Sept 9, 2014
Issa: Justice Dept. staffer made a bad call "Attorney General Eric Holder’s communications director is being accused of calling the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Republican staff and asking for help spinning a story. The twist? The GOP staff alleges that Holder’s spokesman thought he was talking to the Democrats.
Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) sent a letter to Holder on Monday about the incident, saying he was “extremely troubled” that the Justice Department may have been trying to coordinate with the minority staff on the release of documents to the committee regarding the Internal Revenue Service targeting certain political groups.
Issa’s letter claims that Brian Fallon asked for a specific committee aide and then told that person that he wanted to get materials to “interested reporters” before sending them to the majority, so that the agency could spin the story first....
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...In the letter, first reported Tuesday by the Hill newspaper, Issa determines that the call is an indication of a “longstanding collaboration between the Obama administration and Ranking Member [Elijah] Cummings’ staff to obfuscate and prejudice the Committee’s work through under the table coordination.”
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Becca Watkins, a spokeswoman for the oversight panel, emphasized that point in an e-mailed statement, saying Fallon’s alleged conspiring compromised the checks and balances of the federal government.
Issa also claims that upon realizing that he was talking to a Republican staffer, Fallon was “audibly shaken” and tried to recant his request to leak the documents early."