Darrell Issa

Cummings Accuses Issa Of Protecting Republicans Caught In Countrywide VIP Loan Program

Ryan J. Reilly | January 18, 2012, 5:32AM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Back in early 2011, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) issued his first subpoena for information about members of Congress who received sweetheart mortgage deals under the Countrywide VIP program called "Friends of Angelo." By doing so he abandoned the historical practice of referring matters involving members of Congress directly to the House Ethics Committee, an approach he previously criticized, and instead made it clear he wanted his committee to probe the members' files.

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Darrell Issa

Issa's Suggestion Of Folding ATF's Duties Into FBI Probably Isn't Going Anywhere

Ryan J. Reilly | December 5, 2011, 12:03PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) suggested Friday that the role of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could be folded into the FBI in the wake of ATF's botched Fast and Furious operation.

Issa's House Oversight Committee has been investigating Fast and Furious, the operation which let guns flow across the border into Mexico in the course of an investigation aimed at stopping gun trafficking.

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Darrell Issa

Issa: Obama DOJ's Blame Bush Strategy In ATF Scandal 'Reeks Of Desperation'

Ryan J. Reilly | October 4, 2011, 5:50PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is trying to take the revelation that the Bush administration had a "gun walking" problem of its very own in stride.

"The committee has received some documents from the Justice Department about Operation Wide Receiver but Justice officials still have not made clear to committee investigators what did and did not take place in this operation," spokeswoman Becca Glover Watkins said in a statement to TPM.

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Peter Haller

Ex-Goldman Employee On Issa's Staff Says He Changed Name To Honor Transylvanian Heritage

Ryan J. Reilly | August 18, 2011, 2:20PM

A staffer working for Rep. Darrell Issa's Oversight Committee on financial regulation issues has come under scrutiny by ThinkProgress for changing his name after he left his previous position at Goldman Sachs. The story implied that he changed his name three years ago to hide his background with the company.

But Peter Haller, formerly known as Peter Simonyi, said in a statement to TPM that he and his sister switched their names a few years back to respect the last wish of his grandfather to carry on his mother's family name.

His mother's father, Alfred haller-koi gr Haller, was killed by fascists in Budapest in 1944 when he tried to stop children from being conscripted into the military, Haller said.

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Darrell Issa

Issa Disputes NYT Report Alleging Ties Between Business Interests And Congressional Record

Ryan J. Reilly | August 15, 2011, 12:40PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

The office of Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) is striking back at an extensive piece in the New York Times on reportedly close ties between his congressional priorities and his business interests.

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Fast And Furious

Dem Response To ATF Scandal: Hey, Maybe We Should Make Gun Trafficking Illegal

Ryan J. Reilly | July 18, 2011, 3:50PM

Rep. Darrell E. Issa (D-CA) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD)

Everyone seems pretty upset right now with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) over their botched "Fast and Furious" program. Agents allegedly watched as suspected "straw purchasers" bought weapons they intended to give to Mexican drug cartels. So Democrats have a crazy idea: maybe buying weapons for drug cartels should be, you know, illegal.

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Darrell Issa

How Darrell Issa's Investigation Into Financial Crisis Commission Backfired On GOP

Ryan J. Reilly | July 14, 2011, 2:08PM

The House Oversight Committee's investigation into the government commission that was supposed to figure out the cause of the the financial crisis appears to have backfired on the Republicans who lead the committee.

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Darrell Issa

Dems: Issa Scrapped Hearing On Financial Commission Because Docs Wouldn't Fit His Narrative

Ryan J. Reilly | July 13, 2011, 2:48PM

Democrats are accusing House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) of canceling a hearing on the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission this week because his committee uncovered documents which wouldn't have fit his narrative about what went wrong with the agency.

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ATF

Darrell Issa Poised To Get First Win In ATF Fast And Furious Scandal

Ryan J. Reilly | June 20, 2011, 5:45AM

Acting ATF Head, Ken Melson

Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) seems poised to collect his first scalp. The Obama administration wants to oust Ken Melson as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) over the troubled anti-gun-trafficking program called Fast and Furious, the Wall Street Journal reported late Friday.

Issa's committee released an email last week that showed that as deputy director of the agency, Melson was closely monitoring the Fast and Furious operation -- an effort to stop the flow of weapons from the U.S. to Mexican drug cartels. One email from ATF described a request Melson made for a web link so he could watch from hidden cameras in the gun stores that were cooperating with the operation.

