Two House Republicans said the Justice Department’s Inspector General should be releasing his report on the department’s handling of Operation Fast and Furious in “weeks and not months,” according to a report in the Washington Times.
Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.)
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) told the paper that he and Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) met with recently appointed Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the agency’s independent watchdog, last week to discuss the pending report. Gowdy said the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will host a round of hearings following the release of the report to dissect its findings, according to the Washington Times.
Attorney General Eric Holder was found in contempt of Congress by the House last month. House Republicans said they grew tired of Holder’s “stonewalling,” while the Attorney General explained he could not release certain information to the House Oversight Committee because of ethical considerations for ongoing investigations.
The botched gun-walking operation aimed to track some-2,000 guns sold to strawbuyers in the United States and then smuggled into Mexico. The investigation backfired, however, when hundreds of guns went missing. Two such guns were found at the scene of a shootout on the Arizona-Mexico border between U.S. Border Patrol Agents and Mexican bandits. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in the December 2010 shootout.
