On Thursday morning Louisiana Republican Rep. Charles Boustany became the 44th congressman to demand Attorney General Eric Holder’s immediate resignation. With his addition to the growing call for Holder to step down, ten percent of U.S. House members are now convinced that the attorney general should lose his job without delay.
Boustany’s call for Holder’s resignation comes while the attorney general is on a taxpayer-funded trip to the Caribbean. Holder has said he is taking a five-day junket to Barbados, Trinidad and the Dominican Republic for law enforcement reasons.
“Attorney General Eric Holder has failed to uphold the duties of his office and must resign immediately,” Boustany said in a statement. “The Attorney General has not been forthright in providing information to Congress relating to the botched program, ‘Operation Fast and Furious.’”
In multiple appearances before Congress, Holder provided testimony that many observers believe either was untruthful or exhibited the top U.S. law enforcement official’s incompetence.
“The American people deserve more from the nation’s top law enforcement official. His testimony before Congress not only contradicted itself but raised more questions than it answered,” Boustany added. “This is unacceptable and the Attorney General should be held accountable for his actions.”
According to Holder’s detailed Caribbean schedule — which, like other information, Justice Department officials released only to selected liberal media outlet* — Holder is spending five days of sun and sand to “sign law-enforcement agreements with authorities in the area.”
He is also scheduled to discuss a Medicare fraud sting in which the Justice Department recovered $37.5 million, a comparatively insignificant amount compared to the $4.4 billion the DOJ recovered in all last year. Holder hasn’t given any indication of why that particular case merits his personal presence in the tropics.
The left-leaning Daily Beast reports that Holder brought staffers and aides on the trip junket, including a spokesperson. It’s unclear if that spokesperson is Tracy Schmaler, who has declined to answer questions about Operation Fast and Furious.
The House Judiciary Committee is also seeking to interview Schmaler to learn information about Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan’s involvement in preparing the White House’s legal defense of the president’s health care overhaul. A growing chorus of conservatives in Washington has begun to insist on Kagan’s recusal from the Supreme Court’s review of the health care law on the basis of a conflict of interest.
Schmaler didn’t return The Daily Caller’s request about how much Holder’s Caribbean trip is costing taxpayers. She also wouldn’t answer if Holder plans to address the topic of congressional demands for his resignation.
The Daily Beast reported that Holder plans to stay in the “upscale hotels in each of the three countries—all nations with high poverty rates.”
*Correction: TheDC originally reported that the DOJ provided Holder’s detailed schedule to selected “outlets.” It’s only clear, right now, that the DOJ released Holder’s detailed junket schedule to one outlet.