[csmsss]

Melson has already said DOJ is obstructing, not just stonewalling. It'll be interesting to see if his July 13 "public appearance" statements are toned down or if DOJ tries to hold him back from repeating that. In any case, Issa has enough to move for contempt charges against Holder and DOJ.

Congress has no authority to bring any criminal charges against anyone. All any member of Congress can do is refer potential charges to....DOJ.

If DOJ refuses to let Congress use an independent special prosecutor to investigate it'll look even more like obstruction and stonewalling. That'll be fodder during the elections. Especially if Mexico ups the ante by screaming for a full-scale investigation.

DOJ has no need to "refuse to let Congress use an independent special prosecutor", because Congress doesn't have the authority to call for a special prosecutor in the first place. The law enabling this expired years ago. As I said above, criminal charges have to be referred to....DOJ.

The lid is coming off as evidenced by the Honduras angle. This negates any chance of this being "localized" to Phoenix, which in turn implicates much higher pay-grades to approve a national program that works with multiple international tentacles. The implication is that it involves State, DHS via Customs and perhaps the USCG along with the FBI.

The Tampa-Honduras program netted a "big fish" in September 2010, so it seems unlikely Holder and/or Asst. A.G. Lanny Breuer can claim "ignorance" of the program or its methods. Especially in light of their attempt to garner lots of media attention on it.

There are too many leaks in the ship to keep trying to tow it to shallower 2012 waters. There's the risk of an unseen torpedo from another whistleblower or another high-profile shooting with a Fast & Furious gun on our side of the border.

These things are all true, but irrelevant if there is no prosecutorial body with the authority, jurisdiction, and motivation to pursue charges. The single prosecutorial body with the authority and jurisdiction to do so (DOJ) will never do so because of an irredeemable conflict of interest and the impotence of congressional oversight.

Yes...they are going to get away with it, and there's nothing anyone can do about it if the WH and DOJ choose to continue stonewalling and obstructing and are willing to absorb what limited heat might arise from the media. None of this is going to affect the support for the WH amongst its political base.