Jason Chaffetz: “The reason I am so passionate about this issue is that it's about openness, it's about transparency, it's about the idea…”

“The reason I am so passionate about this issue is that it's about openness, it's about transparency, it's about the idea that there is no one person in our government that's above the law; that when you have a duly issued subpoena, you comply with that subpoena. In fact, I would like to hearken back to the remarks by President Obama as he took office. He said: Let me say as simply as I can. Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency. I will also hold myself, as President, to a new standard of openness. But the mere fact that you have legal power to keep something secret does not mean you should always use it. He went on to say: I expect members of my administration not simply to live up to the letter but also the spirit of this law. He went on to send something to all of the department heads. He said: Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors or failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears. The President further said, relating to Fast and Furious: There may be a situation here in which a serious mistake was made, and if that's the case, we will find out, and we will hold somebody accountable. We have a dead Border Patrol agent. We have over 200 dead Mexican people. We have a program that the Attorney General called ``fundamentally flawed.'' We have thousands of weapons that are missing.…”