NEWS BLOG (WSAU) Shortly after President Obama invoked executive privilege to shield thousands of Operation Fast And Furious documents, the Washington Post published a long, front-page story.

The standard reporting narrative is that this is a political ‘gotcha’ story. The House GOP senses Attorney General Eric Holder is vulnerable. By pressing a contempt of Congress resolution they might get him to resign. Scalping your political opponent is sport in Washington. Republican sharks smell blood in the water.

All of that is true.

But the Republicans are pressing the issue because they were lied to. And while the ability to lie is an admired skill in Washington, getting caught is a political sin.

This is the part of the story that’s always left out of any reporting on Fast and Furious. (Kudos to the Washington Post, at least they mentioned it – in the 26th paragraph of a 27 paragraph story.)

The Justice Department gave congressional investigators a letter that U.S. undercover agents did not “walk” illegal guns into Mexico. Since that letter was delivered to Capital Hill, two whistleblowers have come forward to say that isn’t the truth. The lie is naked and fully exposed. And the congressional committee is within its rights to know who wrote it, who approved the drafts, who is trying to deceive. That’s the information that the Attorney General hasn’t been forthcoming with.

The story has legs now. The President is in the absurd position of claiming executive privilege over documents he’s never seen, surrounding a lie that was being peddled as true a few months ago. This will almost certainly end with Eric Holder’s resignation. The only question is how much political damage there is until he goes.

Chris Conley
Operations Manager-Midwest Communications, Wausau
6.21.12