GOP Rep. Jordan urges ATF to preserve Fast and Furious evidence agency plans to destroy

GOP Rep. Jim Jordan, set to lead the  House Judiciary Committee in the next Congress, is asking  the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives director to urge the agency to not follow through on plans to destroy evidence associated with the failed Obama-era gun-trafficking operation known as Fast and Furious. 

"Although the ATF apparently intends to forget its dangerous misconduct in Operation Fast and Furious, the scandal is still a matter of public concern," Jordan wrote in a letter Tuesday to agency Director Steven Dettelbach.

The federal agency told Congress this week that it plans on destroying firearms connected to the operation, in which federal agents oversaw the sale of more than 2,000 firearms to alleged straw purchasers. The government hoped to use the weapons to track down and arrest drug cartel members, but the plan backfired when the guns were used in crimes and found where a Border Patrol agent was killed.

Jordan wrote that earlier this year Mexico charged seven people with crimes related to Fast and Furious.

"Given the potential for ongoing criminal and possible civil actions, it is not in the interest of justice for the ATF to destroy potential evidence," he said.