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‘Fast and Furious’ Gets New Scrutiny
Issa to Interview Gun Sting Principal Again
By Jonathan Strong
Roll Call Staff
Dec. 13, 2011, Midnight
Josh Biggs/Associated Press/Arizona Daily Sun
Dennis Burke, former U.S. attorney for Arizona, will be interviewed today by Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa about alleged gunwalking in a sting. Print
•Pressure Builds on Lanny Breuer in Fast and Furious Fallout
Congressional investigators will get another crack at one of the Justice Department principals for Operation Fast and Furious, a weapons sting that has set up an oversight battle between Republicans and the Obama administration.
Dennis Burke, the former U.S. attorney for Arizona, will be interviewed by the office of Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) for the first time since an interview over the summer was cut short.
When Senate Judiciary ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) first asked the Justice Department about allegations that a gun-smuggling investigation on the Southwestern border allowed hundreds of assault weapons to escape into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, Burke denounced Grassley for even asking the question.
“What is so offensive about this whole project is that Grassley’s staff, acting as willing stooges for the gun lobby, have attempted to distract from the incredible success in dismantling [Southwest border] gun trafficking operations,” Burke told Justice Department lawyers who were preparing a response.
Pushing lawyers to “categorical[ly]” deny the allegations, Burke bristled when other officials raised the “risks” of an aggressive denial. “What risk?” Burke wrote to colleagues.
Grassley had questioned whether two AK-47s that had been found at the site of U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry’s murder had been tracked by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ investigation.
In fact, they had been. But Burke, in a Feb. 4 email, blasted Grassley’s office for “lobbing this reckless despicable accusation that ATF is complicit in the murder of a fellow federal law enforcement officer.”
The same day the email was sent, the Justice Department would send a letter to Grassley broadly denying that ATF investigations had allowed guns to “walk,” which means ending surveillance on guns suspected to be in transit to criminal networks.
Attorney General Eric Holder has since conceded the letter contained false information, and the letter was formally withdrawn by the Justice Department on Dec. 2.
“Any instance of so-called gunwalking was unacceptable. This tactic was unfortunately used as part of Fast and Furious,” Holder told Senators at a Nov. 8 Judiciary Committee hearing. “This should never have happened.”
Burke received frequent oral and written briefings from the operation’s lead prosecutor and from ATF officials heading it. Congressional investigators have asked whether Burke knew gunwalking tactics were being used at the time he told Justice Department lawyers to deny to Congress they were, and if not, how he could have been ignorant about them.
In an Aug. 18 transcribed interview, Burke opened by saying he was taking responsibility for Fast and Furious. “I’m not going to say mistakes were made. I’m going to say we made mistakes,” Burke said, according to a source close to the investigation.
He hinted at his role urging Justice Department lawyers to deny Fast and Furious allowed guns to walk, saying, “I regret that I was strident” when Grassley first contacted the Justice Department.
Burke said he didn’t have “full knowledge” of the investigation at the time the letter was sent and talked about how his “attitude” about the case had “evolved.”
Pressed repeatedly about what exactly he had learned since he urged the Justice Department to broadly deny guns were walked, Burke cited matters such as how long the case took and that there should have been more questions about “anecdote” from Fast and Furious that “occurred in Mexico.”
Unlike other officials, such as Kenneth Melson, the former head of ATF, Burke did not describe a process of learning that the investigation was allowing hundreds of assault weapons to escape to Mexican drug cartels.
Burke eventually asked to “come back to you on that” so he could “give it more thought.”
Today’s interview represents the continuation.
“These aren’t the answers you would anticipate from someone who was in the dark and had only recently come to learn about the outrages in Fast and Furious,” the source close to the investigation said.
A Dec. 7 “frequently asked questions” memo from Democrats on the House Oversight panel sent to Democratic staff and obtained by Roll Call asks whether Burke “approve[d]” of gunwalking in Fast and Furious.
“No, according to then-U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke,” the memo said, citing other portions of Burke’s Aug. 18 interview in which he denied approving the tactic’s use and said he did not “recall” knowledge of its use.
“Did you ever discuss with [ATF Special Agent-in-Charge William Newell] a deliberate tactic of non-interdiction to see where the weapons ended up? To see if they ended up with the [cartel] in Mexico?” Congressional investigators asked Burke.
“I do not recall that at all,” Burke said.
However, in January 2010, Burke was prompted by lawyers in his office to decide on two tactical approaches in Fast and Furious, according to documents released by the Justice Department on Oct. 31.
Emory Hurley, the lead prosecutor on Fast and Furious, discussed the approaches in a Jan. 5, 2010, memo about the main target of the case, Manuel Celis Acosta, who was suspected of trafficking more than 600 firearms to Mexico.
“In the past, ATF agents have investigated cases similar to this by confronting the straw purchasers and hoping for an admission that might lead to charges,” Hurley wrote. “Straw purchasers” are individuals who buy guns on behalf of gun traffickers.
Rather than use that approach, “Local ATF favors pursuing a wire[tap] and surveillance to build a case against the leader of the organization,” Hurley wrote.
Mike Morrisey, also from the Arizona U.S. attorney’s office, forwarded the memo to Burke via email and said, “local ATF is on board with our strategy but ATF headquarters may want to do a smaller straw purchaser case.”
Burke replied, “Hold out for bigger. Let me know whenever and w/ whomever I need to weigh-in.”
In an Oct. 21 memo prior to that correspondence, Hurley had written that “[a]gents have not purposefully let guns ‘walk.’”
Issa’s office has not yet interviewed Hurley.
JonathanStrong@cqrollcall.com | @j_strong
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what has newt said about F&F?
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what has newt said about F&F?
Good question. The silence on this scandal at these debates is insane. Obama/Holder/Hillary should do life sentences for this.
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Good question. The silence on this scandal at these debates is insane. Obama/Holder/Hillary should do life sentences for this.
candidates are bringing up moon mining and other nonsense.
they have plenty of mic time to bring up F&F.
weird, huh?
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candidates are bringing up moon mining and other nonsense.
they have plenty of mic time to bring up F&F.
weird, huh?
Fast n Furious should be top line news daily until we get a full accounting of this scandal. The more I hear about this, and the fact that obama/holeder refuse to come clean, makes it even worse.
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Fast and Furious Scandal Cries Out for Answers
By John Lott
Published December 09, 2011 | FoxNews.com
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The "Fast & Furious" scandal is getting messier and messier. New e-mails finally released late this past Friday reveal that the Department of Justice personal viewed the then-secret operation as a way to push for more gun control laws. Despite administration promises to the contrary, whistleblowers have endured "isolation, retaliation and transfer."
Meanwhile the operation's managers have done pretty well, some have even received promotions.
Thursday Attorney General Eric Holder admitted that the operation was "wholly unacceptable," but he still offers absolutely no explanation to explain why the program was instituted.
What's going on here? Let's see...
- You have a government agency ordering gun dealers to make sales to suspected criminals that the dealers didn't want to sell to.
- You have government agents testifying that the being purchased were not being traced. No attempt was made to even alert the Mexican government that the United States of America was given guns to drug gangs in their country.
Up until now the only justification from the Obama administration for this "program" is that the Bush administration supposedly did the same thing with operation "Wide Receiver."
In fact, it is a defense that the Justice Department and Congressional Democrats have raise multiple times. Congressman Elijah Cummings' office just made this defense on Wednesday.
But the "Fast & Furious" and "Wide Receiver" programs are not remotely similar on the most important fact: The Bush administration tried to trace the guns and informed the Mexican authorities when the guns went across the border, but the Obama administration did not.
And it is well-known how ineffective tracing programs have been anyway.
The problem is that if "Wide Receiver" failed in tracing the guns and was subsequently shutdown, why is the solution to not even bother to try tracing the firearms? Holder's conclusion in testimony before Congress was simply: "Guns lost during this operation will continue to show up at crime scenes on both sides of the border."
Would Holder have been as forgiving if a gun dealer had been caught intentionally doing the same thing that the Obama administration has been caught doing?
The new e-mails documenting Justice Department discussions on the political benefits from the "Fast & Furious" program are disturbing and they are only going to give more ammunition to conspiracy theorists for why the Obama administration instituted the program to begin with.
People who haven't trusted the Obama administration on this issue have already pointed out that "Fast & Furious" started pushing guns into Mexico at the same time that the Obama administration was making its inaccurate claims about the United States being a major source of Mexican crime guns.
The new internal messages reveal that in early January this year, a month before there was any publicity about "Fast & Furious," Department of Justice personnel were pointing out: "this case ["Fast & Furious] could be a strong supporting factor [for new regulations] if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of this case."
More evidence has also surfaced showing how uncomfortable gun dealers were in selling these guns that they didn't want to sell. One dealer wrote BATF officials in April 2010: "[W]e were hoping to put together something like a letter of understanding to alleviate concerns of some type of recourse against us down the road for selling these items. We just want to make sure we are cooperating with ATF and that we are not viewed as selling to the bad guys."
Unfortunately, Holders' testimony Thursday didn't make things any clearer. His definition of "lying" depending on one's state of mind sounded positively Clintonian.
But ultimately the Obama administration still faces a bigger problem. Can they ever come up with any remotely plausible explanation for why anyone would have started a program to push untraceable guns into Mexico? The longer it takes to provide an explanation, the more plausible the conspiracy theorists sound that this was all done for politics.
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Mexican Government Unaware of DOJ Money Laundering Operation Involving Drug Cartels
Dec-13-2011
Keywords: dea, mexican government, mexico did not know about money laundering, money laundering
Mexico's government was left in the dark about a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration drug money laundering scheme that allegedly facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars to Mexican drug cartels.
The program was similar to Operation Fast and Furious in that the U.S. Department of Justice, under Attorney General Eric Holder, was allegedly furnishing narcotics traffickers with laundered drug proceeds in an attempt to discern how those funds would move, and to whom.
Calderon spokeswoman Alejandra Sota said the Mexican government was not aware of, or involved with, any DEA money laundering scheme.
According to a New York Times report, "in operations supervised by the Justice Department and orchestrated to get around sovereignty restrictions" drug enforcement agents "laundered or smuggled millions of dollars in drug proceeds as part of Washington's expanding role in Mexico's fight against drug cartels."
Almost immediately after the Times published the story, and House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa's subsequent announcement that he will expand his investigation of Operation Fast and Furious to examine reports of DEA-facilitated money laundering, the Department of Justice released a public statement disclaiming the practice as perfectly ordinary.
But what may turn out to not be so ordinary is that the DOJ didn't inform Mexican officials of the program. A situation that could very well ramp-up the growing number of congressional members looking for Holder's head as he seeks to keep Congress in the dark about his knowledge and handling of Operation Fast and Furious.
Full Story: Calderon spokesman: Mexico unaware DOJ was passing laundered cash to cartels
http://www.loudobbs.com/b/Mexican-Government-Unaware-of-DOJ-Money-Laundering-Operation-Involving-Drug-Cartels/-92533351191258822.html;jsessionid=C374AA035EB96092DA4699368B589F99
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Calderon spokesman: Mexico unaware DOJ was passing laundered cash to cartels
By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller 11:38 PM 12/12/2011
According to a spokesperson for Mexican president Felipe Calderon, Mexico’s government was left in the dark about a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration drug money laundering scheme that allegedly facilitated the transfer of millions of dollars to Mexican drug cartels.
The program was similar to Operation Fast and Furious in that the U.S. Department of Justice, under Attorney General Eric Holder, was allegedly furnishing narcotics traffickers with laundered drug proceeds in an attempt to discern how those funds would move, and to whom.
On this week’s Al Punto, a Sunday news program on the Spanish-language television network Univision, Calderon spokeswoman Alejandra Sota said the Mexican government was not aware of, or involved with, any DEA money laundering scheme.
According to a New York Times report, “in operations supervised by the Justice Department and orchestrated to get around sovereignty restrictions” drug enforcement agents “laundered or smuggled millions of dollars in drug proceeds as part of Washington’s expanding role in Mexico’s fight against drug cartels.”
Almost immediately after the Times published the story, and House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa’s subsequent announcement that he will expand his investigation of Operation Fast and Furious to examine reports of DEA-facilitated money laundering, the Department of Justice released a public statement disclaiming the practice as perfectly ordinary.
In that statement, the Obama administration claimed it was “working collaboratively with the Mexican government” on the efforts to fight more widespread money laundering.
“As our partners in Mexico have stated, the joint investigations to detect and dismantle money laundering networks have led to important advances and detentions in each country,” the DEA and DOJ jointly said. “The cooperation between the United States and Mexico is based on principles of shared responsibility, mutual trust and respect for the jurisdiction of each country.”
This weekend’s interview with Calderon’s spokesperson contradicts those Obama administration claims.
Al Punto host Jorge Ramos asked Sota about the allegations. “The New York Times has just filed a report days ago in which it assures that there was an operation or various operations of money-laundering by American DEA agents along with Mexican agents to try to identify drug traffickers,” Ramos said, according to a translated transcription. “I saw an interview with President Felipe Calderon. It was suggested there that Mexico did not know about this operation. And that’s my question. Did the Mexican Government know about this DEA operation to launder drug traffickers’ money in Mexico?”
Sota responded that the Mexican government was unaware.
“No,” she said. “The Mexican Government did not know, and it’s important to stress that we have begun an investigation by the [Mexican] attorney general to establish responsibilities, and in any case to investigate if there was any involvement. But in no way did the government have any knowledge of an operation of this nature.”
“But if the government didn’t know,” came Ramos’ follow-up, “then how is it possible that, according to the New York Times report, Mexican agents participated in this operation along with DEA agents?”
“Well, it’s definitely something that has to be investigated,” Sota responded. ”But from the get-go, we deny that there was any knowledge on the part of Mexican authorities about an operation of this nature.”
Leaving Mexico in the dark about operations that cross national boundaries is not a new theme for Eric Holder’s Justice Department. On Dec. 8, Holder testified before the House Judiciary Committee that he still has not briefed Mexican officials, including Attorney General Marisela Morales, about Operation Fast and Furious.
Morales has publicly voiced her concerns about the Obama administration’s failure to provide her with information about the scandal-plagued program’s details.
Operation Fast and Furious was a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program overseen by the DOJ. It facilitated the sale of thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels via straw purchasers, people who legally purchase guns in the United States with the known intention of illegally trafficking them somewhere else. In Fast and Furious, the straw purchasers were known to be trafficking the weapons into Mexico, effectively arming Mexican drug cartels.
At least 300 people in Mexico were killed with Fast and Furious weapons, as was U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
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Article printed from The Daily Caller: http://dailycaller.com
URL to article: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/12/calderon-spox-mexico-unaware-doj-was-passing-laundered-cash-to-cartels/
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Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/12/calderon-spox-mexico-unaware-doj-was-passing-laundered-cash-to-cartels/#ixzz1gRgWzoKy
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Eric Holder: Largest Money-Launderer in the Drug Business
Townhall.com ^ | December 10, 2011 | John Ransom
As if Congress didn’t have enough evidence that the Department of Justice has completely lost its mind, the New York Times is reporting that the Drug Enforcement Agency has helped launder “millions of dollars in drug proceeds” on behalf of Mexican drug cartels, a figure much higher than previously estimated.
The Department of Justice has been under investigation by Congress for facilitating gun smuggling during Operation Fast and Furious. Fast and Furious was a gun running scheme on the US-Mexican border that’s resulted in violence and death on both sides of the border including the deaths of federal agents in the line of duty. The operation used illegal weapons purchases with reluctant gun dealers who cooperated with the ATF on the so-called stings.
The problem however is that there has never been a sting, an arrest or results that would justify breaking the law- there were just illegal arms pouring over the border and escalating violence all facilitated by the Department of Justice in an effort, in part to make a case for stricter gun control laws.
One source who was quoted anonymously in the money-laundering story in the Times was concerned about similar negative results saying that the “D.E.A. could wind up being the largest money launderer in the business, and that money results in violence and deaths.”
Consequently, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, chair of the oversight committee already investigating Fast and Furious has done some fast and furious of his own. Issa has opened a probe into the money-laundering program according to the Houston Chronicle.
He sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder informing him of the probe, drawing “a parallel between the reported money-laundering operation’s tactics and those in Fast and Furious,” according to the Chronicle.
“The existence of such a program again calls your leadership into question,” Issa wrote in a letter to Holder, says the Texas newspaper. “The managerial structure you have implemented lacks appropriate operational safeguards to prevent the implementation of such dangerous schemes. The consequences have been disastrous.”
The DEA denies the charge saying that they have been running money-laundering stings since 1984. “The Drug Enforcement Administration has been working collaboratively with the Mexican government to fight money laundering for years. As a result of this cooperation, DEA has seized illicit transnational criminal organization money all around the world.”
Obviously whoever wrote the press release for the DEA flunked the “irony” portion of their English exam.
The DEA has become the leading money-laundering crime fighter by becoming one of the leading money-launders?
Man, this has become a government that can justify anything it does by whatever tortured logic it chooses.
And that’s what you get when you’re governed by people who think that, as our own Guy Benson pointed out, lying is a complicated concept that revolves around a state of mind as does Mr. Attorney General Holder.
Issa is having none of it, though, since he’s been given the run around on Fast and Furious from the beginning.
He knows what he has to deal with at Justice.
From FoxNews:
Issa indicated he's skeptical, particularly after the Justice Department on Friday gave Congress hundreds of pages of documents showing how Justice officials initially provided inaccurate information about Fast and Furious.
"The first answer you get from this Justice Department doesn't have a high credibility," Issa said.
And no answer ever will have credibility in the Department of Justice as long as Holder remains at the helm.
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Congressman files “no confidence” resolution against Eric Holder
Hotair ^ | 12/13/2011 | Tina Korbe
Republicans in Congress appear to be increasingly committed to the idea that Attorney General Eric Holder should resign because of the part he played — or didn’t play — in Fast and Furious. Late yesterday afternoon, Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona — who, you’ll recall, said Holder and other top Justice officials could conceivably be cast as “accessories to murder” — filed a resolution in the House of Representatives to call for a vote of “no confidence” in the AG. The Daily Caller reports:
The resolution, introduced Monday afternoon, is a formal way to exhibit congressional disdain for Holder as the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious proceeds. It would also be an initial step toward some House Republicans’ plan to formally remove him from office if he won’t resign.
The resolution, officially numbered H. Res. 490, states that “it is the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress has lost confidence in the Attorney General of the United States.”
In a statement, Gosar denounced Holder’s continued refusal to comply with lawfully issued subpoenas and other official congressional requests for information.
Fifty-five House members, two senators, four presidential candidates, two sitting governors and leading members of the Second-Amendment-rights-advocacy community have called for Holder’s resignation. But notably, several Republican representatives who have not called for Holder’s resignation nevertheless still signed Gosar’s resolution — including North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers, Arizona Rep. David Schweikert, Illinois Rep. Bobby Schilling and Ohio Rep. Bill Johnson.
TheDC’s Matthew Boyle notes that the support for Holder’s resignation today far outweighs the support for the resignation of George W. Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez in 2007. Gonzalez eventually resigned. Yet, today, the president and Holder continue to dismiss the movement for the AG’s resignation as manufactured and unimportant.
That might be why some Republicans in Congress have expressed that they would be prepared to begin the impeachment process. Wisconsin Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner suggested as much during a Dec. 8 House Judiciary Committee hearing, for example, and, in a recent TV appearance, South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy said, one way or another, voluntarily or through impeachment proceedings, Holder must resign.
Meanwhile, some MSM outlets continue to ignore Fast and Furious, even though the operation ultimately resulted in the deaths of more than 200 Mexicans and at least 11 violent crimes in the United States. What’s more, because so many of the guns sold to straw purchasers through the program have yet to be recovered, the death toll associated with the scandal is likely to still climb, as Holder himself admitted in congressional testimony last week.
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lol reminds me of that albert gonzalez.... that justice guy under bush who forgot what he had for breakfast that day lol... coudln't remember anything hahahaha.
he was crooked as shit, and he got away with it. they all do. they always will. accept it champ.
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lol reminds me of that albert gonzalez.... that justice guy under bush who forgot what he had for breakfast that day lol... coudln't remember anything hahahaha.
he was crooked as shit, and he got away with it. they all do. they always will. accept it champ.
Holder is going down in order to shift blame away from obama. Sorry 240 - there is way more evidence against obama and holder on this than your 911 CT's.
Obama and Holder broke many laws in this and now even Mexico opened an inquiry as they were never told about Obama gun running and money laundering.
BTW - stop kneepadding this bullshit and making equivalencies.
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There was a time when opposing generals met before a battle. They’d exchange terms and gentlemanly propriety before trying to kill one another.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) might have fit into that age. He purposefully strode across a crowded House Judiciary Committee hearing room Thursday morning and held his hand out to Attorney General Eric Holder. The attorney general flinched when he noticed Issa suddenly so close before looking submissively down at the room’s blue carpet as he quickly took then let go of Issa’s hand.
Representative Issa walked back to the second row of two benches where committee members were taking their seats. Hours would pass before Issa would get his five minutes with Holder, but it was worth the wait.
Behind the seated congressmen and along the walls of the room congressional staffers — some of whom had nicknamed Holder “Withholder General” — were waiting to play their parts in the coming battle.
Issa, who also chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has been leading the congressional charge to find out who authorized Operation Fast and Furious, a secret ATF program in which the Obama administration allowed guns to “walk” into Mexico and into the arsenals of Mexican drug cartels. He has complained of being lied to by the Obama administration. He and Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) have had to warn Obama administration officials not to retaliate against whistleblowers. And Issa has pointed out that many of the documents he’s received from the U.S. Department of Justice are so blacked out with redactions that personnel must have had to refill printer ink cartridges constantly to erase all the evidence.
Issa has a right to be incensed. Incredibly, just last week, the Obama administration even had to formally withdraw a letter it sent to Congress last February that falsely claimed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) didn’t watch guns “walk” into Mexico.
Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R., Wis.) brought up this withdrawn document.
Holder said, “First let me make something very clear, in response to an assertion you made, or hinted at: Nobody in the Justice Department has lied.”
Sensenbrenner demanded, “Then why was the letter withdrawn?”
Holder answered, “The letter was withdrawn because there was information in there that was inaccurate.”
So Sensenbrenner asked, “Tell me what the difference is between lying and misleading Congress in this context.”
Holder replied, “If you want to have this legal conversation, it all has to do with your state of mind, and whether or not you had the requisite intent to come up with something that can be considered perjury or a lie.”
Despite the legal basis for his statement, the idea that the truth depends on your “state of mind” sounded so much like Pres. Bill Clinton’s semantics with the word “is” that the spectators — who sat quietly under the watchful eyes of United States Capitol Police — laughed.
As Issa sat waiting his turn, Rep. Dan Lungren (R., Calif.) wanted to know who authorized Operation Fast and Furious.
Holder said, “People in the criminal division of the Justice Department were aware of Fast and Furious. Who did it and who knows about it is being investigated by the inspector general.”
Lungren pressed further by saying, “You’re responsible for what these folks did. After all this time we still don’t know who . . . made the decisions.” Lungren then brought up a recent CBS report that covered an e-mail sent on July 14, 2010. After the operation, former ATF field operations assistant director Mark Chait e-mailed Bill Newell, then ATF’s Phoenix special agent in charge of Fast and Furious, to suggest a possible way to use Fast and Furious:
Bill — can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks.
This “demand letter” refers to the push for a policy that would require U.S. gun shops in southwestern states to report the sale of several rifles or shotguns to a single buyer. According to CBS, “Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.”
Lungren pointed out that the Obama administration was attempting to use “this program as an excuse to broaden their control.”
Holder replied, “You’re taking that out of context.”
Lungren said, “No, we are not.”
Later in the exchange, Lungren asked, “The Justice Department creates the situation where thousands of weapons go south and use that as an excuse to have more gun-control regulations? You ought not to use your screw-up as a basis to expand your authority. Don’t use it as an excuse to expand your legislative agenda.”
All that was the preliminary bombardment before Issa’s planned assault. After hours of waiting, Issa leaned forward to speak into his microphone and began in part by asking, “Do I need to serve a subpoena on you . . . or will you come before my committee?”
After several exchanges, Holder said, “I will consider it.”
Meanwhile Issa’s staff had stacked boxes of papers on either side of the congressman. Issa later used them as a prop for a question: “Does it surprise you that five boxes are what one gun dealer gave us voluntarily while this is all you gave us?” Issa held up and shook a few files before continuing, “Do you have documents . . . that have not yet been granted?”
Holder didn’t answer the question; meanwhile, Issa focused his attack with the tone of voice a prosecutor might use with a hostile witness. “Don’t you think it is a little conspicuous that there is not one e-mail from or to you on Fast and Furious? . . . Isn’t it true that executive privilege does not include you?”
Holder answered, “We have not withheld any documents that are responsive. We have withheld information about ongoing investigations.”
Issa said, “That’s how John Mitchell responded.”
John Mitchell was attorney general under President Richard Nixon, and was found guilty of charges related to the Watergate break-in. He was sentenced to 19 months in prison.
Holder turned to Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith and said, “The reference to John Mitchell, let’s think about that. At some point, you know, as they said at the McCarthy hearings,” then he looked back at Issa he finished, “Have you no shame?”
Issa lashed back, “Have you no shame?”
During their verbal battle Issa accused Holder of being in “contempt” for refusing to turn over documents.
Holder replied, “We will respond in a way that is consistent with the way in which the Justice Department has always responded to those kinds of requests.”
Issa’s explosive five minutes were interrupted several times by Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D., Texas). She wanted Issa to give Holder more time to answer, but Issa said, “I only get five minutes,” and he’s “filibustering.” Finally Chairman Smith, had to tell Jackson-Lee she had not been recognized.
Though Issa’s time quickly ended, Holder’s e-mails were still the focus of the Republican member’s attention.
Later, Holder was asked if he authorized the IG investigation into Operation Fast and Furious. He said, “I was in fact the person who asked the IG to investigate, but I didn’t put anything in writing. I have a good relationship with the IG. I don’t think there’s any writing from me, but I can check.”
That was too cute.
Rep. Trent Franks (R., Ariz.) focused on the e-mails: “Mr. Issa mentioned some internal e-mails that I think are pretty important.”
