King: Executive Privilege Puts Obama at Center of Fast and Furious

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Washington, DC- Congressman Steve King released the following statement after President Obama invoked executive privilege to prevent the release of subpoenaed documents regarding Congressional investigations into the Fast and Furious gun runner case. The president's move came just minutes before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee convened to consider a resolution to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing to provide documents surrounding the Fast and Furious scandal to the Committee.

"The president's assertion of executive privilege raises serious new questions about the role the president and the White House played in the Fast and Furious scandal," said King. "Forty years - nearly to the day - after the Watergate break in, Barack Obama has taken a page out of Richard Nixon's playbook to assert executive privilege in an effort to stonewall Congressional investigators."

"I commend the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's action today to keep Eric Holder and President Obama accountable through the approval of a contempt resolution. However, this debate is no longer simply about Eric Holder's contempt for Congress. Today's assertion of executive privilege at least implies, if not confirms, that the President was at the center of Fast and Furious - or its cover up."

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