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Continetti: White House's Resistance To Subpoenas Similar to Holder's Obstruction Over Fast and Furious

October 10, 2019

During a Monday appearance on MSNBC's Meet the Press Daily, Washington Free Beacon founding editor Matthew Continetti drew parallels between the Trump administration's lack of cooperation with House Democrat's impeachment probe and former attorney general Eric Holder's resistance to congressional subpoenas.

Continetti argued that there is no difference between the Trump administration's resistance and Holder's decision not to comply with subpoenas for documents relating to the Fast and Furious scandal.

"Holder resisted the efforts to subpoena the Fast and Furious documents for months. And I'm glad to see some of the clips finally appearing on outlets that are not initialed by FNC, because that was a big story," Continetti said. "It was the same thing, calling executive privilege. And we now have it in this case."

In 2012, the House of Representatives voted to hold Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing to hand over documents relating to the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal. It was the first time in American history Congress held a sitting cabinet official in contempt.

Continetti added that White House Counsel Pat Cipollone's letter to Congress laying out the administration's resistance does indicate that more is at stake now.

"Cipollone's letter is an order of magnitude higher, but that's because the stakes are that much higher," he said.