Previous post
The DOJ has just informed the House Judiciary committee and Nancy Pelosi, using Fast and Furious as a reference, that Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will not be prosecuted for contempt.
As our readers may recall, the House Judiciary Committee threw a tantrum in June over Trump’s desire to have a citizenship question included on the 2020 Census. Never mind that citizenship questions are asked with the American Community surveys, and never mind that the 2000 Census also included a citizenship question, the Democrats threw a fit because those here illegally would be too scared to respond!
Elijah Cummings (D-GA) even tried to convince everyone that a citizenship question hasn’t been on the census for 70 years. Perhaps not for those census takers who go door to door. However, the 2000 long form census DID include that question. I know, because I filled one out.
But never mind actual facts, it was all politics and so the House voted to hold Barr and Ross in contempt.
What did they really think would happen with this? Would Trump, Barr, and Ross just magically cave to their tantrums and drop the citizenship question? Not by a long shot. Of course, the DOJ, because of the stupid contempt vote, had to run some due diligence to determine if a prosecution should move forward.
JUST IN: No surprise, but Deputy Attorney General Rosen tells @SpeakerPelosi that DOJ won’t act on the House’s criminal contempt referral for Barr and Ross. pic.twitter.com/YFgZ7zNlgd
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) July 24, 2019
““The Department of Justice’s long-standing position is that we will not prosecute an official for contempt of Congress for declining to provide information subject to a presidential assertion of executive privilege,” Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen wrote in a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
And-
Rosen pointed to Trump’s assertion of executive privilege in his letter to Pelosi on Wednesday. And he highlighted DOJ declining to prosecute officials during previous administrations, such as former Attorney General Eric Holder after the House voted to hold him in contempt in 2012.” [Emphasis Added]
What is significant about Eric Holder being included in the letter is that his contempt charge from the House involved the Fast and Furious operation. This is the same operation that lost track of hundreds of guns purchased by illegals which subsequently disappeared in Mexico and beyond. This is the same gunrunning operation that lead to the deaths of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and ICE agent Jamie Zapata.
The Fast and Furious reference grabbed the attention of a few reporters.
Can’t say I predicted the Republican-led DOJ would be favorably citing the Obama administration’s course of action in the Fast and Furious probe, but here we are.
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) July 24, 2019
Are you saying the Justice Department SHOULD act differently based on whether the accused administration official is from a Republican administration or a Democratic administration?
— ThunderStrzok (@GTS_Watch) July 24, 2019
That’s a fair question.
The media and left are constantly surprised and outraged that the right has the gall to remember things that Democrats did and then try to do the same
— Orange Muppet Energy (@sunnyright) July 24, 2019
A most excellent point, one that will leave a mark.
Needless to say, it was pretty obvious to everyone but the media and Democrats that their grandstanding contempt vote was going to go nowhere. It’s a fair bet that they were hoping the DOJ would prosecute, if only to give the Democrats more soapboxes to grandstand on.
The House Democrats really aren’t having a good day are they? First it was the Mueller hearing circus that turned into an uncomfortable dud, and now this letter from the DOJ.
It will be fun to watch the Democrats try to spin their way out of this.
Welcome Instapundit Readers!
Feature Photo Credit: The United States Department of Justice [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, cropped and modified
A. C. says: “This is the same gunrunning operation that lead to the deaths of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and ICE agent Jamie Zapata. ”
Don’t forget a few hundred Mexicans were killed with those guns as well.
mackykam says: well, those are a few hundred mexicans who won’t be crossing the border.
grrr says: not necessarily.
The Real M says: I am constantly amazed that the Dems really believe in their heart of hearts that we/Republicans are to play out of the “Red Headed Stepchild Rules Book” and the Dems are to play from the “Red Headed Privileged Biological Child Rules Book”. These are rules by which the double standard is applied in favor of the Dems! In other words, never mind about Holder getting away with contempt citation by golly, Barr was supposed to be severely punished!
Not in your dreams Dems!
The Redhawk says: ERIC did it to SECURE the Border DONTCHA KNOW???He is a PATRIOT after all…..did better than the WHOLE (D) Anarchy party in HOLDING them BACK
The Redhawk says: OH ERIC he really SET up the MENUE .. to really drive BELLOWING CUMMINGS.. the RAT Nadler and SHIFFHOLE to go NUTS!!!!
WITH A NAME LIKE ZAPATA YOU WOULD THINK MEXICANS WOULD HAVE BEEN ANGRY!
Eric Holder has always been a COUNTERFEITER!
