The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is accusing the Justice Department of refusing to allow congressional investigators to interview 11 DOJ employees about the gun-walking operation known as Operation Fast and Furious.
In follow-up questions to Attorney General Eric Holder, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) says investigators want to interview 12 department employees and so far, only former Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke has been made available. DOJ officials have not made the other witnesses available, citing “line attorney policy,” according to Grassley.
In his questions to Holder, Grassley raised the possibility that DOJ officials are attempting to stall until after a Dec. 8 House Judiciary Committee hearing at which Holder is scheduled to testify about Fast and Furious.
Fast and Furious allegedly resulted in the selling of at least 2,000 firearms to drug cartel members in Arizona via straw buyers. The ATF then allegedly permitted the guns to be trafficked to Mexico, where the bureau lost track of them. Two guns from the operation were recovered in December at the scene of a shootout between Border Patrol agents and Mexican bandits near Rio Rico, Ariz., that resulted in the death of Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry. Other guns sold during the operation have been linked to violent crime scenes in Mexico. House Government Oversight and Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Grassley are conducting their own probe.
Burke’s office supervised the operation and Holder has said that DOJ officials in Washington were misled by the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s office about gun-walking allegations.
Grassley also is pressing the attorney general for a list of people who regularly read memos sent to the attorney general’s office. Holder has said he did not become aware of the gun walking allegations until earlier this year. However, Republicans have said that memos were sent to his office discussing the controversial tactic.
