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U.S.
Representative John Boehner...
Fast
&
Furious: House Leaders Demand Answers from Attorney General
WASHINGTON,
DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor
(R-VA),
Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and Oversight & Government
Reform
Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to Attorney
General Eric
Holder this morning demanding full cooperation with the ongoing
investigation
into the “Fast and Furious” operation and the death of Border Agent
Brian
Terry.
The letter
states that the Department of Justice has not sufficiently complied
with a
Congressional subpoena seeking answers on the operation, and questions
whether
false information that was provided – and later withdrawn – was “was
part of a
broader effort by your Department to obstruct a Congressional
investigation.”
“The Terry
family deserves to know the truth about the circumstances that led to
Agent
Terry’s murder,” write the Congressional leaders. And “the American
people deserve
to know how such a fundamentally flawed operation could have continued
for so
long and have a full accounting of who knew of and approved an
operation that
placed weapons in the hands of drug cartels.”
FULL TEXT
OF THE LETTER BELOW
May 18,
2012
The
Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Attorney
General
U.S.
Department of Justice
950
Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington,
D.C. 20530
Dear
Attorney General Holder:
We write to
express our concerns with the lack of full cooperation from the
Department of
Justice (“the Department”) with the ongoing Congressional investigation
into
the operation known as “Fast & Furious” and the related death
of Border
Agent Brian Terry. While
we recognize
that the Department has provided some documents in response to some
aspects of
the October 11, 2011, subpoena from the Chairman of the Oversight
&
Government Reform Committee (“the Committee”), two key questions remain
unanswered: first, who on your leadership team was informed of the
reckless
tactics used in Fast & Furious prior to Agent Terry’s murder;
and, second,
did your leadership team mislead or misinform Congress in response to a
Congressional subpoena?
We are
troubled by the Department’s assertions that the Executive Branch
possesses the
ability to determine whether inquiries from the Legislative Branch have
been
fully complied with. As
the Supreme
Court has noted, each co-equal branch of our Government is supreme in
their
assigned area of Constitutional duties.
Thus, the question of whether the
Executive Branch has sufficiently
complied with a Congressional subpoena requesting specific information
pursuant
to Congress’ Article I responsibilities is one only the Legislative
Branch can
answer.
One fact
appears to be undisputed by all concerned: Fast & Furious was a
fundamentally
flawed operation. It
was taken to an
extreme that resulted in at least one death of a U.S. Border Patrol
agent and
unknown other consequences, because U.S. law enforcement agencies
allowed
thousands of firearms to be illegally “walked” into Mexico and into the
hands
of drug cartels. Beyond
the horrific
impact on the Terry family, there is no doubt that this operation has
done
serious harm to one of the United States’ most important bilateral
relationships. It
is our hope that, in
finding the truth, we can both provide closure to the Terry family,
begin to
repair our relationship with Mexico, and take steps to make necessary
changes
at the Department.
Clearly,
the Department must take steps to ensure that tragic mismanagement like
Fast
& Furious does not occur in the future.
Unfortunately, without the disclosure of
the information requested in
the October 11, 2011, subpoena regarding which members of your
leadership team
were informed of the reckless tactics that were used in the operation,
the American
people cannot be confident that any remedial steps you implement will
accomplish this goal. For
example, your
leadership team recently asserted that “Department leadership was
unaware of
the inappropriate tactics used in Fast and Furious until allegations
about
those tactics were made public in early 2011.”
Yet, Federal law requires that you, or a
member of your leadership team,
approve the application to a Federal judge for use of a wiretap.
In
approving such an application, you or your designee would – or should –
have
reviewed the accompanying materials and affidavits that provided the
basis for
the wiretap application prior to affixing the Department’s approval to
the
application. We
understand that the Fast
& Furious operation may have included seven such wiretaps
between March and
July 2010. Whether
the information used
to justify the wiretap application or the information gained from the
wiretaps
is being used in any ongoing criminal prosecution is immaterial to the
question
of who on your leadership team reviewed and approved the wiretaps and
was
therefore privy to the details of the Fast & Furious operation. The assertion that your
leadership team could
approve wiretaps in 2010 and yet not have any knowledge of the tactics
used in
Fast & Furious until 2011 simply cannot be accurate and
furthers the
perception that the Department is not being forthright with Congress.
We would
note that correspondence between your Deputy and Chairman Issa raises
concerns
that further Congressional actions might cause damage between the
Legislative
and the Executive branch.
We would
submit that the damage to that relationship began with a February 4,
2011,
letter from the Department to the Congress that was subsequently
withdrawn
because it provided Congress with false information.
The means to repair the damage caused by
your
Department lies within your powers to work with the Committee to find a
mutually satisfactory level of compliance with the subpoena and avoid
further
confrontation.
While we
are disappointed that a Senior Department official would provide false
information to Congress, we are also concerned that it took your
Department ten
months to acknowledge the inaccuracy and ultimately withdraw the letter. In light of the letter and
its subsequent
withdrawal, it is critical for Congress to understand whether the
letter was
part of a broader effort by your Department to obstruct a Congressional
investigation. We
are unaware of any
assertions of executive privilege that would prevent compliance with
the
Congressional subpoena. We
are also
unaware of any national security concerns or diplomatic sensitivities
that
would preclude compliance with the subpoena.
Finally, as these post-February 4, 2011,
communications concern the
Department’s response to Congress, their disclosure to Congress would
not
impact any ongoing criminal investigations or prosecutions.
If the
Office of Legal Counsel has provided a legal opinion that takes into
account
the specific circumstances of this investigation and you are relying on
that
opinion to maintain your current position, we would request that the
opinion be
provided to Congress at the earliest possible opportunity. Similar to arrangements
previously made
between your Department and Congressional investigators, we are
confident that
you possess adequate means to provide substantive compliance with a
Congressional subpoena while protecting the integrity and
confidentiality of
specific documents.
We firmly
believe and hope that you agree that a mutually acceptable resolution
to this
matter may yet be achieved. The
Terry
family deserves to know the truth about the circumstances that led to
Agent
Terry’s murder. The
whistle-blowers who
brought these issues to light deserve to be protected, not intimidated,
by
their government. And,
the American
people deserve to know how such a fundamentally flawed operation could
have
continued for so long and have a full accounting of who knew of and
approved an
operation that placed weapons in the hands of drug cartels.
As co-equal
branches of the U.S. Government, the relationship between the
Legislative and
Executive branches must be predicated on honest communications and
cannot be
clouded by allegations of obstruction.
If necessary, the House will act to
fulfill our Constitutional
obligations in the coming weeks. It
is
our hope that, with your cooperation, this sad chapter in the history
of
American law enforcement can be put behind us.
Sincerely,
Honorable
John A. Boehner
Speaker
Honorable
Eric Cantor
Majority
Leader
Honorable
Kevin McCarthy
Majority
Whip
Honorable
Darrell E. Issa
Chairman, Oversight and Government Reform
Committee
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