Obama ignores Fast and Furious subpoena, refuses to comply with Congressional investi
Obama ignores Fast and Furious subpoena, refuses to comply with Congressional investigation
By LibertyNinja On April 25, 2013 · 12 Comments · In News
“This is a staggering abuse of power and an incredible slap in the face to justice, liberty, and transparency. Congress has accused the administration of organizing and carrying out serious crimes under the Fast and Furious project. Whether the accusations are ultimately proved correct or not, the president absolutely must comply with the Congressional investigation.”
A U.S. Justice Department lawyer said on Wednesday that if a judge agreed to consider a Republican bid to get administration documents related to a botched operation against gun-trafficking it would prompt a flood of requests for courts to referee Washington political disputes.
President Barack Obama is resisting a congressional subpoena for documents related to how the administration responded to the revelation of the failed operation known as “Fast and Furious” on the U.S.- Mexican border. It has already turned over thousands of pages of documents about the operation itself.
Justice Department lawyer Ian Gershengorn told a hearing the matter was best left to the give-and-take of the U.S. government’s two elected branches, the president and Congress, and should not be a matter for the courts.
“That is how it has worked for 225 years,” said Gershengorn, referring to the ratification of the U.S. Constitution in 1788.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson was skeptical and told Gershengorn, “There are three branches here, not just two.” She did not say how she would rule, but questioned Gershengorn for more than twice as long as she did House of Representatives lawyer Kerry Kircher.
Kircher told Jackson that if she did not intervene, presidents could withhold documents from Congress at will with no consequence and thwart oversight of government agencies.
The fear about more subpoena cases is overblown, he added. “You will not be flooded by lawsuits,” Kircher said.
Both sides agree that the question of whether Jackson will step in goes to the heart of how the U.S. president and Congress interact with each other.
Continue reading…
FEDS PIN BULL’S-EYE TO ‘FAST AND FURIOUS’ WHISTLEBLOWERS
‘They’ve been transferred, retaliated against, had their guns and badges stripped’
It was reported back in 2012 that members of Congress were alarmed that Obama administration officials had been threatening retaliation against the whistleblowers who exposed the government’s decision to traffic weapons to Mexican drug cartels.
So concerned were they that Rep. Darrell Issa and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley at that time asked the Department of Justice’s internal investigator to identify and prosecute any retaliation.
Now Katie Pavlich, author of the New York Times bestseller “Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up,” news editor of Townhall.com and an expert on the Fast and Furious scandal, has reported the extensive attacks those employees have endured.
“They’ve been transferred, then been harassed, they’ve had their guns and badges stripped from them and placed at corner desks, and transferred to Washington D.C. at what they call the mothership” so the government can keep a better eye on them, Pavlich told WND.
Most shocking, she cites that the government “has actively worked with Media Matters to smear whistleblowers and their reputation,” which Pavlich says is “illegal” and a “violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act.”
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/04/feds-pin-...uOx3MDr1RFx.99
http://www.randpaulreview.com/2013/0...investigation/
