Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch has joined his congressional colleagues in demanding Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation in the wake of Operation Fast and Furious.
Hatch made the call during a Wednesday interview on former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s radio show. “Well if he doesn’t cooperate with the Congress on this Fast and Furious, where one of our agents was killed because of the stupidity of this administration, then he ought to step own,” Hatch said.
“He’s basically a nice man, but by gosh he’s been so partisan in that job that I’m very concerned about him and tend to support Sen. Cornyn and others who think that he ought to retire.”
Huckabee said he calls Holder by the nickname “Eric withholder” because “he seems to be withholding so much more information than he’s coming forth with.”
Hatch becomes the fifth U.S. senator to demand Holder’s resignation over the scandal. Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn demanded Holder’s resignation to the attorney general’s face during a Tuesday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Republican Sens. Jim DeMint, Johnny Isakson and James Inhofe did so beforehand.
Two sitting governors — Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Rick Perry of Texas — join those senators, as do 129 House members and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in pushing for Holder to step down.
Last November, Dan Liljenquist — the former Utah Republican state senator who’s challenging Hatch in a primary — called for Holder to resign. This week, Liljenquist reiterated his call and criticized Hatch for holding back. “Senator Hatch has not shown the kind of leadership Utahns expect from their Senator,” Liljenquist said in a statement on Tuesday. “A U.S. border agent is dead because our government deliberately was running guns to Mexican drug cartels and it’s time someone is held accountable.”