“Captain Ed” at HotAir.com wonders if Obama is about to toss acting ATF Director Melson under the bus…
The effort to get rid of Melson looks like an attempt to appease the House, but it’s not likely to work. Had the White House provided more cooperation with Darrell Issa on this and other investigations, a Melson resignation might have sufficed. Instead of cooperating, Melson and Attorney General Eric Holder stonewalled the Oversight Committee for weeks, and when they finally turned over the documents subpoenaed by Issa, the heavy redactions prompted Issa to tell the the DoJ’s Assistant Attorney General that he “should be ashamed” of its conduct in an investigation into the death of one of its Border Patrol agents.
Ed notes that one of the reasons Melson is still but “acting director” is that his intended permanent replacement, anti-gun extremist Andrew Traver, has yet to be confirmed by the Senate. And related to this, Ed reports that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is taking steps to prevent Obama from making a recess appointment for Traver…
Speaking of which, the current nominee has yet to get a hearing. Andrew Traver’s nomination came almost two years into the Obama administration, two weeks after watching his party get trounced in the midterms, and the Senate has yet to act on the nomination. Republicans may be holding pro forma sessions during recesses with Harry Reid’s blessing in part to specifically keep Obama from making Traver a recess appointment.
