Press Releases

Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after the Department of Justice (DOJ) was forced by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson to turn over 64,280 pages of documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious that were previously withheld from Congress:

“The self-proclaimed ‘most transparent administration in history’ continues to make a mockery of itself with this court ordered release of documents related to the ill-conceived Operation Fast & Furious. I fundamentally reject the ridiculous statements by DOJ claiming that it wishes to cooperate with the House Oversight and Government Committee in our search for the truth to the cover-up of murdered U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

“This is a blatant attempt to hide a massive, sloppy release of information from the American people on Election Day. While I am pleased to see Judge Berman Jackson finally take the necessary action to force DOJ to release these documents, I am not satisfied. There are still countless documents being stonewalled by DOJ despite endless requests from Congress for access to this evidence. There must be real accountability for Eric Holder and his unlawful actions.

“Despite Holder’s announcement to step down as Attorney General sometime in the future, he needs to go now. I echo Chairman Issa’s (CA-49) charge that the House will not yield until we have all of the evidence requested from the administration.”

Background:

Fast and Furious was an operation of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) with the goal of apprehending gun traffickers in Arizona. Agents were allowed to knowingly let firearms be sold to traffickers, and many ended up in the hands of the Mexican drug cartels.

Despite initial statements by DOJ, the ATF lost track of thousands of guns. Some of those weapons were used by the drug cartels to murder a U.S. Border Patrol agent on December 14, 2010. 

Congressman Gosar was the first member of Congress to call for the resignation of Eric Holder. Most recently, on January 18, 2013, Congressman Gosar introduced H.RES.35 a resolution by the House which expresses no confidence in Attorney General Holder and calls for his immediate resignation. This bill currently has 142 cosponsors. He also introduced similar legislation in the 112th Congress.

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