WASHINGTON (DC) – Congressman Ben Quayle released the following statement after voting in favor of a civil and criminal contempt resolution against Attorney General Eric Holder. Congressman Quayle has been calling for such a vote for weeks.
"For well over a year, Attorney General Holder has employed the tactics of delay, denial and obfuscation to avoid any sort of accountability for his disgraceful incompetence on ‘Operation Fast and Furious’. He has given testimony to the Congress that was laced with lies and permeated with sneering disdain toward this legitimate congressional investigation. He sought to shift blame, and now that he’s run out of places to shift it, he’s attempted to hide behind an improper assertion of executive authority from President Obama.
"Today, Congress has taken a necessary step to put an end to this disgraceful evasion and restored accountability for this ill-conceived and tragic operation. I have been pressing for action against the Attorney General for months, and my efforts on this issue will not end today. I will continue to work with my colleagues to ensure that the investigation into ‘Fast and Furious’ is fully pursued.”
Earlier today, Congressman Quayle spoke on the House Floor in favor of the contempt resolution, and pointed out that Attorney General Holder had told him, and the American people a"bald faced lie” in his testimony to the Judiciary Committee:
"When I questioned Mr. Holder on June 8th, he looked me in the eye and stated plainly that there was nothing whatsoever in the wiretap applications that suggested the existence of a gun walking program.
Yet all I had to do was review those same applications to see that what the Attorney General of the United States told me, my colleagues, and the American public was nothing but a bald faced lie.
Mr. speaker I will repeat that again; it was a bald faced lie.”
