BELLEVUE, WA – Following a second day of Capitol Hill hearings in which he professed little or no knowledge about the controversial Project Gunrunner, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today called for the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder.
“For the second day in a row, Attorney General Holder has stated on the record that he didn’t know about one of the most egregious government scandals in memory,†said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “This country cannot afford the luxury of having its top law enforcement officer confess ignorance of an operation that may have allowed thousands of guns to be illegally exported to Mexico. This operation happened on his watch, and apparently right under his nose, and apparently cost the life of at least one law enforcement officer.â€
Gottlieb called it an “outrage†that Holder has been unable to answer critical questions about the bungled operation, conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF whistleblowers have told Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) that Project Gunrunner, and its off-shoot, Operation Fast and Furious, apparently funneled nearly 2,000 guns into the illicit gun trafficking pipeline to Mexican drug cartels.
“It is simply unbelievable that the attorney general can act as though he never heard of an operation that has been exposed on national television by CBS News,†Gottlieb stated. “How could he not know, almost six months after the slaying of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, that guns recovered at the scene are linked directly to the Gunrunner sting?
“Holder is either monumentally stupid,†he added, “or he is telling a monumental lie. Either way, it is obvious that Holder is either hiding something or he is hiding from something. For the attorney general to not know about Gunrunner and its direct link to the Terry slaying is a sign of gross incompetence.
“It’s time for Eric Holder to go home and write his memoirs,†Gottlieb said.