this morning. we hope you come back and see us again soon on a very important topic. have a great day. thanks very much. bill: let s go from indiana our nation s capitol right now. eric holder in is room with the house judiciary committee. this is a hearing about to get underway what eric holder knew and when he knew it with regard to operation fast and furious . eric holder said the actions of the u.s. government are inexcusable allowing guns to walk from arizona into mexico. holder s going to argue he has been fully cooperative. we talked with steve king, the republican from iowa. he is on that judiciary committee a moment ago. he has plenty of answers and does expect to have multiple interruptions with the attorney general if he is not getting the answers that he is pursuing. one member of congress described this hearing as fast and furious in its own right given the questions and answers back and forth. william la jeunesse
pointed questions as well. bill: cbs news reports there are internal e-mails from the atf that show agent after this botched gun running scheme went the way it did, badly, that there were e-mails that argued back and forth to use this for controversial new rules about gun sales. which would seem to suggest an attack on the second amendment. are you aware of these reports? is there validity to them? well, i m aware of the reports and i have not checked the validity but my sense is that there was a political agenda involved in this and i take it clear back to those days when we heard some of the top officials, including hillary clinton make the statement, this is my recollection, that 90% of the guns that were recovered in mexico came from the united states. we traced that back and found it wasn t true. it was 90% of the guns that were traceable came from the united states, a number most of the guns that are
this year was inaccurate. the documents produced to date also belie the remarkable notion that this operation was conceived by department leaders as some have claimed. it is my underanding that department leaders were not informed about the inappropriate tactics employed in this operation a until they were made public. what is clear is that disrupting the dangerous flow of firearms along the southwest border, and putting an end to the violence that has claimed far too many lives is and will continue to be a top priority for this department of justice. this year alone we have led successful investigation into the murders of united states citizens in mexico, created new cartel targeting prosecutorial units and secured the extradition of more than one hundred defendants wanted bayou nighted states law enforcement, including the former head of the tijuana cartel. we also built crime-fighting
won. the year before, ball state. this coming year, it could be you. so log on before midnight tonight. brian: all right. make it a great day, everybody. stay tuned for the after the show show coming up in a matter of seconds. want to start with a fox news alert. guess who is back in the hot seat? the nation s top law enforcer, eric holder about to face questions in his own fast and furious matter. in 25 minutes the attorney general facing lawmakers what he knew about that gun running operation that started in arizona, stretched into mexico. that s where we start. i m bill hemmer. a busy morning ahead for the next two hours. how are you doing? martha: good morning. i m martha maccallum. it is a big day on capitol hill. eric holder is accused of misleading congress about when he learned about all the information that became a huge mess. bill: fast an furious is linked to violent crimes including the murder of u.s. border patrol agent brian
fatalities in recent years. the work that we do along the southwest border is influenced by the efforts they have undertaken in their own cities. in the cities that they serve, and in communities across the country this work is a priority. and in our ongoing efforts to protect the american people, and our brave law enforcement personnel a critical area of focus will continue to be our battle against gun violence on the southwest border. in recent years the department has devoted significant resources to this fight, and specifically to addressing the unacceptable rate of illegal firearms trafficking from the united states to mexico. unfortunately in the pursuit of that laudable goal unacceptable tactics were adopted as part of operation fast and furious. now as i have repeatedly stated, allowing guns to walk, whether in this administration or the prior one is wholly unacceptable. the use of this misguided tactic is unexcusable and it must never happen again.