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ATF

What To Expect From Darrell Issa's Hearing On ATF's 'Project Gunrunner'

Ryan J. Reilly | June 15, 2011, 5:45AM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, will hold the most high-profile hearing yet Wednesday in his investigation into Project Gunrunner, the controversial program run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) which apparently let weapons the agency was supposed to keep tabs on end up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

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Campaign Donations

Why Democrats Are Losing The Messaging War On Federal Contractor Disclosure

Ryan J. Reilly | May 28, 2011, 11:00AM

United States Chamber of Commerce

Campaign finance reformer advocates aren't only facing setbacks in federal courtrooms -- they're also getting beat on the messaging war with Republicans over a proposal to make federal contractors disclose their donations to third-party groups.

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Darrell Issa

Issa Uses Official YouTube Account To Slam Obama, But Criticized Admin Over 'Propaganda' Videos

Ryan J. Reilly | May 20, 2011, 11:25AM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and President Barack Obama (D)

The House Oversight Committee, headed by Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA), has been posting videos on its official YouTube account slamming the Obama administration. The latest campaign-style video features black-and-white photos of Obama, flickering video and shattering effects.

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Darrell Issa

Issa: DHS FOIA Process 'Reeks Of A Nixonian Enemies List'

Ryan J. Reilly | March 31, 2011, 10:01AM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) has trumped up scandals involving the Obama administration that have turned out to be duds. But in his probe of political interference in the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) at the Department of Homeland Security, it looks like Issa has the goods.

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Commission On Wartime Contracting

Highway Robbery! U.S. Losing Hundreds of Millions To Rampant Afghan Fuel Theft

Susan Crabtree | March 3, 2011, 11:55AM

After nearly a decade of mismanagement, theft and fraud, the U.S. military still hasn't found a way to staunch the flow of what is likely hundreds of millions -- if not billions -- of dollars in lost fuel in Afghanistan, some of which is sold on the black market and winds up in Taliban hands, a TPM investigation has found.

With political unrest in the Middle East sending oil over $100 per barrel and Congress more intent than ever at cutting government waste, fraud and abuse in tough budgetary times, the Defense Department is under intense pressure to find a way to monitor and track the flow of fuel in and out of its bases in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The extensive corruption associated with disappearing fuel in Afghanistan provides another illustration of the problems associated with the heavy use of private contractors on the battlefield. Earlier this week, the non-partisan Commission for Wartime Contracting reported that the U.S. government has spent $117 billion on private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002, and tens of billions of those dollars have been wasted.

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FEC

Watchdogs: Campaign Finance Agency Is AWOL

Susan Crabtree | February 17, 2011, 8:28AM

FEC Commissioner Donald McGahn

A coalition of watchdog groups are calling for congressional hearings into what they regard as systematic failings of the Federal Election Commission, the agency charged with enforcing campaign finance law.

In a letter to the top Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate oversight committees, the coalition urges the panels to hold hearings on the FEC's "frequent refusal to enforce the campaign finance laws passed by Congress."

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Countrywide

Issa Issues Broad Countrywide VIP Loan Subpoena

Susan Crabtree | February 16, 2011, 7:04PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, expanded a prior investigation into the Countrywide Financial Corporation's infamous VIP loan program by issuing a wide-ranging subpoena aimed at exposing more information about the mortgage giant's efforts to win friends and influence people at the highest levels of government.

Issa's subpoena, announced Wednesday night, was sent to Bank of America, which purchased Countrywide just before the height of the economic crisis. The subpoena asks for all documents and requests related to Countrywide's VIP program, which implicated Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) and former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), the then-chairman of the Banking Committee.

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FOIA

Issa Expands Probe Of Alleged Politicization Of FOIA Requests At DHS

Susan Crabtree | February 1, 2011, 8:56PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is stepping up his investigation of the Homeland Security Department's alleged selective handling of Freedom of Information Act requests from citizens, journalists and others.

In a letter to DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, Issa said he plans to interview one of her senior political advisers and other political appointees as part of a expanded investigation into department's alleged practice of stalling hundreds of requests for federal records while political advisers looked into the backgrounds of people requesting the documents.

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Darrell Issa

Cummings and Issa Clash At First Oversight Committee Hearing (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | January 26, 2011, 11:30AM

Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Ranking Member Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) clashed over opening statements at the first hearing of the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

Both sides say Issa told Cummings 30 minutes before today's hearing that there would be no opening statements issued at the hearing, which focused on government oversight over money distributed under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).

Spokesman Kurt Bardella told TPM that Issa killed the idea of opening statements in order to skip the "political speechifying" which ate up time. "The American people wants Congress to listen more and talk less," Bardella said.

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Darrell Issa

Issa Wants Info On Homeland Security's FOIA Policy

Rachel Slajda | January 17, 2011, 12:05PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has asked the Department of Homeland Security to provide documents related to its Freedom of Information Act policy -- a policy which had political appointees reviewing FOIA requests.

