(Image source: CNN)

BY BLAKE HANSON

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testified in front of a House committee Thursday, suggesting lost weapons from a failed U.S. operation will be used in crimes for “years to come”. Fox News has video from the hearing...

HOLDER: “Guns lost during this operation will continue to show up at crime scenes on both sides of the border as we work to identify where errors occurred and to ensure that these mistakes never happen again, we must not lose sight of the critical challenge that this flawed operation has highlighted and that is the battle to stop the flow of guns to Mexico.”

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms operation called: “Fast and Furious”, leaked guns across the border to Mexico. Officials hoped to follow the weapons back to drug cartels but reportedly lost track along the way. Ever since one of the program’s guns was found at the murder scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, Holder’s job has been on the hot seat. 

NBC’s Chief Justice correspondent Pete Williams says Holder’s attitude is shifting...

“The Attorney General is to some extent changing his tactics here a little bit and pushing back toward House Republicans saying that they’re turning this into something merely to score political points.”

The Washington Examiner quotes one of Holder’s comments against the politics of Fast and Furious.

“As we work to avoid future losses and further mistakes, it is unfortunate that some used inflammatory and inappropriate rhetoric about one particular tragedy that occurred near the Southwest Border in an effort to score political points...”

Political analysts note some of the heaviest criticism is coming from House Oversight Committee chairman, Republican Darrel Issa, who pulled a trick out of his sleeve just hours before Thursday’s hearings. Politico writes...

“Fastandfuriousinvestigation.com, up and running when Issa first tweeted about it, is a storehouse of information about the operation that has put Holder and the Department of Justice under scrutiny.”

In an interview with Fox News, Issa said the distrust in Holder is bi-partisan.

‘Congress has lost confidence, on both sides of the dome, in this attorney general,’

The website claims Holder’s withholding information. Something GOP lawmakers claim is grounds for impeachment.

But a writer for progressive blog Mother Jones says the attacks on Holder are part of a trend.

“Almost since taking the helm of the Justice Department, Holder has been a target of conservatives. Activists have hammered him regularly over the past three years, over everything from the Department of Justice's refusal to investigate the community activist group ACORN to his handling of the New Black Panther voting rights noncontroversy to his attempts to try terrorism suspects in US civilian courts.”

Holder told the committee he’s quote “ultimately responsible” for the Justice Department’s actions but that he’s working diligently to understand what went wrong.