Darrell Issa Challenges Pres. Obama's Use Of Executive Privilege

Darrell Issa Challenges Pres. Obama’s Use Of Executive Privilege

Source: Larry Margasak / AP / The Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — With a vote looming to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, a House committee chairman is challenging President Barack Obama’s claim of executive privilege, invoked to maintain secrecy for some documents related to a failed gun-tracking operation.

Obama’s claim broadly covers administration documents about the program called Operation Fast and Furious, not just those prepared for the president. But Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that recommended the contempt charge, maintains the privilege is reserved for documents to and from the president and his most senior advisers.

In a letter to the president dated Monday and made public Tuesday, Issa cited an appellate court decision to back his claim and questioned whether Obama was asserting a presidential power “solely for the purpose of further obstructing a congressional investigation.”

White House Spokesman Eric Schultz said Tuesday that Issa’s analysis “has as much merit as his absurd contention that Operation Fast and Furious was created in order to promote gun control. Our position is consistent with executive branch legal precedent for the past three decades spanning administrations of both parties.”

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