House Speaker John Boehner is continuing to avoid questions from The Daily Caller about whether he supports the 103 members of the House of Representatives who want action to remove Attorney General Eric Holder over Operation Fast and Furious.
Several bloggers who have covered the investigation into the gunwalking scandal reported on Friday that Boehner and his staff have slowed the probe being led by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
“Yesterday was the devil’s own day in the Gunwalker scandal investigation and the search for the truth suffered as a result,” wrote Mike Vanderboegh at the Sipsey Street Irregulars blog. “Several sources tell Sipsey Street that the committee’s work has been slowed by the intervention of Speaker of the House John Boehner, with some saying plainly that ‘the fix is in.’”
Vanderboegh’s report appeared Friday, one day after Holder testified before the House oversight committee. Boehner’s office adamantly denies the report, but his spokesman Michael Steel continues to dodge TheDC’s questions about where the Speaker stands on the growing scandal’s specifics.
“Such speculation is absurd and untrue,” Steel said in an email to TheDC when asked to respond to the bloggers’ allegations. “The Speaker appreciates the hard work that Chairman Issa and many others have done to expose this scandal. President Obama’s Department of Justice needs to be accountable.”
TheDC followed up and asked Steel if his boss supports the 103 Republican House members who have either demanded Holder’s resignation or expressed “no confidence” in him via a formal House resolution, or both.
Rather than answer the question to quell concerns about the strength of Boehner’s leadership as the controversy gathers steam, Steel dodged it by responding with the same exact boilerplate message just nine minutes after he sent it the first time.
“The Speaker appreciates the hard work that Chairman Issa and many others have done to expose this scandal,” Steel emailed again. “President Obama’s Department of Justice needs to be accountable.”
Steel used identical language to respond when TheDC asked him the same question in mid-January at the House Republican retreat in Baltimore.
Steel would not answer, however, when TheDC asked him if Boehner supports House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa’s threat to hold Holder in contempt of Congress if he fails to produce subpoenaed documents by Issa’s Feb. 9 deadline.
Steel also wouldn’t answer when TheDC asked him if the speaker supports Issa’s call for Holder to apologize to the Mexican government, and to the families of the more than 300 victims of Operation Fast and Furious in Mexico.