Two Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials who did not attend a hearing at which they were invited to testify Thursday on the 2011 murder of an Immigrant and Customs Enforcement agent have now been subpoenaed to appear before lawmakers.
House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, signed the subpoenas at the beginning of the hearing, which focused on ATF’s “failures” in the six-year-old murder case of ICE agent Jaime Zapata, who was killed in Mexico by members of the Los Zetas drug cartel using firearms that have been traced to two buyers in Texas.
He and ranking member Elijah Cummings, D-Md., grilled acting ATF Acting Director Thomas Brandon on why two of his agency’s members, Ronald Turk, ATF associate deputy director and COO; and William Temple, ATF special agent in charge of the Dallas Field Division, did not appear to testify after being invited last week. Chaffetz noted in his opening remarks that the Justice Department has insisted that the committee shouldn’t talk to Turk and Temple.
Brandon testified that it was their “free decision” not to attend and that he agreed with it.
The subpoenas Chaffetz then signed order the officials to appear before the committee for depositions during the week of March 20. Chaffetz said these “are not optional exercises” and that the depositions are “more difficult thing than appearing before Congress. These things go on for hours under oath.”
“You’re wasting this committee’s time by allowing Mr. Turk and Mr. Temple to think anything other than when they’re invited to come to Congress, they will come to Congress,” Chaffetz said, who noted that the invites were sent last Thursday and requested a reply by March 9. Chaffetz said his committee didn’t hear back until the 5 o’clock hour the night before the hearing and that if he would have issued a subpoena “at the get-go” if Brandon had told him sooner.
Cummings noted that a comment made by Brandon that he agreed with Turk’s and Temple’s decision not to attend “bothers” him.
“You said you agreed with the decision for them not to be here,” Cummings said. “See that puts us in a kind of awkward position. We got the boss, ‘OK guys, you don’t have to show up.'” And that sends a hell of a message. That’s a problem.”
Another government official invited to speak at the hearing was not in attendance either: John Craft, assistant U.S. attorney in the Justice Department’s Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas.
Chaffetz said Kraft was given a little bit shorter notice about the hearing and said he’ll have to have a conversation with the Justice Department.
“His non-presence is also totally and wholly unacceptable and we’ll figure out how to best move forward on him,” Chaffetz said.
