Headline: "Holder Refuses To Apologize For Murder Of Border Agent; Says Fast & Furious Didn't Lead To Death"

by Chad D. Baus

RealClearPolitics.com has posted a transcript of testimony by Attorney General Eric Holder, submitted at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at which he was asked to answer questions about the ATF's "Operation Fast and Furious" gun running scandal, which has led directly to the deaths of two, possibly three U.S. agents and more than 200 Mexicans.

In the video, Holder can be seen telling Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) that he has not apologized (or even talked to) to the family of Brian Terry, one of the U.S. Border Patrol agent murdered by a weapon used in the Justice Department operation now being investigated. The article notes that, when given the opportunity to do so at Tuesday's Senate hearing, he did not apologize.

Holder also can be heard saying that Fast and Furious did not directly lead to the death of Agent Brian Terry. "It is not fair, however, to assume that the mistakes that happened in Fast and Furious directly led to the death of Agent Terry," Holder said today.

From the article:

Sen. John Cornyn: "Have you apologized to the family of Brian Terry?"

Attorney General Eric Holder: "I have not apologized to them, but I certainly regret what happened."

Cornyn: "Have you even talked to them?"

Holder: "I have not."

Cornyn: "Would you like to apologize today for this program that went so wrong that took the life of a United States law enforcement agent?"

Holder: "I certainly regret what happened to Agent Brian Terry. I can only imagine the pain that his family has had to deal with, in particular his mother. I am a father of three children myself. We are not programmed to bury our kids. It pains me whenever there is a death of a law enforcement official, especially under the circumstances that this occurred. It is not fair, however, to assume that the mistakes that happened in Fast & Furious directly led to the death of Agent Terry. Again my feelings of sympathy and regret go out to the Terry family and I hope that the steps that we have put in place, the measures that I have called for will prevent other federal agents, local, state agents from being the subject of this kind of violence as well as civilians, both in the United States and in Mexico."

Also in his testimony Tuesday, Holder said that questions about previous testimony, in which he potentially perjured himself by claiming he had only heard about "Fast and Furious" over the "past few weeks," were a "distraction."