Congressman Issa: President Obama Is Using Executive Privilege to Push Fast and Furious Investigation Past the 2012 Election
House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to the White House yesterday, questioning why President Obama is claiming executive privilege over certain documents. Congressman Issa said in the letter that the president’s assertion of executive privilege means one of two things, “Either you or your most senior advisors were involved in managing Operation Fast & Furious and the fallout from it … or, you are asserting a Presidential power that you know to be unjustified solely for the purpose of further obstructing a congressional investigation.”
A White House spokesperson called the letter “absurd” and tonight last minute efforts to prevent the contempt of Congress vote against Attorney General Eric Holder were unsuccessful. Rep. Issa joined Hannity and said ultimately, the contempt vote is “simply about the period of the cover up,
the 10 months in which we were given false testimony, but it also is part of getting to the truth.”
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Rep. Issa compared President Obama’s current actions to when “Nixon pushed the emerging discussion and discovery of the Plumbers activity at Watergate, pushed it past the election. Ultimately he won that election overwhelmingly and then the facts eventually came out. In this case, I don’t believe the fallout is directly the president but he is pushing on behalf of key people who work for him, this issue probably past the election hoping that his popularity will prevent us from getting to the truth.”
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He added, “The groups on the left and the right are always encouraging me to make sure we do protect that balance between the various parts of our government because if our branch doesn’t exert itself, ultimately we’re no longer the republic our founders wanted us to be.”
