Did Eric Holder Commit Perjury?

Eric Holder will soon be out as Attorney General of the United States. It seems undeniable that he lied to Congress about his knowledge of the failed gun program called Fast and Furious under which the US government facilitated the sale of thousands of weapons to the Mexican drug cartels supposedly to track the guns into Mexico. Of course, essentially no guns were tracked and the program instead changed into one that involved the American government arming the drug cartels. This all came to light when the drug cartels used somed of these weapons to kill a US border guard last winter. Last Spring, Holder was asked by Congress about his knowledge of the Fast and Furious program and he denied even hearing of the program until long after the death of the border patrol agent. Here is what Holder said exactly while testifying to the House Judiciary Committe on May 3, 2011, "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks."

Today, CBS News is reporting that the it has seen documents that directly contradict what Holder said to Congress. In particular, CBS has released a number of e-mail from senior Justice Department personnel discussing Fast and Furious that long predate the attack on the border patrol agent. There is also a memo from the head of the criminal division of DOJ directly to Holder in which the Fast and Furious operation is discussed in detail and by name. That memo was written in October of 2010, or about seven months before Holder claims to have first learned of the program. The memo is not some communication from one low ranking official to another. It is a communication from the number three person in the department to the head of DOJ. It is a summary of important events coming in the next week.

The memo revealed by CBS is so damning to Holder that it should make cetain the need for a special prosecutor to be appointed here. Obviously, there is no way that DOJ can investigate the Attorney General itself.

It seems to me that the only relevant question is whether or not Holder was under oath when he testified to Congress. If he was, then there is a strong case for perjury against Holder. If not, then Holder still lied to Congress, just no under oath. Either way, Obama should fire Holder at once.