Dems Scandalously Unaccountable and Unrepentant

October 28, 2011

Bad Decisions Carry Few Consequences in President Obama’s White House

President Obama recently claimed that those responsible for the Department of Justice’s drug cartel gun-running operation “will be held accountable.”
The reality, however, is that from the Fast and Furious operation to the ongoing probe into the stimulus loan to now-bankrupt Solyndra, the Obama administration has shown little if any real interest in holding wrongdoers “accountable.”
Sadly these scandals are just the tip of the iceberg. For example, the Department of Justice has repeatedly bungled criminal justice issues, but as of yet, it appears no one has been “held accountable.” Your move, Mr. President.

BACKGROUND

President Obama recently claimed that those responsible for the Department of Justice’s drug cartel gun-running operation “will be held accountable”:

OBAMA ON FAST AND FURIOUS: “PEOPLE WHO HAVE SCREWED UP WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE.” (Devin Dwyer, “Obama on ‘Fast and Furious’: ‘People Who Have Screwed Up Will Be Held Accountable’,” ABC News, 10/18/2011)

The reality, however, is that from the Fast and Furious operation to the ongoing probe into the stimulus loan to now-bankrupt Solyndra, the Obama administration has shown little if any real interest in holding wrongdoers “accountable”:

SOLYNDRA:

WHITE HOUSE WON’T PURSUE ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ITS CASH COW, WHO IS STILL RAISING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS FOR OBAMA RE-ELECT DESPITE SOLYNDRA ROLE: “A former Energy Department official linked to the failed Solyndra solar enterprise deal continues to raise campaign money for President Obama and helped plan a fundraising luncheon that the president will attend in San Francisco on Tuesday.

“Steven Spinner, who remains in the top tier of Obama fundraisers, took part in a conference call in recent weeks devoted to planning the event at the W Hotel. He also has joined other Obama fundraising calls, according to a person familiar with Spinner’s participation who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly.” (Tom Hamburger and Peter Nicholas, “Solyndra-linked Fundraiser Still Boosting Obama Campaign,” Los Angeles Times, 10/24/2011)

WHITE HOUSE AVOIDING ACCOUNTABILITY BY REFUSING TO TURN OVER SOLYNDRA DOCUMENTS: “The White House will not comply with requests to turn over documents related to the bankrupt solar company Solyndra, which received a $535 million loan guarantee from the federal government, CNN learned Friday.”(Jessica Yellin, “FIRST ON CNN: Source: White House Will Not Turn Over All Solyndra Documents,”CNN, 10/14/2011)

FAST AND FURIOUS:

HOLDER SAID IN MAY 2011 THAT HE JUST RECENTLY HEARD ABOUT “FAST AND FURIOUS”: “On May 3, 2011, Holder told a Judiciary Committee hearing, ‘I’m not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.’ ” (Sharyl Attkisson, “ATF Fast and Furious: New Documents Show Attorney General Eric Holder Was Briefed in July 2010,” CBS News, 10/3/2011)

HOWEVER, NEWLY RELEASED DOCUMENTS DIRECTLY CONTRADICT HIS TESTIMONY, REVEAL HE KNEW ABOUT FAST AND FURIOUS AS FAR BACK AS JULY 2010: “New documents obtained by CBS News show Attorney General Eric Holder was sent briefings on the controversial Fast and Furious operation as far back as July 2010. That directly contradicts his statement to Congress.” (Sharyl Attkisson, “ATF Fast and Furious: New Documents Show Attorney General Eric Holder Was Briefed in July 2010,” CBS News, 10/3/2011)

AND EVEN PRESIDENT OBAMA SAID HOLDER KNEW ABOUT FAST AND FURIOUS IN MARCH 2011: “He [Attorney General Holder] has been very clear, our policy is to catch gunrunners and put them into jail. So what he’s done is he’s assigned an I.G., an Inspector General to investigate what exactly happened here.” (“Obama On ‘Gunwalking’ – ‘Serious Mistakes’ May Have Been Made,” CBS News, 3/23/2011)

