Issa Sends Justice Dept. Contempt Draft To Supportive Democrats

Darrell Issa
Darrell Issa (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

USA –-(Ammoland.com)- House Oversight Committee on Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., sent a letter today to Jason Altmire, D-Pa., and 31 House Democrats who wrote to President Obama in June 2011 “to express serious concerns” about the administration’s response to the Fast and Furious “gunwalking” scandal. Copied on the letter was unsupportive ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md.

“In your letter, you urged the President to ‘instruct the Department of Justice to promptly provide complete answers to all Congressional inquiries on this issue,’” Issa reminded Altmire. “Eleven months later, the Department has failed to provide those complete answers.”

“Given the special interest expressed in your prior letter, I now write enclosing a package of documents sent to Members of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last week,” Issa advised. “This package includes a draft contempt report detailing the Justice Department’s refusal to cooperate with the congressional inquiry into Fast and Furious.”

Gun Rights Examiner reported on the draft contempt citation last Thursday and brought readers news of the Democrats’ letter to the president in a June 3, 2011 report. Issa’s letter today gives Rep. Altmire and his Democratic colleagues the opportunity to demonstrate they were serious about what they told the President, and their response and willingness (or unwillingness) to support stronger methods of persuasion will be telling.

In a related development, Matthew Boyle of The Daily Caller reports Indiana Democratic Senate candidate and current Rep. Joe Donnelly “supports the House oversight committee’s efforts to enforce the congressional subpoena of Attorney General Eric Holder over Operation Fast and Furious.”

Donnelly, a Democrat with “pro-gun” credentials, will face the Republican winner of today’s primary, either incumbent anti-gunner Dick Lugar or challenger and NRA-backed Richard Mourdock, as discussed in yesterday’s Gun Rights Examiner report.


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