Attorney General Eric Holder cancels police academy graduation speech as seven lawmakers planned to demand his IMPEACHMENT in public protests



US attorney general was to address police academy graduates in Oklahoma City on Thursday

The speech was canceled at the last minute, but the DOJ wouldn't say whether planned protests had anything to do with the decision

Seven state legislators there had planned to publicly call for Holder's impeachment at the ceremony

A DOJ official says Holder doesn't fear protesters, but is conscious of his image as the nation's top law enforcer during his last months in office

The speech was to have taken place in the shadow of the Murrah Federal Building, which was the target of a bombing in 1996



A Department of Justice official told MailOnline on Thursday that looming protests by state lawmakers and a need to protect Attorney General Eric Holder's image among law enforcement officers caused him to pull out of a planned speech in Oklahoma City.

Holder's public schedule shows that he was to 'deliver remarks at the Oklahoma City Police Department’s 130th police academy graduation ceremony.'

That address didn't occur, however. Seven Oklahoma legislators were preparing to lead a crowd of hundreds in protests across the street, most calling for Holder's impeachment.



'Look, the attorney general isn't afraid of a few protesters,' the DOJ source said. 'But you have to understand that it's legacy building time around here, and no one wants him to get a reputation as the guy who brought chaos to a police ceremony.'

'He's the nation's top law enforcement officer. What kind of message would that send? And it could have been a PR disaster for the president.'

Just couldn't make it: Possible PR disaster: Eric Holder, the US attorney general, canceled a speaking engagement at a police academy graduation ceremony, reportedly over concerns about protesters and his post-career legacy Location: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was destroyed by a truck bomb blast in April 1995; Holder's speech -- and the impeachment protests -- were to have taken place across the street

The Justice Department ignored a request for comment through official channels, but the official spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Washington Times was first to report on the cancellation, attributing it to a protest planned by state Rep. Paul Wesselhoft, a Republican who believes Holder should be impeached following a 2012 finding of criminal contempt by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The House's action, a precedent-setting step against a presidential cabinet member, came after Holder's long-held refusal to comply with a House subpoena for documents related to the Operation Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal.



Wesselhoft told MailOnline that Holder 'was definitely avoiding a national embarrassment' by canceling.

'It would have been in all the papers, photos of people holding signs saying "Impeach Holder," can you imagine?"



'Hundreds' of people would have turned out, Wesselhoft said, but most decided not to come once Holder sent his regrets.

'We had a little over 100 come, and that was after he canceled,' he boasted. 'We had seven lawmakers lined up to speak, all of them calling for his impeachment.'



'Holder has been held in contempt of Congress,' Wesselhoft said in defense of his impeachment demand.



Awkward: Holder often speaks in controlled settings, like this Justice Department Diversity and Inclusion speaker series on Wednesday, but seldom presses the flesh in public

'Congress could do this today. There are a number of articles they could bring for impeachment. Operation Fast and Furious is at the top of the list because there's blood on his hands.'

That failed operation put more than 2,000 firearms in the hands of Mexican drug cartel members, in the hope that their movements could be traced.

More than 300 Mexican nationals, and at least one U.S. Border Patrol agent, lost their lives when those firearms ended up where they were intended to go.

Paul Wesselhoft, a GOP state legislator in Oklahoma, had planned protests against Holder for his apparent work to stymie a congressional inquiry into the botched Operation Fast and Furious -- a pattern that has brought cries for impeachment

'It is true that Mr. Holder will not be in attendance,' Oklahoma City Police Department spokesman Capt. D. Nelson told the Times. 'We are told that it is not due to the planned protests, but no reason was stated.'

The attorney general is expected to step down after this year's congressional midterm election, and reportedly plans a flurry of lasting policy changes before his departure.

One, announced just days ago in conjunction with the White House, is a change in the criteria used when evaluating clemency applications from nonviolent drug offenders in federal prisons.

Wesselhoft also cited that decision, along with a ' porous' U.S. border and 'voter intimidation,' as reasons Holder should be removed from office.

Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican who chairs the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is poised to become the latest burr under the AG's saddle as he skips Oklahoma.

Issa and 16 other House members, all Republicans, wrote to Holder Thursday to demand cooperation as they probe who the DOJ considered prosecuting conservative tax-exempt groups that were also targeted by the Internal Revenue Service in what has erupted into a major scandal.

Last week the center-right group Judicial Watch released documents from inside the IRS indicating that former IRS official Lois Lerner had back-and-forth communications with the Justice Department about the potential for criminal charges to be brought.

Tea party groups were the most widely and intensely targeted in that scheme. They rose in prominence during the 2010 congressional midterm election season.

