Eric Holder is routinely tasked
with investigating his own shenanigans and routinely determines that
everything is on the level
writes
Benjamin Duffy in a post entitled
Eric Holder Invokes the Doofus Defense.
People accused of malfeasance aren’t usually tasked with
investigating themselves for obvious reasons. The guy caught with his
hand in the cookie jar has a tendency to conclude that the cookies are
all present and accounted for.
Attorney General Eric Holder, on the other hand, is routinely tasked
with investigating his own shenanigans and routinely determines that
everything is on the level. Amidst the furor concerning the DOJ’s spying
on Associated Press and FOX News journalists, President Obama ordered
the formation of a panel to “review existing Department of Justice
guidelines governing investigations that involve reporters.” Heading up
the panel will be AG Holder, hardly a disinterested party.
Apparently the DOJ investigates reporters for violations of the
Espionage Act whom it never intends to prosecute. Either prosecuting
Rosen was on the table or the investigation was a time-consuming fishing
expedition pursued at great cost to the taxpayer. I suspect the former.
This is not the first time that America’s top law enforcement
official has been caught telling fibs under oath and for the same
purpose—so that he can feign ignorance about what happens in his own
DOJ. His defense seems to be that he isn’t responsible for the
department’s transgressions because he’s irresponsible and
unaccountable. We’ll call this “the doofus defense.”
On May 3, 2011, he testified before Congress that he had only learned
of Operation Fast and Furious, the ill-fated gunwalking scandal that
placed American guns into the hands of Mexican mobsters, “for the first
time in the past few weeks.” His testimony was contradicted by a July
2010 internal DOJ memo directed to Holder that outlined the program by
name. Holder invoked the doofus defense, claiming that he doesn’t read
many of his briefing memos.
But the memos kept coming.
… Eric Holder has thus perjured himself on multiple occasions and never
faced legal consequences. Obama’s AG is entirely above the law.
Not only is he entitled to lie but also to blow off congressional
subpoenas. During the aforementioned Fast and Furious investigation,
Holder was ordered to turn over documents relevant to the case. He
initially refused, then backtracked. In hopes of staving off a contempt
resolution, the AG promised to deliver them personally to Congressman
Darrell Issa at a private meeting. When the day arrived, Holder
delivered a briefing on the contents of the documents rather than the
documents themselves. Congress then voted to find Holder in contempt,
which he undoubtedly was.
… Eric Holder has decided that Eric Holder did nothing wrong. Eric Holder is free to go now.
The man appointed to enforce the nation’s laws can’t be bothered to
follow them himself. He spies on reporters and furnishes underworld
figures with boatloads of guns, then lies under oath and stonewalls
congressional investigators to cover his tracks. America’s top cop is a
law unto himself, both untouchable and unashamed