The Associated Press reported in July that political appointees working for Secretary Janet Napolitano were reviewing FOIA requests, gathering information about the requesters and, in some cases, delaying responses.

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Darrell Issa

Issa: When I Said Obama Is Corrupt, I Meant Like A Computer (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | January 6, 2011, 10:00AM

Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) is now attempting to explain away comments he made about the President Barack Obama being corrupt -- by claiming that the media just doesn't understand what he was trying to say.

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Darrell Issa

Cummings: We'll Stop Any Issa 'Witchhunts' (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | January 5, 2011, 3:40PM

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD)

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) -- the man Democrats chose to go toe-to-toe with incoming House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-CA) -- is making the rounds on cable news and showing off the aggressive style that helped him win the spot.

Cummings said that he expects to see the tougher version of Issa -- in other words, not the Issa who walked back his harshest statements and said he wanted to work with the administration -- and said his staff is ready for an "avalanche of subpoenas coming out and all kinds of inquires" similar to what happened during the Clinton administration.

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Darrell Issa

Issa Announces Hearings, Will Probe Fannie, Freddie, FDA, WikiLeaks

Ryan J. Reilly | January 3, 2011, 12:52PM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

After making the rounds on the Sunday talk shows yesterday, incoming House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa today laid out his agenda for the next session of Congress and oversight of the Obama administration.

Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella told TPM that the hearing list so far would focus on these six topics: the impact of regulation on job creation; Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's roles in the foreclosure crisis; the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and the failure to identify the origins of the financial crisis; how to combat corruption in Afghanistan; Wikileaks; and issues of food and drug safety at the FDA. Issa also announced the lineup this morning on his Twitter account. Bardella also emphasized that there was a difference between holding a hearing on a topic and launching an investigation.

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House Oversight

Kucinich, Towns Battling For Right To Square Off With Issa? (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | November 17, 2010, 8:59AM

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)

Is Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) gearing up be the Democratic answer to Republican Oversight Committee Chairman-in-waiting Darrell Issa?

Kucinich wouldn't tell TPM if he planned to make a run for ranking member as he dashed out of a Democratic House caucus meeting on Tuesday. His spokesman did not return phone calls. But a senior House Democrat told Politico that Kucinich was in the running.

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Darrell Issa

Team Issa Plans Hundreds Of Oversight Hearings

Ryan J. Reilly | November 9, 2010, 2:25PM

Reps. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Darrell Issa -- the chairman-in-waiting of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform -- wants each of his seven subcommittees to hold one or two hearings a week, for a total of seven hearings per week during a 40-week period, he told Politico. That would mean nearly 300 hearings.

Issa also said he is looking at members like Reps. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, Patrick McHenry of North Carolina and Jim Jordan of Ohio to chair some of the seven subcommittees of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

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Darrell Issa

Darrell Issa's Subpoena Gameplan For 2011: Investigate ACORN, Climate-Gate And The U.S. Postal Service

Ryan J. Reilly | September 28, 2010, 10:01AM

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)

After ACORN's demise, you might have thought that if if the GOP takes the House and Rep. Darrell Issa becomes the new chair of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the California Republican would have better things to worry about. You'd be wrong.

Last week, Issa issued a blueprint for his agenda titled "A Constitutional Obligation: Congressional Oversight of the Executive Branch." Among the issues he chastised the Democratic leadership for not addressing: the fraud he says was committed by the community organizing group ACORN.

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Scott Bloch

Former Bush Official Charged With Contempt Of Congress In Geeks On Call Case

Justin Elliott | April 22, 2010, 4:41PM

Geeks On Call and former U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch

Former U.S. Special Counsel Scott Bloch was charged today with criminal contempt of Congress in connection with his notorious use of Geeks On Call to scrub his computer while under investigation for misusing his office, according to a court filing in federal court in Washington.

The "information" filed today alleges that, responding to a request from the House oversight committee, Bloch failed to "state fully and completely the nature and extent of his instructions that Geeks On Call perform 'seven level wipes' on his [Office of Special Counsel]-issued computers" and the computers of two other appointees in the office. That was in late 2006.

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AIG

Emails: Fed Pressed AIG To Keep Bailout Details Under Wraps

Zachary Roth | January 7, 2010, 2:58PM

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner

The New York Fed pressured AIG in late 2008 to withhold from the public details about its massive and controversial payments to counter-parties, according to emails obtained by Bloomberg News. At the time, Timothy Geithner, now the Treasury Secretary, was New York Fed chair.

The federal government was heavily criticized last year for what some lawmakers have called a "backdoor bailout" of several large banks. It spent $182 billion all told to bail out AIG, but directed that the troubled insurance giant use those funds to pay back its counter-parties -- including Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, DeutscheBank, and other major banks -- with whom it had engaged in credit default swaps.

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