Holder acknowledged during the hearing that he has an official e-mail address and a private one, but he wouldn’t say how often he uses these accounts. He also said he had not seen e-mails that were printed in a CBS report that argued new gun-control regulations might have been the reason for Operation Fast and Furious.
Moments later Franks said he understood that Holder doesn’t read all the memos his staff sends to his desk, and Holder seemed to agree with this. Then Franks asked, “Do you read letters from Grassley and Issa?”
After a pause, Holder said, “I think it’s fair to say over the last few months I’ve read all of Issa’s and Grassley’s letters.”
This also drew a laugh from the spectators, but it was really a set-up.
Representative Franks next said, “Mr. Holder, these e-mails were attached to one of those letters.”
Holder tossed his head and replied that he “doesn’t always read attachments.”
The next congressman to continue the push for Holder’s e-mails was Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah): “Have you spoken with [Secretary of Homeland Security Janet] Napolitano, [Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton, [President Barack] Obama, the president of Mexico . . . about Operation Fast and Furious?”
Holder indicated he hadn’t.
Chaffetz said, “We have 50 members of Congress calling for your resignation . . . you took five days to go to the Caribbean, and you didn’t take five minutes to talk to Hillary or Napolitano?”
Holder responded that his staff has been in touch with them.
Chaffetz then asked about a joint task force Holder has with Napolitano and added, “Yet you never talked about Fast and Furious?”
Holder responded in part by saying, “Let me tell you how Washington works, okay . . . ” This drew another laugh.
In the end this seven-hour hearing — interrupted twice for congressmen to run to the floor for votes — didn’t have any smashing developments. A government-created gunrunning operation that has already gotten at least one U.S. Border Patrol agent killed and that has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans was exposed nearly a year ago.
The investigation into who authorized it has been going since at least late last spring, yet no one has been fired or jailed. Now the attorney general gives the unmistakable impression of obfuscating and hiding his own involvement (his e-mails) behind the cloak of an inspector general’s investigation. Somehow it doesn’t now seem hyperbolic to compare Holder’s withheld e-mails to the tapes President Nixon famously kept.
— Frank Miniter is the author of The Ultimate Man’s Survival Guide, and, more recently, Saving the Bill of Rights.
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Exclusive: Texas Rep. Poe: ‘F&F a ruse to go after U.S. gun sales’(gunwalker)
Seattle Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 12 December, 2011 | Dave Workman
Posted on December 14, 2011 7:25:11 AM EST by marktwain
Texas Congressman Ted Poe is convinced there is more to Operation Fast and Furious than just a monumental screw-up by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and he said so in an exclusive Monday afternoon interview with this column.
“To me this whole operation is just a ruse to go after gun sales in the United States; don’t punish the people involved in the killings, punish the guns.”—U.S. Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX)
The fourth-term Congressman had just gotten off an airplane when he chatted briefly via telephone. He is still astonished that Attorney General Eric Holder, after several months of Fast and Furious headline news and alleged investigation, cannot pin down who was ultimately responsible for allowing the facilitation of weapons smuggling into Mexico, where the body count keeps rising.
Poe – a former prosecutor and judge who appears to have the instincts of a Texas Ranger –asked a simple question about that the other day during the House Judiciary Committee hearing and he did not get a simple answer from Holder:
Poe: So, we don’t know the person that signed off…I mean, and I know how the federal government works, everybody’s got to sign off on something, especially something like this. But, we don’t know who that person is yet, is that what you’re telling me?
Holder: With all due respect, I’d be surprised if we’re going to see a document that somebody signed off on that said ‘you can let guns walk.’
This exchange came immediately after the embattled attorney general told Poe during his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee that the operation actually kicked off at the Phoenix office of the ATF, and about a month later, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Phoenix got involved.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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BTW - stop kneepadding this bullshit and making equivalencies.
why? when history repeats itself, and allows you to predict what will happen, that's pretty darn cool.
we all know holder gets away with it, just like Gonzalez and Reno before him. And President Newt's AG will do all sorts of crooked shit, develop amnesia, and get away with it too.
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Was walked gun recovered in Mesa shooting?
Examiner.Com ^ | December 14, 2011 | David Codrea
“Authorities say a man who was fatally shot by a deputy after pointing a weapon at the deputy in a threatening manner in Mesa was an undocumented immigrant,” Erisa Nakano of ABC15.com reported last January.
As a deputy approached the driver’s side door, Castellanos rolled down the window and pulled out an AK47 assault rifle and pointed it at the deputy in a threatening manner…
In a December 9 post, blogger The AnarchAngel identifies the deputy as the brother of Noah Antwiler, creator of the popular video game and movie review site “The Spoony Experiment.” The post links to one of Antwiler’s “Tweets” (a text message on the Twitter social networking website), stating:
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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The man my brother shot in the line of duty was carrying guns provided by Operation Fast and Furious. Bravo, ATF, for handing him an AK-47.
Offering partial corroboration is a follow-up report of the shooting from The Arizona Republic, identifying the deputy involved as "Miles Antwiler."
Gun Rights Examiner attempted to confirm that the rifle taken from the shot suspect was one of the walked “Fast and Furious” guns. An email was sent to Noah Antwiler, and a colleague with access to Mesa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio sought comment from him. That was two days ago and there have been no replies. Without feedback, this correspondent can take the story no further.
There’s enough circumstantial evidence to warrant uncovering the truth of the matter, and it’s an important enough puzzle piece to see if it truly fits in the overall picture. Recalling that today is the anniversary of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder, reports about other uniformed officers (and indeed, anyone else) being threatened with Fast and Furious weapons need to be looked into. To that end, this information is being forwarded to House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform investigators for follow-up.
[Thanks to correspondent Michael G for the tip.]
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A sad anniversary
As mentioned above, today marks one year since Brian Terry was killed. Here are some thoughts from:
•Mike Vanderboegh
•Rick Oltman
Additional resources:
•Remember Brian Terry
•Justice for Brian Terry: A True American Hero Facebook page
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Vanderboegh and Mother Jones
“Reporter” Stephanie Mencimer wrote a piece on him. Since her idea of objective journalism is to use terms like “Tea party activists, gun-rights fanatics, and others on the right,” I’m just going to link to Mike Vanderboegh’s Sipsey Street Irregulars comments on her new article—you can go read the Mother Jones piece from the link Mike provides after you’ve had the chance to place it in proper context.
Click here to read Mike’s assessment.
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A Fast and Furious Response
From Oregon Firearms Federation: Win a rifle.
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Also see:
•A Journalist’s Guide to ‘Project Gunwalker' for a complete list with links of independent investigative reporting and commentary done to date by Sipsey Street Irregulars and Gun Rights Examiner. Note to newcomers to this story: “Project Gunrunner” is the name ATF assigned to its Southwest Border Initiative to interdict gun smuggling to Mexico. “Project Gunwalker” is the name I assigned to the scandal after allegations by agents that monitored guns were allowed to fall into criminal hands on both sides of the border through a surveillance process termed “walking” surfaced.
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Spead the word
Regular readers: If you agree that mainstream press coverage of the gun rights issue demands a counter-balance, please help me spread the word by sharing Gun Rights Examiner links with your friends via emails, and in online discussion boards, blogs, social media sites, etc. Then get more commentary at The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance.
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Contempt of Congress or impeachment Mr. Holder, take your pick
Coach is Right ^ | 12/14/2011 | Doug Book
During Eric Holder’s December 8th testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Darrell Issa told the Attorney General that he faced contempt of congress charges for his continued stonewalling of document demands of House committee subpoenas and Wisconsin Republican Jim Sensenbrenner added that impeachment proceedings could be forthcoming.
But with near complete liberal ownership of the American media and the increasingly supple spine of House Speaker Jim Boehner to fall back on, Holder continued to lie, distort and virtually make light of the Obama Regime initiated death toll of Operation Fast and Furious.
Lying is a “state of mind” Holder told Sensenbrenner when asked how written “misstatements” made to congress in February by Assistant Attorney General Jim Weich concerning the deliberate walking of thousands of weapons across the Mexican border could possibly be construed as anything but outright lies.
Speaking on behalf of the DOJ in response to inquiries made by Senator Charles Grassley, Weich had denied the ATF had allowed weapons to fall into the hands of drug cartel members.
Yet it was a lie. It was a deliberate, outright lie as mounds of testimony and released documents make clear.
But according to the hyper-arrogant, criminal head of the Department of Justice, lying is, after all, just a state of mind.
“Lying to congress is a federal felony,” Sensenbrenner reminded the petulant Holder. And though the congressman didn’t directly accuse Holder himself of lying, he made it clear that continued evasion of the demands placed on the Attorney General for properly submitted documentation leading to an end to the DOJ cover-up would certainly be grounds for impeachment proceedings.
“Have you no shame,” Holder demanded of Darrell Issa when the congressman rightly compared him to Nixon Attorney General John Mitchell.
Mitchell too claimed “privilege”...
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
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One Year Ago, Holder's Operation Fast and Furious Came Undone
Human Events ^ | 12/13/2011 | Neil W. McCabe
Terry's death stopped the star-crossed gun walking program.
Brian A. Terry
One year ago today, The Washington Post published its “Hidden Life of Guns” article exposing how under-regulated gun sales along the Mexican border were sending firearms into that country feeding its crime and instability.
The paper’s four-reporter team operated as full-partners of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives PR department receiving internal statistics, documents and even an interrogation video.
One of the two gun stores were correctly singled out by the Post: Lone Wolf in Arizona and Carter Country in Texas. But, one year later, we know it was for the wrong reasons.
It was on a Dec. 13 Houston's KRIV-TV news broadcast that the lawyer for Carter Country, responding to that morning's report in the Post, made the outrageous charge that agents from the BATFE actively encouraged reluctant Carter Country employees to sell weapons to suspected “straw purchasers.”
The charges were ignored by The Washington Post and everyone else, and would have stayed ignored, if not for the events of the following night.
During the overnight of December 14 into 15, an AK-47 sold to a straw purchaser with the blessing of the ATF at the Lone Wolf gun store was used in the firefight that cut down Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry.
Within a few hours, four men who fired upon Terry were wrapped up, while a fifth was tracked down the next day in a manhunt that included federal agents on horseback and in helicopters.
Within 24 hours of Terry’s death, federal officials had traced the AK-47 to Fast and Furious.
Behind the scenes, ATF and other federal agents aware of the gun walking program called Operation Fast and Furious, staged a mutiny and the operation was shut down.
In the next week, two cabinet officers visited Arizona, Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., for the funeral and Homeland Security Sec. Janet Napolitano, to meet with members of Terry’s special tactics unit, known as BorTac. Holder’s Justice Department oversees the BATFE and Napolitano’s department includes the Border Patrol.
By Napolitano’s December 18 visit, both she and Holder, who both were aware of Fast and Furious, knew that Terry was killed with a Fast and Furious AK-47. They were both fully briefed on Fast and Furious, and though the operation was still a secret, they had both touted in public speeches the overall program it was a part of called Operation Gun Runner.
Conceivably, Napolitano was even better informed than Holder because her former gubernatorial chief of staff Dennis K. Burke was the U.S. Attorney for the Arizona Department. It is fair to guess, that Burke briefed his former boss, who sponsored his appointment.
Burke was a useful part of the Fast and Furious cover-up and damage control. After waiting more than two weeks to charge the men who killed Terry, he charged them with unrelated gun violations. This move allowed him to deny Terry’s parents' request for victims-of-crime rights. Under federal law, victims of crimes are afforded special briefings about the progress of investigations and prosecutions.
Burke also saw to it that the Terry case was sealed and all press relations were handled through the local FBI office that he controlled rather than through Border Patrol public information officers.
One year later, the Post has published the obligatory articles about Fast and Furious, and the various hearings and shuffling of personnel. But, it may not get the Pulitzer it was gunning for when it launched its blowout expose on the wrong side of the story.
The poor Carter County clerk, whose indictment for facilitating illegal guns sales the paper celebrated as validation of its crusade, had all charges dismissed—lest he explain in court what really happened.
Holder and Napolitano have weathered the storm and still enjoy the confidence and support of the President. But, Burke has resigned and awaits what other shoes may drop.
One year ago today, we had no idea that the Obama administration was funneling guns to Mexico at the same time it blamed under-regulated gun sales for destabilizing our neighbor to the south. We have learned many of the details in the last year, but there is still so much that does not make sense or add up.
Most troubling of all, if Terry knew the full extent of what his government was doing, the 6-foot, 4-inch former Marine and Iraq veteran might have had a better chance.
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Neil W. McCabe is the editor of Guns & Patriots. McCabe, was a reporter and photographer at The Pilot, Boston's Catholic newspaper for several years. An Army reservist, he served 14 months in Iraq as a combat historian. Follow him on Twitter
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Holder and obama deserve a life sentence for this.
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http://issues.oversight.house.gov/fastandfurious/KeyPlayers.pdf
Looks like a mafia crime family pin up
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http://nicedeb.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/an-open-letter-to-eric-holder-from-an-atf-agent-in-mexico
An Open Letter To Eric Holder From An ATF Agent in Mexico
December, 12, 2011 — nicedeb
These words from ATF Attache in Mexico, Darren Gil to Sharyl Attkisson, in that explosive interview, last March have always stayed with me:
“At some point these guns are going to end up killing either a government of Mexico official, a police officer, or military folks, and then what are we going to do? There was complete silence on the other end of the phone…”
He (Gil) would ask (his superiors) repeatedly:
“When is this case going to shut down? The Mexicans are going to have a fit when they find out about it. You’re (speaking of himself, here) in Mexico… have limited diplomatic immunity…and the government is looking at you as potentially bringing weapons into their country (which in many cases is an act of war!), and they’re already very worried about their sovereignty down there, and the ATF agents let this happen. There are agents all across Mexico, and their safety should be the number one priority, and these folks are in that much more danger, now.”
One of those agents in Mexico watched Eric Holder’s testimony before Congress, last Thursday, and weighed in with this acerbic response at the whistle-blower forum Clean-up ATF :
Posted 09 December 2011 – 11:47 AM
An Open Letter to Attorney General Holder
Dear AG Holder:
From deep inside Mexico, thanks to streaming video, I was able to watch and listen to the entire House Judiciary Committee hearing. I’m a registered
Independent – not Republican and not Democrat, so this is a non-partisan commentary. As I write this, my life, and the lives of my family members are more
at risk becase of the reckless actions of you and your ATF buddies allowing, facilitating and even paying for firearms to be smuggled into Mexico for
criminals.
Wow! You really made points with us when you refused to acknowledge you were under oath.
How many times did you answer “I don’t know”? You must be the most “know nothing” Attorney General in history.
Funny, you had the answers for all the other issues brought up during the hearing…..
You said those who created “Fast & Furious” will be held accountable, but you still don’t know who did it and no one will be fired? You have to consider
their overall service to the department???? Do you consider their overall service for any other crime?
It’s been nearly a year since you assigned the investigation of Fast & Furious to the DOJ IG, although not in writing. Interesting. So, the DOJ is
investigating itself? How long does it take for the IG to investigate? Is this the same IG that cooked up the false $16 muffin story? Is this the same IG
that took (as gospel) ATF’s word that 90% of the guns recovered in Mexico and traced came from the U.S. – statistics later discredited – by ATF themselves?
We watched and listened as you and your Democrat sycophants on the Committee parroted the same tired scripted mantra praising you for advancing gun control
and begging for more gun regulations and more ATF funding. The same old figures were quoted about how many guns were traced from Mexico. Did your figures
include all the duplicate traces from Mexico? All the.22 rabbit rifles and farmer’s shotguns that Mexico traced? Did they include 100 year old guns used by Pancho Villa? Did you explain that the average age of those guns traced from Mexico is over 14 years? ATF calls that “time to crime”, but may have nothing to do with a crime.
Did you explain that as far back as 1992, and as recently as 2009, the Congressional Research Service warned against the use of statistics from ATF’s
tracing system? Did you also not read their warning, “The ATF tracing system is an operational system designed to help law enforcement agencies identify the
ownership path of individual firearms. It was not designed to collect statistics.”? Or did you simply ignore it?
Did you explain that the new multiple rifle regulation which you are so strongly supporting would not have stopped a single Fast & Furious gun from being
smuggled to Mexico? And won’t stop any future smuggling? And the multiple rifle purchase report requirement is so overly-broad that it includes 50 to 100 year
old rifles of interest only to collectors – which will now be reported as ‘crime guns’? What’s with that? Oh, yeah….. Those sales are now permanently ‘registered’
in ATF registration databases. Was this supposed to be “under the radar”, too?
Did you explain why your buddies at ATF are reporting personal information (name, address, height, weight, date of birth, drivers license number, etc.) of
totally innocent American gun owners to corrupt Mexican cops – through eTrace? Enough information for ID theft? These gun owners may have disposed of the guns
many years ago – but ATF still reports the original owner as a ‘suspect’ to Mexican cops. Thanks a lot. That makes me feel really good while I’m here in Mexico…..
Have you forgotten that in Mexico, you’re guilty until proven innocent?
So this is the “Most Transparent Administration” in history? Well, on that issue, that’s right. With your performance in front of the Committee, and your
obstruction of justice and obfuscation of the issues, you were completely transparent. Everyone could see right through you. And you’re refusing to release
any more documents? What could be more transparent than that? Wow!
Watching you in front of the Committee, for the first time in my life, you make me ashamed to be an American. Hell, Watergate was easier to understand….., and people didn’t die. How many people are going to be killed as a consequence of Fast & Furious?
How do I explain to my Mexican friends and associates why ATF has illegally armed Mexican criminal gangs? And no one has gone to jail, or been fired, or
suspended, or even identified…..? Isn’t that great for international relations…..
Mr. Attorney General, you will be held accountable – by the American People.
Sincerely,
(Name Withheld – still in Mexico)
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Wednesday, December 14, 2011
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2011/12/sipsey-street-exclusive-file-this-under.html
Sipsey Street Exclusive. File this under "Things Eric Holder Doesn't Want You To Know." The Discovery Protective Order in the case of United States v. Avila et al. An update regarding wiretaps (Ooooooh. . . )
Sipsey Street has just learned that the Issa Committee has this morning received a copy of an email in the Fast & Furious straw buyers' case sent by the US Attorney for the Southern District of California Mark Conover yesterday afternoon. Here is the transcript:
From: "Conover, Mark (USACAS)"
To: "shoemaker@azbar.org" ; "joey.hamby@azbar.org" ; "lrangel@joeyhambypc.com" ; "berardonilaw@yahoo.com" ; "david.eisenberg@azbar.org" ; "alan@alansimpson.net" ; "laura@alansimpson.net" ; "philnoland@qwestoffice.net" ; "mpaige@paigelawfirm.com" ; "screenwriter2@earthlink.net" ; "simplex17@earthlink.net" ; "court@dlockhartlaw.com" ; "tom@crowescott.com" ; "cindy@crowescott.com" ; "lisa@crowescott.com" ; "shannon@alcocklaw.com" ; "filings@alcocklaw.com" ; "zariniguez@aol.com" ; "tmitchell@tyronemitchellpc.com" ; "ltate@btlawyers.com" ; "Conover, Mark (USACAS)" ; "eugene.marquez@azbar.org" ; "eugenemarquezlaw@yahoo.com" ; "anne@amwilliamslaw.net" ; "Sportclips1212@yahoo.com" ; "laura.gonzalez1019@yahoo.com" ; "susanhrwd@yahoo.com" ; "kevin.burns2@gmail.com" ; "burnsnickersontaylor@bntazlaw.com" ; "bellandflorence@yahoo.com" ; "sun@parklaw.us" ; "lucy@parklaw.us" ; "sunparklaw@msn.com"
Cc: "Gonzalez, Jacob (USACAS)" ; "Braskett, Myra (USAAZ)" ; "Neyra, Ghian (USACAS)" ; "Knight, Sheila (USACAS)" ; "Coughlin, Timothy (USACAS)" ; "Harrigan, Shane (USACAS)" ; "Ciaffa, Robert (USACAS)" ; "Chaney, Tracie (USACAS)"
Sent: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 2:28 PM
Subject: United States v. Avila et al. :Discovery Protective Order
Counsel,
After further consideration and review of Judge Teilborg’s April 1, 2011 protective order, we have decided to forgo seeking an additional protective order at this time and rely upon the current protective order. Judge Teilborg’s April 1, 2011 protective order continues to cover all discovery in this case. This includes additional wire tap related discovery recently made available by our office and all future discovery. I have attached the existing protective order below. Discovery is available to be picked up at your convenience. Paralegal Myra Braskett or her associate will be providing the discovery to you. If you have any questions please email me or call me.
Thank you.
W. Mark Conover Assistant United States Attorney Southern District of California 880 Front Street, Room 6293 San Diego, California 92101-8893 Tel: (619)557-5200 Fax: (619)557-3445
Here is the pdf of the original protective order attached to the email.
And here is a screen shot of the email:
OOOOOH . . . More wiretap information. How cool is that? Now there's something that the committee will end up seeing one of these days, don't you think? You know, Congressman Issa was just saying on the Hannity TV show the other night that he has more second-tier whistleblowers in DOJ coming forward every day and providing printouts of emails. I wonder if this is what he was talking about?
Posted by Dutchman6 at 10:37 AM
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Skip to comments.
Documents Show Justice's Breuer Misled On 'Furious'
IBD Editorials ^ | December 14, 2011 | Editor
Posted on December 14, 2011 8:30:42 PM EST by Kaslin
Ethics In Government: Attorney General Eric Holder insists "nobody at the Justice Department has lied" about the gun-running scandal Fast and Furious. That in itself is a lie, as his deputy's emails prove.
Documents obtained by congressional investigators show Lanny Breuer, Justice's criminal division chief, misled the public — under oath — about what he knew about the disastrous and ultimately deadly program. And what he did to cover it up.
• Lie No. 1: Breuer knew as far back as April 2010 that ATF officials had let assault weapons "walk" — which meant ending surveillance on guns suspected en route to Mexican warlords, and turning a blind eye to criminals illegally buying weapons for trafficking on the border.
Guns found at the scene of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry were traced to Fast and Furious.
That April, Breuer and an aide conspired with ATF leaders to cover up "the bad stuff that would come out."
When Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, got wind of the scandal, he demanded answers. Breuer consulted in the drafting of a Feb. 4 letter to Grassley falsely denying that ATF had ever walked guns.
Newly obtained emails show Breuer received drafts of the letter four times via email. He even forwarded drafts to his personal Google email account.
• Lie No. 2: When Grassley recently asked Breuer point blank if he reviewed the letter, Breuer suggested he had not looked at it. "At the time," he testified, "I was in Mexico dealing with the very real issues that we are all so committed to."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
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http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com
The optics of cover-up. Holder thinks that if he prevents the mothers of Gunwalker from appearing on camera along with his face he can ward off the ghosts of his guilt.
“I know they’re lying . . I know they’re just nothing but liars.” -- Kent Terry, Brian Terry's dad, reacting in the Daily Caller to claims made by Holder and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer that they didn’t know about Fast and Furious.
Holder and his "general lackeys," later in the hearing, 8 December.
Today, it’s a privilege to be joined by several of our key public safety partners. These five police executives – Chief [Fred] Bealefeld of Baltimore, Commissioner [Ed] Davis of Boston, Chief [Rodney] Monroe of Charlotte, Chief [Ralph] Godbee of Detroit, and Commissioner [Charles] Ramsey of Philadelphia – have been leaders in developing and implementing innovative and effective crime prevention strategies. They have also worked closely with the Department in advancing critical efforts to reverse the alarming rise in law enforcement fatalities in recent years. The work we do along the Southwest border is influenced by the efforts they have undertaken in their own cities. -- Eric Holder, Hearing, 8 December 2011.
When Eric Holder began his opening statement on 8 December, five liberal Democrat police chiefs sat behind him like a phalanx of lackey myrmidons. The optics of this moment, and the machinations of securing the seats directly behind the witness table, were carefully crafted by the DOJ in order to avoid what they most feared -- Eric Holder having to testify with ordinary citizens, or worse, Mr. and Mrs. Terry and Mr. and Mrs. Zapata, sitting right behind him within the camera's steady gaze whenever he lied, obfuscated, dodged and weaved.
As it happens, the Terry's and the Zapata's were not there, although some folks expected them to show. But the fact that "Holder's generals" were speaks volumes.
(Side snark: The use of general's stars on the shoulders of police chiefs is, to this citizen, ludicrous. The display of four stars (and at least one was a five-star) in duplication of military rank is past egotistical silliness for a mere politically selected police bureaucrat.)
For what Eric Holder and his fellow Gunwalker conspirators fear is the rise of a group, no matter how small, similar to the Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo -- The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo -- an association of Argentine mothers whose children "disappeared" during the Dirty War of the Argentine military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983.
The shawl of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo.
The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, is a unique organization of Argentine women who have become human rights activists in order to achieve a common goal. For over three decades, the Mothers have fought for the right to re-unite with their abducted children.
In protests, they wear white head scarves with their children's names embroidered, to symbolize the blankets of the lost children. The name of the organization comes from the Plaza de Mayo in central Buenos Aires, where the bereaved mothers and grandmothers first gathered. They have continued to convene there every Thursday afternoon for a decade.
The Mothers' association was formed by women who had met each other in the course of trying to find their missing sons and daughters, who were abducted by agents of the Argentine government during the years known as the Dirty War (1976–1983), many of whom were then tortured and killed. The 14 founders of the association, Azucena Villaflor de De Vincenti, Berta Braverman, Haydée García Buelas, María Adela Gard de Antokoletz, Julia Gard, María Mercedes Gard and Cándida Gard (4 sisters), Delicia González, Pepa Noia, Mirta Baravalle, Kety Neuhaus, Raquel Arcushin, Sra. De Caimi, started the demonstrations on the Plaza de Mayo, in front of the Casa Rosada presidential palace, on 30 April 1977. Villaflor had been searching for one of her sons and her daughter-in-law for six months. She was taken to the ESMA concentration camp on 8 December 1978.
