Free Republic

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said Tuesday he would vote for a “clean CR” to end the government shutdown. “I’ll vote for a clean CR," Issa told CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. “Republicans in the House have always been for a clean CR increase if it meant we began the serious negotiations on the kinds of reforms that need to happen…entitlements as a shortcut for it. That's what the deal is about right now.” Democrats have pressed Republicans to bring a continuing resolutio to the floor that funds the government and does nothing else for weeks. GOP leaders have...

Serial abuses of justice by America’s top law enforcement official should be enough to make just about any tinhorn banana republic dictator blush. Yet regarding any embarrassment evidenced by the leader of the free world… not so much. Despite the fact that our attorney general has been indicted for contempt of Congress on both felony and civil charges, has repeatedly lied under oath, and has routinely turned a blind eye to laws that he is duty-bound to enforce, Mr. Holder continues to serve at the behest of his presidential mentor. At least he has so far. Apparently not so very...

September 26, 2013 Issa feared targeted by terrorists after Democrats revealed secret Libya trip Alex Pappas A leaked State Department email indicates that officials were worried about the safety of House Oversight Committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa after Democrats revealed his plans for a secret trip to Libya this week. Issa, a Republican from California, has safely returned from his fact-finding trip to the country as his committee continues to investigate the terrorist attacks that killed America’s ambassador and three others in Benghazi on Sept. 11, 2012. CBS News reported Thursday on an email that quoted a Libyan national sharing...

The House Oversight Committee will launch an investigation into the State Department following reports that Secretary of State John Kerry fully reinstated four employees who were faulted for security failures relating to the Sept. 11, 2012, terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans. Oversight chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) announced Tuesday that his committee “will expand its investigation of the Benghazi terrorist attack to include how a supposed ‘Accountability Review Board’ investigation [run by the State Department] resulted in a decision by Secretary Kerry not to pursue any accountability from anyone.” Four State Department employees were found to...

Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) made a list of reasons to not stop Obamacare. He checked the list twice, found out who was naughty and nice and then took a photo of himself with the list and tweeted it out to his followers. I’d say that Congressman Issa hit a homerun with this one. Well done!

An Illinois Republican congressman told constituents at a town hall meeting on Wednesday that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton screamed at a fellow member of Congress two days after a U.S. diplomatic station in Benghazi, Libya was destroyed, merely for saying aloud that the attack was carried out by terrorist groups.. The Obama administration later acknowledged that reality. But White House officials initially maintained that the deaths of four Americans and the firebomb attack on the State Department mission was the result of a spontaneous protest against a low-budget YouTube film that was critical of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. 'Two...

A spokesman for Hillary Clinton fired back Friday at what it called the “brazen deceit” of Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who earlier in the day said the former secretary of State shouted at lawmakers and deliberately lied to them in a private meeting about last year's deadly strike on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya. Nick Merrill, a Clinton aide, provided the following statement to The Hill on the condition that it be run in its entirety. “Here are the facts: on September 20th, 2012, nine days after the attack - not two as he falsely stated - Secretary...

A key figure in the State Department’s Benghazi attack response team has become the central target in an email probe launched by House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.). Issa on Thursday demanded that Victoria Nuland, the State Department’s former spokeswoman and current assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, hand over every email she sent between Sept. 11, 2012 and Sept. 16, 2012. Nuland played a key role in crafting the Obama administration’s response to the Benghazi, Libya attacks that killed four Americans. Congressional critics such as Issa believe that Nuland helped the White House obfuscate...

Just days after issuing a sweeping terror alert that broadly warned Americans against global travel and temporarily closing embassies across the Middle East, President Obama returned to pressing his longtime narrative that al-Qaeda is on the run. Obama told Marines at Camp Pendleton this afternoon that he was there to mark the war in Afghanistan entering “the final chapter.” “More of our troops are coming home. We’ll be down to 34,000 this winter. By the end of next year, in just 17 months, the transition will be complete, Afghans will take full responsibility for their security, and our war in...

Rep. Darrell Issa's demand follows CNN report of contact between the IRS and FEC House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa demanded Wednesday that the Federal Election Commission turn over records of more than five years of communications with the Internal Revenue Service -- a move that significantly expands the California Republican's ongoing probe of alleged federal targeting of conservative groups. In a letter to FEC Chairman Ellen Weintraub -- a Democrat -- Issa cited CNN reporting on Monday that raises "the prospect of inappropriate coordination between the IRS and the FEC about tax-exempt entities." Among other things, Issa asked for...

