KA BOOM! Issa has copies of Wiretap Applications

This may just be among the most explosive developments yet in the Fast and Furious investigation. Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa has sent a letter to Eric Holder but that's not the news. In fact, these letters have become tiresome because most of them are a bit redundant and are more often than not met with silence.

Not this time. This letter to Holder is more of a big, fat FYI than it is a demand for information. One of the things that Holder's DOJ has been extremely reticent about relinquishing has been the wiretap applications. The latest letter from Issa to Holder is meant to convey one very simple message; Issa has copies and those copies name names at the highest levels of DOJ.

Additionally, it looks like Issa has caught another high ranking DOJ official in a bald-faced lie. The first one came in the form of the February 4, 2011 letter signed by Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich that the DOJ rescinded. It now appears that Issa has caught Deputy Attorney General James Cole's hand in the cookie jar thanks to what he now knows about the wiretap applications.

Via Issa's letter:

In a May 15, 2012 letter, the Deputy Attorney General (James Cole) reiterated the Department's position that the "inappropriate tactics used in Fast and Furious... were not initiated or authorized by Department leadership in Washington." We now know that statement is false.

The Committee has obtained copies of six wiretap applications in support of seven wire intercepts utilized during Fast and Furious.

The implication is obvious. Issa has seen copies of the wiretap applications and they disprove Cole's statement.

Additionally, the wiretap applications also point the perjury finger directly at Holder, who on multiple occasions, asserted that the applications did NOT contain information about tactics.

The applications in Issa's possession apparently don't square with that either:

Even a perfunctory review of the wiretap applications amply demonstrates the immense detail documenting gun walking tactics that should have prompted senior officials in the Criminal Division to shut down the program immediately.

After chronicling the many instances where Holder spoke of what the wiretap applications did not contain, Issa wrote the following:

We now know that all of these statements are not accurate.

Here is Oversight Committee member, Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-PA) questioning Eric Holder on February 2, 2012 about these wiretaps.

Fast forward to the 5:00 mark if pressed for time.



Here is Oversight Committee member, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) grilling Holder on wiretap applications at a December 8, 2011 House Judiciary Committee hearing.

Reminder: Gowdy is in his first term.



Holder's Justice Department being caught lying to Congress is not new relative to Fast and Furious. Here is Gowdy at the same December 8th hearing, grilling Holder over the now infamous February 4, 2011 letter.



Almost forgot Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) at the same hearing. He reminded Holder that lying to Congress is a felony and invoked the "I" word. Holder also said, "nobody in the Justice Department has lied."

There's another lie.