The military has admitted that over 9,000 of those kidnapped are still unaccounted for, but the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo say that the number is closer to 30,000 - a predicted 500 among this figure are the children born in concentration camps to pregnant 'disappeared' women and given to military related families, whilst the remaining number are presumed dead. The numbers are hard to determine due to the secrecy surrounding the abductions. Three of the founders of the mothers of the Plaza de Mayo have also "disappeared". After the fall of the military regime, a civilian government commission put the number of disappeared at close to 11,000. In January 2005, the body of French nun Léonie Duquet, a supporter of the organization, was exhumed, without an established identity. Duquet's disappearance had caused international outrage towards the Argentine military government. DNA tests concluded, on August 30 of that year, that the body exhumed in January was that of Duquet.
Azucena Villaflor's remains, together with those of two other pioneer Mothers, Esther Careaga and María Eugenia Bianco, were also identified by a forensics team in mid-2005. Villaflor's ashes were buried at the foot of the May Pyramid in the Plaza on 8 December 2005. -- Wikipedia.
Note that the Argentine junta did not at first treat the Mothers seriously. When more mothers and Argentine citizens joined them, they did what they were used to: the set the secret police on them. Yet despite the fact that some of their own were "disappeared" to intimidate the others to go home, they did not. In time, they formed the principal moral indictment of the military regime. The "disappearances" became a major international cause celeb and contributed to the downfall of the generals.
Of course the "general" in the present case, Eric Holder, doesn't have the option of "disappearing" Mrs. Terry or Mrs. Zapata. In Mrs. Terry's case, though, Eric got statistically lucky -- the fact that Brian's cousin is a current serving Secret Service agent and early on jumped in as the "family spokesman." Sources say, however, that, according to one, "he acts more like a DOJ handler than a family spokesman," keeping media people as far from the family as possible. To what extent the Secret Service man had in the decision by the Terry's not to attend the hearing is unknown. This reporter has never contacted them, nor the Zapatas, nor intruded on their grief.
But Eric Holder fears their grief. You may depend upon it. The contrived image of the "lackey generals" sitting behind him at the opening of the 8 December hearing tells us as much. And he is right to fear it. If the American and Mexican mothers of the victims of the Gunwalker Scandal ever get together and begin to dog his trail in an Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo, he could not stand the indictment of public opinion. He could not stand the ghosts of Brian Terry, Jaime Zapata and all the Mexican victims of his Gunwalker conspiracy, standing behind their mothers, pointing their bloody fingers at one man responsible for both their deaths and the cover-up thereof.
That is why those fake generals were there, to ward off the ghosts.
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Terry family marks one year anniversary of death of their son, Brian Terry, murdered border patrol agent
By Sharyl Attkisson Topics Law and Order .5 Comments
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-57343240-10391695/terry-family-marks-one-year-anniversary-of-death-of-their-son-brian-terry-murdered-border-patrol-agent
WASHINGTON - One year ago today, Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry was gunned down in Arizona near the Mexican border by illegal immigrants armed with weapons from the now-infamous ATF "Fast and Furious" gunwalking operation.
In Fast and Furious, ATF secretly encouraged gun dealers to sell to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels to go after the "big fish." But ATF whistleblowers told CBS News and Congress it was a dangerous practice called "gunwalking," and it put thousands of weapons on the street. Many were used in violent crimes in Mexico.
PICTURES: ATF "Gunwalking" scandal timeline Read the family's statement
Terry's killing has touched off a firestorm that crossed international borders and trigger investigations, Congressional hearings, denials and admissions to the upper levels of the Justice Department.
A statement issued today by Terry's family raises the notion that responsible government officials should be prosecuted. "We now believe that if it can be shown that laws were broken, then all those responsible for Fast and Furious should be held criminally liable," reads the statement.
Continued Secrecy
365 days after Terry was shot dead, his family still has few answers. The U.S. government continues to keep many details secret and - several weeks ago - moved to seal the case against Terry's alleged attackers, shielding all details from the public and Terry's bereaved family.
Read the affadavit in the Brian Terry killing
Because Terry's murder continues to be wrapped up in the controversy over Fast and Furious, it makes answers doubly difficult to come by. The U.S. Attorney's office in Arizona would normally prosecute the alleged killers there, in the state where the murder occurred. But Arizona's U.S. Attorney at the time Dennis Burke, is linked to the gunwalking operation that allowed the weapons into the hands of Terry's attackers. So the prosecution has been moved from Arizona to a less controversial venue: California.
Several illegal immigrants who were arrested right after Terry's attack near the murder scene, were summarily released and sent back to Mexico. U.S. officials refused to release their names, normally considered part of the public record. CBS News' Freedom of Information requests about the most basic facts in the case have been processed slowly and, ultimately, produced no meaningful information or were denied in total.
More Fast and Furious coverage:
Memos contradict Holder on Fast and Furious
Agent: I was ordered to let guns "walk" into Mexico
Gunwalking scandal uncovered at ATF
Brian Terry's family members say it's hard for them to understand how a year after their loved one's murder, there's still such a cloak of secrecy. They say Brian was part of an elite unit patrolling the border, on the lookout for illegal bandits preying on other illegal immigrants in a known dangerous crossing area.
Terry Family: Condolences and Gratefulness
Today's statement from Terry's family focuses largely on the missing links in the ATF operation that allowed thousands of guns to be trafficked to Mexican drug cartels: who thought it up, and who thought it was a good idea. "Much to our dismay, no one in ATF or DOJ has come forward to accept responsibility for Fast and Furious," says the statement.
Terry's family members also extend condolences to the families of those in Mexico "affected by the violence... caused by the guns of Operation Fast and Furious." And they thank whistleblowers such as ATF Special Agent John Dodson who stepped forward to tell what they knew after Terry was shot.
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FBI Director Denies Cover-Up Involving 'Fast and Furious' Guns Found at Border Agent's Murder
By Mike Levine
Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry, 40, seen here, was killed on Dec. 14, 2010, near Rio Rico, Ariz.
The head of the FBI is strongly denying claims his agency tried to cover up evidence related to "Operation Fast and Furious" and the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
"Let me start with adamantly rejecting the suggestion that the FBI would in any way cover up what happened in the tragic killing of Brian Terry," FBI Director Robert Mueller told a Senate panel Wednesday. "To the contrary, every available necessary resource has been put on that and similar investigations where we lose one of our own."
It's the latest in a broader back-and-forth over tactics used by investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to target gun-runners in Arizona. Launched in late 2009, "Fast and Furious" was said to be designed to follow gun purchasers in hopes that suspects would lead them to the heads of Mexican cartels.
But high-powered weapons tied to the investigation ended up at crime scenes in Mexico and the United States, including at Terry's murder in December 2010.
Two months ago, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, appeared on a Sunday morning news show and noted that a now-public FBI ballistics report labeled two guns tied to "Fast and Furious" as "K2" and "K3," but "there's no 'Ticket 1.'"
Issa wondered if that meant there was a third weapon found at the scene, adding that the FBI "has a history in some cases of working with felons and criminals and hiding their other crimes in order to keep an investigation going."
In response, the Justice Department disclosed that "K1" -- shorthand for "known item 1" -- was not listed on the FBI ballistics reports because it is a blood sample from Terry, not a firearm. Still, two weeks later, Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Mueller asking whether the FBI believes a third weapon killed Terry and what steps the FBI is taking to locate any other weapons associated with the attack.
On Wednesday, Mueller weighed in for the first time on the latest inquiry. He said he was "familiar with the suggestion that there was a third gun at the scene ... but the fact of the matter is there were only two weapons found at the scene."
Speaking to Grassley's committee, Mueller promised the FBI "will bring to justice those persons who are in any way involved in the killing of Officer Brian Terry," noting that there has already been one arrest in the case and the investigation continues.
In the wake of the investigation, dozens of Republicans have called for Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation, many of them criticizing Holder for failing to know about the operation as head of the Justice Department. Grassley has suggested Holder had ample opportunity to learn about it.
In recent Senate hearings and media interviews, Grassley noted that in January -- the month after Terry was killed -- he handed Holder two letters mentioning "numerous allegations" from whistleblowers "that the ATF sanctioned the sale of hundreds of assault weapons to suspected straw purchasers" and "two of the weapons were then allegedly used in a firefight … killing CBP Agent Brian Terry."
The letters, addressed to then-ATF head Ken Melson, did not cite "Fast and Furious" by name.
In addition, Grassley has cited several memos addressed to Holder in July and August 2010 that do mention the gunrunning investigation by name but no information about the operation's tactics.
Holder has said his office typically receives more than 100 pages of "so-called 'weekly reports' that, while addressed to me, actually are provided to and reviewed by" his staff and the deputy attorney general's staff. He said he does not "and cannot read them cover-to-cover."
In an exclusive interview with Fox News' Megyn Kelly, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he "absolutely" agreed with Holder's assertion, and believes his claims are valid.
"There are multiple issues, multiple memos flowing up to the Office of the Attorney General every day. Sometimes you actually don't get to see them," Gonzales said. "And the fact that a memo is addressed to the attorney general doesn't mean that he actually saw it."
Gonzales, who served under George W. Bush, said it could be "like any other" government agency "where the top official just simply is unaware of" some operations, "not because he is out to lunch but simply because there are so many competing interests."
During recent hearings on Capitol Hill, Holder and Democratic lawmakers have repeatedly cited investigations in 2006 and 2007, including "Operation Wide Reciver," that lost track of hundreds of guns as a result of alleged "gun-walking."
Gonzales, who resigned as attorney general in mid-2007 after enduring his own political scandal over the firing of several U.S. attorneys, said he doesn't remember much about "Wide Receiver" or similar operations from his time leading the Justice Department.
"I'm very much aware of the fact that President Bush asked us to look to see what we could do -- what measures could be taken -- working with the Mexican authorities to stop the flow of guns from the United States illegally into Mexico," Gonzales said. But, he said, "I don't remember the specifics of this operation that people are alluding to."
As for whether Holder ends up resigning, Gonzales said he believes the current attorney general will stay until the end of President Obama's first term, even though he is likely "tired of this scrutiny" and "tired of these attacks."
"I think he knew, as I did, that you step into these jobs and it's hard," Gonzales said. "The attorney general is always involved in the most difficult, the most controversial issues, and that's just the way it is. And ... if you can't stand the scrutiny and if you are afraid of making a mistake, then you shouldn't be doing this job."
As for Mueller's remarks Wednesday, it's unclear if his latest comments will put to rest questions over how many guns were recovered at the scene of Terry's murder.
An ATF "briefing paper" about the murder, obtained by Fox News and sent to top Justice Department officials in Washington two days after the incident, said that "during the search of the area two ... AK-47 rifles, serial numbers 1983AH3977 and 1971CZ3775 were recovered near the scene of the shooting."
But emails in the hours after the incident show at least some ATF officials wondered whether a third gun had been recovered.
In one email, deputy ATF-Phoenix director George Gillett asks if two AK-47 rifles cited were "in addition to the gun already recovered this morning." It's unclear whether anyone responded to him.
Since then, some sources have accused the FBI of covering up evidence to protect an informant working inside a major Mexican cartel. That informant, sources have alleged, helped pay for the weapons used in the attack that killed Terry.
In addition, in recently disclosed recordings, a lead ATF investigator can be heard telling a Phoenix-area gun-dealer that an "SKS assault rifle out of Texas" had been found at the Terry murder scene.
In September, a spokeswoman for Grassley, R-Iowa, told Fox News it was "pretty clear" the ATF agent was talking about the Terry murder. Still, weapons involved in another case not tied to "Fast and Furious" -- the murder of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico -- were traced to Texas.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/14/fbi-director-denies-cover-up-involving-fast-and-furious-guns-found-at-border/?test=latestnews#ixzz1gcSvFCi9
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Fast and Furious smuggling numbers dwarfed by "legal" Obama weapon sales to Mexico
coach is Right ^ | 12/15/2011 | Doug Book
Though congressional committees continue to expose the gun smuggling methods of Operation Fast and Furious, their members apparently remain oblivious to the fact that the Obama Regime has “legally” sold tens of thousands of weapons to the nation of Mexico.
And of that number, far more have disappeared into the hands of drug cartel killers than via the DOJ-initiated method of “gun walking.”
A 2009 State Department audit revealed that more than 25% of weapons sold by the Regime to nations in “the region which includes Mexico” had been diverted in one way or another to owners other than those for whom the guns had been intended.
In short, they made their way to drug cartels.
And during that year 18,709 weapons had been sold by the US to Mexico alone. In 2006 those sales totaled fewer than 2,500. (1)
There can be no question that the number of firearms headed from the United States to Mexico has exploded since Barack Obama took office.
In fact the State Department refuses to reveal how many were included in this “direct commercial sales” program in either 2010 or 2011.
As Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News puts it, direct commercial sales—the purchase of weapons straight from US manufacturers with the requisite blessing of the State Department— “ is a way foreign countries can acquire firearms faster and with less disclosure than going through the Pentagon.” (2)
Incredibly, if the number of weapons approved for sale to Mexico by Barack Obama’s State Department increased to ONLY 20,000 for each of the years 2010 and 2011, it would mean that the Regime had knowingly and deliberately placed some 15,000 firearms in the hands of Sineloa and perhaps other drug cartel members since assuming power in 2009.
And that begs the question: if the Obama Regime...
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
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Breaking: Copy of ATF Email Wanting More Gun Control in Wake of Fast and Furious
by AWR Hawkins
http://biggovernment.com/awrhawkins/2011/12/15/breaking-copy-of-atf-email-wanting-more-gun-control-in-wake-of-fast-and-furious/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
For the better part of a year, I have been saying that the end goal of Fast and Furious was more gun control. Rush Limbaugh has said this, Sean Hannity and other FOX NEWS personalities have said this, and the NRA and Gun Owners of America have said this, among others. (I had a post on Big Government on July 13th dedicated to making this very point.)
Throughout this time, I have had a copy of an email that was sent to me back in March of 2011. It’s an July 2010 email from ATF Special Agent in Charge Mark R. Chait to ATF Supervisor William Newell. It is copied to a third ATF Supervisor, William McMahon. Newell and McMahon were assigned to the Phoenix area at the time (and Phoenix just so happened to be ground zero for Fast and Furious.) In it, Chait asks Newell if he can find enough “anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales.” In other words, Chait was asking whether, in the midst of the flood of new weapons hitting the streets via Fast and Furious, a means could be found to justify more gun control.
And as you know, they found the “anecdotal cases” they wanted to find and used the very long sales associated with Fast and Furious to justify new reporting regulations (aka “gun control” measures) on 8,000 gun dealers throughout four Border States in the U.S. – Arizona, California, Texas, and New Mexico.
Looking at the email again today I thought I’d provide it here for all to see, it seems to be proof positive that more gun control was at least one of the motivations behind Fast and Furious:
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Rep. Grimm: Entire Justice system is at risk
Published: 3:46 PM 12/15/2011 | Updated: 3:47 PM 12/15/2011
By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller
Bio | Archive | Email Matthew Boyle Follow Matthew Boyle
Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., center, accompanied by Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., left, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of Calif., speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 7, 2011. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
While reiterating his call for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign, New York Republican Rep. Michael Grimm told The Daily Caller that one full year after his death, the lack of justice for slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry is unacceptable.
“As a former special agent myself, it’s really disturbing,” Grimm, a former undercover FBI agent, said in a phone interview on Thursday. “It’s really disturbing that there is, I would say, a cover-up. Particularly, the attorney general has not been forthright — he’s been misleading. And, I think that there’s no question that many members of Congress, including myself, have lost confidence in his ability to be the top law enforcement officer of this country.”
Thursday marks the first anniversary of Terry’s death. He was killed with weapons his own government put into the hands of Mexican drug cartels via Operation Fast and Furious. Fast and Furious was a program of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, overseen by Holder’s Department of Justice. It cleared the way for thousands of weapons to get to Mexican drug cartels via straw purchasers — people who legally purchased guns in the United States with the known intention of illegally trafficking them somewhere else.
At least 300 people in Mexico were killed with Fast and Furious weapons, as was Terry. The identities of the Mexican victims are unknown.
A full year later, nobody has been held accountable. During a House Judiciary Committee hearing one week ago, Holder admitted he does not plan to resign, nor does he plan to ask for anyone else’s resignation over Fast and Furious.
Grimm is disgusted with the lack of justice for Terry and his family, and the lack of justice for the Mexican victims of Fast and Furious, saying that the media haven’t done their jobs reporting the story as much as it should be.
“This goes to the heart of whether we can have confidence in our government. I mean, attorney general is a very, very significant position — it’s basically your top law enforcement officer. This goes to the heart of our DOJ, our whole system of justice. There’s not many things to me that are more important than that,” Grimm said.
Ads by Google“Obviously, we’re all worried about the massive debt. Absolutely we should be — that should be top priority. But our whole system of justice? To me, that’s just as important.”
Grimm added that it is ridiculous to assert that those calling for Holder’s resignation are motivated by partisan politics. “It’s very simple,” Grimm said. “You don’t let drugs and guns walk as a general rule of thumb. In rare cases, if you’re going to let drugs walk, you have to have someone in [DOJ] all the way up the chain sign off on it. But in this case, you’re talking about crossing an international border — dealing with another country. There’s no question in mind that this went all the way to the top. There’s no question in my mind that the attorney general knew about this investigation, and that it was a flawed investigation.”
“On top of all that you had an agent who lost his life because of a flawed investigation and now no one’s held accountable,” Grimm added. “That is just unacceptable, and every American — everybody in this country — should be concerned and be putting pressure on this administration.”
“That’s the other thing I find very ironic here,” Grimm told TheDC. “Once President Obama became the president, he said [his administration] was going to be one of the most transparent administrations in the history of the U.S. Well, this is anything but transparency when the attorney general of the U.S. is not being forthright and is being misleading. I can’t put it any other way besides saying it is beyond disturbing.”
Grimm also denounced the DOJ’s treatment of whistle-blowers. “I also know that other agents that had stepped forward and said, ‘There’s a problem here,’” Grimm said. “And those agents were shunned, ostracized and some penalized. Is that the system of justice that we can rely on and have faith in? I don’t think so.”
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Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/15/rep-grimm-entire-justice-system-is-at-risk/#ixzz1gdkGTdn5
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73 cosponsors sign House resolution of ‘no confidence’ in AG Eric Holder
Published: 12:23 PM 12/15/2011 | Updated: 3:48 PM 12/15/2011
By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller
Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar’s office announced on Thursday morning that it has 73 cosponsors on its House of Representatives resolution of “no confidence” in Attorney General Eric Holder’s ability to serve.
Between the 58 congressmen demanding that Holder resign and those who have signed onto Gosar’s resolution, there are now a total of 85 members of Congress who don’t trust Holder in his office.
Some of those members who have signed the “no confidence” resolution have not made outright calls for Holder’s resignation, but the resolution is close to an outright call. Likewise, some of the 57 demanding Holder resign have not signed onto Gosar’s resolution, either.
The resolution alleges that Holder’s actions have proven the nation’s “top law enforcement official” is not “competent, trustworthy and beyond reproach,” and that he has sought to “cover up” mistakes when they are made rather than cooperating with Congress “in disclosing the events and circumstances and transparently addressing the issues.”
The measure describes how Holder “presided over a law enforcement scheme called ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ that was ill conceived at the outset and mismanaged.”
It describes Fast and Furious as an operation that “allowed thousands of weapons of various types to be illegally sold and or transferred from the United States to violent drug cartels and known criminals in Mexico and elsewhere,” and that the operation “was not set up to catch criminals and no proper monitoring of the guns being sold or transferred was undertaken.”
The resolution also points out that Holder “further failed to inform or cooperate with Mexican authorities even though hundreds of weapons were being sent to Mexico,” and that “Mexico is under severe stress due to drug cartel wars.”
Ads by GoogleRep. Nan Hayworth
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www.CWA-Union.org/FAAPetitionIt adds that because of Holder’s “failure to properly control, monitor, or establish Operation Fast and Furious, it is likely Mexican nationals were killed or wounded by weapons sold through this scheme,” and that “the carnage resulting from Operation Fast and Furious is not limited to Mexico.”
The measure points out that “evidence further suggests that such guns have been used in the United States, and may be involved in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.”
The resolution explains that the Obama administration and the Department of Justice, “through Attorney General Holder’s office, initially provided false information to Congress,” “retaliated” against whistle-blowers who provided Congress with information, “has redacted key information and has been intransigent, obstructionist and obdurate.”
The “no confidence” resolution is a largely symbolic measure but is nonetheless a more official move than statements from members calling for Holder’s resignation. It includes a breakdown of everything those in favor of the “no confidence” resolution allege Holder to have done to earn it. A floor vote isn’t likely to happen any time soon, unless Speaker of the House John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor — or another member of leadership — gets on board soon.
According to Gosar’s office, the members who haven’t outright called for Holder’s resignation, but have signed onto his “no confidence” resolution, are Reps. Billy Long of Missouri, Pat Tiberi of Ohio, Pete Sessions of Texas, Renee Ellmers of North Carolina, Tom Cole of Oklahoma, Ralph Hall of Texas, Doug Lamborn of Colorado, Bobby Schilling of Illinois, Austin Scott of Georgia, Bill Johnson of Ohio, Bill Posey of Florida, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Phil Roe of Tennessee, Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, Phil Gingrey of Georgia, Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee, Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Bob Turner of New York, Mark Amodei of Nevada, Rick Crawford of Arkansas, Dan Benishek of Michigan, Joe Barton of Texas, Todd Rokita of Indiana, Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, Steve King of Iowa and David Schweikert of Arizona.
Cantor’s office and Boehner’s office haven’t returned requests for comment on the matter.
*Update: Since publication of this story, South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson told The Daily Caller that he thinks Eric Holder should resign.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/15/73-cosponsors-sign-house-resolution-of-no-confidence-in-ag-eric-holder/#ixzz1gdksQS00
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Rep. Steve King: Eric Holder is ‘an anchor on the president’
Published: 12:34 PM 12/15/2011
By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller
Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King hasn’t called for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation over Operation Fast and Furious because he thinks Holder still owes the American people answers and explanations about “gun walking,” and that there’s a better chance they’ll get them from a sitting attorney general than one that has resigned.
In an interview with The Daily Caller on Thursday, King alluded that he thinks there’s a possibility President Barack Obama knew about Fast and Furious, and that a Holder resignation would prevent the American people from getting answers on that front. (SEE ALSO: Complete coverage of the Fast and Furious scandal)
“I’m not calling for the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder because I want to keep him around so we can get all the answers that we need,” King told TheDC. “He’s a lot handier in doing that if he stays on as attorney general.”
“He’s an anchor on the president right now,” King added. “I’d like to know how high up knowledge of Fast and Furious went in the attorney general’s office. I’d like to keep him around until we can get the answers we need.”
According to Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar’s office, King is one of the 73 cosponsors on his “no confidence” resolution in Holder. There are 57 congressmen demanding Holder resign, and many more who have expressed disgust in how they say the attorney general has handled the congressional investigations into Operation Fast and Furious. Most of those 57 have also signed onto Gosar’s resolution, but not all.
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Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/15/rep-steve-king-eric-holder-is-an-anchor-on-the-president/#ixzz1gdlgkAcQ
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Terry family wants criminal charges against officials responsible for Fast and Furious
The Daily Caller ^ | 12/16/11 | Matthew Boyle
Posted on December 16, 2011 12:31:30 AM EST by Nachum
Someone has been charged with Terry’s murder — an illegal immigrant — but the identity of that person has not been released publicly. The case filed has been sealed as well. When asked last Thursday if he would release the name of the illegal immigrant who has been charged with Terry’s murder, Holder said he would not in order to avoid risking any open cases. When Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King asked Holder if he could release the name of the individual charged with Terry’s murder to House Judiciary Committee members in executive session, which would have been a private conversation between certain committee members and Holder, Holder refused.
Though the case originated in the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s office, it has since been moved to the San Diego U.S. Attorney’s office to ensure it’s treated fairly. McGroder said the family wants to thank the San Diego U.S. Attorney, Laura Duffy, for what they have considered more than fair treatment. “The family has filed for and has received victims’ rights status in the murder case,” McGroder said. “The government is opposing their attempt to get victims’ rights status in the straw purchasing prosecutions. I think the family would tell you that, since the prosecution has been reassigned to U.S. Attorney Duffy in San Diego, that the windows are open, the light is shining in and the Terry family has full faith and confidence in Ms. Duffy and her prosecutorial staff.”
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
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73 is a lot. Barry needs to dump Holder and soon. Blind loyalty is going to cost him politically.
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Sipsey Street Exclusive: Oh my, a Fed forensic audit of Sipsey Street, whatever shall I do?
Sipsey Street Irregulars ^ | 15 December, 2011 | Mike Vanderboegh
So, the latest whispers are that the DOJ was shocked that an email their San Diego US Attorney wrote one afternoon ended up moving at the speed of shit through a goose to the Issa Committee and, here, featured in the pages of Sipsey Street the next morning. Pursuant to this outrage, I am told that I will be the focus of a forensic email audit to find out who tipped me off. Although, I must add, whether or not they have obtained a court order to do this remains unclear at this hour. But then the wiretaps mentioned in the email may not have had court orders up front either, so hey, all may not be fair when it comes to the Feds but at least it's consistent.
Some folks have asked me if it was wise to release the email with such rapidity. Others have expressed irritation that they were not consulted. Well, folks, it is like this. Readers will recall that this blog has been hacked by party or parties unknown, causing me no end of aggravation. I have been poked in the eye by somebody, and although I'm not ready to assign blame to the DOJ it is no great leap to believe that somebody on their Winter Solstice card list did. Consequently, when the means of delivering the counter-stick-in-the-eye presented itself, I seized it, and poked.
There is a lesson here, for those in the Hoover Building and Main Justice to consider. Now, let us assume that DOJ, whose myrmidons certainly have the resources to do a forensic audit on my emails, have the ability to figure out who hacked my blog. No great leap of logic there. Now, there are a lot of documents laying around my office these days with duplicates -- electronic and hard copy -- just about everywhere unfindable and only a small percentage of these have been released with my usual acerbic comments putting them in perspective.
All I can predict from this set of circumstances is that every time somebody pokes me in the eye and makes my life miserable with a hack, I'll try to find something real embarrassing to poke back with.
So, Fibbies and DoJ-gers, it is in your best interest to keep my blog hack free.
Seems reasonable to me.
How about you?
