Lost in all the hoopla about the South Carolina primary and the rejection by president Obama of the Keystone XL Pipeline and its hundred thousand new jobs, and event occured today that seems to signify an enormous problem for Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. Patrick Cunningham, chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, notified the House Oversight Committee that he intends to refuse to testify next week with regard to Fast and Furious on the basis of his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination. In the same letter that sent this notice, Cunningham's lawyer also says that any information coming from the Department of Justice which indicates that Cunningham did not give full information about the Fast and Furious operation to DOJ in Washington is untrue.
This is incredibly important. Eric Holder and DOJ have tried to blame incorrect information from Cunningham as the reason that they did not know about Fast and Furious. Cunningham's lawyer is calling this a lie. The DOJ/Obama stone wall is crumbling.
It will be interesting to see if Cunningham is forced to testify. The House committee can do this with a two-thirds vote of its members to give Cunningham immunity. The Democrats could block that vote since they hold more than a third of the seats on the committee. The full House, however, could also authorize immunity for Cunningham on just a majority vote, something that the Republicans could easily do.
My guess is that the day the House or the committee authorizes immunity for Cunningham will be the day that the countdown begins to Eric Holder's resignation.
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