Thursday, March 29, 2012

That Other O'Reilly

Rep. Darrel Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) want to hear what O'Reilly has to say. Not Bill O'Reilly who has the show called The O'Reilly Factor but White House staffer Kevin O'Reilly. This was the person with whom Bill Newell, former SAC of the ATF's Phoenix Field Division, had back channel communications regarding Operation Fast and Furious. Conveniently enough, Kevin O'Reilly moved to the State Department and is now in Iraq on assignment.

Yesterday Rep. Issa and Sen. Grassley sent a letter to Kathryn Ruemmler, Counsel to the President, requesting that Mr. O'Reilly be allowed to testify. They note that Mr. O'Reilly's personal attorney is willing to let him testify if it is allowed by the White House. Moreover, in a break from normal procedures, they are willing to let him testify by phone from Iraq.

What they want Mr. O'Reilly to testify about is the nature of the back channel communications between himself and Bill Newell.
To this day, Newell has failed to disown Fast and Furious or admit the flawed nature of the program. This failure has raised new questions. Was Newell looking for authorization outside of his chain-of-command in order to continue this deadly program? What did O'Reilly know about the objectives and tactics used in Fast and Furious and with whom did he share his knowledge? These answers are gemane to the Committee's investigation. O'Reilly is the only person capable of supply accurate answers to them.
Of course, as Dave Workman points out, the White House is denying that they knew anything about gun walking. Eric Schultz, the Associate Communications Director, had this to say to FoxNews:
"White House Counsel is reviewing the letter and will respond as appropriate. But broadly speaking, while some personnel in the White House were made aware of ATF's efforts to combat gun trafficking along the southwest border, including Operation Fast and Furious, there has been no evidence to suggest that anyone at the White House knew about any decision to allow guns to 'walk' to Mexico."
Schultz is the White House staffer or, as I would call him, the punk, who thought his position gave him the right to berate and curse CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson over her coverage of Project Gunwalker. We have come to find out this is standard operating procedure in the Obama White House when they are seeking to kill a story.

Sen. Grassley was interviewed by Jon Scott of FoxNews about his letter and his efforts to get testimony from Mr. O'Reilly. Sen. Grassley says that they have one side of the story from ATF SAC Bill Newell and they need the other side of the story from Kevin O'Reilly. He also said that they were being stonewalled by the White House and that this continual stonewalling leads one to look guilty of something. He has a point there - if the White House has nothing to hide then they should make Kevin O'Reilly available for telephonic testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. I'm guessing it isn't going to happen.


4 comments:

  1. Why the hell doesn't Issa or Grassley get on a US AIR FORCE PLANE AND FLY TO BAGDAD and depose him themsleves...grab a dem from the committees to travel along to make sure it cannot be viewed as a partizan effort...to hell with this White House and its lies and game playing...Fast and Furious makes Watergate look like a $15 parking ticket...hundreds have been murdered because this administration allowed guns to cross the border of another sovereign nation knowing they would be used to kill innocents...

    I can only hope a GOP candidate wins in November (if Obama doesn't steal the election)and their first act should be to demand the immediate arrest of HOLDER and CREW

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  2. If they push too hard and it looks like he's going to give up his masters, he (or they, if they go to Iraq to interview him) might be on an airplane that has sudden issues causing it to suddenly become un-airworthy. One of Clinton's cabinet had that problem, and the President of Poland had a similar misfortune a couple of years ago. Senator Stevens also had a problem with a suddenly unflyable airplane.

    Feces occurs.

    If there is an election, and if Obama loses, and if the President elect actually takes office, the mass arrest and indictments may well take place. Those who now are stonewalling Congress will be cooperative once their protector is out of office. Let the silk suit and boxer shorts guys meet Bubba and Sonny and get acquainted over the weekend, and they WILL talk. Loud and long, they will talk.

    On the off chance that they are pardoned before Obama leaves office, I'm sure the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and California will want to talk to them. If they don't, maybe their next flights could have navigational difficulties and be forced to land in Mexico. :)

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    1. Sorry, but even if a Republican manages to get elected, they will not go after Holder and the rest. That isn't how the game is played. Politicians protect their own, just as most doctors do, and for the same reason.

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