For the first time since Republicans took control of the House and gained the power of congressional subpoena, the Obama administration has declined to comply with a subpoena issued by top GOP oversight official Rep. Darrell Issa.
In the face of a subpoena by Issa, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) provided no documents by the April 13 deadline, according to an April 20 letter from Issa to ATF’s director, Kenneth Melson.
Issa is threatening contempt proceedings if ATF does not comply.
At issue are documents related to Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious, in which ATF allowed American guns to be smuggled into Mexico and sold to Mexican drug cartels. The goal of the program was to track the illegal weapons and drug markets after they were used in crimes and abandoned using ballistics information and serial numbers for the guns.
A spokesman for ATF declined to comment about the matter saying, “we can’t respond to the media or anyone else until we respond to the chairman himself.”
But in an April 13 letter to Issa, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Welch cited the Justice Department’s policy not to disclose details about “ongoing criminal investigations” as a reason not to comply with the document demand.
Issa says the objection is spurious.
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As with everything else tis communist does. So much for the transparency of government he promised. Or maybe he meant we wouldn't to be able to see anything when he said transparent.
ReplyDeleteNo mud sticks to a democrat so this will go nowhere. Besides the republican don't have the gonads to go after him. They are afraid the media will call them haters and racist and such instead of really doing some investigating themselves(the leftist media).
ReplyDeleteCut the communism crap. This is apart of the normal checks and balances. As in many similar cases, the legislative branch has the right to take this to the judicial if they feel the executive is in the wrong.
ReplyDeleteForget the "checks and balances" crap. The ATF let guns be purchased and then taken to Mexico, only to be brought back into the USA (THIS was their intention, because the ATF is NOT allowed to "investigate crimes" in Mexico)..What did they think those guns were going to be used for? Paving roads? Signaling for help? MURDER. Thats what. So the ATF made a conscious decision to allow, by their THEIR action, people (police included, but Americans nevertheless) to be murdered. So they could "track" gang and drug activity. And now, they won't cooperate, citing "investigations". Congressional committees see the most top-secret information, but the ATF says they aren't allowed to see the "investigation" material. And thats sounds okay? LOL. What's that sound? Shredding paper? The splash of bodies into the Gulf? Just a few more days and there won't be anyone or anything to implicate a single ATF official.
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