The Daily Caller - Cravaack has "No Confidence' in Holder: 122 Congressmen Now Want AG Gone

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By Matthew Boyle

Minnesota Republican Rep. Chip Cravaack became the latest U.S. House member to declare his lack of confidence in Attorney General Eric Holder over Operation Fast and Furious in the wake of a newly resurfaced video in which Holder says anti-gun advocates should "brainwash" the American people to oppose gun ownership.

Cravaack told The Daily Caller on Monday that he has signed onto House Resolution 490, the official resolution of "no confidence" in Holder because of Fast and Furious. Cravaack becomes the 122nd U.S. House member to sign the resolution, call for Holder's resignation or firing over the scandal or both.

"This gun walking program has resulted in the death of innocent civilians, as well as the death of dedicated Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry," Cravaack told TheDC. "Attorney General Holder and the Administration's obstinate refusal to comply, and their apparent efforts to whitewash facts surrounding Congress' investigation is unacceptable. Enough is enough -- Americans deserve honesty and accountability. If Holder has broken the law, he should be brought to justice."

Over the weekend, Breitbart.com discovered a 1995 CSPAN video in which Holder -- then the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia -- advocated using anti-smoking campaigns as a model for an anti-gun campaign.

"What we need to do is change the way in which people think about guns, especially young people, and make it something that's not cool, that it's not acceptable, it's not hip to carry a gun anymore, in the way in which we've changed our attitudes about cigarettes," Holder said.

Holder explained that he wanted to use influential figures like then-Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, as well as widely watched TV shows like "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air" and "Martin," to forward his anti-gun campaign. He sought to push that same agenda through public schools as well, "every day, every school, at every level."

Holder said these resources would be the driving force behind a campaign to "really brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way."

Cravaack told TheDC he thinks Holder's push to "brainwash" the American people into opposing firearm ownership is troubling.

"Holder's ideologically radical comments in 1995 are particularly distressing," Cravaack said. "It's now clear that the President had no problem appointing such an anti-gun radical as the nation's top prosecutor. I would demand that the Attorney General clarify this expressed sentiment and its implicit connection to the Fast and Furious operation."

Spokespeople for the Department of Justice and the White House have not responded to TheDC's requests for comment on this newly surfaced video. (SEE ALSO: TheDC's complete Fast and Furious coverage)

In Fast and Furious, the Obama administration's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in a program overseen by Holder's Department of Justice, sent about 2,000 guns south to Mexican drug cartels. The Obama administration did this via "straw purchasers" who bought guns in the United States with the intention of illegally trafficking them somewhere else.

At least 300 Mexican civilians were murdered with Fast and Furious weapons, as was Terry. There are allegations surfacing, too, that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata was also murdered with Fast and Furious weapons.

Three U.S. senators, two sitting governors and all GOP presidential candidates join the 122 U.S. House members demanding Holder's ouster over the scandal.

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