“If you thought the IRS targeting — scandal, controversy, whatever you want to call it — was forgotten, think again,� said CNN’s Jake Tapper, introducing Dana Bash’s report last night on House Oversight Chair Darrell Issa’s expansion of the probe. Issa requested information from the Federal Election Commission after leaked e-mails suggested that coordination may have taken place between the two agencies in pursuit of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. That may increase the focus on one particular figure in the scandal, as well as potentially add more to it: CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO House Oversight Committee...

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform subpoenaed Obama Treasury Secretary Jack Lew for withholding documentation from Congress in the ongoing IRS Tea Party Scandal investigation. The Oversight Committee accuses the Obama Administration of impeding and obstructing the investigation. “During the past two weeks, President Obama and you have repeatedly labeled the IRS’s strategy of targeting Americans for their political beliefs as a ‘phony’ scandal. While the Obama Administration has so publicly deflected responsibility for the targeting, it simultaneously has attempted to thwart congressional oversight into the matter… the IRS has engaged in a systematic effort to delay, frustrate,...

The IRS scandal shows that those who make decisions must be held responsible. By John Fund Finally, we may be getting somewhere in the IRS scandal involving the targeting and harassment of tea-party groups applying for tax exemptions. At Thursday’s House Government Reform and Oversight hearing, some names were at last attached to some of the IRS’s most questionable actions in the scandal. Back in May, top IRS officials Steven Miller and Lois Lerner insisted that “rogue” agents in the Cincinnati office acted without direction from IRS headquarters in Washington. But Elizabeth Hofacre, who was the Cincinnati agent in charge...

BOOM! FOX News reporter Carl Cameron told Bill O’Reilly tonight that House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has information that will move the IRS scandal up into the White House. The committee is meeting on Thursday. “What he said to me today was make sure to watch tomorrow’s hearing because he’s going to present the evidence to prove it…. That he can get it right up all the way into the White House before it was all revealed.”

In the summer of 2010, with Republicans poised to take over the House and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) in line to lead the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the White House started urging reporters to write negative stories about the congressman’s past, a new book says. New York Times reporter Mark Leibovich describes what he says were the anti-Issa efforts in “This Town,” a condemnation of Washington self-obsession and self-promotion, a copy of which was obtained by the Washington Post. According to Leibovich, former Obama deputy press secretary Bill Burton and suggested the reporter look into Issa’s past....

In the summer of 2010, with Republicans poised to take over the House and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) in line to lead the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the White House started urging reporters to write negative stories about the congressman’s past, a new book says. (article continues at link)

Republicans on a House committee rejected strenuous Democratic objections in voting Friday that Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner waived her constitutional right against self-incrimination at a prior hearing. The resolution was the first step in an effort by Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the GOP chairman of the House Oversight Committee, to force Lerner to return to answer questions about targeting of conservative groups by the unit she headed. It passed on a 22-17 vote, with every Republican in favor and every Democrat opposed, following an unusually vitriolic hearing. ... Under subpoena to testify before Issa's panel on May...

Last weekend, top Democrat and Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee Elijah Cummings, said the IRS scandal was "solved" and that we need to move along. Cummings cited an anonymous "conservative Republican" working in the IRS who supposedly came forward to say the White House wasn't involved in the targeting of conservative tea party groups. Cummings then detailed an unreleased interview last week with an anonymous IRS manager who labeled himself a “conservative Republican.” The manager essentially said it was he who started the targeting of the groups and — contrary to GOP allegations — said that the White...

When Darrell Issa called Jay Carney a "paid liar" this week, his critics figured he'd finally gone too far—that his one-step-ahead-of-the-facts rhetoric would force Republicans to rein him in. They figured wrong. For all the polite Washington handwringing over that single comment, the truth is this: Issa’s aggressive approach is just what the Republican House leadership wants. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor singled out Issa for praise at a closed-door GOP conference meeting on Tuesday. Hours later, Cantor gave him plaudits on national television, saying on CNN that Issa and other GOP chairmen investigating the IRS were doing “a fantastic...

A classic case of MSM jujitsu. Yesterday, Darrell Issa called Jay Carney a "paid liar." So did Morning Joe today dig down to see if Issa was right? Of course not. Instead, its focus was on Issa--how he is "overreaching," "overplaying," etc. H/t NB reader Wayne T. The quintessential statement came from Mika Brzezinski, who actually said that Issa's accusation "makes us all want to walk away and ignore" the White House scandals. It's not as if Mika & Co. needed much convincing! View the video here, along with a medley of statements from Mika, Brian Shactman, Joe Scarborough, Jon...

