On the recordJune 28, 2012
The record will reflect that in a bipartisan way, the Acting Director of the ATF, the person that was actually appointed by President Obama, was deposed by both Democrats and Republicans about a year ago for 2 days around July 4. It was 2 days that he was deposed. That record is there. It is crystal clear. We were also denied, by the Department of Justice, to speak with Lanny Breuer and Kenneth Blanco, two of the key central people at the highest levels of the Department of Justice. To suggest that we were given an opportunity to talk to them is patently false. The final part I will make is you can't complain that Attorney General Holder was here nine times between the House and the Senate talking in part about Fast and Furious and then say that you never had a Democratic witness. Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, we need to deal with facts in this debate because this is an important matter. The gentleman just talked about these hearings, these meetings with the head of the ATF. The reality was that a year ago Republican staff met with the head of the ATF on July 3 without notifying Democratic staff. Democratic staff were invited to come on July 4. There were no public hearings, and no Members were there. Again, I'm not sure what the problem is with having the head of the ATF come before the committee so the American people can hear what the truth is and what the facts are. I don't know why that's such a big deal.…
