It appeared to be Janet Napolitano’s turn to get roughed up by Rep. Darrell Issa, who has been spearheading a probe into ATF’s controversial Operation Fast and Furious, that encouraged Arizona gun dealers to sell to straw purchasers, all with the hopes of tracing guns to the Mexican cartels.
Politico reports that Issa, at a House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, lit into Napolitano, suggesting she acted too slowly to look into the circumstances surrounding the shooting death of a Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was killed last December in Arizona.
At the time, two guns recovered from the scene were linked to the controversial ATF Operation Fast and Furious.
Politico reported that Napolitano had testified during the session that said she had held off inquiring into the relation between the controversial Fast & Furious operation and Terry’s death because that matter was being looked into by the Inspector General at the Justice Department.
Issa pointedly said that Terry was killed on Dec. 14 and the IG probe was requested by Attorney General Eric Holder in February, Politico reported.
That, he said, left a gap for her to explore the matter.
“You had two dead agents…..It has been months and you tell me you weren’t doing it because of an IG investigation,” said Issa, according to Politico.
“Wait just a minute,” Napolitano countered. “That insinuation is not accurate.”
Issa responded: “For three months, you had a dead Border Patrol agent and there was no IG investigation. What did you do between December and February to find out about Fast & Furious?….People on the ground knew those were Fast & Furious weapons found at the scene within hours. It wasn’t something that wasn’t known. It was known at the time.”
Eventually, she said the goal was to find Terry’s killers.
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