The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee challenged Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Thursday to “produce any evidence” proving his claim that a prior attorney general knew about a gunrunning investigation during the Bush administration or apologize “if no such evidence is available.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa issued the challenge in response to Mr. Holder’s Senate appearance this week during a hearing on the Fast and Furious gunrunning investigation when he testified that Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey was aware of and remained silent about a similar operation known as Wide Receiver, during which he said 300 weapons were “walked” into Mexico.
“I was extremely disappointed to hear Attorney General Holder try to deflect criticism of himself and his department by pointing the finger at his predecessor,” Mr. Grassley said. “If any such evidence exists to back Holder’s claim, it has yet to come to light after months of scrutiny, and the charge should not stand without any evidence to back it up.”
On Tuesday, in response to questions by Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Mr. Holder said, “An attorney general who I suppose you would hold in higher regard was briefed on these kinds of tactics in an operation called Wide Receiver and did nothing to stop them - nothing. Three hundred guns, at least, walked in that instance.”
Mr. Holder was referring to Mr. Mukasey, who served as the nation’s top prosecutor in the Bush administration from November 2007 to January 2009.
“That’s a serious charge,” Mr. Grassley said. “The problem is we have absolutely zero evidence that it’s true. Nothing in the documents produced by the Justice Department and no information provided by any whistleblowers that I know of suggests that Attorney General Mukasey was ever briefed about Wide Receiver. Period.
“If Attorney General Holder made that kind of a charge about Attorney General Mukasey to this committee without any evidence to back it up, that would be an outrage,” he said.
In a letter Thursday to Mr. Holder, Mr. Grassley asked the attorney general to provide any evidence he has to support his accusations and to do so before the hearing record is closed next week.
“If he can’t produce evidence that Attorney General Mukasey was briefed on Wide Receiver, then he owes Mr. Mukasey an apology,” he said.
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