Senate and Congressional Investigators in Arizona to Investigate Project Gunrunner

It would take more than two hands to count the number of times Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) have been stonewalled by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, and ATF Director Kenneth Melson collectively. The most egregious infraction came courtesy of Melson, when he completely ignored a subpoena issued by the Committee on House Oversight and Government Reform. Issa, as Chairman, has subpoena power and he used it. After Melson ignored the deadline, Issa threatened contempt hearings.

It now appears Issa and Grassley are ratcheting up the pressure by sending investigators to Arizona to get more information from where this scandal originated.

Via CBS News:

CBS News has learned that House and Senate investigators have descended upon Arizona for their probe into the so-called "Gunwalker" scandal. They're gathering interviews from witnesses, including ATF insiders and area gun shop owners. Sources tell CBS News the congressional investigators are frustrated by what they view as across-the-board stonewalling by government agencies which have refused to provide information in the investigation. Government officials have said they won't provide information while their own investigations are ongoing.

"They're investigating themselves," says one source on Capitol Hill, "and then claiming the open investigations preclude them from giving Congress information it needs for independent oversight. It's highly improper."

ATF insiders being interviewed in Arizona are among those who told CBS News that their own agency employed a controversial strategy beginning in late 2009 called "letting guns walk," to try to gather intelligence. In that strategy, used in an operation ATF called "Fast and Furious," ATF allegedly allowed thousands of assault rifles and other weapons cross the Mexican border into the hands of drug cartels. Many of the guns later turned up at Mexican crime scenes, and ATF was notified; but documents show the agency continued to encourage local gun shop owners to sell more guns to the same suspects.

The longer this goes on, the worse it's going to be for the Obama administration. If Grassley and Issa get the incriminating answers from officials on the ground in Arizona they're likely to, we could see this scandal blow wide open. Then again, that should have happened at several points since this story broke a few months ago.

Read it all.