(CNN) – Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Sunday labeled President Barack Obama's claim of executive privilege over Operation Fast and Furious as "Nixonian," suggesting the scandal is worse than Watergate.
"You have a president who is using his executive privilege to keep that information from Congress. If that's not Nixonian, then I don't know what is," Perry said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
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The Republican governor and former presidential candidate portrayed the botched gun-running operation as more serious than the 1970s Watergate scandal that led to the resignation of former President Richard Nixon.
"We've had over 300 Mexican nationals killed directly attributable to this Fast and Furious operation, where they brought those guns into Mexico. A former Marine and a Border Patrol agent by the name of Brian Terry lost his life," Perry said. "With Watergate you had a second-rate burglary."
Obama asserted executive privilege last week over Justice Department documents surrounding the Fast and Furious probe by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The House is expected to vote next week to cite Attorney General Eric Holder for contempt of Congress.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives launched the operation out of Arizona to track weapon purchases by Mexican drug cartels. However, it lost track of more than 1,000 firearms that the agency had allowed straw buyers to carry across the border, and two of the lost weapons turned up at the scene of the 2010 killing of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
– CNN's Tom Cohen contributed to this report.
From CNN Politics
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Why is Perry even relevant enough to listen to let alone be invited in for an interview?
Tomorrow 0bama care will be reversed. Arizona will keep it's illegal immigration policy intact.Holder will be held in contempt very soon. 0bama is seeing his hopes of a second term circling the drain.
What ever happened....at least they didn't trade guns for hostages, then pin it on some Marine Colonel.
for those who have said Bush started Fast and Furious .. His watched started wide receiver... Obama watched stated F&F.. they are simulator but the big difference ..with Bush it was a joint effort between the the US and Mexico..and both countries were on the same page and acted swiftly to arrest the drug cartel.... In F&F the Obama watch did it on their own without the Mexican governments knowledge. That's criminal and those involved should be held accountable. less
Another GOP idiot.......This program was started under Bush.......President Obama should have stopped it............but he is trying to catch the bad guys. And those of you who watch Fox News...you will never get the truth!!!
I would say that the suggestion that the situation is 'Nixonian' would mean that it is on a similar level as the Watergate scandal, not "worse", as stated.
More like a tiny version of Iran Contra without the corruption and no-where near "hiding WMD"
Also, find out what Gov. Perry did to the educational system in Texas....not good, but hey, we are trying and do a very good job of creating an uninformed voting block....we are 25th in Math and Science in the free world....not good....but lets continue to cut education and make it harder for disadvantaged kids to get an education.....3rd world here we come....Keep watching FOX!!!
Really Perry? How about that lil oopsie in the Iraq War where no Iraqis were involved in 911. GW Bush and Cheney should be held in contempt as well. Didn't that lil oopsie cost us 5000 soldiers? and 350k plus dead iraqi civilians as well? Republicans in the senate and congress are war criminals. This is not about fast and furious, its about making Obama a one term president because he likes to wage an assault on free enterprise per Romeny. Can we put these ppl on an island and let them live there and take who ever they want? These ppl are an insult to rational thinking.
ThinkAgain if all you say is even close to the truth why does Obama hide the truth from the and show the world that they have been honest with all of their statements. Would be real easy to put this scandal to bed, just open the documents and prove their point.
It's been a while since we've seen his face, but Rick Perry looks quite a lot older than he was in the winter.
Rick Perry is NOT very bright as proven in his failed POTUS run so I wouldn't take much of anything he says seriously. The only correct thing he said in recent times was that Mitt Romney is a "vulture capitalist" and even now he's trying to walk that back.
bush again ! yea right... this has nothing to do with our "dear leader" and hillary's world wide gun ban does it ?
The fact that Republicans have to look to one of their OWN as the poster child for political crime says it all.
As usual the Texas fool has no clue. If it is close to anything, it's Iran Contra. This was a covert operation. Congress should have gone ot Holder and asked before calling for a hearingbut there is no grandstanding in that.Since Issa said when made chairman that 200 supaenas would go out in his first 30 days, what can you expect? Darell we are STILL not making you our governor- give it up.
Did they forget abour Reagan and the weapons investigation of the 80's?
Perry, talking about keeping things from the 'Public'?? Seems that he signed a contract with a Spanish company several years ago and went to court to keep the details private and not let the tax payers of Texas know what was in the contract!!! Please, Mr. Perry, as a Texan, I ask you to go away and keep your mouth shut!!! Your have embarssed the people of this state enough already!
I wish people would stop trying to put the blame on the former administration for the current administrations screw ups. Holder himself admitted that he was lying when he said that F&F was a continuation of a program started up during the Bush administration. The program that existed under Bush called "Wide Reciever," was only a few hundred guns, all marked with GPS transmitters or other communication devices so that they could be tracked. It was performed with the knowledge and cooperation of the Mexican government and resulted in the arrests of over 1400 cartel members. It was deemed a failure when the cartels started removing the tracking devices and stopped, and all of the documentation regarding this failed program are availible.
Why did the the current administration start up a defunct program already deemed a failure, and do it without any communication with the Mexican government, or any way of tracking the guns? Then they lied about it, and tried to hide the documentation covering it. Nixon hid tape recordings, Obama is hiding documents. The two cases sound very similar, and should be considered Nixonian.
Odd how Perry kept his mouth shut for 8 years when just about everything Bush did was Nixonian and underhanded.
Are there really people out there who care what this man is thinking ..let alone saying??? Duriing the famous "debates" some months ago, he showed himself to be not only confusing but confused!!....Don't think I'd take his opinon seriously at any time soon!!!!
So true!
""With Watergate you had a second-rate burglary.""
Is it possible that he is really stupid enough to believe this statement??
Rick Perry??? Wasn't he the former GOP frontrunner that was going to run Romney out of town--until the GOP found out he was all hat and no cattle??
What a joke he is. NO CRED!
Two words... iran contra... one president... Reagan. Oh, I forgot. He was a saint.
Rick Perry is a wacko. He supported Jimmy Carter. He has NO credibility.