Colorado Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn joined the scores of lawmakers demanding Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation over Operation Fast and Furious on Thursday.
Lamborn, who has already signed Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar’s official House resolution of “no confidence” in Holder, told The Daily Caller that he thinks it’s time for Holder to step aside. “The attorney general has been dishonest with the American people,” Lamborn wrote in an email. “He has contradicted himself repeatedly in congressional testimony. The Fast and Furious Program is an outrage. We deserve better from the nation’s top law enforcement official and Eric Holder should resign immediately.” (RELATED: Full coverage of Operation Fast and Furious)
Lamborn is one of 123 members of the House of Representatives who have demanded Holder’s resignation, signed the resolution of “no confidence,” or both. They join three U.S. senators, two sitting governors and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in pushing for Holder’s ouster over the gunwalking program.
The Obama administration’s “Fast and Furious” program — organized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and overseen by the Department of Justice — sent thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels via straw purchasers, or people who legally purchase guns in the United States with the intention of illegally trafficking them somewhere else. This tactic is known as “gunwalking.”
At least 300 people in Mexico were killed with weapons provided by Fast and Furious, including U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. The identities of the Mexican victims are unknown. Allegations are now surfacing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata was also murdered with weapons the Obama administration allowed to “walk” into the hands of drug cartel members.
It’s been more than a year since Terry was murdered with weapons his own government gave to his killers, but not one government official has been held accountable yet.
The Obama administration has stonewalled Congress on the issue, refusing to reply to subpoenas from House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa. Out of 80,000 pages worth of documents Issa has lawfully subpoenaed, the DOJ has only provided about 6,000 or 7,000 pages to Congress. The DOJ has, however, given all of those documents to its internal investigator, the inspector general.
Holder has not provided any legal reason for why he’s withholding these documents from Congress and the American people, but the attorney general has said that he’s not covering anything up.
