More Fast and Furious hearings could come as early as next month

More Congressional hearings in the Fast and Furious case could come as early as next month, meanwhile hearings could be starting up right here in Arizona.

Congressman Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and committee member, Rep. Paul Gosar, were in Phoenix over the weekend, talking to the ABC15 Investigators about the future of the controversial case, which involves the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

More hearings will come, they said. The next people called to testify will likely do so in front of both the House Judiciary Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform committee, jointly.

“We want (the House Judiciary Committee) who has direct oversight over the Attorney General and of (the Department of Justice) to take a more active role, and we believe they will,” Issa said. Eventually, Attorney General Eric Holder and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer will be called to testify, he said.

“This is the kind of thing that threatens the fabric of how America trusts law enforcement,” he said. “So, [the investigation] goes on until we get a real understanding that this can never happen again.”

Issa said the people involved in the Fast and Furious case must be either “punished legally or are at least dismissed.” He called the recent resignations and transfers of a handful of leaders within the Department of Justice a “good start.”

Gosar, meanwhile, said he would like to see District of Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke deliver a public testimony about his involvement in the Fast and Furious case. Burke recently resigned after giving a private testimony in front of Congressional leaders.

“I’d like to know where the checks and balances are because I’m failing to see that,” Gosar said.

“I’d like to ask him his involvement,” Gosar said. “Did you know this was wrong? Why didn’t you speak up? Would you have done this all over again?”

Gosar said some local Arizona state legislators are considering holding state hearings to get up to speed on how the case was able to develop so quickly.

“I think we need to find out because we seem to have a problem with the Justice Department or the Justice Department has a problem with Arizona,” Gosar said.

Gosar and Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu are participating in a Tucson Tea Party town hall meeting about the Fast and Furious case at Canyon del Oro High School from 6pm to 8pm Monday night.