Fed-Up Eric Holder Rips Congress: ‘Unprecedented, Unwarranted, Ugly and Divisive’

[Mad Good Dro]

Apr 10, 2014 11:09am
A fed-up Attorney General Eric Holder is accusing congressional critics of launching “unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive” attacks on him and the Obama administration.


During a speech to the National Action Network, a group founded by Rev. Al Sharpton, in New York on Wednesday lauding the organization’s effort to advance racial equality, a heated Holder went a little off-script.


“Forget about me [specifically]. Look at the way the attorney general of the United States was treated yesterday by a House committee,” Holder told the crowd. “What attorney general has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment? What president has ever had to deal with that kind of treatment?”
Eric Holder Wishes Critic ‘Good Luck With Your Asparagus’ After Testy Exchange




The remarks drew loud applause from the crowd.


On Tuesday, while testifying before a House panel, Holder engaged in a testy back-and-forth with two of his most outspoken Republican antagonists. One accused Holder of violating federal law and questioned whether he should even be allowed to testify before lawmakers, while Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, seemed to threaten Holder with another contempt citation and angrily told Holder he didn’t need to be lectured by the nation’s top law enforcement official.


On Wednesday, with a finger raised, Holder told the crowd in New York that his tenure as attorney general has been “defined by significant strides … even in the face of unprecedented, unwarranted, ugly and divisive adversity.”


The day before, after Gohmert ran out of time to ask questions, Holder leaned into the microphone in front of him and wished Gohmert “good luck with your asparagus.” It was a not-so-subtle dig at Gohmert’s unique remark last year when he warned Holder not to “cast aspersions on my asparagus.”


Holder has had a tense relationship with several Republican lawmakers since the Republican-led House held him in contempt of Congress two years ago for failing to turn over certain documents tied to the Fast and Furious scandal involving botched firearms sting operations despite a congressional subpoena seeking those documents.


In asking Holder on Tuesday about the Justice Department’s refusal to turn over documents in an unrelated terrorism case, Gohmert again raised the issue of contempt, saying, “I realize that contempt is not a big deal to our attorney general, but it is important that we have proper oversight.”
A visibly upset Holder, leaning back in his chair, shot back, “You don’t want to go there, buddy. You don’t want to go there, OK?”


“You should not assume that that is not a big deal to me,” Holder added, pointing a finger toward the congressman. “I think it was inappropriate. I think it was unjust. But never think that was not a big deal to me. Don’t ever think that.”
Gohmert pressed the issue.


“There have been no indications that it was a big deal, because your department has still not been forthcoming in producing the documents that were the subject of the contempt,” Gohmert said.
“I don’t need lectures from you about contempt,” Gohmert added.
“And I don’t need lectures from you either,” Holder responded.


The documents at issue were mostly from the months after the public first learned that an Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigation called Fast and Furious put guns into the hands of criminals in Mexico. Republican lawmakers subpoenaed the Justice Department for internal emails dated after Feb. 4, 2011, when department officials realized they would have to retract a letter to Congress denying any such thing happened.


But President Obama then asserted executive privilege over the documents, and Republicans filed suit in federal court.
Holder’s “good luck with your asparagus” comment Tuesday was a reference to a remark by Gohmert at a hearing nearly a year ago. At that hearing, Gohmert and Holder got into another heated back-and-forth over how the FBI handled the case of alleged Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who had been interviewed by the FBI years before the attack over possible radicalization.


Gohmert said he was “trying to determine how the FBI blew the opportunity to save people’s lives,” but Holder defended the FBI’s work, telling Gohmert, “You don’t know what the FBI did. You don’t know what the FBI’s interaction was with the Russians. You don’t know what questions were put to the Russians, whether those questions were responded to. You simply do not know that. And you have characterized the FBI as being not thorough or taken exception to my characterization of them as being thorough. I know what the FBI did. You cannot know what I know.”


In trying to get a chance to respond to Holder’s comments, a flustered Gohmert shot back, “[Do not] cast aspersions on my asparagus.”


Gohmert has used the phrase at least once before. During a House Judiciary Committee discussion in July 2007 over business law, he said, “I’ve had aspersions cast on our asparagus in East Texas.” And on Wednesday, he told TheBlaze.com that the phrase was often used by a Texas lawyer decades ago.


