Let the games begin.
(The Hill) — Republican lawmakers have requested correspondence records, including emails and handwritten notes, from a dozen senior Justice Department officials who may have been involved in a controversial gun-tracking operation.
The Hill has obtained a letter sent from Sen. Chuck Grassley (Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.) to Attorney General Eric Holder this week in which they ask for communication records from 12 senior officials with the Department of Justice (DOJ), including James Cole, the recently confirmed Deputy Attorney General.
Grassley, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, are investigating the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives’ (ATF) botched operation “Fast and Furious,” which sold thousands of weapons to known and suspected straw purchasers for Mexican drug cartels.
The move comes in connection with a separate letter sent by the lawmakers to Holder on Monday asking for records of a shared drive, which they say was provided to the computers of ATF officials and could jeopardize their investigation.
The drive contained documents relating to the Fast and Furious operation that the DOJ has given to the committee and possibly documents that it has not yet handed over, their letter states.
“Allowing witnesses access to such documents could taint their testimony by allowing them to tailor their responses to what they think the committees already know,” the lawmakers wrote.
More from the Daily Caller:
House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, ripped Attorney General Eric Holder again in another Monday letter.
In this new letter, Issa and Grassley name 12 senior Justice Department political officials they believe may have been involved in the decision which allowed guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. They asked Holder to provide all records relating to communications between those 12 individuals regarding Operation Fast and Furious.
Obama administration officials Issa and Grassley named in their letter were:
- Former Deputy Attorney General David Ogden
- Deputy Attorney General James Cole
- Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer
- Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco
- Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein
- Deputy Assistant Attorney General John Keeney
- Associate Deputy Attorney General Matt Axelrod
- Former Associate Deputy Attorney General Ed Siskel
- Gary Grindler in the Office of the Attorney General
- Brad Smith, in the office of the Deputy Attorney General
- Kevin Carwile, section chief of the Capital Case Unit
- Joseph Cooley, in the Criminal Fraud Section