Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says senior Justice Department officials, especially Attorney General Eric Holder, have misled Congress about the government’s mishandling of Operation Fast and Furious, which backfired in deadly fashion.
“I don’t know what they’ve got to hide,” the Kentucky Republican said today on “Fox News Sunday.” “It’s really quite unusual to be stonewalled like this.”
McConnell also said Lanny Breuer, head of the Justice Department’s criminal division, has been dishonest with lawmakers.
“I understand it’s embarrassing for them,” he said, adding that the officials should be “more forthcoming” with the details.
McConnell would not go so far as to accuse Holder of lying to Congress, nor did he press for his resignation, as others have.
Operation Fast and Furious, a gun-tracking program through which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) sold thousands of firearms to Mexican drug cartels, has propelled controversy and congressional investigations. Especially troublesome for lawmakers have been the revelations that the ATF lost track of most of the guns and some were used in the murders of two U.S. agents and other crimes.
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