Friday, July 3, 2009

The Inspectors General Case Just Won't Go Away

Byron York is still on the trail of IG-Gate, reporting this morning that " the White House is hinting that documents concerning its actions in the Walpin affair may be protected by executive privilege."

Well isn't that convenient?

York points out several holes in the White House explanation of the Walpin firing, primarily that he was never actually investigated. He was simply fired because he dared to question the handling of the AmeriCorps case and Kevin Johnson, an Obama ally.

Senator Charles Grassley has been asking questions and attempting to obtain documents and information but is now being stonewalled by the White House in its use of executive privilege: “Your questions seek information about the White House’s internal decision-making process,” Craig wrote to Sen. Charles Grassley on June 30. “These questions implicate core executive branch confidentiality interests.”

Here is Stacy McCain's latest post on the IG-Gate story dealing partially with the Amtrak end of things. He makes the point "While Attorney General Eric Holder may get some scrutiny in the AmeriCorps IG case, it's the SIGTARP case that has the most potential to send a Cabinet member under the Obama bus. And trying to lie your way out of a scandal is a very dangerous thing, when it involves a federal investigation."

The story plods ahead and it certainly isn't going away. Questions will have to be answered. This would be a good time for that transparency thing to kick in, don't you think?

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