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Skip to comments.
KUHNER: Obama’s Watergate (Fast & Furious/Operation Castaway)
Washington Times ^ | December 15, 2011 | By Jeffrey T. Kuhner
Posted on Thursday, December 15, 2011 9:01:59 PM by Texas Fossil
A year ago this week, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered. He died protecting his country from brutal Mexican gangsters. Two AK-47 assault rifles were found at his death site. We now know the horrifying truth: Agent Terry was killed by weapons that were part of an illegal Obama administration operation to smuggle arms to the dangerous drug cartels. He was a victim of his own government. This is not only a major scandal; it is a high crime that potentially reaches all the way to the White House, implicating senior officials. It is President Obama’s Watergate.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
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What a lying sack of garbage.
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Fast and Furious Update: A Timeline of When Holder and Company Shared Information
biggovernment.com ^ | 15 December, 2011 | AWR Hawkins
Last night I was on the NRA’s Cam & Company with Cam Edwards, and talked about the way Attorney General Eric Holder and his associates have thus far been able to spin and twist their way out of the prosecution they deserve for Fast and Furious. As we talked and I thought of how Holder has vacillated on what he knew and when he knew it, I couldn’t help but think of how helpful it would be to provide somewhat of a timeline of when information on Fast and Furious was made available to Holder long before he admits. As you read it, keep in mind this is only a partial record.
Last week, our administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels. My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner, DEA is adding 16 new positions on the border, as well as mobile enforcement teams, and the FBI is creating a new intelligence group focusing on kidnapping and extortion.
Following that speech, Project Gunrunner began and was followed by Fast and Furious. During the earliest parts of Fast and Furious, there were three people in the White House who received email updates on Fast and Furious: Kevin O’Reilly, Dan Restrepo, and Greg Gatjanis. And for the purposes of this article, the important thing about those updates is that they came from the ATF’s William Newell, a supervisor who ultimately answers to Holder.
Then came March 2010, which is when the ATF briefed Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler on Fast and Furious. (The briefing was literally one in which the ATF briefed the DOJ on Fast and Furious using a slideshow that can be viewed here.) If you’re thinking it’s hard to believe all these things could have happened without Holder knowing about Fast and Furious then join the club. I would go further and say it seems almost impossible that he didn’t.
But any ambiguity that he might have hidden behind theretofore was completely removed by July 2010 which, according to CBS News, is when Holder himself was sent briefings on the operation. Moreover, three months later—October 18, 2010—Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer sent communiqués to Holder warning that indictments for Fast and Furious could come soon. And those of you who’ve been keeping track of this mess will remember that just four days later—on October 22, 2010—a Deputy Attorney General sent Holder a memo in which he basically said there was not need to expect much trouble to arise if knowledge of gun walking became public, because it was already an accepted fact that U.S. guns were being used by Mexican gangs in Mexico. The Deputy Attorney General’s exact words to Holder: “It’s not going to be a big surprise that a bunch of U.S. guns are being used in [Mexico], so I’m not sure how much grief we get for guns walking.”
Think about it folks: a memo on gun walking was sent to Holder in October yet to this day he vehemently denies he knew that gun walking was taking place.
Here’s the bottom line. By the end of October 2010, Holder had given a speech on Project Gunrunner, men under him had sent Fast and Furious updates to White House officials, his Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler had been briefed on Fast and Furious, Holder was sent briefings directly on Fast and Furious in July 2010, Assistant A.G. Breuer had sent him a memo about gun walking and four days later another memo was sent telling him not to panic because no one would get worked up about guns crossing the border. (But people did get worked up because on the night of December 14 /15, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry lost his life to criminals using Fast and Furious weapons.)
Now fast forward to May 3rd, 2011, when Holder appeared before the House Oversight Committee and told Darrell Issa (R-CA) he had only known about Fast and Furious for a “few weeks.” If you believe that, I feel confident you still believe Bill Clinton “did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”
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oh joy.. another obama holder gun runner scandal thread for the same poster... ::)
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oh joy.. another obama holder gun runner scandal thread for the same poster... ::)
Yeah - cause its not like 2 agents died along with 200 mexicans or Holder laundered tens of millions of dollars of drug cash fo the cartels with not one prosecution. ::) ::) ::) ::)
Its bullshit like this that make me trust criminals far more than LE. Why do we need cops and LE when it is they supplying the guns to the cartels and acting as their banker?
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so.. I'll just start ANOTHER thread about the SAME thing?? :-\
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so.. I'll just start ANOTHER thread about the SAME thing?? :-\
hhhhmmmmm - never remember you complaining about the parade of cain threads about the same woman.
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typical... "they do it, why can't I??!!"
Don't make it right, sensible or productive that you start a new thread about the same thing when you are the one posting 95% of a 55 page thread to begin with.. no one cares about that one, why would you repeat it?
Just weird..
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typical... "they do it, why can't I??!!"
Don't make it right, sensible or productive that you start a new thread about the same thing when you are the one posting 95% of a 55 page thread to begin with.. no one cares about that one, why would you repeat it?
Just weird..
So? I like to use this as a reference to keep these articles in one place. This issue is very important and as I told 240 via pm, i actually have been in contact with Rep. Issa himself over this.
Only a LE apologist could possibly defend this shit. its far worse than watergate on many levels and the typical democrat response is to just act like it doesnt exist.
Obama could rape the typical democrats' wife in front of him and they would still support him. That's not how I roll, maybe the average obamabot, but not me.
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Fast and Furious debuts in debate, Santorum joins calls for Holder’s resignation
By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller Published: 12:44 AM 12/16/2011 | Updated: 1:11 AM 12/16/2011
By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller
Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum gestures while speaking at the Principal Financial Group during a campaign stop, Monday, Dec. 12, 2011, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum now thinks Attorney General Eric Holder should resign or be fired, after calling for it during the last presidential debate before the Iowa caucuses late on Thursday night.
“I agree with Gov. Perry [in that Holder needs to leave office],” Santorum said in response to a question about Operation Fast and Furious from Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly. “If he was the attorney general under me, I’d fire him, not have him resign. Fire him.”
“This is something [Holder] should have been aware of and something that should have been stopped and should haven’t started in the first place,” Santorum said of Fast and Furious.
Santorum’s call for Holder to be fired is significant because when The Daily Caller first asked him in early October at a debate at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, he responded that he’s never called for a resignation before. “I’ve never called for the resignation of anybody,” Santorum said then.
Santorum also said Fast and Furious is another sign that Americans should pay more attention to foreign policy in the Americas.
“This president has ignored that threat, has insulted our allies like Honduras and Colombia deliberately and embraced like other scoundrels in the Middle East, embraced Chavez, Ortega and others in South America not promoting our value and interests,” Santorum added.
Fast and Furious was a program of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, overseen by Holder’s Justice Department. It facilitated the sale of thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels via straw purchasers, people who legally purchased guns in the United States with the known intention of illegally trafficking them somewhere else.
Ads by GoogleAt least 300 people in Mexico were killed with Fast and Furious weapons, as was U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. The identities of the Mexican victims are unknown.
The scandal had not come up during any presidential debate until Thursday night’s Iowa Debate on Fox News. Even so, six of the seven remaining Republican candidates, Santorum being the latest, have demanded Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation or firing over the scandal.
Before asking Santorum about Fast and Furious, Kelly first asked Texas Gov. Rick Perry if he and the Republican congressmen — now 60 of them, with Ron Paul’s call for it — demanding Holder’s resignation are politicizing the issue. Perry responded that he and Republican congressmen are not politicizing the issue and that it’s a legitimate call for Holder’s resignation. “If I’m the president of the United States, and I find out that there is an operation like Fast and Furious and my attorney general didn’t know about it, I would have him resign immediately,” Perry said. “The president proclaims that the border of Texas and Mexico, the U.S. border with Mexico is safer than it’s ever been.”
NEXT: Perry refutes Obama's claims of a safe border
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/16/fast-and-furious-debuts-in-debate-santorum-joins-calls-for-holders-resignation/#ixzz1gjepirQK
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Terry family wants criminal charges against officials responsible for Fast and Furious
By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller Published: 12:11 AM 12/16/2011 | Updated: 1:36 AM 12/16/2011
Brian Terry released a strong statement calling for criminal charges to be pursued against those ultimately responsible for Operation Fast and Furious — the gun-walking program that led to Terry’s murder.
Terry was shot on Dec. 14, 2010, in Peck Canyon in Arizona. He died early the next morning. He was killed with weapons the Obama administration allowed to be sold to Mexican drug cartels via Operation Fast and Furious.
Terry’s family wants Obama administration officials held accountable with criminal charges.
“Our priority continues to be the successful arrest and prosecution of all the individuals involved in Brian’s murder,” the family said in a statement. “However, we will continue to press for answers and accountability from our government. Those responsible for such a misguided and fundamentally flawed operation must be held fully responsible for their decisions which allowed so many weapons to flow to the criminal element on both sides of the border. We now believe that if it can be shown that laws were broken, then all those responsible for Fast and Furious should be held criminally liable.”
Fast and Furious was a program of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, overseen by Holder’s Department of Justice. It cleared the way for thousands of weapons to get to Mexican drug cartels via straw purchasers — people who legally purchased guns in the United States with the known intention of illegally trafficking them somewhere else.
At least 300 people in Mexico were killed with Fast and Furious weapons, as was Terry. The identities of the Mexican victims are unknown.
In an interview with The Daily Caller on Thursday, Terry family attorney Pat McGroder said the slain agent’s relatives don’t think it’s their place to pick out who should be charged, but they do think justice must be done.
Ads by Google“The family believes in the rule of law,” McGroder told TheDC. “Brian Terry upheld the rule of law and all they want is to ensure that whoever may have criminal culpability as measured by the investigation’s results and the discretion of the U.S. Attorney’s office that whomever may have criminal culpability is brought to answer for those criminal charges. That’s all they’re saying. They’re not pointing the finger, they’re not trying to do the job of the FBI, they’re not trying to do the job of the U.S. Attorney’s office — they’re simply ensuring that that which Brian stood for, and that is upholding the rule of law, in fact does apply to their family.”
McGroder added that another track the family is considering is civil litigation. There aren’t currently any active cases against the administration on that front, but McGroder said he’s looking into whether the family can move down that road. “There are two tracks: the criminal justice system, and we’ve talked about that,” he said. “The other is the civil justice system and currently we’re investigating whether it would be under the umbrella of the federal tort claim act or whether it be against any other people or entities that may be responsible in and under our civil justice system.”
NEXT: One person has been charged --- an illegal immigrant
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/16/terry-family-wants-criminal-charges-against-officials-responsible-for-fast-and-furious/#ixzz1gjgWcNqg
a year later and this poor family still cant get a damn answer from that ghetto thus piece of shit and his black bag job lackey Holder .
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Finally: Fast and Furious Comes up as GOP Debate Topic
Townhall ^ | 12/15/2011 | Katie Pavlich
After months of debate from GOP presidential candidates on topics ranging from Gardasil vaccinations to nuclear Iran, the topic of Operation Fast and Furious was finally mentioned during the Fox News Sioux City, Iowa debate Thursday night and met with roaring applause from the audience. Considering December 15, 2011 is the one-year-anniversary of the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, who was killed by an illegal Mexican drug cartel member in the Arizona desert using a gun provided through the Obama Justice Department, the timing was fitting. Fox News host Megyn Kelly asked the question about Fast and Furious without mentioning Brian Terry, didn't give background on the operation and framed it in a way that benefited Eric Holder. She asked Rick Santorum and Rick Perry if republicans were politicizing the scandal by calling for his resignation. Rick Perry has joined with 57 House Republicans in calls for Holder to resign immediately.
It would have been helpful for viewers to understand the Obama Justice Department deliberately allowed 2000 guns to be placed in the hands of Mexican drug cartels. The fatal result of this program? Two U.S. federal agents are dead, more than 300 Mexican citizens have been slaughtered. Even Eric Holder admits more people will be killed as a result of the operation for years to come. Questions to GOP candidates about whether criminal charges should be pressed against DOJ officials for their role in Fast and Furious and how they would repair the U.S. relationship with Mexico over the issue would have been more productive in moving the Fast and Furious conversation forward.
Both Santorum and Perry said if Holder was their attorney general, he would be fired for his role in Fast and Furious, whether he knew about gun walking techniques or for being incompetent for not knowing about them.
Although the discussion surrounding Fast and Furious tonight was brief, under 60 seconds, I'm glad the topic finally came up as it has been ignored for months by the mainstream media and been falsely classified as a "botched" operation. Fox News' Bret Baier credited Twitter for pushing the topic into the debate. Hashtags used to promote the topic were #fastandfurious and #murdergate.
Katie Pavlich
Katie Pavlich the News Editor at Townhall.com. Follow her on Twitter @katiepavlich.
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Report: Fast and Furious body count may be 3,000
Written By: Bob - Nov• 25•11
http://www.bob-owens.com/2011/11/report-fast-and-furious-body-count-may-be-3000
I’ll warn you up front that I have absolutely no idea how much credibility the Narcosphere has, and I caution that the linked article need to be taken with a huge grain of salt. That said, if it pans out is is a damning indictment of federal law enforcement.
As a result of Operation Fast and Furious, the pleadings assert, about “three thousand people” in Mexico were killed, “including law enforcement officers in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, headquarters of the Sinaloa Cartel.”
Among those receiving weapons through the ATF operation, the pleadings continue, were DEA and FBI informants working for drug organizations, including the leadership of those groups.
“The evidence seems to indicate that the Justice Department not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons, but that tax payers’ dollars in the form of informant payments, may have financed those engaging in such activities,” Zambada Niebla’s pleadings allege. “…It is clear that some of the weapons were deliberately allowed by the FBI and other government representatives [including the ATF] to end up in the hands of the Sinaloa Cartel and that among the people killed by those weapons were law enforcement officers.
“… Mr. Zambada Niebla believes that the documentation that he requests [from the US government] will confirm that the weapons received by Sinaloa Cartel members and its leaders in Operation ‘Fast & Furious’ were provided under the agreement entered into between the United States government and [Chapo Guzman confidante] Mr. Loya Castro on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel that is the subject of his [Zambada Niebla’s] defense….”
Tell me what you think, folks. Is this story a conspiracy theory posing as a legal defense strategy, or a disinfecting bit of sunshine that shows more into the workings of Operation Fast and Furious?
Previous suppositions by some (me included) were that the primary goal of FF was restricting US guns laws. That, it seems, could have been a “happy accident,” but winning the drug war in Mexico for the Sinaloa’s (and returning a sort of stability to Mexico as a result) seems to be the primary goal of the plot.
Posted in Fast and Furious , gun-walking | 4 Comments »
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Wait, ONLY 73 or 535 members of congress will sign a 'no confidence vote' on holder?
baffling So 2/3 of republicans in congress have confidence in him? Or they just skerred?
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http://neglectedwar.com/blog/archives/6036
Damn - this is awful. Possibly 3000 dead.
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Here you go 3333... I love how you post every article that you can find but (intentionally?) missed the one from the guy that you keep saying is too soft on the Obama admin and won't attack ::)
Ron Paul: Holder should be ‘fired,’ criminally charged for Fast and Furious
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/15/ron-paul-holder-should-be-fired-criminally-charged-for-fast-and-furious/#ixzz1gku0pzxk
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Here you go 3333... I love how you post every article that you can find but (intentionally?) missed the one from the guy that you keep saying is too soft on the Obama admin and won't attack ::)
Ron Paul: Holder should be ‘fired,’ criminally charged for Fast and Furious
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/15/ron-paul-holder-should-be-fired-criminally-charged-for-fast-and-furious/#ixzz1gku0pzxk
Being dead serious, I did not see that. I got most of the articles via FR. glad he called for that.
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Being dead serious, I did not see that. I got most of the articles via FR. glad he called for that.
holy shit you actually acknowledge I even posted it :o Your typical MO is to ignore when I post stuff like this and go on saying it never happens. I'm in fucking shock.
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holy shit you actually acknowledge I even posted it :o Your typical MO is to ignore when I post stuff like this and go on saying it never happens. I'm in fucking shock.
Ok - but you know what - since none of the other candidates are really making an issue of this - this is where rp should start forcefully attacking Obama on it daily, not here or there. Most GOP primary voters are apoplectic over fast and furious.
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Eric Holder's continued obfuscation on Fast and Furious
ByMike Hashimoto/ Editorial Writer
mhashimoto@dallasnews.com | Bio
As we mark one year this week since Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was shot to death in Arizona -- with guns allowed to drift over the Mexican line found at the scene -- we certainly know much more about Operation Fast and Furious.
That's the bad-idea-executed-poorly child of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives , sanctioned by your own U.S. Justice Department. In addition to Terry's death, another federal agent may have been killed in Mexico by a walked gun, and the case could well have ties to North Texas.
What we still don't know -- what Attorney General Eric Holder with great determination will not say -- is who in Washington signed off on this awful idea of letting straw purchasers cart off armloads of high-powered weapons, headed to Mexico. The stated plan was to track them to the cartels, which worked out about as well as one might expect. Hundreds of guns disappeared and now are turning up at crime scenes on both sides of the border.
Holder last week had another bob-and-weave session with a congressional committee, managing to reveal as little as possible. However, he did let us know that while Justice did dump hundreds of emails in response to a subpoena, none were addressed to him or had been sent by him. And that he has a personal email account, along with his government account. And that lying isn't the same as not telling the truth, depending on one's "state of mind."
You've seen people who did it and didn't in your life. Is this how an innocent person behaves? Is it plausible that the attorney general of the United States had no idea what was going on in Arizona within his own shifting time parameters?
Several dozen Republicans in Congress have called for his resignation. Others have demanded he hold Justice subordinates accountable. (And, no, shifting a few folks into no-work, no-speak jobs isn't accountability.) Meanwhile, a Border Patrol agent is dead and his family still has no clarity on who is responsible.
At some point, one might think, Holder becomes more of a liability to the Obama re-election campaign than a 50-50 incumbent can stand. At the very least, I can't imagine congressional Republicans letting this drop, and the longer Holder stonewalls, the longer his name -- and connection to his boss -- stays in the news.
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Fast and Furious: Can Holder, ATF Agents Be Prosecuted?
biggovernment.com ^ | 16 December, 2011 | David Wohl
The family of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry wants answers, and they are growing impatient. Terry is apparently the sole American among countless victims of Mexico’s violent, ongoing drug wars. Drug gangs in that country received a major boost in firepower by way of a disastrously flawed and arguably illegal U.S. program that authorities now say should never have been implemented.
The now infamous “Operation Fast and Furious” was concocted and carried out by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a division under the direct control of Eric Holder’s Department of Justice. The operation’s stated purpose was to allow illegal buyers to purchase firearms with the hope of tracking the weapons to Mexican narco-terrorist drug gangs. Agents say they lost track of hundreds of guns, some of which also surfaced later at horrific crime scenes in Mexico and at the scene of the murder of Brian Terry in Arizona. Recently uncovered e-mails now show a more nefarious motivation behind the operation: The Obama Administration’s desire to further clamp down on Second Amendment rights via a new law requiring strict reporting of the sale of long guns.
The buck stops at Holder’s desk. That’s what more than fifty lawmakers and four Presidential candidates insist as they call for the Attorney General to resign. While some insist that the operation was ”botched”, ATF whistle blowers say it basically went as planned: The only thing that went wrong is that it was exposed. While Holder has testified, under oath, that neither he nor his Justice Department colleagues were aware of the “gun-walking” tactics involved in Fast and Furious, many lawmakers find it hard to believe that the the nation’s top law enforcement official would be out of the loop in such a potentially deadly trans-national operation.
Despite the onslaught of calls for him to resign, Holder indicates he will do no such thing. He has indignantly responded ”I’m the attorney general who put an end to these misguided tactics” But did he only stop those “tactics” after they were exposed? The family of Brian Terry is aggressively demanding action beyond political punishment, stating recently “We now believe that if it can be shown that laws were broken, then all those responsible for Fast and Furious should be held criminally liable.”
For the average American, the punishment for transferring a gun to someone who they know plans to commit murder is severe, if a murder does in fact take place: A lengthy term, perhaps life, in prison. When it comes to the crimes of being an accessory, Federal law is simple: Whoever aids, abets, counsels, commands, induces or procures the commission of an offense, is punishable as a principal. In other words, an average citizen gives a gun to another knowing that it would be used in a crime, that average citizen is equally as guilty as the primary offender. A conviction for “conspiracy to commit a crime” requires an agreement to commit a crime and at least one act in furtherance of that agreement. An agreement among ATF agents, and Holder if he was involved, to facilitate the gun transfer…and actually permitting the transfer would suffice in the case of Fast and Furious. So what about the Fast and Furious players?
At last count federal agents involved in Fast and Furious facilitated the transfer of at least two thousand firearms to violent Mexican drug gangs. All but several hundred of those weapons are whereabouts unknown and presumably in the hands of cartels such as the Zetas, a drug gang made up of many former members of the Mexican Army. The homicidal tendencies of these gangs have been evidenced by the tens of thousands of murders committed in that country over the last decade. So how is it that our government can engage in conduct that is clearly criminal when private citizens go to prison for doing the same thing? Did the apparent goal of creating stricter gun laws serve as a legal defense to what are otherwise serious felony crimes? Clearly the answer is no. Further, while the federal government enjoys immunity from most civil suits, that immunity does not apply to criminal conduct, such as that which arguably cost Brian Terry his life. The government may claim that agents planned on intercepting the weapons sent to Mexico before they could be used in crimes. So far there is no evidence to support such a defense.
Fast and Furious is not just a political mess for Eric Holder, his Department of Justice and the ATF. This entire sordid episode could, and many would argue should result in federal criminal prosecutions. While there is clearly no appetite in the current administration to go after those involved in Fast and Furious, that could well change next November, when many of those fighting for justice for Brian Terry may occupy positions of power and influence.
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Fast and Furious Update: Rep. Issa Tells Holder to Expect More Hearings
by AWR Hawkins
Late yesterday, House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa’s office sent me an email with a copy of a letter the Congressman had sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on December 15 — a letter to which the A.G. has yet to respond. In it, Issa informs Holder that the Committee would like him to appear for more testimony on January 24, 2012.
In other words, Fast and Furious isn’t going away any time soon.
Issa wrote:
The hearing will examine flaws in the management structure of the Justice Department as demonstrated in the genesis and implementation of ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious. Specifically, the hearing will focus on what senior Department officials could and should have done to put a stop to this reckless program, as well as the specific areas where failures in communication and management occurred.
As those of you who watched the hearings on December 8th certainly noticed, Holder isn’t a big fan of the way Issa deals with him.
For example, while other Congressman—specifically Democrats—were fawning all over Holder in December, Issa’s demeanor clearly demonstrated that he was sick and tired of Holder’s obfuscation and, dare I say, out and out lies. That’s why I love the fact that Issa’s recent letter pulls no punches. In black and white for all to see, Issa asserts there were “flaws in the management structure of the Justice Department,” as it pertained to Fast and Furious. Moreover, he makes it clear that the January hearing will focus on how those flaws “could and should” have been averted.
I continue to be an Issa fan because he won’t back down—and he shouldn’t.
Making his point clear, Issa added: “The Department’s February 4, 2011, letter to Congress will be but one example of these failures in management.” In other words, one of the things that will get special attention on January 24th is the fact that the DOJ submitted a letter to Congress on Feb. 4 that was so misleading so full of errors that it had to be withdrawn. (Again, you’ll remember from the December 8th hearings that Issa said to Holder: “It is unheard of for letters or testimony to be taken back.”)
On the 8th Issa also said of Fast and Furious: “Brian Terry is dead today because of this program.” And if for no other reason than that, I hope the Honorable Congressman keeps Holder’s feet to the fire.
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http://theweek.com/bullpen/column/222660/its-time-for-eric-holder-to-resignThe Bullpen
It's time for Eric Holder to resign
President Obama's attorney general still fails to own up to DOJ's botched Fast and Furious operation — a failure that has cost at least 300 lives
Published December 20, 2011, at 11:00 AM
Edward Morrissey Photo: Over the weekend, Attorney General Eric Holder offered an odd view of why his critics have demanded transparency and disclosure from the Department of Justice over Operation Fast and Furious. The ATF sent hundreds, if not thousands, of weapons across the U.S.-Mexico border in 2009 and 2010, ostensibly to track them as they passed from straw buyers in the U.S. to drug cartels in Mexico. However, the ATF didn't actually track the weapons, which have now begun appearing in crime scenes north of the border. The weapons have been used in hundreds of murders in Mexico and at least one in the U.S., in which Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed just over a year ago.
When a botched American law enforcement operation ends up contributing to the murder of more than 300 people, one might think that this would be enough to explain strong criticism of the ATF, its parent agency the Department of Justice, and the leadership in both. But the attorney general rejects this view. Instead, Holder told The New York Times' Charlie Savage that the intense scrutiny of himself and Barack Obama relating to Fast and Furious came from a few "extreme" bloggers and conservative media figures whose criticisms were "both due to the nature of our relationship and, you know, the fact that we're both African-American." The rest of the critics, Holder assured Savage, were motivated by ideological reasons rather than racial bigotry.
So the deaths of hundreds of people with guns supplied by the ATF — including the murder of a Border Patrol agent — would go unnoticed and unremarked if the attorney general and president had been caucasian centrists? Something tells me that Holder's next job won't be as a political analyst.
If all Holder has in defense of his performance and that of his Department of Justice is playing the race card in an attempt to bully his critics into silence, then he truly has no defense at all.
Holder told the Times that he had no idea that the DOJ or the ATF were "walking" guns across the border, an assertion that he has also made to Congress. Savage wrote that "no documents or testimony have shown otherwise," but that's not quite true. In documents demanded by Congress and finally provided after a long battle with Holder and DOJ, Holder's office had been informed on several occasions about Operation Fast and Furious and its gunwalking. One such memo had Holder's name and those of other high-ranking Justice officials on it, as the Daily Caller reported after Holder's interview was published:
This investigation — initiated in September 2009 in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Phoenix Police Department — involves a Phoenix-based firearms trafficking ring headed by Manuel Celis-Acosta. Celis-Acosta and straw purchasers are responsible for the purchase of 1,500 firearms that were then supplied to Mexican drug-trafficking cartels. They also have direct ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, which is suspected of providing $1 million for the purchase of firearms in the greater Phoenix area.
