by Catherine Herridge of CBS News had an update on her investigation into waste and fraud at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. She reported that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) has become involved. Sen. Grassley is the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is very serious on protecting whistleblowers in government.
Sen. Grassley has now sent letters demanding answers to Attorney General Merrick Garland and BATFE Acting Director Marvin Richardson. He has also sent a letter asking the Office of Personnel Management about their suspension of BATFE’s ability to classify certain law enforcement positions. All the letters were quite detailed and indicated his office had significant knowledge of the affair.
It should be remembered that Sen. Grassley was one of the very first politicians that demanded an investigation into Operation Fast and Furious aka Project Gunwalker. He worked closely with then-Chair of the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee Darrell Issa to get answers.
Hate to have to say it, but this is about all Republicans do. Investigate things. Then what? The media buries the investigative results and smears the investigators, after which the bureaucrats who run things change nothing other than (maybe) reassigning a few of the most corrupt. Where did the investigation into F&F lead? The IRS targeting of Tea Party? Whitewater? Russia-gate and the Mueller investigation? The Durham Report? Those are the few which come to mind immediately but with a bit of digging we could probably write a blog just on this topic and never run out of original posts.