House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is playing politics with its vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, an action she said that even she didn't seek as House Speaker when she thought someone was legitimately deserving of it.
"I could have arrested Karl Rove on any given day," Pelosi said to laughter, during a sit-down with reporters. "I'm not kidding. There's a prison here in the Capitol ... If we had spotted him in the Capitol, we could have arrested him."
Rove was senior advisor and deputy chief of staff to former President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2007.
Asked on what grounds she could have arrested Rove, Pelosi replied, "Oh, any number. But there were some specific ones for his being in contempt of Congress. But we didn't."
That's just sad, Rep. Pelosi. You claim that Chairman Issa and the rest of the Republicans on the committee voted to recommend frivolous contempt charges for Attorney General Eric Holder, but back when you had legitimate, justifiable grounds to arrest Karl Rove for contempt, you held back?
Congratulations, you've effectively just admitted you were negligent as Speaker of the House of Representatives in carrying out your responsibilities to the country.
Rep. Pelosi, you should have asserted your proper powers and responsibilities at the time and gone after Rove on contempt charges. Today, I don't want to hear about it.
To be sure, I commend Rep. Pelosi for her explicit connection between Rep. Issa's attacks on A.G. Holder and the A.G.'s role in fighting Republican efforts toward voter suppression in Florida and elsewhere.
That said, however political the investigation may be, the committee and the public deserve to know as much as possible about the "Fast and Furious" fiasco.