Another such email between two officials at Justice shows that Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer explicitly knew that guns were being "walked" across the border by the ATF. The email warned that Breuer would have difficulty explaining away the problem "given the number of guns that have walked." Yet Holder's Justice Department initially told Congress in a letter in February of this year that agents had always tried to interdict guns traversing the border, which was a patently false assertion that Justice had to withdraw.
Holder himself has created even more obfuscation. After criticism of Holder and Fast and Furious began making headlines, Democrats began pointing to an earlier, Bush-era effort called Operation Wide Receiver, which also tracked rogue guns across the southern border. Perhaps if the two operations were identical, Holder's criticism would have some potential merit, but Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) forced Holder to admit in Senate testimony that the two operations had two significant differences. First, Wide Receiver actually did track a very limited number of weapons, unlike Fast and Furious, which lost them all. More importantly, the Bush administration conducted Wide Receiver in conjunction with the Mexican government. The DOJ and the ATF never notified Mexico of the gunwalking that took place under Holder.
How about the purported ideological motive for the criticism of the operation? Holder claims that the attacks are a form of payback for the Democratic probe of George W. Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, but there is a clearer ideological connection that has surfaced — only it points to the ideological motive behind Fast and Furious itself. CBS News found an ATF memo that discussed using "anecdotal cases" from Fast and Furious to support efforts to pass new gun-control legislation.
On top of this, the real significant source of cartel weapons turns out not to be straw buyers in U.S. gun shops anyway. CBS' Sharyl Atkisson reported that the Obama administration, through the State Department, has greatly increased direct sales of military-grade long guns from U.S. manufacturers to the Mexican military and police, going from just under 2,500 weapons in 2006 to 18,709 in 2009. The State Department could not account for 26 percent of weapons it tried to track from its direct-sale program with Mexico, which meant in 2009 alone more than 4,900 guns may have disappeared — perhaps carried with deserters from the army and police when they joined the cartels.
To recap, we have an agency under Holder's supervision that ran perhaps thousands of guns across the border without any attempt to keep track of them, to supposedly find straw buyers and their connection to the cartels. The ATF then tried to use the purchases they facilitated as evidence that the ATF needed more restrictive laws to impose on gun dealers. These weapons were used in hundreds of murders. When Congress challenged Holder on the operation, his staff at the Department of Justice offered a false statement that the ATF always attempted to interdict weapons before crossing the border, which they had to withdraw when documents began appearing that clearly contradicted it. Even to this day, Holder has told Congress that he has communications regarding Fast and Furious that he will not release to investigators in the House who have demanded them.
If all Holder has in defense of his performance and that of his Department of Justice is playing the race card in an attempt to bully his critics into silence, then he truly has no defense at all. With the families of 300 murder victims mourning deaths delivered by the ATF's weaponry, dismissing criticism of Holder's performance as attorney general as bigotry is not just despicable, it should be a disqualification for the office he holds.
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Could "Fast and Furious" eventually become President Obama's Watergate?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/20/could-fast-and-furious-eventually-become-president-obamas-watergate
"President Obama's Watergate" is how some critics describe the growing controversy over the "Fast and Furious" gun walking program.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa wants Attorney General Eric Holder to appear before his committee early next year. Issa says the hearing will focus on what Justice Department officials should have done to stop the program.
Operation Fast and Furious started in 2009 and allowed illegally purchased guns to "walk" from Arizona gun stores over the border to Mexican drug cartels. The program was meant to monitor the flow of weapons, but it went horribly wrong.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of weapons went missing... and they've been linked to the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans along with U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
In light of the botched operation and what some see as the Justice Department's botched response, dozens of leaders are calling for holder to resign. More than 75 House members have signed a resolution expressing "no confidence" in his leadership.
Washington Times columnist Jeffrey Kuhner suggests this scandal is President Obama's Watergate. He writes there's been systematic coverup, and that Holder and his aides are guilty of high crimes including perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power. Kuhner believes this is even worse than Watergate, since no one died during the scandal that brought down Pres. Nixon.
For his part, Holder insists he's not going anywhere. In testimony before the Judiciary Committees earlier this month, Holder acknowledged mistakes were made but said he won't resign. He also said he doesn't think any of his top aides should step down.
Holder played the race card in an interview with the New York Times. He said some of his critics are motivated by racism, since both he and President Obama are black.
Here's my question to you: Could "Fast and Furious" eventually become President Obama's Watergate?
Tune in to "The Situation Room" at 5 p.m. ET to see if Jack reads your answer on the air.
And we'd love to know where you're writing from, so please include your city and state with your comment.
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Flashback: David Ogden Announces New Efforts With Project Gunrunner "As Directed By the President"
Joe Schoffstall
Wednesday, December 21, 2011 - 9:25pm
On March 24, 2009, David Ogden, who was Deputy Attorney General at the time, announced new efforts with Project Gunrunner "as directed by the president." Ogden says he and Attorney General Eric Holder are taking "several new and aggressive steps as part of the administration's comprehensive plan."
"The president has directed us to take action to fight these cartels and Attorney General Eric Holder and I are taking several new and aggressive steps as part of the administration's comprehensive plan. The first steps include the following: DOJ's Drug Enforcement Administration which already has the largest US drug enforcement presence in Mexico, with 11 offices in that country, is placing 16 new DEA positions in southwest border field operations- specifically to target Mexican trafficking and associated violence. The DEA is also deploying 4 new mobile enforcement teams to specifically target Mexican methamphetamine trafficking, both along the border and in US cities impacted by the cartels", says Ogden.
He continues, "DOJ's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is increasing it's efforts by adding 37 new employees in 3 new offices using $10 million dollars in Recovery Act funds and redeploying 100 personnel to the southwest border in the next 45 days to fortify it's Project Gunrunner- which is aimed at disrupted arms trafficking between the United States and Mexico. ATF is doubling it's presence in Mexico itself, from 5 to 9 personnel working with the Mexicans specifically to facilitate gun tracing activity which targets the illegal weapons and their sources in the United States."
When he announced "new and aggressive steps" of Project Gunrunner as directed by Obama, was this the implementation of the plan that led to 'Fast and Furious' and ultimately the death of border patrol agent Brian Terry?
Currently, 91 Congressmen have 'no confidence' in Eric Holder or believe he should quit over 'Fast and Furious'.
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Lieberman directs staff to examine Fast and Furious coordination
Daily Caller ^ | December 22, 2011 | Matthew Boyle
Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman has directed the staff of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which he chairs, to examine miscommunication between law enforcement agencies related to the Justice Department’s Operation Fast and Furious.
A spokesperson told The Daily Caller Wednesday that Lieberman “believe that the lack of interagency coordination along the border merits further examination, and as Chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, he has directed his staff to follow up with the relevant federal agencies on that topic.”
SNIP
With Lieberman’s committee now examining Fast and Furious details, that means two Senate committees are probing the matter — the homeland security committee and the judiciary committee.
On the House side, the oversight and judiciary committees are investigating the DOJ’s role in Fast and Furious and the homeland security committee’s subcommittee on oversight has launched an investigation into the Department of Homeland Security’s role in Fast and Furious, a spokesperson for subcommittee chairman and Texas Rep. Michael McCaul confirmed for TheDC.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
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Obama Targeting Police Nationwide to Divert from Fast and Furious
Townhall.com ^ | December 23, 2011 | Rachel Alexander
Either there has been a huge increase in discrimination by law enforcement during the Obama administration, or Obama is targeting law enforcement for politically motivated reasons. In the current era of heightened sensitivity to racism and police brutality, it makes no sense that abuses by law enforcement are increasing. The U.S. Department of Justice’s sudden flurry of investigations finding massive amounts of discrimination and abuses by police agencies around the country is coincidentally occurring at the same time the U.S. Department of Justice is undergoing a highly publicized Congressional investigation into Fast and Furious.
Law enforcement is a natural target for the left, which often seems to prefer criminals over the police. Alleging vague charges of racism or racial profiling is becoming one of the most prevalent ways the left dishonestly demonizes and discredits its opponents. Made-up charges of racism are difficult to defend against, because almost any difference in treatment between two people of different ethnic backgrounds can be blamed on racism with no way of proving otherwise. You cannot get inside someone’s head to prove that he had no racist thoughts; it is one person’s word against another’s.
This latest round of politically motivated investigations comes on the heels of the Obama administration suing Arizona, Utah, Alabama and South Carolina over their tough new laws against illegal immigration. Those lawsuits are mostly based on unfounded grounds of racial profiling; Arizona’s law specifically includes a provision prohibiting racial profiling. The constant barrage of lawsuits is costing taxpayers exorbitant amounts of money. They’re paying double; once to fund Obama’s lawsuits through their federal taxes and again to defend against the lawsuits and pay any penalties through their local taxes.
The flurry of attacks on law enforcement agencies began last week on December 15, when the DOJ announced vague racial profiling accusations against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The DOJ claims that the agency racially profiles more than any other police agency around the country. However, it refuses to release the “statistical study” on which the findings are supposedly based. It is widely thought that Arpaio was targeted in retaliation for enforcing laws against illegal immigration. Since Arizona has such a high percentage of Latinos, it is easy to make people think there could be discrimination. The DOJ stripped the agency of its ability to screen for illegal immigrants through the 287(g) program and is ordering Arpaio to make numerous changes, such as setting up policies against discrimination. This is redundant considering there are so many policies, rules, and laws prohibiting discrimination at every level of government.
The next day, on December 16, the DOJ released a report claiming there was evidence of “biased policing” by the Seattle Police Department, and that officers routinely and illegally use excessive force during arrests. The DOJ ordered the agency to implement onerous new regulations and procedures.
This week, on December 19, the DOJ issued a scathing report alleging numerous civil rights violations against Latinos by the East Haven Police Department in Connecticut. Six to 15 police officers may be arrested for civil rights violations.
On Tuesday, the DOJ ordered the town of Rome, Wisconsin to pay a police officer $351,891 because the police department allegedly discriminated against her because she was female. The DOJ filed a complaint in federal court alleging the town violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The DOJ is currently investigating the Miami Police Department over allegations of racial discrimination in the shootings of seven black men. The Meridian Police Department and Lauderdale County Juvenile Detention Center are under investigation by the DOJ for alleged discriminatory treatment of three black youths.
There are likely more investigations on the way. The DOJ is considering launching a civil rights investigation into the Albuquerque Police Department in New Mexico, which some believe is retaliation over Mayor Richard Berry requiring the police to check the citizenship of everyone arrested. The ACLU and other activist groups are demanding a federal investigation of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department over the shooting of a black army veteran. At least two dozen members of Congress are demanding that the DOJ investigate the New York Police Department over allegedly profiling Muslims.
This is not right. The federal government should not be suing local governments. It is trampling on the rights of states and localities to conduct their own business. The Constitution grants the federal government very limited powers; the Tenth Amendment states that all powers not specifically assigned to the federal government shall be left to the states. The federal government is micromanaging local law enforcement. If there really are problems with law enforcement, Congress or local legislatures should look into them, not the partisan Executive Branch.
The Obama administration knows that investigations and lawsuits will tie up the resources of smaller law enforcement agencies so they will be unable to accomplish much else. Sheriff Joe Arpaio will not have anymore resources left to enforce illegal immigration laws and other laws the left would prefer to see ignored.
The DOJ is in no place to be criticizing other law enforcement agencies. 60 members of Congress are calling for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation over Fast and Furious, and 75 have signed onto a House resolution vote of no confidence. But by turning the focus towards alleged wrongdoing from large police agencies like the Seattle Police Department and popular Sheriff Joe Arpaio, there will be less media coverage and public scrutiny of Fast and Furious.
Launching dubious investigations for political reasons must be curbed. The U.S. is going bankrupt. Obama is using money we don’t have to attack targets that will earn him favor with his far left supporters. As the first black president, Obama should be moving the country in a direction away from racism. Instead, he is stirring it up. Congress should expand its investigation of Fast and Furious to this transparent attempt by the Obama administration to deflect away from it.
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RNC chairman promises to make Fast and Furious a 2012 election theme
The Daily Caller ^ | 22 December, 2011 | Matthew Boyle
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus reiterated his call for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation on Wednesday, and promised Operation Fast and Furious will be an election issue in 2012.
“Holder may want to point fingers and play the blame game, but as the Attorney General, he bears the responsibility,” Priebus told The Daily Caller. “It’s past time for the attorney general to come clean and take responsibility and if he doesn’t, he has a boss who should.”
“Obama’s leadership deficit in holding the members of his administration accountable demonstrates yet again that the president is taking Washington in the wrong direction and only making things worse,” said Preibus.
“If Obama won’t fire Holder, we will,” Priebus added. “We’ll fire the whole team in just 11 months.”
Priebus considers Obama’s continued support for Holder a sign of a consistent lack of competence in the administration. He said that although Holder is ultimately responsible for Fast and Furious, the president refuses to hold him accountable.
“Whether it’s Attorney General Holder under fire for Fast and Furious or Energy Secretary Chu for wasting taxpayer dollars, President Obama has a competence problem within his inner circle,” Priebus said. “Despite the facts showing otherwise, Eric Holder has repeatedly denied fault in a reckless scandal that ended with the death of a border patrol agent and 1,400 guns lost in Mexico and the United States.”
Priebus also promised to make Fast and Furious a prominent theme during the 2012 election.
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"Things will most likely get ugly." The selective leaks go on apace, (gunwalker)
Sipsey Street Irregulars ^ | 26 December, 2011 | Mike Vanderboegh
Here's the latest White House spin courtesy of the ever faithful Richard Serrano of the LA Times:
In a confidential deposition with congressional investigators, the then-head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives blamed agents, field supervisors and even his top command for never advising him that for more than a year, his agency allowed illegal gun sales along the southwestern U.S. border.
The deposition, which was taken in July and was recently obtained by the Washington bureau, shows that Kenneth E. Melson was irate. Even his chief intelligence officer at ATF headquarters was upset with the operation, dubbed Fast and Furious, but did little to shut it down, Melson complained. "He didn't come in and tell me, either," Melson said. "And he's on the same damn floor as I am."
Oh, yes, poor little Ken. Far more interesting though is that my sources tell me that the Democrats leaked this to Serrano, not the GOP side of the committee. What does that tell you. "They're doing battlefield preparation for the hearing," one said. "It is all the fault of the ATF." Serrano's story seems crafted to portray the meme:
But B. Todd Jones, Melson's replacement as acting director of the agency, said in an interview that Melson allowed overzealous field agents and supervisors to go beyond approved tactics.
Pointing out that the ATF has had five acting directors in the last six years, Jones said the resulting weak management structure has given some field agents a license to operate independently of Washington.
"There was a vacuum. Fast and Furious went off the rails, and there were plenty of opportunities to pivot so none of this would happen," Jones said. . .
"Anybody, including Mr. Melson, who waits for things to happen or waits for information to come to them, that is something I personally am not a believer in," Jones said. "I'm a believer in management by walking around. If you're not hearing it, you seek it out. And there are a lot of ways to do that other than sitting in your corner office waiting for memos to come in."
Yes, well, since ole B. Todd has been "walking around around, he's had an opportunity to sack those involved with the Gunwalker Scandal and hasn't -- has had an opportunity to sack people in the Chief Counsels' Office of ATF, who continue, behind the scenes to make like for the whistleblowers a living hell. One wonders what kind of "walking around" ole B. Todd has done in a job that is only part-time for him.
But the most revealing paragraphs of the Serrano story are these last ones:
Justice officials said they were never told about the Fast and Furious tactics and cite ATF internal emails as evidence.
Hours after Terry was killed south of Tucson, David J. Voth, the ATF group supervisor for Fast and Furious in Phoenix, sent an email to lead Agent Hope A. MacAllister. He titled the email, "no more rose colored glasses."
"If you have not heard a Border Patrol agent was shoot and killed here in Arizona," he told her. "The trace came back to Fast and Furious…Ugh...! Call as soon as you can, things will most likely get ugly."
"Justice officials said they were never told about the Fast and Furious tactics and cite ATF internal emails as evidence."
From the very beginning of the breaking of this scandal with the death of Brian Terry, the DOJ and White House have sought to deny, first, the very existence of gunwalking, then when that was no longer deniable, knowledge of "the tactics" of gunwalking.
Yet, no one has yet asked specific questions -- under oath in hearings -- about FBI and DEA participation; about the March 2009 meeting between "Gunwalker Bill" Newell and the White House; about the 26 October 2009 teleconference at DOJ with Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, ATF Director Kenneth E. Melson, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller and the top federal prosecutors in the Southwestern border states, including Phoenix's Dennis Burke where they are reported to have decided on a strategy to identify and eliminate entire arms trafficking networks rather than low–level buyers.
Because of these failures of omission -- of questions or witness lists -- the White and DOJ have been able to get away with the meme: "Why we're shocked, SHOCKED, to find gunwalking going on here!"
This reporter is told that all the chickens will come home to roost at the next hearing, that this has all been "a careful and deliberate stalk to get the big game," in the words of one source. We shall see.
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Here you go 3333... I love how you post every article that you can find but (intentionally?) missed the one from the guy that you keep saying is too soft on the Obama admin and won't attack ::)
Ron Paul: Holder should be ‘fired,’ criminally charged for Fast and Furious
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/15/ron-paul-holder-should-be-fired-criminally-charged-for-fast-and-furious/#ixzz1gku0pzxk
Has Mitt Romney said the same about Holder?
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Documents Show Justice's Breuer Misled On 'Furious'
IBD Editorials ^ | December 14, 2011 | Editor
Posted on December 14, 2011 8:30:42 PM EST by Kaslin
Ethics In Government: Attorney General Eric Holder insists "nobody at the Justice Department has lied" about the gun-running scandal Fast and Furious. That in itself is a lie, as his deputy's emails prove.
Documents obtained by congressional investigators show Lanny Breuer, Justice's criminal division chief, misled the public — under oath — about what he knew about the disastrous and ultimately deadly program. And what he did to cover it up.
• Lie No. 1: Breuer knew as far back as April 2010 that ATF officials had let assault weapons "walk" — which meant ending surveillance on guns suspected en route to Mexican warlords, and turning a blind eye to criminals illegally buying weapons for trafficking on the border.
Guns found at the scene of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry were traced to Fast and Furious.
That April, Breuer and an aide conspired with ATF leaders to cover up "the bad stuff that would come out."
When Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, got wind of the scandal, he demanded answers. Breuer consulted in the drafting of a Feb. 4 letter to Grassley falsely denying that ATF had ever walked guns.
Newly obtained emails show Breuer received drafts of the letter four times via email. He even forwarded drafts to his personal Google email account.
• Lie No. 2: When Grassley recently asked Breuer point blank if he reviewed the letter, Breuer suggested he had not looked at it. "At the time," he testified, "I was in Mexico dealing with the very real issues that we are all so committed to."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
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"Things will most likely get ugly." The selective leaks go on apace, (gunwalker)
Sipsey Street Irregulars ^ | 26 December, 2011 | Mike Vanderboegh
Posted on December 26, 2011 3:51:22 PM EST by marktwain
Here's the latest White House spin courtesy of the ever faithful Richard Serrano of the LA Times:
In a confidential deposition with congressional investigators, the then-head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives blamed agents, field supervisors and even his top command for never advising him that for more than a year, his agency allowed illegal gun sales along the southwestern U.S. border.
The deposition, which was taken in July and was recently obtained by the Washington bureau, shows that Kenneth E. Melson was irate. Even his chief intelligence officer at ATF headquarters was upset with the operation, dubbed Fast and Furious, but did little to shut it down, Melson complained. "He didn't come in and tell me, either," Melson said. "And he's on the same damn floor as I am."
Oh, yes, poor little Ken. Far more interesting though is that my sources tell me that the Democrats leaked this to Serrano, not the GOP side of the committee. What does that tell you. "They're doing battlefield preparation for the hearing," one said. "It is all the fault of the ATF." Serrano's story seems crafted to portray the meme:
But B. Todd Jones, Melson's replacement as acting director of the agency, said in an interview that Melson allowed overzealous field agents and supervisors to go beyond approved tactics.
Pointing out that the ATF has had five acting directors in the last six years, Jones said the resulting weak management structure has given some field agents a license to operate independently of Washington.
"There was a vacuum. Fast and Furious went off the rails, and there were plenty of opportunities to pivot so none of this would happen," Jones said. . .
"Anybody, including Mr. Melson, who waits for things to happen or waits for information to come to them, that is something I personally am not a believer in," Jones said. "I'm a believer in management by walking around. If you're not hearing it, you seek it out. And there are a lot of ways to do that other than sitting in your corner office waiting for memos to come in."
Yes, well, since ole B. Todd has been "walking around around, he's had an opportunity to sack those involved with the Gunwalker Scandal and hasn't -- has had an opportunity to sack people in the Chief Counsels' Office of ATF, who continue, behind the scenes to make like for the whistleblowers a living hell. One wonders what kind of "walking around" ole B. Todd has done in a job that is only part-time for him.
But the most revealing paragraphs of the Serrano story are these last ones:
Justice officials said they were never told about the Fast and Furious tactics and cite ATF internal emails as evidence.
Hours after Terry was killed south of Tucson, David J. Voth, the ATF group supervisor for Fast and Furious in Phoenix, sent an email to lead Agent Hope A. MacAllister. He titled the email, "no more rose colored glasses."
"If you have not heard a Border Patrol agent was shoot and killed here in Arizona," he told her. "The trace came back to Fast and Furious…Ugh...! Call as soon as you can, things will most likely get ugly."
"Justice officials said they were never told about the Fast and Furious tactics and cite ATF internal emails as evidence."
From the very beginning of the breaking of this scandal with the death of Brian Terry, the DOJ and White House have sought to deny, first, the very existence of gunwalking, then when that was no longer deniable, knowledge of "the tactics" of gunwalking.
Yet, no one has yet asked specific questions -- under oath in hearings -- about FBI and DEA participation; about the March 2009 meeting between "Gunwalker Bill" Newell and the White House; about the 26 October 2009 teleconference at DOJ with Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, ATF Director Kenneth E. Melson, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller and the top federal prosecutors in the Southwestern border states, including Phoenix's Dennis Burke where they are reported to have decided on a strategy to identify and eliminate entire arms trafficking networks rather than low–level buyers.
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Holder’s OIG ’Gunwalker’ investigation passes historic milestone today
Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 27 December, 2011 | David Codrea
Posted on December 28, 2011 7:20:12 AM EST by marktwain
Exceeds time it took Warren Commission to produce report on JFK murder
“I will certainly await the report that comes out of the inspector general and I will assure you and the American people that people will be held accountable for any mistakes that were made in connection with Fast and Furious,” Attorney General Eric Holder testified in a November 8 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.
This leads to the questions of why it’s taking so long, and if the end result will be indicative of the self-serving stonewalling and foot-dragging the Department of Justice has exhibited throughout congressional investigations of “Project Gunwalker.” As things stand, Holder has been able to play the OIG card every time a question he does not wish to answer comes up.
“In February,” Holder wrote in his prepared statement for the December 8 House Committee on the Judiciary hearing, “I asked the Department’s Acting Inspector General to investigate the matter…”
When in February?
HOLDER: One of the things that I did early on was to ask the inspector general to look into this. I was -- I was hearing from inside the Justice Department one set of facts. I was hearing from members of Congress and members of the media something else. And it seemed to me that given this disparate information that I was receiving that an investigation needed to be had, and on February the 28th I asked the inspector general to begin an investigation.
But not, it seems, in writing, that is, in any way that can evidently be traced back to him and exactly what his instructions were, and to whom.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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Eric Holder’s Hubris is Stunning
Ammoland ^ | 27 December, 2011 | Alan Korwin
PHOENIX, AZ --(Ammoland.com)- The lamestream media told you:
“WASHINGTON — Republican lawmakers told Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday to fire some Justice Department subordinates over the flawed arms-trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious,” according to Pete Yost, writing for the Associated Press, about Holder’s testimony to Congress in early December. [Democrats, by implication and omission, see no problem here and have asked for no action.)
“Why haven’t you terminated the people involved?” asked Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that is investigating the arms-tracking operation.
“The operation’s goal was to follow the gun supply chain from small-time gun buyers at a number of Phoenix-area gun shops and make cases against major weapons traffickers,” AP writer Yost claims.
The Uninvited Ombudsman notes however that: It is widely recognized that the BATFE claims in Fast and Furious do not match the facts. There was a concerted effort NOT “to follow the gun supply chain” which BATFE helped smuggle out of the country. The conclusion, if facts matter, is that the smuggling operation increased the number of U.S.-supplied firearms to drug cartels, which were then found at crime scenes domestically and abroad. This manufactured increase was then used publicly to advance an imaginary threat, to justify increased government power, controls, and infringing on the Second Amendment.
The congressional committee, after an initial flurry of remarks and verbal jousting, stunningly refused to place Holder under oath, since he more than once said, “I’m here to tell the truth,” instead of taking an oath. That made my mouth hang open. This helps insulate him from a potential charge of felony perjury before Congress. He failed to testify under oath. The “news” media failed to report this tiny insignificant fact.
What the “news” also failed to report was only the most significant parts of the hearings. Holder, who repeatedly claims he is not stonewalling, performed a “document dump” on Congress, delivering more than 5,000 documents, most of them emails, and not a single one came from or was sent by Mr. Holder, the main unindicted conspirator in the smuggling scheme and the main target of the investigation. Actually no one has been indicted, thanks to Holder’s stonewalling.
That became obvious during questioning by Ben Quayle, who happens to be my representative. After noting that many in Congress seek Holder’s resignation, Quayle asked, “Will you resign?” Holder said, “No.” Naming and asking if the underlings just below him would resign, Holder replied “No.” Naming the underlings under them with the same question, Holder said, “No,” the three shortest answers he gave in the whole charade. Time ran out for Mr. Quayle, so the Chair of the committee asked the obvious last question, will anyone be forced out, and Holder continued with his terse replies, saying, “No.” In the AG’s opinion, as delivered to Congress, no one should be held accountable for these gross violations of law and multiple murders.
This is hard news, so was unreported for reasons that remain unclear.