On May 21st, leftist bloggers and columnists were summoned to the West Wing for the purpose of planning the summary execution of IRS Exempt Organizations Director Lois Lerner. Two of the three known to have attended the meeting—Josh Marshall and Ezra Klein–published scathing attacks against Lerner the very next day, just as the IRS fall-girl was butchering a well-publicized 5th Amendment pleading before Darrell Issa’s House Government Oversight Committee. (1) The call for Lerner’s scalp was immediately seconded by Democrat congressman and Committee ranking member Elijah Cummings who stated that Lerner “…should be fired for her role in the scandal.”...

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa said embattled IRS official Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights and will be hauled back to appear before his panel again. The California Republican said Lerner’s Fifth Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination was voided when she gave an opening statement this morning denying any wrongdoing and professing pride in her government service. “When I asked her her questions from the very beginning, I did so so she could assert her rights prior to any statement,” Issa told POLITICO. “She chose not to do so — so she waived.” Lerner triggered...

California congressman Darrell Issa and Attorney General Eric Holder are not friends. Issa, the Republican chairman of the House Oversight Committee, has pestered Holder about the controversial Fast and Furious gun-walking program for years. His committee even voted to hold Holder in contempt for his refusal to turn over certain documents. During a hearing today, Holder's feelings for Issa burst out into the open when he called the congressman's behavior "unacceptable" and "shameful," and, getting more personal, "too consistent with the way in which you conduct yourself as a member of Congress."

Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, ended the Benghazi attack hearing on Wednesday by stating, “This hearing is closed. But this investigation is not over,” indicating more whistle blower Benghazi hearings are likely due in the future. Following the appearance of State Department employees Gregory Hicks, Eric Nordstrom, and Mark Thompson at his hearing, Issa told reporters he is encouraging more whistle blowers who know anything about last September’s deadly Benghazi attack to step forward and talk to his Committee. Issa told Breitbart News on Wednesday that the committee “reserves the right” to subpoena witnesses for...

May 12, 2013 Darrell Issa: House Oversight Committee to depose Pickering and Mullen over Benghazi Twitchy Staff Darrell Issa reports that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which he chairs, will depose Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Admiral Mike Mullen over Benghazi....

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) paid a visit to Morning Joe to discuss this week’s news surrounding Benghazi — which included the hearing and this morning’s story about the edited talking points. Amid the panel discussion, Cummings spoke specifically about one of the witnesses, alleging that Republicans tried to change his story in a way that contradicted his sworn testimony. Asked what’s next, Cummings (who, you may recall, criticized GOP Rep. Darrell Issa for “politicizing” Benghazi during Wednesday’s hearing) said it was “a search for the truth.” Referring to one of the witnesses who testified at this week’s hearing, Cummings said,...

“Obama never tried, U.S. diplomats died.” Shocking lies by the Obama Administration over Benghazi were unmasked on May 8. Testimony about the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Libya were heard by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, led by Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA). Some of what was expected did not materialize. Other bombshells turned out bigger. Clearly, we still do not know everything. Jaw-dropping topics are being discussed by other conservative journalists. First, Gregory Hicks is the only person so far to speak in public about these events who was actually in Libya at...

During today's hearings, Democrats have suggested that cuts to the State Department's budget may have played a role in the lack of security in Benghazi. This claim was addressed during the previous hearings which took place on Oct. 10, 2012.

Hearing details:WASHINGTON – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa today announced three witnesses who will appear at a full committee hearing, “Benghazi: Exposing Failure and Recognizing Courage,” on Wednesday, May 8, 2013, at 11:30 AM in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building. “I applaud these individuals for answering our call to testify in front of the Committee. They have critical information about what occurred before, during, and after the Benghazi terrorist attacks that differs on key points from what Administration officials – including those on the Accountability Review Board – have portrayed,” said Issa. “Our committee has been...

CBS: House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., with new details about the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. 5 May 2013, 9:31 AM PDT 4

Lawyer up, Issa warns CIA staff By Jordy Yager - 04/17/13 08:39 PM ET House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is pushing ahead with his investigation of last year’s fatal attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, by preparing federal agencies to allow employees to lawyer up. In separate letters to the legal offices of the CIA, State Department and Defense Department, Issa said some witnesses on the issue might need lawyers, if their agencies decide to retaliate against them for their testimony. “During the course of the investigation, numerous individuals have approached the committee with information related...

