Cummings, Issa square off on Fast and Furious
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings said Sunday that he agreed that the Republican-led investigation into the ATF operation known as Fast and Furious has become a witch hunt and argued that the controversial nature of the program had not been communicated to top Obama administration officials.
"All we want is a responsible and balanced investigation," the Baltimore lawmaker and top ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday. "Just because if you don't like some facts you don't throw them out the door and say I'm not going to look at those."
The Fast and Furious program, which began in 2009, allowed illegal "straw purchases" of firearms under the expectation that they would be tracked to higher ups in Mexican gangs. But the ATF lost track of many of the weapons, including some left at crime scenes. Two of the weapons were found at the scene of the murder of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
The burgeoning scandal has been the highest profile investigation led so far by Rep. Darrell Issa, the California Republican who chairs the House oversight panel. Earlier this month the panel subpoenaed documents from Attorney General Eric Holder and Issa has requested that Holder return to Congress to explain what he knew about the operation and when he had been briefed on it.
Several Obama administration officials, including acting ATF director Kenneth Melson, have been reassigned since the investigation began.
Cummings and Issa, who have had a contentious relationship on the committee, appeared on CBS separately Sunday. In his segment, which came first, Issa argued that the Justice Department is withholding critical information.
"There's clearly details that have been redacted that we should have," said Issa, holding up a redacted document left entirely black by redaction, which he likened to a "black cow at midnight eating a licorice."
"We have tried to be narrow," Issa said. "We haven't had the cooperation you would expect from the Justice Department when they know they've made a horrible mistake."
Comments
Fast & Furious and the cover-up of it represent the most egregious criminal conspiracy in U.S. history and the investigation should be above politics but so long as the investigation is being conducted by politicians that is all we can expect.
Of course we want to know how high up this goes but we know crimes have been committed and there should be criminal charges filed against those known to have been involved. Ken Melson and Dennis Burke were without question involved so indict them and if they want to employ the "I was just following orders" defense then let them show the orders they were following.
So long as this is just a congressional investigation "requesting" information from the criminal conspirators it will remain a political football and the DOJ will continue to stonewall to protect the guilty.
Posted by: Coyotejoe | October 16, 2011 11:46 AM
Reading what Cummings is saying now, and reading the letter I received from him just 3 weeks ago, he but definition be LYING in his letter OR these comments.
3 weeks ago he said that the investigation must continue in any direction it must to get to the bottom if it. Americans DIED! Watergate with FIREARMS and DEATH!
Now Cumming sees this getting too close to his brother in crime, AG Eric Holder and his JustUs Department.
Someone needs to be held accountable to the families of all the victims of these Obama/Holder Firearms, especially the Zapata and Terry families, held accountable to the Mexican Government for the hundreds of deaths there.
The FBI, the State Department, the ATF, who knows how many more government groups were responsible.
If Cummings wants to stop this investigation, which he didn't want to just 3 weeks ago, it is ONLY for political reasons and harmful to the country.
HE should step down from the panel.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 16, 2011 4:17 PM
Darrell Issa is a car thief.
Posted by: Rusty Shackleford | October 16, 2011 7:11 PM
and Rusty is a moron.
Fact: this is way worse than watergate because no one died as a result of watergate. in Fast and Furious, 2 american law officials (border patrol and ICE) have died along with countless numbers of Mexican Citizens..
FACT: Cummings has said that he wants to get to the bottom of this and said that everyone should be held responsible. If you dont get the information you want, or its redacted, how are you going to figure out who is at fault.
The American people want an honest, responsible and balanced investigation, too, Mr. Cummings. and just because you dont believe in what Mr. Issa is doing, what papers and what the emails are that are being subpoened does not mean that Issa is wrong in getting that information.
Cummings, relax and lets see what this new information is and how important it is to the case before you speak out about how things are being done... I have a feeling that Issa and the investigators associated with the committee KNOW what they are doing and know what they want and why they want it......
Support whats going on because as you said on TV you promised the Terry Family answers.
Posted by: james | October 17, 2011 1:53 PM
So nice to see Cummings sitting at an empty desk reading from the DOJ play book ... guess that is why he changed his mind to seeking justice. Did it occur to anybody that since the DOJ knew about “controlled delivery,” by Newell in 2009 according to a DOJ official why he was not fired and or prosecuted for that and why they have tucked him away in Washington helping to investigate the very thing he is heavily involved in??
Posted by: Cindy | October 17, 2011 2:31 PM
CoyoteJoe - don't you think you're either exaggerating or else displaying your ignorance? I remember quite a few scandals (i.e., Watergate comes to mind among others such as the Teapot Dome Scandal) that were FAR more serious than some trumped up idiotic political grandstanding move by that idiot Issa!. Oh, that's right, REPUBLICANS are beyond reproach, even when they totally disregard the Constitution and come close to destroying our nation! What a bunch of HYPOCRITES and LIARS!
Posted by: MEW | October 18, 2011 8:45 AM