Nearly a year after it began, Holder has refused to identify the person who authorized the operation, a very simple task, though it might implicate him or his boss, the current occupant of the White House.
A democrat at the hearing said that “2,000 automatic rifles” had walked. The AG said, “Yes, that’s correct.” No automatic weapons were involved, since these were retail store purchases. Hey, it’s such a small point, what do you expect. A big thank you to Rep. Ted Poe of Texas for asking some really hard-as-nails questions. The AG though ducked every one.
Daryl Issa threatened the AG with Contempt of Congress for failure to turn over documents. Contempt of Congress! This extremely serious development was also not widely reported, though Mr. Sensenbrenner’s vague allusion to an impeachment of someone (unnamed) did make the “news.” The AG’s omitted communiques in the document dump was perhaps dwarfed by the Justice Department’s flat refusal to release anything after Feb. 2, 2011, probably the most significant material. A Feb. 4 email which was a blatant lie to Congress, now admitted, has been “withdrawn.”
When Holder had previously said his 4-state long-gun registration scheme is a “reasonable requirement,” none of the officials challenged him — on the fact that it’s strictly illegal, he is specifically denied authority to do it by law, and in fact such action has been specifically outlawed by Congress. Maybe they didn’t know. And he didn’t know.
Holder and his department’s preposterous position that there is no statute against gun smuggling is a naked power grab without support. Not one official challenged that statement. Making each purchase is a separate federal felony, that’s 2,000 right there; lying about the nature of the purchase is a federal felony; delivering the guns to the real buyer is a federal felony; smuggling the guns across state lines is a federal felony; delivering the guns to foreign nationals without an export license is a federal felony; using undeclared income to make the purchases is a federal felony; handling illegal obtained cash is a federal felony; conspiring to do any of this with anyone is a federal felony.
Holder has acknowledged that the mess is a fiasco, inexcusable and a prohibited policy, and of course, people have been murdered as a result. In his opinion, no one pays for it. Prediction: That shall not stand.
About GunLaws.com: Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Bloomfield Press, founded in 1988, is the largest publisher and distributor of gun-law books in the country. Our website, gunlaws.com, features a free national directory to gun laws and relevant contacts in all states and federally, along with our unique line of related books and DVDs. “After Your Shoot” for media review is available on request, call 800-707-4020. Our authors are available for interview, call to schedule. Call for cogent positions on gun issues, informed analysis on proposed laws, talk radio that lights up the switchboard, fact sheets and position papers. As we always say, “It doesn’t make sense to own a gun and not know the rules.” Visit: www.gunlaws.com
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.ATF management to treat Gunwalker crimes as personnel policy violations
Add a comment David Codrea, Gun Rights Examiner
December 29, 2011 - Like this? Subscribe to get instant updates.
http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/atf-management-to-treat-gunwalker-crimes-as-personnel-policy-violations
“Here's one sure way to tell if the CYA higher-ups are serious,” Gun Rights Examiner wrote yesterday, citing Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives management blaming lower-level employees for the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal:
Will they dare help prosecute their allegedly wayward underlings, and risk them telling what they know? Or will they just point fingers down the ladder, all the while insisting no crimes have been committed, and counting on that to keep those being blamed (but not prosecuted) from lawyering up and spilling their guts?
“I would place my money on the latter,” an insider source informed this correspondent.
Acting Director B. Todd Jones echoed that expectation in the December 24 Los Angeles Times puff-piece:
Advertisement
Jones expects the inspector general's report early next year. He said he will immediately refer it to the ATF's Office of Professional Responsibility for recommendations on job terminations or suspensions. "We sure will" be making some quick personnel decisions, he said.
This, in turn, follows and bolsters the narrative established by Barack Obama, that “People who have screwed up will be held accountable.”
Purposely not addressed in all this:
•International Traffic in Arms Violations, specifically on the part of “principals” who “induce” or “willfully cause” offenses, and who have not obtained a State Department law enforcement exemption permit.
•Kingpin Act violations.
•Culpability in the deaths of Brian Terry, Jaime Zapata and unknown numbers of Mexican (and U.S.?) nationals.
•Whistleblower Protection Act violations.
•Violations of Mexican law.
•Etc.
Does anyone seriously believe the long-awaited Office of Inspector General report will do anything to advance criminal charges that demand prosecution of the perpetrators and prison sentences for the convicted, as opposed to supporting the administration meme that these were mere procedural and judgment lapses, best handled by internal personnel policies and outside of public scrutiny?
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In this Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 picture, an American flag on a resident's home waves in the breeze near a U.S. Border Patrol truck blocking the road leading to a search area near where U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed northwest of Nogales, Ariz. (AP Photo/Arizona Daily Star, Greg Bryan)
(CNSNews.com) – A Mexican drug trafficker awaiting trial in a Chicago federal court claims that the notorious Sinaloa cartel received weapons from “Operation Fast and Furious” under an alleged immunity agreement that the U.S. government made with cartel leaders, in exchange for information on rival gangs.
The defendant in a trafficking case before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Vicente Jesus Zambada-Niebla, also claims the immunity deal allowed the criminal cartel to “continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs” into the United States.
He wants the U.S. government to provide documents relating to the botched gun running sting operation along the southwest border, arguing that it would benefit his defense.
Operation Fast and Furious, which began in September 2009, saw the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives supervise the sale of guns to straw purchasers with the intent of tracing the guns to Mexican drug trafficking organizations and prosecuting their members. The ATF allowed about 2,000 guns to be sold in this manner.
The operation came under congressional scrutiny after it was linked to the December 2010 murder of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry at the hands of Mexican bandits.
An investigative report, spearheaded by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), found that most of the weapons provided to Mexican criminals under the operation were going to the Sinaloa cartel, arguably one of the world’s largest drug trafficking organizations.
In a court pleading filed last July, Zambada-Niebla made the claims about an immunity deal.
“Mr. Zambada-Niebla believes that the documentation that he requests will confirm that the weapons received by Sinaloa Cartel members and its leaders in Operation ‘Fast & Furious’ were provided under the agreement entered into between the United States government and [a Mexican lawyer] on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel that is the subject of his defense …,” it said.
“Mr. Zambada-Niebla believes that the documentation will also provide evidence showing that the United States government has a policy and pattern of providing benefits, including immunity, to cartel leaders, including the Sinaloa Cartel and their members, who are willing to provide information against rival drug cartels.”
The defendant argued that he is protected from federal prosecution for trafficking drugs into the U.S. between 2004 and 2009 under an alleged immunity deal struck between the U.S. government and Sinaloa leaders.
According to court documents, Zambada-Niebla claims that the immunity deal provided the cartel’s leadership with “carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago and the rest of the United States” in exchange for information on rival drug cartels.
U.S. prosecutors deny the existence of such an immunity deal between the U.S. government and the cartel.
Nevertheless, the U.S. government last September filed a motion to invoke the Classified Information Procedures Act, which is aimed at assuring that national security information stemming from criminal cases – such as details associated with CIA operations – are not leaked to the public during court proceedings.
In a court pleading filed in September, U.S. prosecutors claimed that Zambada-Niebla’s allegations about Fast and Furious have no merit.
“Defendant requests all information in the possession of the U.S. government related to an ATF investigation referred to as ‘Fast and Furious’…” it said. “Defendants request related to Fast and Furious … and other unrelated matters are gratuitous and wholly unrelated to any legitimate discovery issues in this case.”
Zambada-Niebla, who was arrested in Mexico in March 2009 and extradited to the U.S. eleven months later, is accused of smuggling tons of cocaine and heroin into the U.S.
He claims he was working on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, court documents show.
The defendant’s pleading highlighted a July 2011 letter sent by Issa and Grassley to Attorney General Eric Holder, “suggesting that multiple United States agencies were employing as informants members of Mexican drug organizations.”
“The evidence seems to indicate that the Justice Department not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons, but that tax payers’ dollars in the form of informant payments, may have financed those engaging in such activities,” the pleading added.
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In this Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 picture, an American flag on a resident's home waves in the breeze near a U.S. Border Patrol truck blocking the road leading to a search area near where U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed northwest of Nogales, Ariz. (AP Photo/Arizona Daily Star, Greg Bryan)
(CNSNews.com) – A Mexican drug trafficker awaiting trial in a Chicago federal court claims that the notorious Sinaloa cartel received weapons from “Operation Fast and Furious” under an alleged immunity agreement that the U.S. government made with cartel leaders, in exchange for information on rival gangs.
The defendant in a trafficking case before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Vicente Jesus Zambada-Niebla, also claims the immunity deal allowed the criminal cartel to “continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs” into the United States.
He wants the U.S. government to provide documents relating to the botched gun running sting operation along the southwest border, arguing that it would benefit his defense.
Operation Fast and Furious, which began in September 2009, saw the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives supervise the sale of guns to straw purchasers with the intent of tracing the guns to Mexican drug trafficking organizations and prosecuting their members. The ATF allowed about 2,000 guns to be sold in this manner.
The operation came under congressional scrutiny after it was linked to the December 2010 murder of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry at the hands of Mexican bandits.
An investigative report, spearheaded by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), found that most of the weapons provided to Mexican criminals under the operation were going to the Sinaloa cartel, arguably one of the world’s largest drug trafficking organizations.
In a court pleading filed last July, Zambada-Niebla made the claims about an immunity deal.
“Mr. Zambada-Niebla believes that the documentation that he requests will confirm that the weapons received by Sinaloa Cartel members and its leaders in Operation ‘Fast & Furious’ were provided under the agreement entered into between the United States government and [a Mexican lawyer] on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel that is the subject of his defense …,” it said.
“Mr. Zambada-Niebla believes that the documentation will also provide evidence showing that the United States government has a policy and pattern of providing benefits, including immunity, to cartel leaders, including the Sinaloa Cartel and their members, who are willing to provide information against rival drug cartels.”
The defendant argued that he is protected from federal prosecution for trafficking drugs into the U.S. between 2004 and 2009 under an alleged immunity deal struck between the U.S. government and Sinaloa leaders.
According to court documents, Zambada-Niebla claims that the immunity deal provided the cartel’s leadership with “carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago and the rest of the United States” in exchange for information on rival drug cartels.
U.S. prosecutors deny the existence of such an immunity deal between the U.S. government and the cartel.
Nevertheless, the U.S. government last September filed a motion to invoke the Classified Information Procedures Act, which is aimed at assuring that national security information stemming from criminal cases – such as details associated with CIA operations – are not leaked to the public during court proceedings.
In a court pleading filed in September, U.S. prosecutors claimed that Zambada-Niebla’s allegations about Fast and Furious have no merit.
“Defendant requests all information in the possession of the U.S. government related to an ATF investigation referred to as ‘Fast and Furious’…” it said. “Defendants request related to Fast and Furious … and other unrelated matters are gratuitous and wholly unrelated to any legitimate discovery issues in this case.”
Zambada-Niebla, who was arrested in Mexico in March 2009 and extradited to the U.S. eleven months later, is accused of smuggling tons of cocaine and heroin into the U.S.
He claims he was working on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI, and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, court documents show.
The defendant’s pleading highlighted a July 2011 letter sent by Issa and Grassley to Attorney General Eric Holder, “suggesting that multiple United States agencies were employing as informants members of Mexican drug organizations.”
“The evidence seems to indicate that the Justice Department not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons, but that tax payers’ dollars in the form of informant payments, may have financed those engaging in such activities,” the pleading added.
Lol. That poor bastard is fucked - theyre never going to allow the documents showing he was working for the US gov into the courtroom...
He better watch out too, he pushes to much, he may wind up losing his life before the end of his trial, lol. Im sure the gov would rather off this guy than allow the public to find out that they pay drug cartels and arm them in order to get information.
This poor fool is dead, one way or the other.
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Chief House Investigator Says Holder and/or Obama are Doomed
godfatherpolitics.com ^ | Da Tagliare
Posted on January 2, 2012 4:00:02 PM EST by Iam1ru1-2
If you’ve ever watched a beagle track down a rabbit or a bloodhound track down an convect, you might get a glimpse into the workings of Rep Darrell Issa, a Republican from California.
Issa is the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. This basically means that he heads the main investigative body used to delve into the Obama administration and their dealings. Because of his bulldog tenacity of not letting go until the job is done, many on Capitol Hill refer to Issa as Mr Subpoena.
In an interview given over the weekend, Issa said, “If the [Obama] administration continues to have full confidence in a failed administration by Eric Holder and Lanny Breuer, then ultimately the administration is going to be doomed. Eric Holder seems to have the full confidence of the president, and I can’t understand why.”
Joining Issa in his search for truth in the Fast and Furious scandal is Senate Judiciary Committee member, Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa.
As Issa was stating the impending doom of US Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama Administration, presidential candidate Michele Bachmann joined the growing list of Congressional members who are calling for Holder’s immediate resignation. That list is not at 52, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see that number rise to 100 by the end of the month.
This may surprise many of you who have been reading my blogs on here, but I disagree with the members of Congress calling for Holder’s resignation. Just demanding his resignation is not really holding the nation’s top cop responsible for his flagrant disregard of the law.
Instead of his resignation, I would file criminal charges against him for dereliction of duty, willful failure to carry out his sworn duty to uphold ALL of the nation’s laws, preferential treatment of convicted felons based upon their race, religion and political status and impersonating a US Attorney General. I would tap into the minds of some of the nation’s best legal experts and throw as many criminal charges against the man as possible.
Eric Holder is no different than any other mob boss or crime syndicate leader. Rather than following the law, he makes his own law as he operates an organization that likewise has no respect for the law. And like any other moss boss, he deserves to spend the rest of his miserable life in jail with the rest of the criminal world.
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Rep. Gosar Increases Pressure on Holder “No Confidence” Resolution Introduced in House
Email from GOA | Jan 3, 2012 | Gun Owners of America
Representative Paul Gosar (R-AZ) recently introduced a resolution expressing “no confidence” in the Attorney General of the United States for his role in the Fast and Furious scandal.
Attorney General Eric Holder has been hauled before Congress multiple times to explain a government operation that led to thousands of firearms going to violent drug cartels in Mexico, and which have turned up at crime scenes on both sides of the border.
Holder initially denied knowing about the operation before admitting that “mistakes” were made, yet he remains uncooperative with Congress’s efforts to get to the bottom of the gunrunning scheme.
The Department of Justice provided some carefully selected information to the House Judiciary Committee, but nothing that would reveal who authorized the multi-million dollar, multi-agency, international operation.
There are “materials we have not and will not produce,” Holder said defiantly in testimony before the committee last month.
In fact, no one within the Department of Justice is being held accountable for approving the operation. Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) told Holder during the December hearing that bureaucrats have put the wagons “in a pretty tight circle.”
“The American people need the truth,” added Rep. Sensenbrenner. “They haven’t gotten the truth from what has been coming out of the Justice Department in the last year.”
Holder’s refusal to provide any information regarding who is responsible for Fast and Furious has led many lawmakers to suspect that the Attorney General himself was intimately involved in the operation from the start.
The Gosar resolution sends a strong message to the Justice Department that the government’s reckless disregard of the law will not be tolerated. It will also help to raise public awareness of a misguided government operation that has contributed to the deaths of two U.S. law enforcement officers and some 200 Mexicans.
“It is imperative that the citizens of our nation have confidence in our Attorney General,” Congressman Gosar said in a statement. “After months of evasive answers, silence and outright lies it is time that Congress speak up on behalf of the many people who have or will fall victims to the firearms in the flawed gunrunning operation Fast and Furious.”
GOA , which is rallying Congress to use every means available to hold the government accountable for wrongdoing in Fast and Furious, applauds Rep. Gosar for authoring this resolution.
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Breaking on Fast and Furious: Holder to appear before Issa's committee on Feb. 2
Big Government ^ | 1/4/12 | AWR Hawkins
I just received an email update from Congressman Darrell Issa’s (R-CA) office, stating that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is scheduled to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on February 2. The questions will center on the Department of Justice’s knowledge of, and response to, the gunwalking tactics that were used in Operation Fast and Furious. The A.G. will also be asked to address the DOJ’s “steadfast refusal to disclose information following the February 4, 2011 letter to Senator Grassley, which the [DOJ] has withdrawn because it contained false information denying allegations made by whistleblowers about Operation Fast and Furious.”
(Excerpt) Read more at biggovernment.com ...
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Wrote Issa:
The Department of Justice’s conduct in the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious has been nothing short of shameful. From its initial denials that nothing improper occurred, to efforts to silence whistleblowers who wanted to tell Congress what really happened, to its continuing refusal to discuss or share documents related to this cover-up, the Justice Department has fought tooth and nail to hide the full truth about what occurred and what senior officials knew. Attorney General Holder must explain or reverse course on decisions that appear to put the careers of political appointees ahead of the need for accountability and the Department’s integrity.
The last portion of the letter provided me via Issa’s email highlights new (and startling) information on the DOJ’s refusal to cooperate with investigators to date.
According to the letter, in December 2011 the DOJ “explicitly informed the Committee that it would not deliver subpoenaed documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious created after February 4, 2011.” Moreover, “in interviews with committee investigators, senior Justice Department officials who had management responsibilities for Operation Fast and Furious have also refused to answer questions about decisions and conversations that occurred after February 4, 2011.”
Whatever happened to the transparency Obama & Co. promised us when running for office in 2008? And what exactly could Holder & Co. be hiding that forces them to go to such extremes to prevent a discovery of the truth?
It is high time for prosecution to begin. Holder & Co.’s contempt for Congress knows no bounds.
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Breaking: ATF reportedly relieves Fast and Furious managers prior to OIG report
Examiner.com ^ | 1/4/12 | David Codrea
Posted on January 5, 2012 12:40:07 AM EST by Nachum
Gun Rights Examiner and Sipsey Street Irregulars received information this evening that three of the prime Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives players in the Fast and Furious gunwalking scandal have been relieved of duties.
William Hoover, ATF's Deputy Director during Fast and Furious, who was recently reassigned as Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office, Assistant Director in Charge of Field Operations Mark Chait, likewise reassigned as head of the Baltimore Field Office, and Deputy Assistant Director of Field Operations William McMahon have reportedly been sidelined pending the outcome of the anticipated report from the Office of Inspector General. Debbie Bullock a mid-level manager has reportedly been advised that she is now the acting SAC for Baltimore, and will assume Chait's functions.
These three were the recipients of a January 20, 2011 email from ATF Associate Chief Counsel Barry Orlow, advising them and other Bureau attorneys of Gun Rights Examiner's “Open Letter to Senate Judiciary Committee staff on 'Project Gunwalker',” which put Senator Chuck Grassley's office on notice that ATF employees want d to come forward to provide testimony and documentation about gunwalking to Mexico. They were also prominent in a position issued by the CleanUpATF webmaster:
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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Grassley: New docs prove Admin knew about gun walking (fast and furious)
Seattle Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 5 January, 2012 | Dave Workman
New documents obtained from the Justice Department Thursday prove that the administration knew that guns had been walked as part of Operation Wide Receiver, Senator Charles Grassley said in a press release, and then he reiterated his call for Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer to resign.
The documents include e-mails and copies of letters sent to Grassley by Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, including a Feb. 4, 2011 letter that insisted that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had never “sanctioned or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico…” That letter has been “withdrawn” because facts uncovered over the past 11 months clearly show that guns were walked, and the ATF let it happen.
“The documents dumped today by the Justice Department prove that this administration knew that guns were walked in Operation Wide Receiver, yet did nothing about it even as it was happening again in Fast and Furious. I’ve said all along that walking guns is wrong, period. I don’t care who did it. We know that Lanny Breuer knew about guns being walked in Operation Wide Receiver, which is why he needs to do the right thing, hold himself accountable and resign.”—Sen. Charles Grassley
Some of those documents are familiar as they have been previously discussed by this column, but together they suggest that Justice Department officials, including Breuer, knew far more about Fast and Furious than they had previously indicated.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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www.chicagotribune.com/sns-rt-mexico-usagunsl1e8c5ci3-20120105,0,3395168.story
chicagotribune.com
ATF sidelines officials in gun sting debacle
Reuters
5:44 PM CST, January 5, 2012
By Jeremy Pelofsky
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Thursday sidelined
three senior officials pending the outcome of an investigation
into a botched sting that allowed hundreds of guns to be
smuggled to violent Mexican drug cartels.
The Justice Department's inspector general and lawmakers are
investigating the operation dubbed "Fast and Furious" which has
put the Obama administration on the defensive about whether
dangerous weapons were knowingly allowed to cross the border
from Arizona.
Authorities had hoped they would be able to follow the guns
to cartel leaders, but ATF agents did not track the weapons
after they were transferred from the initial buyer to others who
smuggled them across the border.
Some agents have testified that they were not allowed to
continue the pursuit. The operation was run out of the ATF's
Phoenix office in conjunction with federal prosecutors in
Arizona.
ATF reassigned Deputy Assistant Director William McMahon,
the head of the ATF's Washington field office William Hoover and
the head of its Baltimore office Mark Chait to non-operational
positions.
"These new assignments will remain in effect pending the
outcome of the OIG (Office of the Inspector General)
investigation," ATF spokesman Scot Thomasson said in a
statement. The decision was made by ATF Deputy Director Thomas
Brandon, he said.
The moves come just four months after Hoover and Chait had
been switched to those field offices.
During "Fast and Furious," Hoover was ATF's deputy director
and Chait was assistant director of the agency's field
operations office. McMahon was head of the ATF's operations in
the western United States at the time.
The personnel moves are the latest fallout that has already
claimed two senior administration officials.
Kenneth Melson, the acting director of the ATF at the time
of "Fast and Furious," was reassigned four months ago to the
Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy. The top federal
prosecutor in Arizona, Dennis Burke, resigned.
Attorney General Eric Holder is due to testify on Feb. 2
about the botched operation before the House of Representatives
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Republicans in the U.S. Congress have been demanding to know
who in the Obama administration knew about the ATF program and
when. Holder and other senior ATF and Justice Department
officials said they did not learn about it until early 2011.
The operation came to light after U.S. Border Patrol agent
Brian Terry died in a December 2010 shootout on the American
side of the border. Two guns found there have been traced to the
sting but it is not known if those guns were used to fire the
fatal shots.
(Reporting By Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by Eric Beech)
Copyright © 2012, Reuters
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Regime's latest Fast and Furious claims scuttled by ATF Director's emails
Coach is Right ^ | 1/09/2012 | Doug Book
Discovery of a January, 2011 email exchange between then Acting ATF Director Ken Melson and the Bureau’s chief council Steve Rubenstein has put the kibosh on Obama Administration elites’ latest “we didn’t know about it” defense concerning Regime involvement in Operation Fast and Furious.
On December 22 of 2010, a contributor identifying himself as “1desertrat” posted the following to the “CLEANUP ATF” website:
“Word is that curious George Gillett the Phoenix ASAC stepped on it again. Allegedly he has approved more than 500 AR-15 type rifles from Tucson and Phoenix cases to be “walked” to Mexico. Appears that ATF may be one of the largest suppliers of assault rifles to the Mexican cartels! One of these rifles is rumored to have been linked to the recent killing of a Border Patrol Officer in Nogales, AZ. Can anyone confirm this information?” (1)
Well Director Melson read this “CLEANUP ATF” post and didn’t appreciate the fact that ATF business had been so willfully shared with the general public. Especially, perhaps, not THIS business. So he contacted ATF Chief Council Steve Rubenstein for advice. And the email reply he received from Rubenstein is a beauty.
In it, Rubenstein wrote:
“The disclosure of this information has a potential deleterious effect on ATF’s undercover operations. In that regard, suspects may alter their behavior if they know that law enforcement is allowing certain firearms to “walk” into Mexico. (my bold text) In addition, public knowledge of this type of operation potentially places informants and undercover agents in jeopardy.”
“If “1desertrat” is an ATF employee, then he/she is subject to our Orders and Standards of Conduct…” (2)
Rubentsein goes on to quote the ATF Code of Conduct for employees, making it clear to Melson that the individual responsible for the post could be dealt with rather severely...
(Excerpt) Read more at coachisright.com ...
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Why are Holder and McMahon shoulder-to-shoulder after sidelining?(gunwalker)
Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 9 January, 2012 | David Codrea
“Breaking: ATF reportedly relieves Fast and Furious managers prior to OIG report,” Gun Rights Examiner reported last Tuesday, simultaneously with a related report by Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars, and supplemented with additional details by Dave Workman.
“ATF sidelines officials in gun sting debacle,” Reuters corroborated a day later in the Chicago Tribune.
The basic details of this development, from my January 4 report:
“William Hoover, ATF's Deputy Director during Fast and Furious, who was recently reassigned as Special Agent in Charge of the Washington Field Office, Assistant Director in Charge of Field Operations Mark Chait, likewise reassigned as head of the Baltimore Field Office, and Deputy Assistant Director of Field Operations William McMahon have reportedly been sidelined pending the outcome of the anticipated report from the Office of Inspector General.”
Which leads to another interesting development noted by Vanderboegh on Friday, where he observed a photograph of the recently-sidelined McMahon standing next to Attorney General Eric Holder at the funeral of an ATF agent killed by a police officer during a drugstore robbery. (Note: Examiner.com photo agreement and use policy prevents including it in this report.)
Why is this significant?
Holder has an entourage and security. Just anybody doesn’t get up next to him. He is also media-savvy.
Sentiment among some insiders is that this was no accident, that there is a reason why the top boss would allow himself to be publicly seen with one of his managers who has been relieved, and that this is an indicator of a continued game plan to trivialize the work of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and signal continued in-your-face defiance.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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ATF officials suspended over Fast and Furious
by Joel Gehrke Commentary Staff Writer
Follow on Twitter:
Officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) who oversaw the lethal gun-walking scheme, Operation Fast and Furious, have reportedly been suspended for their actions -- perhaps because of a forthcoming report from the Office of the Inpector General.
Katie Pavlich at Townhall writes:
ATF Deputy Director Tom Brandon has suspended ATF Assistant Director of the Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations Bill McMahon, ATF Acting Deputy Director Billy Hoover and ATF Assistant Director in Charge of Field Operations Mark Chait until further notice from their cushy ATF management positions as the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious, of which McMahon, Hoover and Chait were heavily involved in, is on going. The rumor is that Brandon has a rough draft copy of the Justice Department Inspector General Report on hand, sparking the move.