The House approved a bill to rescind the executive order President Obama signed last week that ended the pay freeze on federal employees, which meant that some federal workers would be getting a raise—including members of Congress. A number of lawmakers spoke out about the absurdity of the pay increase and timing of the move. Rep. Michele Bachmann said in a statement, “This executive order was not requested by Congress and we should reject it. We have a spending problem in our country and we should be looking for areas to cut spending. At a time when families across the...

Republicans are 'not giving up' on BenghaziBy Julian Pecquet - 12/15/12 03:24 PM ET Republican lawmakers are vowing to keep pressing the administration on Benghazi despite Susan Rice’s decision to drop her bid to become secretary of State. “We'll continue to seek answers,” a Republican Senate aide told The Hill. “We're not giving up on it.” Rice’s decision to step aside averted a contentious confirmation fight with Republican senators that might have pointed to an end to the political battle over the U.S. consulate attack. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations had become the flash-point for criticism since describing...

Fox Business Network reported on Thursday that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) plans to hold hearings on the September jobs numbers, which showed the unemployment rate had fallen to 7.8 percent from 8.1 percent.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi are among the 15 wealthiest members of Congress, according to a new survey. The annual rankings by Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper, showed the two San Francisco Democrats have a combined worth of at least $68 million, and potentially much more. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, tops the list with a minimum net worth of $306 million, roughly 4,000 times greater than the average American household. His wife, Linda, is the daughter of Lowry Mays, founder and CEO of Clear Channel Communications. No. 3 on the list, Rep. Darrell Issa,...

On December 15, 2010, ATF Special Agent John Dodson’s life changed forever when Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in the Arizona desert. At least two of the guns left at the scene were linked to Operation Fast and Furious. Before Terry was killed, hundreds had been killed in Mexico as a result of the program, leaving only blood stained concrete and horror behind. For a year prior to Terry’s murder, Dodson worked as part of ATF Phoenix Gunrunning Group VII, the group assigned to carry out the bulk of Fast and Furious. He was told for months to...

DARRELL ISSA SAYS REQUESTS FOR BETTER PROTECTION WERE DENIED By Posted :27 PM CDT 1 image Touch for photo gallery (NEWSER) – The White House response to the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi keeps generating headlines. Today, Republicans Darrell Issa and Jason Chaffetz laid out about a dozen incidents they say occurred prior to the Sept. 11 attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens. In their letter to Hillary Clinton, they assert "the US mission in Libya made repeated requests for increased security in Benghazi," but all were denied by officials in Washington. Asked about it today, White House...

It’s an odd feeling to see your name on the list of individuals targeted by the Justice Department. Especially when you used to work there. The DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs appears to have enlisted Media Matters to serve as its unofficial PR wing — the one responsible for running smear campaigns too dirty for the department to risk leaving fingerprints. Media Matters is, of course, a far-left advocacy group that masquerades as a nonpartisan truth-teller and media watchdog. I am not sure whether to feel honored that my critical reporting on the Justice Department’s misdeeds and rank politicalization attracted...

Capitol Hill-The Department of Justice [DOJ] Inspector General [IG] Michael Horowitz testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform committee Thursday and answered questions about his recently released report [OIG] from his office about Operation Fast and Furious. The internal investigation into Operation Fast and Furious has been going on for 18 months. Horowitz and his staff reviewed over 100,000 pages and conducted interviews with 140 people. In his opening remarks, Chairman Darrell Issa said the IG report and its findings are huge steps toward restoring the faith of the American people in the DOJ, but that the Committee’s work...

Yesterday Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Charles Grassley issued a 211-page report and more than 2,000 documents, pinning much of the blame for Operation Fast and Furious on five ATF supervisors. This is the first in a series of three reports expected to be released. An initial look at the report and the documents reminds us of a few things and also brings us new information. First, it was just over a month ago when Attorney General Eric Holder became the first sitting cabinet member in history to be...

Republican congressional investigators have concluded that five senior ATF officials -- from the special agent-in-charge of the Phoenix field office to the top man in the bureau’s Washington headquarters -- are collectively responsible for the failed Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation that was “marred by missteps, poor judgments and inherently reckless strategy.” The investigators, in a final report likely to be released later this week, also unearthed new evidence that agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Phoenix initially sought to hide from the Mexican government the crucial information that two Fast and Furious firearms were...

