Ariz. congressman: Pressure to resign is getting to Eric Holder
Published: 11:55 PM 12/04/2011 | Updated: 12:08 AM 12/06/2011
Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar, among the first Congressmen to demand Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation over the Operation Fast and Furious scandal, told The Daily Caller he thinks Holder is on the ropes and feeling increasing pressure from Congress and the American people.
Fifty-two House members, two Senators, four presidential candidates and two sitting governors have already demanded Holder’s ouster. Gosar was the third congressman to call for his resignation, and held a press conference on Nov. 15 during which several members of Congress followed suit.
Fast and Furious was a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program, overseen by the Justice Department, which facilitated the sale of thousands of weapons, via straw purchasers, to Mexican drug cartels. Straw purchasers are people who can legally purchase guns in the United States but do so with the intention of illegally trafficking them into Mexico.
At least 300 Mexicans were killed with Fast and Furious weapons, as was U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Gosar said Holder bears responsibility for the operation. Holder is expected to face another round of questions about the scandal on Thursday when he appears before the full House oversight committee.
“I don’t know how he [Holder] could have allowed this to occur,” Gosar told The Daily Caller. “When you go back in the timeline — and I’m very meticulous about timelines — back in 2009 he [Holder] talked about changing the whole mantra of following gun-walking and trying to follow these guns. The president even followed up by utilizing false numbers. He said 90 percent of all the guns going into Mexico come from the United States, when that didn’t occur. You can see that this was on their radar screen.”
Over the weekend, Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney became the latest to call for Holder to step down.
During a Nov. 29 White House event, Holder lost control when TheDC asked him to respond to the surge in calls for his resignation. Instead of addressing the issue, Holder lashed out at a Daily Caller reporter for the continued reporting on the story. “You guys need to — you need to stop this,” Holder said. “It’s not an organic thing that’s just happening. You guys are behind it.”
Read more: dailycaller.com |
