Attorney General Eric Holder scolded The Daily Caller’s reporting on the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal shortly after government officials and reporters heard him admonish Americans for funding gun-runners.
Holder appeared Tuesday at a White House event to showcase a new media campaign that is intended to stigmatize the selling and buying of knock-off videos and counterfeit fashion products.
Holder recorded one critical radio ad, which is titled “You can help.” The clip was played to the audience in the White House auditorium.
“This is Attorney General Eric Holder. We are working hard to protect our communities by reducing gang violence and organized crime and there is an important and simple way that you can help. Some street gangs and organized crime groups are selling counterfeit products, such as fake watches, DVDs and purses, as an easy way to make money. And they use that money to fund other crimes, like trafficking in drugs and guns.”
“When you buy knock-offs on the street or online, although it may not be obvious, you could be supporting gangs, putting money in their pockets and helping them to engage in other illegal activities that put our communities at risk,” said Holder in the radio ad.
More than 50 congressmen have called on Holder to resign because of his role in Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed gun-traffickers to buy thousands of guns in the United States, and then allowed them to transport those guns to violent drug gangs in Mexico.
The guns trafficked in Fast and Furious have been linked to the deaths of more than 300 people in Mexico, and at least one U.S. law enforcement officer. Hill legislators have subpoenaed the White House for more information on the gun-trafficking program, but White House officials are refusing to hand over documents.
None of the legislators calling for his resignation are Democrats.
Holder is a Democrat, and formerly served as a top lawyer for President Bill Clinton.
Holder appeared to blame The Daily Caller, not congressional alarm over the administration’s gun smuggling and resulting murders, for the resignation demands.
“You guys need to — you need to stop this. It’s not an organic thing that’s just happening. You guys are behind it,” he told TheDC.