Issa, Grassley: DoJ Prepped Fast and Furious Witnesses

Tuesday, 12 Jul 2011 05:40 PM
By Martin Gould

Department of Justice witnesses appearing before a congressional inquiry into allegations of gunrunning were prepped about what to say, Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley contend.

The witnesses were told to look at documents before answering committee questions into the Operation Fast and Furious scandal, Issa and Grassley said. The department even warned the committee against doing exactly the same, they said.

The new accusations bring more pressure on Attorney General Eric Holder, who is in the hot seat over his failure to stop the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) operation in which guns were allowed to go to drug kingpins in the hopes that they would lead to violent Mexican cartel leaders.

The ATF now admits that it lost track of most of the 2,000 weapons, and many have been linked to crimes, including the murders of border agent Brian Terry and immigration officer Jaime Zapata.

The Justice Department afforded witnesses access to a shared hard drive “replete with pertinent investigative documents, including ATF e-mails,â€