Asked Thursday about Holder’s recent run-ins with Republicans, House Speaker John Boehner insisted, “There’s no issue of race here.”
“The American people have not been told the truth about what happened in Fast and Furious,” he said, adding that the Obama administration has also not been “forthcoming” about other scandals.


“We’ve been going through all of these hearings, having to hold people in contempt because they’ve made it impossible to get to the documents,” Boehner said. “They owe the American people the truth.”
ABC News’ John Parkinson contributed to this report.

 

[ADevilYouKhow]

On point

 

[ill]

He's full of shyt himself so fukk him

 

[kermit da hustla]

He's full of shyt himself so fukk him

no, fukk you. he's right on the money. and if we want to get FACTUAL, eric holder has pushed more civil rights litigation assisting BLACK PEOPLE than any attorney general before him. look up what the civil rights wing of the justice dept has done under obama.

so, for those who complain, "oh, obama ain't done nothing fo tha black man," you're full of shyt.

 

[ill]

no, fukk you. he's right on the money. and if we want to get FACTUAL, eric holder has pushed more civil rights litigation assisting BLACK PEOPLE than any attorney general before him. look up what the civil rights wing of the justice dept has done under obama.

so, for those who complain, "oh, obama ain't done nothing fo tha black man," you're full of shyt.

No, fukk you. Politicians make progress too. Doesn't change the fact they are scumbags. Holder is a scumbag and a politician. He told the nation he wouldn't touch medical marijuana states and then he put a full out assault on California dispensaries. FOH

 

[kermit da hustla]

No, fukk you. Politicians make progress too. Doesn't change the fact they are scumbags. Holder is a scumbag and a politician. He told the nation he wouldn't touch medical marijuana states and then he put a full out assault on California dispensaries. FOH

obama has retreated on enforcement of marijuana laws. it's pretty clear the administration and, by extension, holder's justice department are pro-legalization now.

 

[ill]

obama has retreated on enforcement of marijuana laws. it's pretty clear the administration and, by extension, holder's justice department are pro-legalization now.

Key word is now. He promised to keep his hands off during the first term and he did the opposite, like any scumbag politician, and now he's backing off after he already broke his word and ruined a bunch of peoples lives.

 

[KingpinOG]

Obama and the Democrats are using race to get their base of low information voters riled up for this year's midterm elections. They sure as hell can't run on their policies.

Has any presidential administration played the victim card more than the Obama administration?

 

[ill]

Obama and the Democrats are using race to get their base of low information voters riled up for this year's midterm elections. They sure as hell can't run on their policies.

Has any presidential administration played the victim card more than the Obama administration?

They did the same thing in the past two elections. Dems will play those cards for decades to come until the Repubs get someone thats not-white and not considered a c00n into the public forums.

 

[No_bammer_weed]

They did the same thing in the past two elections. Dems will play those cards for decades to come until the Repubs get someone thats not-white and not considered a c00n into the public forums.

If it wasnt for dem dere black troublemakers complaining about racism, then racism woudnt exist!!!!!!!!!

You do know thats been a common refrain from racists for centuries.

 

[ill]

If it wasnt for dem dere black troublemakers complaining about racism, then racism woudnt exist!!!!!!!!!

You do know thats been a common refrain from racists for centuries.

Whats that got to do with it? There are plenty of non-racist Repubs and plenty of racist Democrats. It works both ways. Dem's have the minority vote monopolized and with the increasing influx of immigrants and second generation minorities, Dem's have a clear path to power for the foreseeable future. Dems use the all Republicans are racist so vote for us instead rhetoric. Its the liberal double standard.

 

[ORDER_66]

if all else fails play the race card....

 

[KingpinOG]

If it wasnt for dem dere black troublemakers complaining about racism, then racism woudnt exist!!!!!!!!!

You do know thats been a common refrain from racists for centuries.

Being criticized when you are the president and the Attorney General of the United States is not racism. Every single president in the history of our country has been criticized (often unfairly). It is part of the job but only this president continually portrays himself as a victim.

Obama and the Democrats are creating fear to distract from their shytty policies and get their uneducated voter base riled up. It is clearly working with you.

 

[无名的]

if all else fails play the race card....

They've played it masterfully. It sort of reminds me of the Bush administration painting those who opposed the Iraq war as anti-American.

 

[Kritic]

if all else fails play the race card....

[DOUBLEPOST=1397322717][/DOUBLEPOST]holder better be careful cause if he slips he might end up like blagovich. his own ppl will disown him. barack throws ppl under the bus.