Issa and Grassley sent a letter Wednesdays to Kathryn Ruemmler, counsel to President Obama, insisting that Congressional investigators need to speak to Kevin O’Reilly, a former member of the National Security staff in the White House. O’Reilly was the man inside the White House who traded e-mails with William Newell, formerly the special agent in charge for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Phoenix field office, from whence the operation was launched.
This column has obtained a copy of the March 28 letter, which notes:
“To this day, Newell has failed to disown Fast and Furious or admit the flawed nature of the program. This failure has raised new questions. Was Newell looking for authorization outside his chain-of-command in order to continue this deadly program? What did O’Reilly know about the objectives and tactics used in Fast and Furious and with whom did he share his knowledge? These questions are germane to the Committee’s investigation. O’Reilly is the only person capable of supplying accurate answers to them.”—Sen. Charles Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa
How can they pressure the White House, when the GOP in the House & Senate don’t back them in public?