Criminal Division Chief of AZ U.S. Attorney's Office Will Plead Fifth in Fast and Furious Investigation

A major player who's up to his eyeballs in the bloody fiasco known as Operation Fast and Furious is pleading the fifth.

Under threat of a subpoena from Congressman Darrell Issa's Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Patrick Cunningham, Chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona, lawyered up with an attorney from the high-powered Washington firm of Williams and Connolly. 

Tobin Romero, a specialist in white collar crime, responded to a January 18 letter from Chairman Issa which pointedly named Cunningham as the official "identified" by the Justice Department "as the most appropriate person to interview from the U.S. Attorney's office regarding Operation Fast and Furious."

Romero wrote back:

According to your letter Justice officials have reported to the committee that my client relayed inaccurate information to the Department on which it relied in preparing its initial response to Congress. If as you claim, Department officials blamed my client, they have blamed him unfairly."

The evidence described above shows that my client is, in fact, innocent but he has been ensnared by the unfortunate circumstances in which he now stands between two branches of government.

I am writing to advise you that my client is going to assert his constitutional privilege not to be compelled to be a witness against himself.

Romero issued the standard denial stating he had received "no documents supporting the allegations in your letter that my client had anything to do with approving the unacceptable tactics used in Operation Fast and Furious."

Cunningham's refusal to tell what he knows about the murders of innocent people is only the latest act of cowardice coming from this gang of government outlaws who ran guns straight into the hands of the Sinaloa cartel. (aside: the same cartel mysteriously omitted from one of President Obama's executive orders)

Cunningham can't separate himself from this mass murder mess fast enough. Washington Examiner's David Codrea reported "a little bird told him" the official will follow in former Arizona US Attorney Dennis Burke's footsteps and resign on January 27. How convenient.

Meanwhile doubts about Congressman Issa's willingness to break through Attorney General Holder's wall of lies and find out who authorized an illegal gun walking operation are increasing. After he received the Arizona attorney's letter, Issa politely asked if Cunningham's "assertion" of his Fifth Amendment right doesn't "also raise questions about whether President Obama and Attorney General Holder have made a serious and adequate response to allegations raised by whistleblowers."

Excuse me? After a year of perjured statements and stonewalling by Holder, Obama, Napolitano and Clinton, being a gentleman gets you nowhere.  Either Issa takes the gloves off or Eric Holder wins.

Read more M. Catharine Evans at Potter Williams Report