House Democrats: Fast and Furious probe 'based on a series of unfounded claims'

Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a video on Tuesday highlighting Republican inconsistency regarding the "Fast and Furious" scandal.

The 3-minute video shows Republican lawmakers contradicting themselves and each other while talking about the botched "Fast and Furious" operation.

A House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform investigation led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) has been ongoing for months. By a party line vote of 23 to 17 last week, Republicans on the committee held U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over the Department of Justice’s refusal to release additional documents pertaining to the gun-running scandal.

The video shows Issa and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) claiming the White House was involved in the operation. But three days later, Issa said there was no evidence the White House was involved. The video ends with a clip from the Colbert Report, mocking the idea that the botched operation was actually an elaborate conspiracy to impose stricter gun laws.

The Democrats said the video shows how the Republican-led investigation has been "based on a series of unfounded claims and unsubstantiated allegations that turned out to be inaccurate after investigation."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) sold thousands of assault rifles and revolvers to traffickers suspected of being linked to Mexican drug cartels. The operation’s goal was to unearth and dismantle illicit firearms trafficking routes between the U.S. and Mexico by tracking the weapons, but officials poorly monitored their movement and the majority of the weapons went missing. The firearms eventually began showing up at crime scenes in Mexico and the southern United States.

Democrats insist the program originated at the ATF’s Phoenix Field Division in 2006.

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube on June 26, below: