South Carolina Republican Sen. Jim DeMint doubled down on his call for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation over Operation Fast and Furious on Thursday, saying he thinks it’s long past time for Holder to leave office.
“I just think when our justice system is in question, everything is in question,” DeMint said in an interview on Washington, D.C. radio station WMAL.
“I came out a few months ago asking for Holder’s resignation,” DeMint said, “because as this whole picture comes together, if we connect all the dots of the things he’s doing and not doing — he’s not defending some of the laws that we have in place such as the Defense of Marriage [Act], he’s suing states that are trying to fix their voter systems so that there’s less fraud, or states that are trying to defend themselves against waves of illegals coming into their states.”
DeMint went on to lay out just how deadly Fast and Furious really was, and how he thinks Holder hasn’t been forthright with Congress.
“And in this Fast and Furious thing, we talk about the one border guard, [Brian Terry,] who was killed with these guns, but it’s likely hundreds of Mexicans have been killed in the drug wars using these guns,” DeMint said. “He has just been less than forthcoming — let’s put it that way — on the things that have been asked for.”
When asked how he thinks this plays out from here, DeMint said he thinks the House will vote to hold Holder in contempt of Congress, “but that’s not necessarily going to force him to resign.”
“But, the solution to a lot of these problems is in November when we elect, hopefully, a President Romney and a new majority in the Senate that will turn this country away from the fiscal cliff and get us back in the right direction as far as jobs and the economy,” DeMint added.
DeMint is one five U.S. senators who have demanded Holder’s resignation over the Fast and Furious scandal. Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah, John Cornyn of Texas, James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Johnny Isakson of Georgia have also called for Holder to resign. Two sitting governors, 129 House members and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney join them in pushing for Holder’s ouster.
