A spokesman for House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa told The Daily Caller that the top congressional watchdog plans to push Attorney General Eric Holder on the need to fire people at the Justice Department over Operation Fast and Furious during his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.
“Chairman Issa intends to press Attorney General Holder on the need to clean house at tomorrow’s hearing,” Issa spokesman Frederick Hill told TheDC on Wednesday.
Hill’s comment comes just after Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley called for Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer’s immediate resignation or firing during a Senate floor speech. Breuer is the head of the DOJ’s criminal division and one of Holder’s top deputies.
Fast and Furious was a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program overseen by the DOJ. The operation facilitated the sale of thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels via straw purchasers. Straw purchasers are people who legally purchase guns in the United States with the intention of illegally trafficking them into Mexico.
At least 300 people in Mexico were killed with Fast and Furious weapons, as was U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
Grassley said he thinks it’s “time for [Breuer] to go,” because he was involved in providing false information to Congress about gun walking.
Issa previously told TheDC that if Holder wasn’t “doomed,” the entire Obama administration is. (RELATED: Democratic congressman: If Holder knew of Fast and Furious, he ‘should leave’)
“If the [Obama] administration continues to have full confidence in a failed administration by Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, then ultimately the administration is going to be doomed,” Issa told TheDC during an interview in San Diego in late November. “Eric Holder seems to have the full confidence of the president, and I can’t understand why.”
Now, as the heat is on and Congress is looking for accountability on the Fast and Furious front, Issa’s going to press Holder on who he’s going to fire over the program.
It’s unclear how Holder will respond.