Is John Boehner Impeding Fast And Furious Investigation?

John Boehner
John Boehner

USA –-(Ammoland.com)- Vanderboegh: “I stand by my sources.”

“Issa spokesperson denies Fast & Furious ‘sell-out’ rumor,” Seattle Gun Rights Examiner Dave Workman reported yesterday, citing   exclusive information he obtained from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform

“The allegation, which appears to have been repeated by at least two different internet blogs, is that House Speaker John Boehner has hampered the congressional Fast and Furious probe, and that some kind of deal has been cut to derail or at least slow down the investigation,” Workman wrote, citing an initial blog by Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars that has since taken on a life of its own as others have repeated it, sometimes adding unsourced details.

“There is no truth to these rumors that the speaker or anyone in leadership is hampering Oversight or (Sen. Charles) Grassley’s investigation,” Committee Press Secretary Becca Watkins responded to Workman, flatly denying the allegation.

This follows a response from Boehner’s camp calling the allegation “absurd and untrue.”

“I am not responsible for others who take my stories and rewrite them with their own spin. I am responsible for what I write. As I told Workman, I stand by my sources. I still do,” Vanderboegh responded in a post this morning.

The story had its genesis in Vanderboegh’s trip to Washington DC earlier this month to cover Attorney General Eric Holder’s latest appearance before the Committee:

“Not forcing (the attendance of Burke, Cunningham, Hurley and Morrissey) is a big mistake,” said another source, who blamed it on “a desire by Boehner and the rest of those weak-kneed a*****s (the GOP leadership in the House) to drag this out until they end up impeaching (Eric Holder) in the fall for maximum political advantage to Mitt (Romney),” adding, “but what if it doesn’t work out that way?”

“I submit to you that it is entirely possible that the fix is in,” Vanderboegh told TPM Muckraker after assessing a softening tone in the hearings and the failure to raise the FBI’s involvement in “Operation Headshot,” wherein it has been shown  from documents obtained by the Committee that ATF was unknowingly investigating FBI informants in Fast and Furious.  In speculating on why that might be, Vanderboegh went so far as to suggest the possibility of something as simple as blackmail involving the Speaker.

What basis did he have to even invoke Boehner’s name, let alone suggest the Speaker is applying external brakes to the investigation? Vanderboegh cited more than one source:

Several sources tell Sipsey Street that the committee’s work has been slowed by the intervention of Speaker of the House John Boehner, with some saying plainly that “the fix is in.”

Diametrically opposed conclusions between Vanderboegh and Workman leave little room for validation barring new information coming to light.  Still, perhaps this can have a positive effect on moving things forward as more people are realizing that, rather than using his powerful position to advance the investigation, Speaker Boehner has been avoiding Fast and Furious.  Combine that with Chairman Issa recently backing down from tough talk on what had been presented as a deadline with consequences, and the speculation of insiders shared with Vanderboegh on why that might be takes on new significance.

There is a solution: It’s past time for Boehener and the entire GOP, including the presidential candidates, to make demands for truth and justice in the Fast and Furious investigation–with real teeth–a core issue, and one by which their fitness for  leadership will be judged.

If that can happen, this latest controversy will have had a beneficial result. If it does not, expect speculation and suspicion as to why that is to continue.


About David Codrea

David Codrea is a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He is a field editor for GUNS Magazine, and a blogger at The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance. Read more at www.DavidCodrea.com.

David Codrea