Republican presidential candidate and Texas Rep. Ron Paul has now called for Attorney General Eric Holder to be “fired” over Operation Fast and Furious, making only former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich the only GOP candidates who haven’t done so.
In an appearance on Alex Jones’ radio show earlier this week, Paul said President Barack Obama should relieve Holder of his duties, then find out if he can be criminally charged.
“[Eric Holder] should be immediately fired and then there should be an investigation to find out if charges should be made,” Paul said. “And, that’s obviously over the top and all these kinds of sting operations and false flag operations — this is criminal and I think they do it constantly.”
Paul added that he thinks the House oversight committee, which California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa chairs, is “doing a good job investigating” Fast and Furious. He doesn’t, however, know if “charges will be made” against Holder but thinks the attorney general “deserves to have charges up against him.”
Paul is the 60th congressman to demand Holder’s resignation. Fifty-nine of Paul’s House colleagues have pushed for Holder to step down, and 75 House members have signed onto a resolution of “no confidence” in Holder as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. Two senators, Johnny Isakson of Georgia and James Inhofe of Oklahoma, have called for Holder’s resignation as well.
In the 2012 GOP presidential field, Paul joins former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman in demanding that Holder step down. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has said he thinks it’s up to Obama to decide, and Gingrich’s campaign hasn’t responded to months of requests from The Daily Caller about the question.
Gingrich has called for Holder’s resignation or firing for several reasons but not for Fast and Furious. (RELATED: Full coverage of Eric Holder)
“I believe, for a lot of different reasons, Eric Holder ought to be fired,” Gingrich told CNS News back in October. “I think he’s a very bad attorney general.”
But, Gingrich admitted, “I honestly don’t know” when the CNS News reporter asked him if he thinks Holder “misled” Congress during his Fast and Furious testimony. “I haven’t looked at it [Fast and Furious] enough,” Gingrich said.
“When the Obama administration’s incompetence extends to selling guns illegally to people who then kill both American and Mexican citizens, it just tells you something about how profoundly incompetent this administration is,” Gingrich said. “The Congress does have an obligation to get to the bottom of this, every person associated with it should be fired and there has to be a sense of accountability.”
“It is just mindboggling that the government of the United States could get involved in something illegal and end up actually killing both Americans and Mexicans as a result of bad policy by the Obama administration,” Gingrich added.
For the past couple of months, Gingrich’s campaign hasn’t responded to TheDC’s requests for further comment on the issue, or whether he thinks Holder is ultimately responsible for Fast and Furious. The campaign also hasn’t answered if Gingrich thinks Fast and Furious is one of the many reasons why Holder should resign.