Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney demanded the immediate removal of Attorney General Eric Holder from office during a Saturday campaign stop in New Hampshire, telling reporters that Mr. Holder “mislead” Congress with his handling of Operation Fast and Furious.
“Either Mr. Holder himself should resign or the president should ask for his resignation or remove him,” Mr. Romney said to reporters Saturday. ”Its unacceptable for him to continue in that position, given the fact that he has mislead Congress and entirely botched the investigation of the Fast and Furious program.”
Mr. Romney becomes the fourth Republican presidential candidate to call for the resignation or removal of Mr. Holder. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman have also publicly called for Congress to take action against Mr. Holder.
The Fast and Furious program, an undercover law enforcement program that tracked gun trafficking from Arizona to Mexico, was overseen by the Justice Department and it has garnered national attention after an agent was killed. It facilitated the sale of weapons to straw purchasers in Arizona, who were tracked by undercover law enforcement to the sale of those weapons in Mexico.
The Attorney General Holder has come under criticism because the program did not achieve its’ goal of tracing gunrunners to Mexico, and instead lead to the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010 prior to the Justice Department ending the controversial operation.
In November, Mr. Holder testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the tactics used by the ATF to track the gun trafficking to Mexico. He stated that the program was “flawed” and “should have never happened,” but did not acknowledge any wrongdoing by himself or his staff.
Thus far, 52 members of the House and two senators have also called for the resignation or firing of Mr. Holder.
Mr. Romney has intensified his attacks on the Obama administration in recent weeks, but Saturday was he gave his first comments about Mr. Holder after refusing to answer questions about the issue in recent interviews.
