The Justice Department turned over more than 64,000 pages of documents related to Operation Fast and Furious on Monday, but House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is looking for more.
The documents, which had been held under a claim of executive privilege, were released under court order. Issa said the large volume does not represent all related information to the botched gun-walking scandal discovered after the death of a border patrol agent. He also questions whether some of the redactions made fit the judge’s order in the case.
“This production is nonetheless a victory for the legislative branch, a victory for transparency and a victory for efforts to check executive branch power,” Issa said. “As the production is extensive and may contain sensitive information, our investigative staff will be carefully examining the documents turned over (Monday) night.”
Operation Fast and Furious was a program that allowed the illegal sale of an estimated 1,400 guns to Mexican drug cartels in order to track sellers and purchasers. Two guns tracked by the ATF were found at the scene when border patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in December 2010.
In the resulting dispute over the release of documents related to the scandal, President Barack Obama invoked executive privilege and Attorney General Eric Holder was found in contempt of Congress.
“When Eric Holder wants to know why he was the first attorney general held in criminal contempt of Congress, he can read the judge’s order that compelled the production of 64,280 pages that he and President Obama illegitimately and illegally withheld from Congress,” Issa said.