Federal Official Refuses to Testify in 'Fast and Furious' Case

(Newsroom America) -- The head of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's office in Arizona is refusing to testify before Congress regarding the "Fast and Furious" gun running operation conducted by the Justice Department through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Through his attorney, Patrick J. Cunningham told the House Oversight Committee that he would plead the Fifth Amendment if asked to testify, Fox News reported.

Cunningham was ordered to appear before the committee by its chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., regarding what role he may have played in allowing more than 2,000 U.S.-based guns to flow to the Sinaloa Cartel. Guns from that operation were found at the scene of murdered border agent Brian Terry.

In a letter to the oversight committee Cunningham's attorney, Tobin J. Romero, with the law offices of Williams & Connolly, located in Washington, D.C., said he and his client had "offered your staff alternative ways to provide the Committee with the information it wants. Those options have been rejected.

"Indeed, it is a matter of public record that the Fast and Furious investigation began in 2009, months before my client even started at the United States Attorney's Office in 2010," the letter said.

Romero alleged that witnesses from the Department of Justice in Washington who have spoken to the committee in support of Attorney General Eric Holder are either wrong or lying.

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

Romero said his client has done nothing wrong and has only acted in good faith, suggesting DOJ is attempting to assign him all of the blame.

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