Pavlich also spoke to an ATF special agent who has served under McMahon. There is an ongoing catastrophe with ATF’s leadership," he said. "Executives in positions of influence who see bad acts taking place with no courage to act but instead stand by and watch them happen. Can you say Penn State?"
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Can administration rely on Guatemalan STD defense against ‘Gunwalker’ claims?
Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 10 January, 2012 | David Codrea
Posted on January 11, 2012 8:13:58 PM EST by marktwain
“Guatemalan prostitutes, prisoners and mental patients who were intentionally exposed to sexually transmitted diseases, without their knowledge or consent, by U.S. researchers in the 1940s, cannot sue the United States argued the Obama Administration on Monday, no matter how shameful and unethical the studies were,” Fox News reports.
That’s even more monstrous than the infamous Tuskegee experiment, where men who had contracted syphilis on their own were not informed they had it. One can only wonder at the demented government mentality that could even conceive of such evil, let alone carry it out.
People are appropriately charged with attempted murder for such perverse acts. What degenerates thought up such a plan, and what ends could possibly justify the twisted means?
And what degenerates approved it?
It’s all too reminiscent of tactics used in the administration’s Fast and Furious “gunwalking” disaster, where Mexican citizens were exposed to government transmitted weapons (GTWs) without their knowledge or consent.
And as with “Project Gunwalker,” the Obama administration’s Department of Justice is quick to utter meaningless words of regret while absolving the government of any accountability:
The government says the Federal Tort Claims Act protects the United States from lawsuits based on injuries suffered in a foreign country, even if the acts that caused the harm were planned in the United States.
That sounds like the perfect “legal” defense for any claim made by Mexican victims of Fast and Furious.
Another similarity between the two acts of undeclared war—and that’s what they both were—the prostitutes, criminals and mental cases on “our” side were more diseased than the ones on theirs.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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Border agent killed: Feds to unseal some records
by Dennis Wagner - Jan. 11, 2012 09:40 PM
The Republic | azcentral.com
Federal prosecutors have decided not to oppose a media request to unseal records in the criminal case against defendants accused of murdering U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry 13 months ago.
Terry, 40, was killed Dec.14, 2010, during a shootout with suspected banditos near Nogales.
One suspect, Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, was wounded and arrested at the scene. He is under indictment along with several other defendants who are not in custody and whose names have not been released.
For more than a year, the case has been under seal at the U.S. District Court in Tucson, even though proceedings have substantial public and political significance: Two AK-47s found at the murder scene were linked with a flawed gun-smuggling investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious.
According to federal records and testimony, U.S. agents and prosecutors in Fast and Furious allowed firearms traffickers to smuggle hundreds of guns to criminals into Mexico. Congressional inquiries already have prompted the resignation of U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, the reassignment of top federal agents and calls for the firing of Attorney General Eric Holder.
Six news organizations, including The Arizona Republic, have asked that records in the murder case be disclosed and that hearings be made public.
In a response, the Justice Department said it does not oppose the unsealing of some documents so long as there are no disclosures about the indicted suspects who remain at large.
A federal judge has yet to rule on the media request.
Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/2012/01/11/20120111border-agent-killed-feds-unseal-records-case.html#ixzz1jHgzOlcL
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In the late summer of 2010, the ATF agent leading the failed Fast and Furious gun-smuggling operation in Arizona flew to Mexico City to help coordinate cross-border investigations of U.S. weapons used by Mexican drug cartels.
Hope A. MacAllister wanted access to police and military vaults for American weapons recovered by Mexican authorities in raids and at crime scenes. She especially was interested in firearms from another ATF investigation, code-named White Gun, that she was running.
Now members of Congress who have spent months scrutinizing the Fast and Furious debacle are seeking to determine whether White Gun was another weapons investigation gone wrong.
"Apparently guns got away again," said one source close to the investigation, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa). "How many got into Mexico, who knows?"
Officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives declined to comment on whether any firearms were lost in White Gun. But unlike Fast and Furious, they vigorously defended the previously unreported White Gun operation as a well-managed investigation that produced three arrests and convictions.
The three men "were looking to acquire military-grade weapons for a drug cartel," said an ATF official, who asked for anonymity because the case involves an undercover operation. "This was a classic example of bad guys showing up at a location to get the weapons they desire but getting arrested by law enforcement instead."
In Fast and Furious, more than 1,700 firearms were lost after agents allowed illegal gun purchases in U.S. gun shops in hopes of tracking the weapons into Mexico. In White Gun, the ATF ran a traditional sting operation with undercover agents and confidential informants trying to snare suspects working for the Sinaloa drug cartel.
According to internal ATF documents, including debriefing summaries and border task force overviews, White Gun and Fast and Furious both began in fall 2009, and the same ATF officials ran both cases.
MacAllister was the lead agent. Her supervisor, David J. Voth, was head of the ATF's Group VII field office in Phoenix. His boss was William D. Newell, then the special agent in charge in Phoenix.
According to documents that the ATF sent to the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, an umbrella group of U.S. agencies that seeks to disrupt major drug trafficking and money laundering, White Gun targeted nine leaders of the Sinaloa cartel. The list included Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, who heads the cartel and is Mexico's most wanted drug suspect.
In ATF reports, MacAllister wrote that U.S. intelligence showed cartel members were setting up military-type training camps in the Sierra de Durango mountains, near Guzman's northern Mexico hide-out, and wanted to bolster their arsenal with grenade launchers and .50-caliber machine guns.
The agents focused first on Vicente Fernando Guzman Patino, a cartel insider who was identified as one of their weapons purchasers and who often used code words and phrases, saying "57" for "OK," for instance.
In fall 2009, the ATF team sent an undercover agent posing as an arms dealer to Guzman Patino. Photos of weapons, including a Dragon Fire 120-millimeter heavy mortar, were emailed to his "Superman6950" Hotmail account.
According to the ATF documents, Guzman Patino told the undercover agent that "if he would bring them a tank, they would buy it." He boasted he had "$15 million to spend on firearms and not to worry about the money." He wanted "the biggest and most extravagant firearms available."
The two met again outside a Phoenix restaurant, and the undercover agent showed Guzman Patino five weapons in the trunk of his vehicle, including a Bushmaster rifle and a Ramo .50 heavy machine gun. The undercover agent said he could get that kind of firepower for the Sinaloans.
Just as Guzman Patino seemed ready to buy, according to the ATF records, the investigation into his activities abruptly ended. The documents do not explain why, and they don't indicate whether he obtained any weapons.
A second case involved cartel members who were seeking shoulder-launched antiaircraft missiles and antitank rockets, according to the ATF records.
The same undercover agent met the pair in February 2010 at a Phoenix warehouse. David Diaz-Sosa and Jorge DeJesus-Casteneda brought 11 pounds of crystal methamphetamine to trade for weapons. The undercover agent showed them shoulder-launched missiles, rocket launchers and grenades before ATF agents moved in and arrested them.
Diaz-Sosa, 26, of Sinaloa, Mexico, pleaded guilty in April to gun and drug charges. DeJesus-Casteneda, 22, also of Sinaloa, pleaded guilty to drug charges. A third suspect, Emilia Palomino-Robles, 42, of Sonora, Mexico, pleaded guilty to delivering drugs as a partial payment for military-grade weaponry.
None of the three was included on the list of nine cartel leaders who were targeted in the operation.
The U.S. attorney in Phoenix at the time, Dennis K. Burke, who later resigned over Fast and Furious, called the White Gun convictions "a tremendous team effort that put a stop to a well-financed criminal conspiracy to acquire massive destructive firepower."
By that summer, MacAllister had gone to Mexico City to check the police and military vaults. The ATF documents don't detail what she found, but they note she discovered "weapons in military custody related to her current investigations."
richard.serrano@latimes.com
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Friday, January 13, 2012
Sipsey Street Exclusive: The curious case of Serial Number A6042075. What exactly did the ATF & DOJ tell the grand jury in U.S. vs. Clark? A tale of machine guns, a well placed protected snitch, insider influence, contradictory rule making, doctored reports and double-standard "justice."
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2012/01/sipsey-street-exclusive-curious-case-of.html
U.S. Attorney General Homer S. Cummings, FDR's federal law enforcement empire builder and father of the 1934 National Firearms Act.
Sipsey Street Exclusive: The curious case of Serial Number A6042075. What exactly did the ATF & DOJ tell the grand jury in U.S. vs. Clark? A tale of machine guns, a well placed protected snitch, insider influence, contradictory rule making, doctored reports and double-standard "justice."
By Mike Vanderboegh and "Ramsey A. Bear."
The assertion of federal power over guns and crime fit perfectly with Franklin D. Rossevelt's philosophy of using the government to protect ordinary American's from the hazards of modern society. . . the New Deal was nothing less than a radical retructuring of American government . . . Roosevelt portrayed gun control and crime fighting as simply one more element of the Neweal -- indeed, of the new America. . . "As a component part of that larger objective we include our constant struggle against the attacks of the lawless and criminal elements of our own populations." Because crime drained the economy, federal crime control, we argued, was essential for national recovery.
Roosevelt understood that, like many of his other New Deal reforms, a federal push in the field of guns and crime would face opposition from traditionalists committed to states' rights. . . The situation required a "New Deal for Crime." Just as Rossevelt sought to expand the power and reach of the federal government over the economy, he determined to expand its power and reach over criminals and their weapons. The man Roosevelt tapped to to lead the push was his attorney general, Homer Cummings. A bald man with a round face and piercing blue eyes, Cummings was a close confidant of the president. He wasn't the first person you'd expect to lead a revolution. One of Roosevelt's speechwriters called Cummings "the least dramatic man in the whole world." A a three-time former mayor and former chair of the Democratic National Committee, however, Cummings was well versed in politics, and Roosevelt knew he wouldn't back down in the face of public or political opposition. . .
Cummings realized that he needed troops to wage war -- in this case, a truly effective federal police force. The Justice Department aqlready had what passed for law enforcement agents in the Bureau of Prohibition and the Bureau of Investigation. Yet the former was being disbanded in the wake of the legalization of liquor and the latter was an underfunded agency devoted mainly to information gathering. The agencies were also hamstrung by the states' rights tradition. Because policing was a state function, federal agents didn't have the power to arrest people and weren't allowed to carry guns. Soldiers in a war on crime couldn't be effective armed with only notepads. . . Cummings lobbied for a significant reorganization of the Bureau of Investigation . . . Two years later, Cummings had the agency itself renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation to emphasize the new role of the federal government in fighting crime . . .
Gun control required legislation, not just good public relations. Prior to being elected president, FDR had served on the executive committee of the National Crime Commission . . . (which was) an early advocate for the creation of a federal police force and the passage of federal gun control laws . . . As Homer Cummings knew too well, there was ample precedent for the Supreme Court to strike down federal regulation . . . During the first three years of Cummings' tenure as attorney general, the Supreme Court struck down numerous landmark bills enacted to speed economic recovery. It was this dilemma that led Roosevelt in 1937 to propose his infamous Court-packing plan. The idea, which turned into a major embarrassment, was originally suggested by Homer Cummings. . .
Needing to find a way to restrict criminals' access to guns without being overturned by the Supreme Court, Cummings ingeniously proposed raising taxes on firearms. . . while Congress didn't have the power to ban guns directly, Cummings knew that . . . "the power to tax involves the power to destroy." . . . The gun control law adopted by Congress was entitled the National Firearms Act of 1934. The law imposed an onerous tax on machine guns and on short-barreled (or "sawed off") shotguns and rifles. . . Few law-abiding people had much interest in machine guns or short barreled shotguns, especially when the tax almost doiubled the price. Legitimate sales of these guns dried up almost immediately. . . It also required that owners of machine guns and short-barreled long-guns register with federal authorities and submit to fingerprinting within sixty days. -- Adam Winkler, Gun Fight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America, Norton, 2011, pp.196-204.
FDR, with Homer Cummings and J. Edgar Hoover looking on, signs the NFA of 1934.
The requirement to register machine guns was embodied in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (known by the shorthand NFRTR). This list is the arbiter of legal machine gun ownership. If your weapon and name are on the list, you may play with your expensive toy to your heart's content. If not, you go to the graybar hotel for many years and pay an onerous fine. The errors in the NFRTR are legendary in the machine gun collecting community, which is represented, NRA-like, by the National Firearms Act Trade & Collectors Association (NFATCA). The current president of the NFATCA is John Brown. Other board members are Teresa Starnes, Jeff Folloder, Curt Wolf, Robert Landies, Dan Shea, Robert Segel and John Tibbetts. (Readers will recall that Dan Shea has appeared many times previously in the pages of Sipsey Street, most spectacularly in The True Story of the Life of "R.A. Bear": Inception & impregnation into the minds of the ATF via a highly placed snitch named Dan Shea of the NFATCA.)
Ramsey A. Bear & Friend. It is estimated that the ATF devoted two years and more than a million dollars to the search for this "vicious gun criminal" who was thought to assist (courtesy of confidential informants like Dan Shea) Georgia firearm designer and manufacturer Len Savage, whose court room testimony inconvenienced the ATF in several court cases. R.A. Bear stands ready to be called as a witness in the next ATF congressional oversight hearing.
These NFRTR errors were famously compounded by clerks who, over the years, would throw paperwork in the trash when their in-boxes overflowed. The ATF has previously been caught out as instructing its agents to testify that the NFRTR is "100 percent correct" even though they admit to each other within the agency that this is surely incorrect. Most recently, the Friesen case blew up in the ATF's face when it became evident that the accuracy of the NFRTR was going to be a central tenet of the defense's case.
The DOJ folded and allowed Doug Friesen to essentially "pay fifty dollars and pick up the garbage" on a minor paperwork violation. The last thing the ATF/DOJ wanted was to have to defend the accuracy of the NFRTR in court, simply because it can't be done. And yet people are put in jail every week -- for long sentences with heavy fines -- based on the allegation that the weapons they are found in possession of are not listed on the NFRTR.
Such defendants can be found in the strange case of U.S. vs, Clark. Recall that U.S. vs. Clark is a Phoenix case, investigated and prosecuted by the same cast of tax-paid malefactors as Fast and Furious. An interesting motion was filed the other day in U.S. vs. Clark, with some relevant portions below:
Defendants Randolph B. Rodman, Hal Paul Goldstein, Lorren Marc Kalish and Idan C. Greenberg, by and through Counsel, respectfully move the Court for its Order authorizing disclosure of the minutes of the proceedings of the grand jury or juries returning the indictment in this case. As grounds for this motion, Counsel have a good faith belief that grand jurors were provided with erroneous and ambiguous guidance regarding the law of the case. Failure to provide accurate interpretations of the law eliminated the grand jury’s ability to return a true and fair indictment. Errors are found in the text of Count One and are set forth in more detail below. The transcripts will enable a review for context and the ability to assess the cumulative effect of the error.
Prior to indictment, this case was investigated as a conspiracy to violate Section 922(o) of Title 18. As part of the investigation and before an indictment, every machinegun identified in the indictment was submitted to the Firearms Technology Branch (FTB), the official Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) laboratory in West Virginia. There, the machineguns were examined and tested for the sole purpose of determining whether modifications made to 34 machineguns by Defendant Clark constituted new manufactures. No opinion as to the date of manufacture of any of the machineguns was rendered by any of the FTB experts who examined and tested the machineguns. The presence of substantive § 922(o) counts in the indictment means that the grand jury found probable cause without a single expert opinion.
Currently, a year and a half after indictment, there is good reason to believe that Count One will be prosecuted as a conspiracy to violate § 922(o) of Title 18. Count One is the keystone of this 106 count prosecution. Without conviction on Count One, very few of the remaining substantive counts survive. Access to the transcripts will permit timely and thoroughly briefed objections to the Conspiracy and substantive § 922(o) counts. Dismissal of an indictment is appropriate where violations of grand jury procedures “substantially influenced the grand jury’s decision to indict,” or raised a “grave doubt as to whether it had such an effect.”
What?!? Lying by omission or commission to a grand jury? Say it ain't so, Rick Vasquez! There is, according to my sources, an internal investigation of Mr. Vasquez and his relationships with confidential informants John Brown and Dan Shea. There is a larger investigation of the question of whether those two worthies transferred automatic weapons to employees of of the ATF in return for favors. Thus, I was more than a little interesting is this portion of the motion:
THE ATF CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
The origin of the criminal investigation was unusual. In contrast to the opening of most investigations, it was ATF employees of the NFA Branch and the FTB lab (government employees not authorized to conduct criminal investigations) who first became suspicious of the existence of a possible violations of law. After the performance of several investigatory tasks (5), the matter was referred first to the Washington DC (Falls Church) Criminal Division and later to the Phoenix ATF Criminal Division for criminal investigation.
The matter was referred to the Phoenix Special Agent in Charge by way of a memorandum dated November 16, 2006 from an ATF Deputy Assistant Director at ATF Headquarters (The Office of Enforcement Programs and Services) (6). Prior thereto, faceless and nameless ATF employees of the NFA Branch and the Firearms Technology Branch had already interviewed ATF employees about the matter, had numerous contacts with the person in possession of SN A6042075, a suspected contraband machinegun; they had conducted an alleged laboratory test of the suspect gun; and had also returned the gun to the registrant after determining it was contraband and was illegal to possess. All this took place before the formal referral for criminal investigation on November 16, 2006.
The referral memo of the Deputy Assistant Director included the following points
________________________ _________
5 The significance of this is that such conduct violates ATF internal procedures. When persons unfamiliar with criminal procedures conduct interviews or handle property in a criminal matter there is risk that evidence will contaminated. ATF employees other than Special Agents, are not authorized, trained or otherwise qualified to conduct criminal interviews of suspects, seize property, receive abandoned property, collect and preserve evidence, or submit property for a determination of its potential evidentiary value, etc.
6 This position, despite its title, is a regulatory function that oversees the programs and Services that support the main functions of ATF, including such service providers as the NFA Branch and the FTB Branch supra., and others. MOTION USGJ TRANSCRIPTS FINAL 011012.wpd Page 12 of 18
supporting the need for a criminal investigation in Phoenix:
1. George Clark, a Special Occupational Taxpayer in Arizona since 1993, converted MAC Models 10 and 11 machineguns into Browning Model 1919 machineguns;
2. Applications (7) to transfer the converted guns from Clark to various parties were found to have constant make and model designations but the caliber, barrel and overall lengths were at variance with descriptions in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record (NFRTR);
3. One of the suspected machineguns, SN A6042075, caliber 9mm/45 cal., barrel lengths 5.57 inches and overall length 11 inches was then registered to a Virginia FFL, John Brown, DBA Battlefield Sports and that Mr. Brown transported this machinegun to the FTB lab in West Virginia for examination;
4. Significantly, the memo failed to disclose that prior to being in possession of SN A6042075, Brown had bought and sold at least two other M1919 machineguns and was a party in eight (8) applications to transfer models 1919 that had been converted from MAC models by Clark. It was also learned in review of discovery material that Brown was an ATF Confidential Informant;
5. The examination and testing of SN A6042075 was alleged to have been performed on October 31, 2006 by Richard Vasquez, the Deputy Chief of FTB; and
6. Vasquez concluded that the MAC Model 10 machinegun had been destroyed in the conversion process and that the Model 1919 was a new manufacture which triggered a requirement for Clark to file a Form 2 (notice of manufacture of a new machinegun). Since the Model 1919 was not registered, it was a contraband unregistered machinegun.
There are major problems with statements in the referral memo:
1. The memo cites neither to a statute, a regulation, a ruling nor any case law for the principle that the conversion of an NFA registered machinegun to another model constitutes the manufacture of a new machinegun and therefore requires a new registration. The conversion process described in the memo is a zero sum game. The MAC Model 10 machinegun that was converted was one machinegun lawfully registered and possessed before the conversion. Following the conversion, it was the same one machinegun albeit in a different configuration but nevertheless still one machinegun. The NFA is a tax statute and assesses tax on “machineguns,” per se, not models. The tax assessed and collected on every make, model, design, configuration of machinegun is set at the same uniform rate – $200.00 to register and $200.00 to transfer;
2. The Report of an Official Examination and Testing of SN A6042075 on October 31, 2006 is a canard, a complete, from whole cloth fabrication. Like a unicorn,
________________________ __
At the time, 11/16/06, Ms. Stucko reported that 22 such suspect applications to transfer had been identified from a search of the NFRTR. The actual number charged in the indictment is 34 as others were discovered through investigation.
Because it is impossible to find, it does not exist. The ATF FTB Laboratory has no record of receiving SN A6042075 for testing and examination on or about October 31, 2006. There is no report of such an examination in the FTB official system of records. The non-existence of A6042075's receipt in the FTB evidence log on October 31 and the non-existence of an FTB lab report was concealed from defendants throughout the discovery period. It was discovered only after Counsel’s specific requests for disclosure of the report were ignored for over a year. Finally, in October, 2011, Defendants received definitive proof that FTB has no record of receipt of that machinegun on or about that date. That fact was made known in response to a request for collateral items, i.e., for the pages of FTB’s evidence logs for October 31, 2006 and for any other entries in the FTB’s system of records. An agency capable of persisting in such deceit, patently false statements in a criminal investigation by top level ATF Headquarters Executives, is capable of much worse. (8)
THE ATF TECHNICAL EXAMINATIONS AND LAB REPORTS
Every machinegun in the indictment (approximately 80) was sent to the FTB lab for testing. Each was found to be a machinegun. However, they had been submitted to the lab for a determination whether they were manufactured after May 19, 1986. Such a finding is the ultimate proof at issue for a violation of § 922(o). The state of the government’s scientific evidence at the time of indictment was that it did not possess a single expert opinion about any machinegun submitted to FTB for testing (approximately 400) as to the date of manufacture, the place of manufacture and the identity of the manufacturer.
After the Court ordered deadline for completion of discovery had passed, on October 13, 2011, the government disclosed an undated report labeled “Supplemental Report of FTB 2008-514-KEM/FTB 2009-114-KEM.” (Supplemental Report). This report was prepared by Richard Vasquez, the government’s designated Firearms Expert Witness and purports (9) to supplement the time, these statements support an inference that government attorneys and witnesses polluted the grand jury process by the entry of erroneous statements of law. Taken at best, these remarks represent a profound misunderstanding of the rights and privileges, duties and obligations of a person in the status of a licensed manufacturer of firearms and a Special Occupational Taxpayer.
________________________ _______
8 For more than a year, Defendants have requested confirmation of the existence of an internal investigation of ATF employees and regulated persons involved in this case and/or disclosure of the report of that investigation.(the ATF Office of Internal Affairs or Office of Professional Responsibility) Unlike a unicorn, the report of such an investigation does exist and it can be found.
The timing, authenticity and certification of this Report has not yet been challenged nor has the government provided any reasoning or authority for shifting lab reports. This is a Mr. Vasquez’s third modification of the official reports of another and bears no indicia that it is an official record of the ATF Firearms Technology Branch. The earlier official versions of the two reports contain no opinion that the conversions constituted a new manufacture.firearms expert. (One of the supplemented reports had been amended in February of 2011). Further, the report is not dated and bears no indicia that it is an official record of the ATF Firearms Technology Branch. The earlier official versions of the two reports contain no opinion that the conversions constituted a new manufacture.
Vasquez is in "a heap o' trouble," according to our sources. So, too, is the ATF. Insiders predict that the Clark case will go the way of the Friesen case, with all serious charges dismissed, afters years of investigation time and millions of dollars spent. A member of the Coalition of Willing Lilliputians, Alvin
Wombat, provides this analysis:
I did a bit of serious nosing and reliably determined the following:
There is, absolutely, a sub rosa agenda by SOME people at ATF (I am not using a broad brush here) to systematically remove all of the registered/existing machine guns from civilians. The interpretation by SOME at ATF, fostered equally by ATF Counsel and SOME ATF Special Agents, is that the law was not enacted to preserve ownership of these existing machine guns, but instead to forcibly reduce the existing supply of transferable machine guns until it reaches zero.
There is some genuine sympathy developing for what Len terms ATF's "enforcement by ambush," i.e., concocting interpretations of what constitute violations of law; not publishing them or otherwise making them known; and "announcing" them by arresting people for serious felony (there is no other kind) violations of the NFA. David T. Hardy's recent observation in a blog on his site that ATF ought to, at a minimum based on the Administrative Procedures Act, make all of its pertinent Letter Rulings available to the public, including putting copies of them in a public Reading Room. The fact that ATF has issued many contradictory Letter Rulings is raising troubling legal issues.
It would be worth thumping Congressional washtubs to get the Congressional Research Service to once again address the Letter Ruling issue, in context of H.R. 126 (Fairness in Firearms Testing Act), because that would constitute a legislative approach to the issue/problem. The key to getting THAT done, in addition to the washtub thumping, is (A) getting some action on H.R. 126, and (B) getting somebody on the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security to take an interest in these aspects of enforcement.
I recognize that an important agenda is for the Congress to address the serious mismanagement of ATF from the top down, particularly the jacking around of ATF personnel---the retaliation, the increasingly crazy/contradictory enforcement. The "enforcement by ambush" aspect is just another example of ATF Counsel and top management abuse and failure to professionally administer the law.
5. In reading some of the Clark materials, it is impossible to conclude that the U.S. Attorney understands the law, and that ATF (through ATF Counsel) is not deliberately misrepresenting the law. The fact that this involves machine guns makes it politically dicey.
6. An angle to mess with this may be to put the ATF Letter Rulings in context with the Fairness in Firearms Testing Act; in particular, the practice of ATF to concoct standards to bring certain firearms into NFA status; like the re-testing in the Olofson case; and the crazy prosecution of Friesen (which revolved around what amounted to a firearm description).
Alvin Wombat.
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New E-mail Blows Hole In Obama’s “Fast And Furious” Story
westernjournalism.com ^ | 11 January, 2012 | Doug Book
Posted on January 14, 2012 2:16:37 PM EST by marktwain
Discovery of a January 2011 e-mail exchange between then Acting ATF Director Ken Melson and the Bureau’s chief council Steve Rubenstein has put the kibosh on Obama administration elites’ latest “we didn’t know about it” defense concerning the regime’s involvement in Operation Fast and Furious.
