Attorney General Eric Holder said in a letter to Rep. Darrell Issa on Thursday that he’s willing to turn over documents about how the Justice Department came to withdraw its February 4, 2011 letter to Congress denying that ATF allowed guns to “walk” during the botched operation known as Fast and Furious.
DOJ, Holder wrote, “has identified documents that, while outside the scope of the Committee’s interest in the inappropriate tactics used in Fast and Furious, are responsive to how the Department’s understanding of the facts regarding that matter evolved throughout 2011 and how the Department came to withdraw its February 4, 2011 letter to Senator Grassley. The Department is willing to accommodate the Committee’s interest in those materials.”
There’s one catch: Holder wants the House Oversight Committee to attend a briefing “explaining how the Department’s understanding of the facts of Fast and Furious evolved during the post-February 4 period, and the process that led to the withdraw of the February 4 letter.” Oversight Committee staffers would be able to retain the documents following the meeting, Holder wrote.
Holder proposed meeting with Issa on Monday, June 18 and called the offering “a serious, good faith effort to bring this matter to an amicable response.” Issa’s contempt vote is currently scheduled for Wednesday.
