Testimony this week relating to Operation Fast and Furious from two members of the Obama cabinet before two different House committees has left more questions than answers for members of Congress who are trying to get to the bottom of this case.
Instead of getting closer to learning who knew what and when they knew it, Congressmen Darrell Issa, Jason Chaffetz, Trey Gowdy and Connie Mack appear more convinced than ever that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton don’t seem to know much about anything, or at least want it to appear that way.
Clinton, responding to Mack during her appearance before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, declined to take a position on whether Fast and Furious – which flooded perhaps 2,000 contraband guns across the border into Mexico – violated existing federal statute, the Arms Export Control Act. Her reaction:
“I cannot offer an opinion…This is the first time I’m being asked. I don’t know…I cannot offer you any opinion on that. I don’t have the information or any analysis.”—Hillary Clinton
Her evasive response paled in comparison to Napolitano, however, whose appearance before the House Judiciary Committee – discussed by this column – placed her squarely on the hot seat. Reacting to a question from Gowdy regarding how Fast and Furious was conducted, Napolitano said:
“I’m not commenting, I’m not second-guessing Fast and Furious, it’s under investigation…”—Janet Napolitano
When it was Issa’s turn, the exchange started in a confrontational mode and seemed to end in verbal combat. Along the way, Napolitano took much the same tack as did Eric Holder when he tried to distance himself from the operation by claiming that he gets hundreds of reports about various activities of his department, so he can’t know details about them all. Napolitano’s spin on this tactic:
“We have hundreds of operations and thousands of agents on a daily basis, so to my knowledge, the fact that an agent was assigned to somewhere about some matter would not necessarily come to ICE headquarters much less DHS headquarters…”—Janet Napolitano
But what appears to have truly irritated Issa, Chaffetz and Gowdy was Napolitano’s insistence that she had not had a single specific conversation with Holder about the operation, even though it had a direct link to the slaying of a Border Patrol agent and an ICE agent. Chaffetz probably summed it up for all three:
“For you to have two dead agents and to have never had a conversation with Eric Holder about Fast and Furious…is totally unacceptable.”—Jason Chaffetz
Following Thursday’s hearing with Clinton, Rep. Mack issued a press release in which he bluntly stated:
“It is time that this Administration takes responsibility for Fast and Furious. Enough with the delays and double-talk. I want to know who is going to be held accountable for this tragic and irresponsible program. The American people deserve the truth.”—Congressman Connie Mack
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