Krongard Defends Not Cooperating with Justice Department Investigation of BlackwaterWhy didn’t Howard Krongard cooperate with a Justice Department investigation of whether Blackwater smuggled weapons into Iraq? One explanation, that Krongard denied, is that his brother has ties with Blackwater. (It’s still unclear. We have requested comment from Blackwater. We’ll see.)
Krongard’s own explanation is that in early July this year, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, Stuart Bowen, informed Krongard that he was reviewing two Blackwater contracts with the State Department and asked for help. Krongard said that he didn’t think it was appropriate to cooperate with a “criminal” investigation until he could “deconflict” his role with Bowen’s investigation: “It raised questions of parallel procedure.” Here’s video:
Waxman said that Krongard’s explanation contradicts what he was told by both Krongard deputies and Justice Department officials, who say it’s standard practice for inspector general investigators to cooperate with Justice Department requests.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), playing his usual contrary role, said that none of Krongard’s whistleblower accusers agreed to testify under oath. Waxman countered that the accusers were under oath in private interviews and GOP members were allowed to cross-examine them. The GOP wanted them to testify today and isn’t satisfied with Waxman’s promise to release the transcripts of their interviews.