PREMISE OF “FAST AND FURIOUS” WAS TO LET “THOUSANDS OF WEAPONS TO CROSS THE BORDER AND FALL INTO THE HANDS OF MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS”:“In Fast and Furious, ATF agents allegedly allowed thousands of weapons to cross the border and fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.” (Sharyl Attkisson, “ATF Fast and Furious: New Documents Show Attorney General Eric Holder Was Briefed in July 2010,”CBS News, 10/3/2011)

BUT DOJ OFFICIALS WERE WELL AWARE THAT GUNS WERE BEING DISTRIBUTED TO GUN CARTELS: “Ever since, the Justice Department has publicly tried to distance itself. But the new documents leave no doubt that high level Justice officials knew guns were being ‘walked.’” (Sharyl Attkisson, “ATF Fast and Furious: New Documents Show Attorney General Eric Holder Was Briefed in July 2010,” CBS News, 10/3/2011)

Sadly these scandals are just the tip of the iceberg. For example, the Department of Justice has repeatedly bungled criminal justice issues, but as of yet, it appears no one has been “held accountable.” Your move, Mr. President:

HOLDER’S “PATTERN OF GROSS INCOMPETENCE”: “Many of these debacles stem from Holder’s failure to do due diligence: He failed to consult the intelligence community before giving the Christmas bomber a Miranda warning; he failed to read the memos in which career prosecutors explained why CIA prosecutions were a legal dead end; he failed to consult New York officials about trying Mohammed in their city; he failed to conduct even a cursory review before pushing Obama to announce the closure of Guantanamo; he failed to read the Arizona immigration law before publicly opposing it. One such failure is a mistake; this many is a pattern of gross incompetence.” (Marc Thiessen, “Eric Holder, Obama’s Albatross,” The Washington Post, 10/10/2011)

ERIC HOLDER OVERRULES DOJ CAREER LAWYERS WHO URGE PROSECTION OF NEW BLACK PANTHER PARTY’S VOTER INTIMIDATION: “President Obama’s Justice Department continues to stonewall inquiries about why it dropped a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party. … Then the Washington Times reported on July 30 that six career lawyers at Justice who had recommended continuing to pursue the case were overruled by Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli—a top administration political appointee. One of the career attorneys, Appellate Chief Diana Flynn, had urged in an internal memo that a judgment be pressed against the defendants to ‘prevent the paramilitary style intimidation of voters’ in the future.” (John Fund, “Holder’s Black Panther Stonewall,” The Wall Street Journal, 8/20/2009)

ONE OF THE DEFENDANTS WAS AN OFFICIAL DEMOCRAT PARTY POLL WATCHER: “[O]ne of the defendants who walked was Jerry Jackson, a member of Philadelphia’s 14th Ward Democratic Committee and a credentialed poll watcher for the Democratic Party last Election Day.” (John Fund, “Holder’s Black Panther Stonewall,” The Wall Street Journal, 8/20/2009)

HOLDER DECIDED TO READ THE CHRISTMAS DAY BOMBER HIS MIRANDA RIGHTS WITHOUT CONSULTING NATIONAL SECURITY, INTELLIGENCE STAFF:“Then came Holder’s order to read Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (who goes on trial this week) a Miranda warning after just 50 minutes of questioning – an order the attorney general gave without even consulting chief intelligence or national security officials. Holder’s administration colleagues were forced to argue (implausibly) that Miranda was really not an impediment to effective interrogation – only to have Holder undercut them few months later when he admitted that this was not true, and asked Congress to fix the Miranda law to allow longer interrogations.” (Marc Thiessen, “Eric Holder, Obama’s Albatross,” The Washington Post, 10/10/2011)

HOLDER DECIDED TO TRY 9/11 PLOTTERS IN NYC FEDERAL COURTS WITHOUT CONSULTING NYC OFFICIALS: “Then there was Holder’s catastrophic attempt to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other 9/11 plotters in federal court in New York City. According to The Post, Holder made the decision alone, at 1 a.m., while eating Chips Ahoy cookies at his kitchen table. He did so without first consulting New York officials, who responded with outrage — as did the general public. In the face of the bipartisan backlash, the administration was forced to backtrack, and it soon announced the resumption of military commission trials at Guantanamo for Mohammed and other terrorists.” (Marc Thiessen, “Eric Holder, Obama’s Albatross,” The Washington Post, 10/10/2011)