Issa Threatening Melson With Contempt

ATF missed the deadline to turn over subpoenaed materials about the gunwalker controversy, so Rep. Issa is threatening Acting Director Melson with contempt. You can find the letter here. He’s basically telling them to claim executive privilege, cooperate, or face contempt charges. Your guess is probably as good as mine as to what path will be taken, because I don’t have much faith in this Administration’s skill at navigating a controversy any more than I do at it’s ability to navigate anything else. If Obama were skilled, Executive Privilege would not be the smart path. It would automatically bring the White House into the scandal, likely only with hope of delaying, rather than stopping the Congressional action. An assertion of Executive Privilege would be dubious at best, considering Congress paid the bills for this scandal, and has the power to investigate how that money was spent. The claim is unlikely to survive in the Courts.