Tuesday may 3rd 10:15 AM in Rayburn 2123.

[beevul]

The House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on the Justice Department. The hearing begins at 10:15 a.m. in Rayburn 2141.


http://thehill.com/homenews/news/158503-the-week-ahead-deficit-reduction

Webcast here:

http://www.judiciary.house.gov


Rumor has it that Holder is going to be on the hotseat, several gun rights examiner pages are posting about it:


House Judiciary meets Tuesday and Holder may be on hot seat



Attorney General Eric Holder will likely be on the hot seat Tuesday before Rep. Darrell Issa and the House Judiciary Committee when the California Republican reportedly “will press” him about Operation Fast and Furious, the “botched gun tracking project” that has resulted in the death of one federal agent and a flood of guns allegedly allowed to be taken to Mexico, according to sources on Capitol Hill.


This column and others will be watching when the committee convenes at 10:15 a.m. in Room 2141 in the Rayburn House Office Building. It will be webcast live here. My colleague, David Codrea, writes about it here.




It was a letter from a Holder subordinate, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, to Senator Charles Grassley — Ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee in early February — that ignited the Gunrunner firestorm. It could be speculated that had Weich been more conciliatory in his letter to Grassley, rather than combative, the public and Congress may have accepted an explanation. Instead, Grassley and Issa have complained about a cover-up and the conduct of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Holder’s Justice Department, have many people convinced that is exactly what is going on.

Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson ignored a mid-April subpoena deadline from Issa for certain documents.



http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/bulletin-house-judiciary-meets-tuesday-and-holder-may-be-on-hot-seat#ixzz1LF7wE6lP


Background:

Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico

ATF agent says "Fast and Furious" program let guns "walk" into hands of Mexican drug cartels with aim of tracking and breaking a big case

By Sharyl Attkisson

(CBS News) WASHINGTON - Federal agent John Dodson says what he was asked to do was beyond belief.


He was intentionally letting guns go to Mexico?

"Yes ma'am," Dodson told CBS News. "The agency was."

One e-mail noted, "958 killed in March 2010 ... most violent month since 2005." The same e-mail notes: "Our subjects purchased 359 firearms during March alone," including "numerous Barrett .50 caliber rifles."

There was so much opposition to the gun walking, that an ATF supervisor issued an e-mail noting a "schism" among the agents. "Whether you care or not people of rank and authority at HQ are paying close attention to this case...we are doing what they envisioned.... If you don't think this is fun you're in the wrong line of work... Maybe the Maricopa County jail is hiring detention officers and you can get $30,000 ... to serve lunch to inmates..."

On Dec. 14, 2010, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was gunned down. Dodson got the bad news from a colleague.

According to Dodson, "They said, 'Did you hear about the border patrol agent?' And I said, 'Yeah.' And they said 'Well it was one of the Fast and Furious guns.' There's not really much you can say after that."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/03/03/eveningnews/main20039031.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody


Tomorrows testimony ought to be interesting, to say the least.