Posted on 01/26/2012 1:59:54 PM PST by marktwain
Congressman Darrell Issa has raised the temperature on his investigation of Operation Fast and Furious after Patrick J. Cunningham, chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney’s office in Phoenix invoked his Fifth Amendment right to not testify Tuesday.
In a Tuesday letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Issa called Cunningham’s “broad assertion of the privilege” a “startling development” in the investigation.
The implication that Mr. Cunningham may have engaged in criminal conduct with respect to Fast and Furious is a major escalation of the Department’s culpability. The significance of these developments cannot be overstated, and this assertion raises many questions about ongoing criminal cases currently pending in federal court in Arizona – including prosecutions relating to Fast and Furious.”—Congressman Darrell Issa
Fox News reported on the controversy here. This column discussed Cunningham’s decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights here and here.
Issa’s letter signals a renewed aggressiveness on the part of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to get to the bottom of the Fast and Furious scandal. Holder is scheduled to testify before the committee on Thursday, Feb. 2, and Issa’s letter left no doubt that Holder is going to be questioned with some intensity.
“Without Mr. Cunningham’s testimony, it will be difficult to gauge the veracity of some of the Department’s claims. Main Justice has chosen to blame the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, and senior officials in the U.S. Attorney’s Office have rejected this accusation. This tension renews doubts about the Department’s management of the Fast and Furious scandal. Additionally, Mr. Cunningham’s broad assertion of his Fifth Amendment privilege raises the specter that the Department has allowed him to continue in his position as Chief of the Criminal Division knowing that he might have criminal culpability himself."
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
Gunwalker ping.
Ya know, I am rally a bit surprised, even with my hating the MSM self, that this hasn’t gotten more coverage.
The media is not going to cover anything that will hurt Obama. They are shameless.
Time for a Special Prosecutor with serious media moxie.
Well placed leaks, perp walks and accusatory news conferences could well suck the air out of the Criminal Cabal in the White House.
Fighting fire with fire is an age old practice and it takes lawyers at least a couple of months to puff on the tinder.
The MSM has buried this one.
Obama, Holder & co. can simply stonewall, and ignore.
“Time for a Special Prosecutor “.
NO, not yet.
If a special pro is appointed then all info concerning said investigation would be kept under wraps until charges are filed.
We need this drip to continue til nearly election time.
Hey Holder, You getting a little nervous yet?
We’re coming for you pal and we are NOT your people.
If the MSM and the Dems are not successful at sweeping F&F under the rug it is a sword the MSM will have to fall on. If and when it does break it will become apparent to the public that the MSM was working to assist a coverup. Their credibility with the public is already paper thin.
Why sure.
It may be time for a Special Prosecutor, but remember, as soon as one is assigned, Holder will withold all records not yet released, claiming ‘an ongoing investigation’ as the reason. In fact, that may be part of the reason why he is dragging his feet so obviously & refusing to deliver the requested documents. He is waiting for an excuse to keep Issa and the committee from seeing them.
If you think records have been shredded already, we ain’t seen nothing like the way the shredders will be working overtime in the Justice Dept when a Special Prosecutor is on the case.
That's true. However, Holder will be receiving a request of his presence before Issa's committee.
Should he refuse, he will be held in contempt of Congress and liable for arrest.
So what. The MSM doesn't care what you think. They will continue with their Pravada & we will sink further into a totalitarian nation....and the conservatives will do nothing more than bitch for an hour & move on to the Gulag.
Issa managed to 'walk' his investigation up to the soft-spot in Justice where the big dogs start refusing to participate in hanging themselves.
That's the right place to be ~ it means he, Issa, can offer IMMUNITY and get information that shows that folks at the same rank or higher are CRIMINALS.
This is where they start falling all over themselves to get into Issa's office to make a deal.
The fact Issa didn't seem to offer this guy a deal suggests he has OTHER INFORMATION he isn't going to reveal yet that tells him this guy isn't a "fast and furious" kingpin.
When Issa starts pulling in reporters and managing editors at the Washington Post and New York Times and pointing to their criminal complicity in the 200+ murders the MSM will finally wake up to what's going on ~ but it will be too late.
When the MSM gets involved in the coverup before the crime is committed that’s not a coverup ~ it’s a crime!
It took a pardon by George Bush to allow him to work for the government again.
Well people have been killed in this one and still the media and Obama-ites are silent.
I talk about this to whoever will listen —I’m shooting my mouth off about it.
We’re revisiting that puzzling Lewinsky-esque never-neverland, in which there’s a well-developed, enormous scandal known to a few kooky-sounding news stalwarts.
Meanwhile the great bulk of society knows NOTHING at all.
And it has NOTHING to do with a refusal to listen, no. It’s a VERY broad media decision to not cover the story.
Well over 300 Mexicans are dead, a casino was burned-down (with 25 people stacked up in the bathroom), a helicopter was shot-down, and 3 US officers are dead.
Probably more.
THE BIGGEST SCANDAL IN US HISTORY.
So they lose more credibility, more viewers and more money.
Except this is no longer the days of typewriters and carbon paper triplicate forms. "Deleted" files aren't, and about the only way to truly purge everything is the physical destruction of the hard drives (which can even then sometimes be at least partially reconstructed.)
If a lot of computers at ATFE and DOJ go *missing* the dots shouldn't be too hard to connect.
The real problem will not be the lack of evidence or documentation. It will be the lack of willingness to find it.
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