Remember Rick’s pardon with Slick Willie Clinton!
I bet Holder purchased a Cadillac (a cadillilac)
with his share of the bribe!!
What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. The democRATs really hate it when you use their own dirty tricks against them.
mac says: The left thinks they are the only people allowed to take partisan actions, practice lawfare and use violence for political ends. If they knew how deeply the other side loathes them, and would find having them harshly repressed not just acceptable but thoroughly justified on national security grounds, they would think twice about their actions. Alas, they are not only vicious and stupid, but ignorant to an almost unbelievable degree, so we head merrily on toward civil war and national dissolution.
Paul says: Reilly’s last tweet is revealing. Implied is that Fast and Furious was a scandal in the famously scandal-free Obama administration, that the DOJ is partisan, and that Republicans should be shamed for not taking a higher road than Democrats did in (ostensibly) the same situation. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he were a conservative.
Anna Mac says: The Dims ain’t too bright.
Reiter Douglas says: I used to think the D’s were pretty smart. I now think they only look smart relative to their toothless opponents. The R’s have a handful of warriors. We should support them unconditionally as they are doing the heavy lifting. This includes Judicial Watch & Sean Hannity’s band of truth seekers.
Unless & until the R’s fight with the same intensity as D’s, R’s lose.
Sixty Ville says: What the DOJ SHOULD be doing is preparing the RICO prosecution of the Democratic Party as a criminal entity.
geokstr says: Also, the Obama DOJ didn’t just “lose track of” the guns, they forced legit dealers to sell to known buyers for the drug cartels, and they ordered that the guns not be tracked after they crossed the border. The sole purpose of this exercise was not to trace the destination of the guns, but to “prove” the phony canard, still cited by Obama as late as a year ago, that 80% of the cartels’ guns came from US gun dealers, and to turn public opinion against guns and towards gun control. Eric Holder is on record twenty years ago as stating in a speech that the American public would need to be brainwashed about guns.
Raymond Charron says: The DOJ should Arrest the entire Democratic Socialist Communist Party Immediately. Lock them alll up and cut their pay to minimum wage. Put ankle bracelets on them and release them. But if they get out of line, lock them up!
Mike W says: It’s great to see Eric Folder’s name being brought up again – as he is largely responsible for ALL of the corruption displayed by the DOJ and FBI in the past administration.
Actual Testimony: Maybe some of you remember watching it happen live
Trey Gowdy: “So this report is full of lies”?
Eric Holder: “NO!!! NOT LIES!!!! There are things that are factually inaccurate…..”
Time to pay the fiddler Eric!!! Many people are also unaware that Eric Holder’s wife – Sharon Malone Holder and Loretta Lynch are sorority sisters. Yep – in fact they are founding members of the first all black sorority at Harvard.
Alan Gooch says: I would have to be brain dead to agree to give up my second amendment rights. No amount of brainwashing would do any good. I know the libtards would not question this policy; all the way to their eventual starvation. They would stand around in squalor asking themselves what happened.
The Redhawk says: OH ERIC to STUPID BA5TARD….you really MESSED ANOTHER THING UP ….THANKS you RACIST DUMBASSED A HOLE !!….
Kathe Gilbert says: Barack Obama and the entire Obama Administration, both Terms, were and are as corrupt as many a Democrat and RINO in Congress today. Look a Omar, as corrupt and as Biased/Racist as any can get, yet she is still in Congress. Look at the Democrats in Congress who fill the time with bills that promote not only spending of Federal dollars/taxpayer monies, but lean and promote more taxes on American citizens, more welfare for Illegal Immigrants, with Open Borders. Their aim is to destroy our Nation. Their aim is bring about the ruin of State by State. Their aim is to destroy Living Standard by over-population; destroy morals by abortions on demand, regardless the state of pregnancy; their aim is to destroy marriage between a man and woman by allowing same sex marriage as well as change sex in genders transformation. Corruption of the Democrats are so deep in that they attempt to make wrong being right and right being wrong. They have corrupted their Party and the people within.
Kale says: Holder, Obama, etc should NOT be charged with Contempt of Congress, but they SHOULD be charged with accessory to Murder.
Jerry says: Jail time for all deplorable obomies including MS
Max says: Socialist DEMWITS are A JOKE. The demwits have COMMITTED TREASON against the american people and need to be prosecuted or eliminated any other way you like….
All this during a Scandalous FREE Presidency!!! Holder and Obama should be held responsible.
BUT that would mean that the Left would have to admit it happened. I’m sure Brian Terry’s family could help them REMEMBER!!!
23 Comments