White House Latest to Stonewall Fast and Furious Investigation

In what has become far too common a trend in federal agencies, the White House is now picking up right where its counterparts in the executive branch have left off.  Stonewalling of a constitutional congressional investigation hurts the checks and balances that our system of government was founded on, but that doesn’t seem to bother the lawyers at the White House and around the federal bureaucracy.

Congressman Darrell Issa and I sent a letter to the President’s legal counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler.  We asked to speak with a former White House staff member by the name of Kevin O’Reilly, who is now in Iraq, still working for the taxpayers.  We understand that O’Reilly is overseas, so we’ve asked several times to simply have an on the record telephone conversation with him.  But, the White House has not allowed a conversation with him.

Our desire to speak with O’Reilly is important in order to get to the bottom of a series of email exchanges and conversations he had with Bill Newell, the Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) office.  It’s highly unusual for an agent in charge of an ATF field division to have direct communication with White House staff.

The emails from Newell to O’Reilly included phrases such as, “You didn’t get this from me...” and “Just don’t want ATF HQ to find out.”  The unusual contact between the two officials is only highlighted by these questionable emails.

Newell testified before the House Oversight Committee in July and had a very selective memory of his emails and conversations with the White House.  So, now we need to hear the other side of the story.  It’s necessary to determine the extent of the involvement of the White House in Operation Fast and Furious and continue our efforts to get to the bottom of this illegal program.

April 2, 2012