As Eric Holder testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on “Fast and Furious” (CBS investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson, who helped break the story, is covering the hearings via Twitter), former chairman of the Committee Jim Sensenbrenner today suggested that
impeachment of administration officials involved with Operation Fast and Furious may be the only way to bring the scandal to a close.
In a heated exchange between Sensenbrenner and Holder during Thursday’s Judiciary Committee hearing, Sensenbrenner said impeachment is one option on the table if Holder and the Justice Department continue to withhold information from congressional investigators.
Sensenbrenner didn’t specify which administration officials he thinks could face impeachment proceedings, or if Holder is among them. But he did say the drastic measure would be a last resort.
“There is really no responsibility within the Justice Department,” Sensenbrenner said. “The thing is, if we don’t get to the bottom of this — and that requires your assistance on that — there is only alternative that Congress has and it is called impeachment, where our subpoena powers are plenary and there can‘t be any type of legal immunity or privilege that can be asserted on that.”
“But if we keep on getting pushed down the road and the can keeps getting kicked, and we don’t get closure to this, what is Congress to do so that we don’t spend all our time in court arguing privilege?” Sensenbrenner continued. “That is not a way to get at the truth.”
Much to the chagrin of the committee’s ranking Democrat, Michigan Rep. John Conyers, Sensenbrenner said he has “done more impeachments than anyone else in the country, and it is an expensive and messy affair, and I don’t want to go this far.”
Sadly, the GOP representatives in Congress still don’t really understand what is happening to the ideological underpinnings of this country. Because if they did, they’d have started impeachment proceedings long ago.
But hey, baby steps, right?
It gets really interesting when the House goes full Impeachment and Obama/Holder still refuse to cooperate. You wanna fundamentally transform the country? Try ignoring the Legislative branch. From the Left’s point of view, the whole thing’s useless anyway, since Pelosi got demoted.
Tell Conyers that since Holder’s boss isn’t going to hold him accountable (or even address the issue), the freaking job falls to Congress. I am so irritated by this F&F stuff- Americans were killed, Holder lied repeatedly to Congress and based on what CBS news is reporting (shockingly reporting I might add, since no major networks seem to give a shit), it was a massive conspiracy to regulate gun control, just like all of us knew it would turn out to be when we first heard rumors of it. These people are corrupt and should pay. Personally, I think the heads of the F&F program should be facing criminal charges as well as impeachment.
And this is coming from a guy who thought it was a waste of time to impeach Clinton. Clinton was a lying schmuck but his actions with Lewinsky did not cost lives, like F&F did.
this needs to be a major historical event I think
how they shat on America and the constitution for to engineer fascist gun control laws
Mexico wants them. We should oblige them.
“We should oblige them.”
Sure, but that would be tantamount to having a rational administration – which — wouldn’t that be at odds with progressivism as such? And hence, practically impossible?
Can we put the DoJ into receivership? Or, perhaps in 2013.
And Presidential pardon power doesn’t extend that far, so it’ll never happen.
If a Republican administration and Republican AG appointee did this, conservatives would be the first to call for his resignation. And the press would be covering this all day, every day.
Yeah, you’re right, Matt. And yet, here we are.