More Hope and ChangeÂ… A key congressional committee accused the Obama Department of Homeland Security of non-cooperation, witness tampering and even attempted theft of committee documents. The report claims that DHS Attorney Reid Alan Cox attempted to leave a committee hearing room with the CommitteeÂ’s exhibits in his bag. FOX News reported A key congressional committee on oversight is accusing the Department of Homeland Security of non-cooperation, witness tampering and even attempted theft of committee documents. The 152-page report comes on the eve of hearings on transparency about DHS by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The accusations were...

Late Wednesday evening, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa and Senator Chuck Grassley sent a letter to Acting ATF Director Todd Jones asking him to clarify the following remarks: “… if you make poor choices, that if you don’t abide by the rules, that if you don't respect the chain of command, if you don’t find the appropriate way to raise your concerns to your leadership, there will be consequences. …� "Disciplinary process."   Worrisome Message from Acting ATF DirectorIssa and Grassley aren't impressed. From the letter they sent him: If courageous whistleblowers within the Bureau of Alcohol,...

An ethics watchdog group filed complaints against Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) with the Office of Congressional Ethics and the Justice Department on Wednesday for revealing details of federally sealed wiretap applications. In the two complaints filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the group claims that Issa “violated federal law by including material from a sealed wiretap application in the Congressional Record.” As part of Issa’s successful move to place Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for allegedly not responding to a congressional subpoena, the powerful chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee...

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. sharply criticized lawmakers Monday for voting to hold him in contempt of Congress last week, saying Republicans have made him a “proxy” to attack President Obama in an election year. In his first interview since Thursday’s vote, Holder said lawmakers have used an investigation of a botched gun-tracking operation as a way to seek retribution against the Justice Department for its policies on a host of issues, including immigration, voting rights and gay marriage. He said the chairman of the committee leading the inquiry, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), is engaging in political theater as...

In the midst of a fiery floor debate over contempt proceedings for Attorney General Eric Holder, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) quietly dropped a bombshell letter into the Congressional Record. The May 24 letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member on the panel, quotes from and describes in detail a secret wiretap application that has become a point of debate in the GOP’s “Fast and Furious” gun-walking probe. The wiretap applications are under court seal, and releasing such information to the public would ordinarily be illegal. But Issa appears to be protected by the Speech...

Under questioning by Senator Charles Grassley, Attorney General Eric Holder testified that a handful of emails written to Department of Justice officials by then ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson are being withheld illegally from congressional committees as a result of Barack Obama’s claim of executive privilege. Kept now under lock and key thanks to the June 20th order, the emails have been described by Melson as “smoking guns” in that–-contrary to Holder’s testimony to congress–-they “show senior DOJ officials knew about and approved the gun walking tactics in Fast and Furious.” (1) Fifteen months ago, Melson began his own investigation...

Barack Obama’s invocation of executive privilege to keep subpoenaed documents from congressional committees investigating Fast and Furious came as rather a shock to many DC observers. It wasn’t that pundits were surprised the “most transparent administration in history” had chosen to OFFICIALLY cover up the Fast and Furious affair. After all, no one actually believed Obama’s phony openness claims in the first place. What really confounded Administration friends and foes alike was the fact Obama invoked the privilege in the face of such an extensive body of disapproving legal precedent. “Where there is reason to believe…documents sought may shed light...

Few principles are more important to our constitutional scheme than the separation of powers, which is precisely why President Obama's bogus assertion of executive privilege to thwart Congress' investigation into Fast and Furious is so inexcusable. Executive privilege is an important safeguard against congressional overreach and to preserve the separation of powers. The inherent right of the executive to protect highly sensitive information has long been recognized, and the privilege was judicially established during the Watergate era. As such, Congress should not go on fishing expeditions against a president to score political points. But neither should a president assert the...

The man who assured Senator Charles Grassley that no “gunwalking” had taken place during Operation Fast and Furious has just resigned from the Department of Justice. “The allegation…that ATF ‘sanctioned’ or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them to Mexico—is false,” wrote Assistant Attorney General Ron Weich in his now infamous February 4th, 2011 letter to congress. Nine months later the DOJ retracted that letter, advising congress it contained “inaccuracies.” It was just 48 hours after news that a Contempt of Congress charge against Attorney General Eric Holder would be put...