The Department of Justice is asserting that the governor of Texas, as well as state legislators, have no executive or deliberative process privilege to shield documents — even as Eric Holder and President Obama assert executive and deliberative process privilege to shield documents from Congress in its investigation of Fast & Furious. That refusal has already resulted in Holder being held in contempt by the House of Representatives in a 255-to-67 vote that was joined by 17 Democratic representatives.
On June 20, Deputy Attorney General James Cole sent a letter to Rep. Darrell Issa informing him that President Obama was asserting executive privilege over all documents after Feb. 4, 2011, “generated in the course of the deliberative process concerning the Department’s response to congressional oversight and related media inquires.” Feb. 4 was the date that Justice sent a letter to Congress falsely denying that the Department had allowed weapons to cross the border, claiming that federal authorities made “every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico.” It was not until Dec. 2, 2011, 10 months later, that the Justice Department withdrew that denial and acknowledged that Operation Fast and Furious was “fundamentally flawed.”
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/06/29/DOJ-No-Executive-Privilege-for-Texas-Pols
