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Representative Darrell Issa, the Republican leading the investigation into the Obama administration’s handling of the botched gun-smuggling investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious, appeared to contradict Speaker John A. Boehner on Sunday, saying there was no evidence that White House officials were involved in a cover-up.

The statements from Mr. Issa, the chairman of the House oversight committee, came after Mr. Boehner said last week that President Obama’s decision to assert executive privilege to shield Justice Department documents related to the operation was “an admission that the White House officials were involved in decisions that misled the Congress and covered up the truth.”

On “Fox News Sunday,” a clip of Mr. Boehner’s statement was played and Mr. Issa was asked in an interview whether his committee had evidence that White House officials had knowingly misled Congress about the case.

“No, we don’t,” Mr. Issa said. “And I hope they don’t get involved. I hope this stays at Justice. And I hope that Justice cooperates, because ultimately, Justice lied to the American people.”

The House is scheduled to vote on the committee’s contempt recommendation this week, Mr. Issa said. Democrats say Mr. Holder has handed over enough documents to answer the questions the committee is investigating. Republicans, meanwhile, contend that the administration is covering up how it misled Congress about the operation.

Also on the Fox program, the ranking Democrat on the oversight committee, Elijah E. Cummings, said Mr. Boehner should meet with Mr. Holder to resolve the dispute about the documents.

“I am calling on Speaker Boehner to come forth and show strong leadership — and I know he will — and sit down with the attorney general to resolve this matter,” Mr. Cummings said, adding that Mr. Holder had “turned over 7,600 documents, going through millions of e-mails, and has even given up what’s called internal deliberative documents.”

He went on: “These are the types of documents that attorney generals, over and over, and year after year, have held close to them and themselves in their offices. But he has done that.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/us/issa-says-no-evidence-of-white-ho
use-cover-up-in-guns-case.html "proof" mind you, but no "evidence" whatsoever. So he's got nothing. But by gawd, he'll bust his ass to FIND something, even if it takes years--unless Romney gets elected, in which case he'll forget about the whole thing.

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The head of the House Oversight committee muted one of his invited witnesses on Wednesday for testifying in favor of tougher gun laws.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said an ATF official's promotion of gun reform fell "outside the scope" of the hearing and "would not be considered valid testimony."

Appearing before the panel, Peter Forcelli, a special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), told lawmakers that straw purchasers – those who buy guns on behalf of others – should be hit with stiffer penalties to discourage gun trafficking. "I think perhaps a mandatory minimum one-year sentence might deter an individual from buying a gun," Forcelli said.

He was responding to a question from Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who said the current penalties are so weak that they discourage state prosecutors from pursuing straw-purchase cases. Forcelli agreed the current penalties do little to intimidate straw purchasers.

That brief exchange prompted Issa to intervene."We're not here to talk about proposed gun legislation," Issa said.

We're repeatedly asked whether Rep. Darrell Issa's (R-CA) hearings into a controversial ATF operation that allowed certain shipments of firearms to cross the border into Mexico would also address the weak statutory authority that law enforcement are forced to rely on to prevent trafficking to Mexican drug cartels. Today, we learned that law enforcement witnesses called by Issa are eager to discuss the issue, but the Oversight Committee chairman is willing to do everything in his power to stop that problem from coming to the forefront.

During this morning's hearing, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) asked ATF Special Agent Peter Forcelli whether he has heard that district judges criticize the prosecutions of straw purchasers as "paper violations" because they are based on statutes that carry such low penalties. Forcelli replied, "I have, and I agree with it," and called for a one-year mandatory minimum sentence for such offenses to better deter purchasers. Issa immediately broke in to cut off this line of discussion, saying that the witness was testifying outside of the scope of the hearing.

After an extended exchange between Issa and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) in which Cummings said that Issa couldn't tell the witness what to testify to, Maloney explained why this line of questioning is crucial.

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ISSA: I'd only caution we're not here to talk about proposed gun legislation. That would be outside the scope of this hearing.

MALONEY: I wasn't discussing that. I was trying to figure out why the Justice Department and the [Inspector General] found that prosecutors often decline these gun cases. I want to know why they're declining them. And to quote from the testimony, one of you said because they believe it is difficult to obtain convictions in these violations.

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Aren't Republicans supposed to be tough on crime? We're talking about guns being brought into Satan's backyard; or if you're not talking to Pat Buchanan---Mexico. Here's what this hearing is about:

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Issa had called the hearing to examine a controversial ATF operation – dubbed "Fast and Furious" – that put firearms into the hands of known drug smugglers in order to track them to Mexican cartel leaders.

Hundreds of those firearms have gone missing and several have been linked indirectly to the murder of border patrol agent Brian Terry, who was killed in a December firefight in Arizona. Terry's family submitted a statement to Wednesday's oversight hearing, calling for the prosecution of everyone – even government agents – involved in the tragedy.

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Why aren't the penalties for bring guns into Mexico relevant to the investigation? I guess his NRA buddies wouldn't approve. http://earlkrugel.blogspot.com/2012/03/daryl-issa-simpleton-or-blither
ing.html course they're not! Issa's purpose is to go after Holder/Obama, even if he's got no "evidence", not to actually look into what might actually deal with the issue of guns going to Mexico!

And there it is! THERE IT IS! Proof this whole thing is about taking away everyone's guns! "They" want to talk about REGULATION, not what the DOJ knew and when they knew it and how they, they, they... well, whatever they did, we don't want to talk about the actual PROBLEM and why F&F was created in the first place!! That's obviously "irrelevant"...