A federal judge rejected on Tuesday President Barack Obama's assertion of executive privilege that would deny a congressional committee from gaining access to records pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious, a gunrunning probe that allegedly allowed thousands of weapons to flow across the U.S. border into Mexico.
Obama-appointed U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled Tuesday that the Justice Department's public disclosures about its response to the so-called "gun walking" controversy undercut Obama's claim of executive privilege, Politico reported.
"There is no need to balance the need against the impact that the revelation of any record could have on candor in future executive decision making, since any harm that might flow from the public revelation of the deliberations at issue here has already been self-inflicted,'' Jackson wrote in a 32-age ruling, according to USA Today. "The emails and memoranda that are responsive to the subpoena were described in detail in a report by the Department of Justice Inspector General that has already been released to the public.''
Hundreds of firearms fell into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels as a result of the operation, prompting numerous investigations and an ongoing political fight that led to the House voting to hold then-Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over documents related to the operation to the committee.
As part of that congressional probe, hostile words about then-Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa were discovered in an email from Holder to his staff.
"Issa and his idiot cronies never gave a damn about this when all that was happening was that thousands of Mexicans were being killed with guns from our country," Holder wrote after Issa threatened to subpoena a Federal Firearms Licensee witness to testify on the investigation, according to the Huffington Post. "All they want to do - in reality - is cripple ATF and suck up to the gun lobby," Holder wrote. He added: "Politics at its worst - maybe the media will get it."
