to how Holder has been flexible in turning over the documents. For an entire year the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, chaired by Issa, has been met with incessant Holder stonewalling, refusing to allow witnesses to testify, and resisting subpoenas to release documents that are vital to the investigation.
The controversy centers on thousands of documents in the possession of the Justice Department that Issa says are essential to the ongoing probe into the Fast and Furious scandal, during which government operatives deliberately sent thousands of firearms to Mexican drug cartels in order to make a case for gun control in the U.S.
Holder has released to the Issa committee only 8% of the subpoenaed documents, claiming that the rest, 92% of the material, do not fall under Congressional oversight due to 'separation of powers.'
In asking for the extension, an aide to Eric Holder told Issa that it was impossible to turn over all of the requested documents by the deadline. But the Justice Department has already done exactly that in releasing the material to the Inspector General, who works for the Justice Department.
Critics have noted that the investigation conducted by the Inspector General is automatically suspect due to the fact that he works for Holder."
View the complete article at:
http://www.examiner.com/conservative...alerts_article