On December 22, 2010, a contributor identifying himself as “1desertrat” posted the following to the “CLEANUP ATF” website:
Word is that curious George Gillett the Phoenix ASAC stepped on it again. Allegedly he has approved more than 500 AR-15 type rifles from Tucson and Phoenix cases to be “walked” to Mexico. Appears that ATF may be one of the largest suppliers of assault rifles to the Mexican cartels! One of these rifles is rumored to have been linked to the recent killing of a Border Patrol Officer in Nogales, AZ. Can anyone confirm this information? [1]
Well, Director Melson read this “CLEANUP ATF” post and didn’t appreciate the fact that ATF business had been so willfully shared with the general public. Especially, this business. So, he contacted ATF Chief Council Steve Rubenstein for advice. And the e-mail reply he received from Rubenstein is a beauty. Rubenstein wrote:
The disclosure of this information has a potential deleterious effect on ATF’s undercover operations. In that regard, suspects may alter their behavior if they know that law enforcement is allowing certain firearms to “walk” into Mexico. (my bold text) In addition, public knowledge of this type of operation potentially places informants and undercover agents in jeopardy.
If “1desertrat” is an ATF employee, then he/she is subject to our Orders and Standards of Conduct….[2]
(See below for copy of email)
Rubentsein goes on to quote the ATF Code of Conduct for employees, making it clear to Melson that the individual responsible for the post could be dealt with rather severely if indeed an ATF agent.
And Melson’s response: “Thanks Steve. I’m going to forward this to IA.” That is, Internal Affairs, which had by this time earned the reputation of being little more than a tool for the intimidation of agents who did not adequately adhere to ATF policy, regardless of how corrupt or nefarious.[3]
The question is, where was Ken Melson’s outrage? Where are the endless questions about the “gunwalking” charge? Where is the anger about not having been informed of the operation? It has been Melson’s defense and testimony to congress for the past year that no one told him of Operation Fast and Furious. He didn’t know about guns being “walked” into Mexico. And of course it stands to reason that if he, the ATF Director didn’t know, no one above his pay grade could have known either, letting Eric Holder and Barack Obama off the hook.
But Melson doesn’t act like an innocent dupe who had been kept deliberately in the dark. He seems interested only in what steps can be taken to silence and punish “1desertrat” should his identity as an ATF employee become known.
But dupe or not, treated like an outsider by ATF old-timers or not, kept in the dark about gunwalking to Mexico or not, Ken Melson had been introduced to the Fast and Furious, gunwalking scheme no later than December 2010. His yearlong performance before congressional investigators as “innocent bystander” will no longer fly.
And neither will the fact that he supposedly kept the deliberate, highly illegal smuggling of guns into Mexico quietly to himself, sparing his superiors in the Department of Justice any of the gory details. As an attorney, Ken Melson knew the consequences, both of such a crime and its cover up. One can wager, if only to protect his own hide, he made sure his Department of Justice and executive branch bosses knew it as well.
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Federal official in Arizona to plead the fifth and not answer questions on 'furious'
By William La Jeunesse
Published January 20, 2012 | FoxNews.com
The chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona is refusing to testify before Congress regarding Operation Fast and Furious, the federal gun-running scandal that sent U.S. weapons to Mexico.
Patrick J. Cunningham informed the House Oversight Committee late Thursday through his attorney that he will use the Fifth Amendment protection.
Cunningham was ordered Wednesday to appear before Chairman Darrell Issa and the House Oversight Committee regarding his role in the operation that sent more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa Cartel. Guns from the failed operation were found at the murder scene of Border Agent Brian Terry.
The letter from Cunningham’s Washington DC attorney stunned congressional staff. Last week, Cunningham, the second highest ranking U.S. Attorney in Arizona, was scheduled to appear before Issa‘s committee voluntarily. Then, he declined and Issa issued a subpoena.
Cunningham is represented by Tobin Romero of Williams and Connolly who is a specialist in white collar crime. In the letter, he suggests witnesses from the Department of Justice in Washington, who have spoken in support of Attorney General Eric Holder, are wrong or lying.
“Department of Justice officials have reported to the Committee that my client relayed inaccurate information to the Department upon which it relied in preparing its initial response to Congress. If, as you claim, Department officials have blamed my client, they have blamed him unfairly,” the letter to Issa says.
Romero claims Cunningham did nothing wrong and acted in good faith, but the Department of Justice in Washington is making him the fall guy, claiming he failed to accurately provide the Oversight Committee with information on the execution of Fast and Furious.
"To avoid needless preparation by the Committee and its staff for a deposition next week, I am writing to advise you that my client is going to assert his constitutional privilege not to be compelled to be a witness against himself." Romero told Issa.
This schism is the first big break in what has been a unified front in the government’s defense of itself in the gun-running scandal. Cunningham claims he is a victim of a conflict between two branches of government and will not be compelled to be a witnesses against himself, and make a statement that could be later used by a grand jury or special prosecutor to indict him on criminal charges.
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Arizona strikes back: State investigates feds over gun-running
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By Stephen Dinan
January 21, 2012, 10:01AM
Arizona strikes back: State investigates feds over gun-running
Arizona's state legislature will open its own investigation into the Obama administration's disgraced gun-running program, known as "Fast and Furious," the speaker of the state House said Friday.
Speaker Andy Tobin created the committee, and charged it with looking at whether the program broke any state laws — raising the possibility of state penalties against those responsible for the operation.
It's a turnaround from the rest of the immigration issue, where the federal government has sued to block the state's own set of laws.
A law requiring businesses to check new workers' legal status was upheld by the Supreme Court last year, and the court has agreed to hear the case of Arizona's crackdown law that makes being an illegal immigrant a state crime and gives state and local police the power to enforce that law.
Fast and Furious was a straw-purchase program run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The goal was to try to trace guns sold in Arizona shops and then trafficked across the Mexican border, where they landed in the hands of drug cartels.
As part of the operation, however, agents let the guns "walk" — meaning they lost track of them. At least two of the guns ended up at the scene where Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in a shootout with Mexican bandits along a smuggling corridor in Arizona.
Mr. Tobin will announce the committee's jurisdiction at a press conference in Phoenix on Monday. The committee is charged with looking into the facts about the program, what impact it had on Arizona and whether any of the state's laws were broken.
A report is due back by March 30.
Arizona's investigation into Fast and Furious comes on top of an investigation by Republicans in Congress.
On Friday the chief of the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona told a House committee he will decline to answer their questions next week, citing his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
The official's lawyer, in a letter to the committee, said his client is innocent but is "ensnared by the unfortunate circumstances in which he now stands between two branches of government
http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/inside-politics/2012/jan/21/arizona-strikes-back-state-investigates-feds-over-
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Summary Of A Scandal(Gunwalker)
Ammoland ^ | 20 January, 2012 | David Codrea
USA --(Ammoland.com)- “Project Gunwalker”—that’s the name I came up with for ATF’s “Project Gunrunner” when revelations surfaced that instead of interdicting guns headed to Mexico’s crime cartels, the bureau, through its “Fast and Furious” investigation, was allowing them to escape surveillance and be delivered to some of the most vicious killers on the planet.
Mike Vanderboegh of the Sipsey Street Irregulars blog summarizes five key elements of the criminal allegations against ATF and the Department of Justice:
1. That they instructed U.S. gun dealers to proceed with questionable and illegal sales of firearms to suspected gunrunners.
2. That they allowed or even assisted in those guns crossing the U.S. border into Mexico to “boost the numbers” of American civilian market firearms seized in Mexico and thereby provide the justification for more firearm restrictions on American citizens and more power and money for ATF.
3. That they intentionally kept Mexican authorities in the dark about the operation, even over objections of their own agents.
4. That weapons that the ATF let “walk” to Mexico were involved in the deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE agent Jaime Zapata, as well as at least hundreds of Mexican citizens.
5. That at least since the death of Brian Terry on 14 December, the Obama administration is engaged in a full-press cover-up of the facts behind what has come to be known as the “Gunwalker Scandal.”
Vanderboegh and I had both been monitoring CleanUpATF.org for years. That’s a website run by “members of the ATF community to promote restoration of accountability…to ATF’s leadership…” Because of our public advocacy for oversight hearings into prior allegations of management corruption, we were contacted by whistleblowing insiders wanting to attract congressional and media attention, but fearful of management reprisals.
Thus began a labor of daily activity that included developing contacts, consulting with trusted advisors, communicating with our sources, trying to interest reporters, and no small amount of banging pots and pans on our websites to attract attention and pressure congressional staffers into arranging protection while they assessed the documentation our sources claimed would prove their allegations.
It has paid off with the attention of Senator Chuck Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa, and hearings in the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, along with some degree of media attention, albeit most of the mainstream press still either ignores the story or exploits it to stump for more gun control and/or to attack the investigators. New disclosures seem to emerge every week, and we now know that other federal agencies and departments have also been involved, and that evidence of gunwalking operations has surfaced in states besides Arizona.
Considering this can fairly be characterized, without hyperbole, as an international criminal conspiracy, one that reflects callous, even monstrous disregard for human life in order to advance agendas and careers, such results will tell us much about the prospects for government officials being held accountable for their misdeeds.
For a complete timeline of Gun Rights Examiner/Sipsey Street Irregulars “Project Gunwalker” reporting, from Mike Vanderboegh’s breaking the story on Dec. 28, 2010 to the present, see “A Journalist’s Guide to ‘Project Gunwalker’,” now up to Volume Eight.
David Codrea
David Codrea in his native element.
About David Codrea: David Codrea is a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He is a field editor for GUNS Magazine, and a blogger at The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance. Read more at www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/david-codrea
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BREAKING on Fast and Furious: Arizona Moves to Prosecute Those the Feds Won’t
biggovernment.com ^ | 22 January, 2012 | AWR Hawkins
Nationally, Fast and Furious has entered the vernacular. As a result, Americans of all walks of life now know that the ATF and DOJ oversaw the sale of approximately 2,500 guns to straw purchasers who, in turn, passed them to criminals in Mexico and elsewhere. Moreover, Americans know that the plan from the get-go was to have these guns carried across an international border and passed to criminals whom the ATF then planned to arrest (but they never got around to arresting them because they hadn’t bothered tracing the guns from the point of sale).
Therefore, Americans also know that of the 2,500 guns originally sold, approximately 1,300 are still on the streets and unaccounted for. At least two of these guns were found at Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder scene in December 2010, and Americans increasingly know that while Terry may have been the first American victim, odds are he won’t be the last with such a large number of weapons on the loose.
Lastly, Americans know that President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder have both denied complicity in Fast and Furious, particularly in the gun-running aspects of it. Throughout the course of denying complicity, Holder has changed his story more than once, Obama has demonstrated confusion over when he first learned about Fast and Furious, and former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke (Arizona) was allowed to retire without charges although he was demonstrably involved in covering up the connection between Fast and Furious and Agent Terry’s death.
Perhaps through all this, the one thing the American people have witnessed to a sickening degree is the stark failure to prosecute those involved in Fast and Furious to the full extent of the law. Holder has been handled with kid gloves, Burke is now living a private life, and Obama is not being asked to clear up the many discrepancies in his timeline.
Enter Arizona.
Where the same state that brought you S.B. 1070—the immigration law aimed at allowing the state to do the job the feds won’t do—is set to open their own investigation into Fast and Furious and bring state charges against those the feds have heretofore refused to charge. Andy Tobin, Arizona’s Speaker of the House, will announce tomorrow (Monday, January 23rd) the scope of the investigation, and will call for state investigators to have their findings back to him no later than March 30.
The bottom line: Arizona is about to the do the job the feds won’t do – again.
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http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/what-have-been-effects-of-politics-and-new-media-on-gunwalker?CID=examiner_alerts_article
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Issa calls for second prosecutor to testify about ‘Fast and Furious’
The Washington Times ^ | 1/26/12 | Jerry Seper
Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2012 12:57:23 PM by Nachum
The chairman of a House committee investigating the failed “Fast and Furious” operation demanded on Thursday that the Justice Department make a key federal prosecutor in Arizona available for questioning about “his role in and knowledge of” the controversial gunrunning probe.
Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, made the demand in a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., saying Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Morrissey played an “integral part” in Fast and Furious and has information not available from other sources.
Mr. Morrissey’s supervisor, Patrick J. Cunningham, chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, refused last week to submit to a deposition by committee investigators, citing his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
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Issa's just taking his sweet time on this shit.
CLinton was busted and impeached in under 11 months, right?
issa is just kicking the can down the street taking his sweet time on F&F.
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Report by House Democrats Absolves Administration in Gun Trafficking Case
NY Times ^ | January 31, 2012 | CHARLIE SAVAGE
Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 1:16:33 AM by neverdem
WASHINGTON — Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday are expected to publish a report on the disputed gun trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious, concluding that agents in Arizona — not Obama administration officials — were responsible for the tactics used in the inquiry and for providing misleading information relayed to Congress.
In an 89-page report, titled “Fatally Flawed: Five Years of Gun-walking in Arizona,” the Democratic staff portrays Fast and Furious as the fourth investigation, dating back to 2006, in which Arizona-based agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives employed the tactic “gun-walking” — failing to interdict illegally purchased guns in an attempt to build a bigger case.
“This report debunks many unsubstantiated conspiracy theories,” Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, wrote in a cover letter. “Contrary to repeated claims by some, the committee has obtained no evidence that Operation Fast and Furious was a politically motivated operation conceived and directed by high-level Obama administration political appointees at the Department of Justice.”
Still, because the report was written by Democrats, the political impact of its conclusion exonerating high-level officials of wrongdoing may be limited. Its publication comes two days before Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is to testify before the committee. In previous hearings, Republicans have accused the department of sanctioning the tactics and lying to Congress.
In Fast and Furious, which ran from late 2009 to early 2011, A.T.F. officials lost track of about 2,000 guns purchased by suspected “straw buyers.” Many weapons are believed to have reached a Mexican drug cartel. Two guns linked to the investigation were found at the site of a shootout in which a Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was killed.
Congressional Republicans — led by Representative Darrell Issa of California, the...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Typical commie thugs, blame someone else.
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Report by House Democrats Absolves Administration in Gun Trafficking Case
NY Times ^ | January 31, 2012 | CHARLIE SAVAGE
Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2012 1:16:33 AM by neverdem
WASHINGTON — Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday are expected to publish a report on the disputed gun trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious, concluding that agents in Arizona — not Obama administration officials — were responsible for the tactics used in the inquiry and for providing misleading information relayed to Congress.
In an 89-page report, titled “Fatally Flawed: Five Years of Gun-walking in Arizona,” the Democratic staff portrays Fast and Furious as the fourth investigation, dating back to 2006, in which Arizona-based agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives employed the tactic “gun-walking” — failing to interdict illegally purchased guns in an attempt to build a bigger case.
“This report debunks many unsubstantiated conspiracy theories,” Representative Elijah E. Cummings, Democrat of Maryland, wrote in a cover letter. “Contrary to repeated claims by some, the committee has obtained no evidence that Operation Fast and Furious was a politically motivated operation conceived and directed by high-level Obama administration political appointees at the Department of Justice.”
Still, because the report was written by Democrats, the political impact of its conclusion exonerating high-level officials of wrongdoing may be limited. Its publication comes two days before Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is to testify before the committee. In previous hearings, Republicans have accused the department of sanctioning the tactics and lying to Congress.
In Fast and Furious, which ran from late 2009 to early 2011, A.T.F. officials lost track of about 2,000 guns purchased by suspected “straw buyers.” Many weapons are believed to have reached a Mexican drug cartel. Two guns linked to the investigation were found at the site of a shootout in which a Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was killed.
Congressional Republicans — led by Representative Darrell Issa of California, the...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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Typical commie thugs, blame someone else.
Typical 3333, draw a conclusion before reading what both sides have to say...
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Agnostic - please dispute this video.
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Holder's fantastical claim about 'Fast and Furious'
washingtonexaminer.com ^ | 30 January, 2012 | Examiner Editorial
Philosophers and poets have argued for at least three millennia about who is more valuable. Poets claim they tell tales that inspire men to do things they would otherwise never accomplish. But philosophers argue that this requires the acceptance of obvious fantasies, thus leading men away from the truth. Judging by what Attorney General Eric Holder has been asking Congress and the American people to believe regarding what and when he knew about Operation Fast and Furious, we think he is telling tales that lead away from the truth.
Fast and Furious is the Justice Department program that allowed thousands of weapons to be sold in 2009 to known buyers for Mexican drug cartels in the hope that the tainted guns would show up at future crime scenes. The department's cockeyed theory was that the "walked" weapons would enable authorities to tie the drug bosses to specific crimes in the United States and Mexico. Unfortunately, the bureaucrats lost track of the weapons until it was too late.
Now Holder wants Americans to believe an obvious fantasy, namely that he didn't know about Fast and Furious until witch-hunting House Republicans made it a highly charged partisan issue a few months ago. But after reviewing new emails made public by the Justice Department last Friday, it seems clear that accepting Holder's claim at face value would be credulous in the extreme.
He is scheduled to appear Thursday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The first question for Holder will concern a series of emails sent in the immediate aftermath of the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry on Dec. 15, 2010. The emails make clear that Monty Wilkinson, then Holder's deputy chief of staff, was informed by U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke of Terry's death, and that weapons found on the scene were bought in Phoenix and were among those in "the investigation we were going to talk about."
Other documents obtained by the committee make clear that the investigation in question was Fast and Furious. The emails also establish that Wilkinson and other senior Justice Department officials in Washington were briefed on the program shortly after Terry's murder. In other words, within days, if not hours, of Terry's death, it was known at the highest levels of the Justice Department that he was killed by guns sold with the full knowledge of federal officials who then lost track of them.
It is simply inconceivable that Wilkinson did not inform others in the Justice Department, including Holder, about these facts. Regardless of the political damage that such a scandal would cause, Wilkinson should have made informing Holder a top priority. Doing anything less was at the least gross negligence. This is even more the point with Holder: Either he actually knew about Fast and Furious months before he told Congress he did, or he didn't know when he should have. No wonder nearly 100 House members have signed a resolution of no confidence in Holder.
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Justice official says congressional deadline for more Fast and Furious documents ‘impossible
Washington Post ^ | 2/1/12 | Sari Horwitz
Posted on February 1, 2012 11:32:48 PM EST by Nachum
On the eve of U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s appearance before Congress, a senior Justice Department official said the agency cannot meet the deadline Republican lawmakers have set to turn over more documents on the “Fast and Furious” gun operation or be held in contempt of Congress. Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole said that the Feb. 9 deadline to submit all documents on the botched gun operation set this week by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, was “impossible to meet.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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GOP report: Justice officials were on top of Fast and Furious
Fox News ^ | William La Jeunesse & Laura Prabucki
Top Department of Justice officials had extensive knowledge of and involvement in Operation Fast and Furious, claims a new report released Thursday, hours before Attorney General Eric Holder's scheduled testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The report released by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, top lawmakers investigating the botched gunrunning operation, claims Justice Department officials in Washington and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were involved in the coordination in the early stages of the operation.
Justice headquarters "had much greater knowledge of, and involvement in, Fast and Furious than it has previously acknowledged," the memo reads.
The memo, which contradicts claims by the Justice Department, is based upon interviews, documents and emails involving key players of the operation run by the ATF. The operation allowed some 2,000 weapons cross the border into Mexico and into the hands of cartel members.
Two of the weapons linked to the program were found at the murder scene of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010 as well as other crime scenes in Mexico.
Emails released show that Kenneth Melson, former acting director of the ATF, contacted Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer and told him that his organization wanted to take a "different approach" to seizing guns going to Mexico.
Breuer responded that it was a "terrific idea" and the department assigned a prosecutor from its Criminal Division to work with the ATF in early 2010.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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*yawn*
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This lady was very good. Fuck Obama/Holder! ! ! !
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Ha ha ha - Issa is pissed
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A failed ‘Fast and Furious’ whitewash
NY Post ^ | 2/2/12 | Walsh
Today’s Capitol Hill hearing on the “Fast and Furious” mess promises drama that may well rival the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings or gangland chieftain Frank Costello’s memorable 1951 testimony in front of Sen. Estes Kefauver’s hearings on organized crime.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee insist there’s nothing left to learn about the murderous federal “gunwalking” operation: We already know who’s to blame, they report: low-level agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Phoenix, and staffers at the US Attorney’s Office there, headed by Dennis Burke, who has since resigned.
Oh, yes, and George W. Bush.
That’s the pre-emptive whitewash released Tuesday by Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and his partisan cronies in advance of the confrontation between the committee’s chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), and Attorney General Eric Holder — the man for whom the buck never stops as long as he can plausibly blame someone else.
Read more:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/failed_fast_and_furious_whitewash_A8qiL0QMYT9wTsSHSNIBIK#ixzz1lFawWfk2
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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Calls for Gun Control in Wake of Fast and Furious Ignore Current Law
Heritage ^ | 2/2/12 | Lachlan Markay
Attorney General Eric Holder used his testimony before a House committee on Thursday to tout the supposed need for new gun control laws to prevent “gun walking,” or the transportation of firearms across the Southern border. But he – and members of the committee – ignored existing laws that already accomplish Holder’s ostensible goals.
“That is why we need a stronger gun trafficking law,” Holder said in response to questions about recourse against officials who signed off on the gun walking tactic. The tactic was integral to Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed the transportation of roughly 2,500 firearms into Mexico, often with not just the knowledge but the facilitation of federal law enforcement officials, where those guns were given to violent drug cartels.
Many Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where Holder was testifying for the sixth time on Fast and Furious, echoed the attorney general’s calls for greater gun control. Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) touted legislation they introduced, which would make suspected “straw purchases” – the purchases of guns to be handed off to others – illegal.
Holder called that bill “a good place for us to start.”
But neither Holder nor committee members mentioned the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a federal law already on the books that appears to criminalize the precise conduct undertaken by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in Operation Fast and Furious.
According to James Steinbauer, a former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer who wrote the Kingpin Act, an extension of the IEEPA, “it is illegal for any U.S. entity or individual to aid, abet, or materially assist — or in the case of Operation Fast and Furious, to facilitate others to aid, abet, or materially assist — designated drug traffickers.”
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.heritage.org ...
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Skip to comments.
Groundhog Day: Holder Repeats Fast And Furious Lies
IBD Editorials ^ | February 2, 2012
Posted on February 2, 2012 8:11:29 PM EST by Kaslin
Scandal: In a shameful performance, the attorney general Thursday reprised his tap-dancing routine before a panel investigating the Fast and Furious gunrunning operation that got U.S. agents and Mexicans killed.
'It's Groundhog Day, and Brian Terry's family and taxpayers are still waiting for Fast and Furious answers from the Justice Department," Chairman Darrell Issa said before the hearings. "We will not wait until the next Groundhog Day to get answers for the American people."
Rep. Issa, R-Calif., has threatened Attorney General Eric Holder with a contempt of Congress citation if he doesn't get answers to questions on Fast and Furious, such as who authorized it and what and when Holder knew. The story constantly changes.
After Thursday's deja vu hearing in front of Issa's House Government Oversight Committee, we're still waiting. The attorney general keeps insisting he didn't authorize it, that he's still not sure when he became aware of it, and, no, no one has been held responsible for providing weapons to Mexican drug cartels.
"There is no attempt at any kind of cover-up," Holder said under questioning. "We have shared huge amounts of information" and continue to do so.
Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., noted that the Justice Department has released only 6,400 pages of the 93,000 pages of documents related to Fast and Furious, with the rest being held under some arcane and specious separation of powers argument.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
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Does ‘fatally flawed’ minority report on gunwalking ‘absolve’ administration?
examiner.com ^ | 1 February, 2012 | David Codrea
Posted on February 1, 2012 10:36:26 AM EST by marktwain
“Report by House Democrats Absolves Administration in Gun Trafficking Case,” Charlie Savage of The New York Times would have us believe:
Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday are expected to publish a report on the disputed gun trafficking investigation called Operation Fast and Furious, concluding that agents in Arizona — not Obama administration officials — were responsible for the tactics used in the inquiry and for providing misleading information relayed to Congress.
The “expected” report, that is, the report House Democrats gave their reliable mouthpiece a heads-up on, has been released, just in time to get defense plays and signals out there in anticipation of Attorney General Eric Holder’s Thursday appearance before the full Committee (where he’ll hopefully get to answer questions about why his people are pleading the Fifth and testimony from their underlings is being denied):
Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued a 95-page minority staff report entitled “Fatally Flawed: Five Years of Gunwalking in Arizona.” The report describes the results of the Committee’s year-long investigation into the actions and circumstances that led to multiple gunwalking operations in Arizona from 2006 to 2010.
Or as Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars puts it, “Bloody Hands Cummings & White House issue a report saying that the Bushes made them do it, and besides, it was all Phoenix's fault.”
That’s because Cummings and Committee Democrats showed deliberate indifference to allegations by veteran agents of ATF management abuse back in 2009 when they controlled things. And he and they have since become the leading voices for diverting the thrust of the investigation into demands for more power for the very people who continue to abuse what they already have.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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Fast and Furious: Groundhog Day at House Oversight - Holder clings to the stone wall.
Human Events ^ | 02/02/2012 | John Hayward
Posted on February 2, 2012 9:33:08 PM EST by neverdem
Attorney General Eric Holder’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee today was, in the main, a re-run of past appearances before Congress. He kept the stone wall firm and tight, while angrily denying he was running a cover-up, and accusing investigators of running “political gotcha games.”
Here’s Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY) cutting to the chase, and asking Holder how many more U.S. Border Patrol agents would have had to die as part of Operation Fast and Furious before the Attorney General would finally take responsibility:
Holder continued his “incompetence defense” of insisting that he really doesn’t know anything that happens at the Justice Department, and can’t recall details about anything relating to Fast and Furious. He even claimed he never saw some of the subpoenas he’s been ignoring.
Rep. Buerkle noted the strange silence from our famously talkative President on the subject of Eric Holder and Operation Fast and Furious. Holder continued to insist he has never discussed Fast and Furious with either Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton… this despite hundreds of Mexican citizens being killed by Holder’s “botched gun walking operation.” Holder actually tried suggesting to Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) that nobody else in the Administration wants to talk to him, because they’re afraid of getting dragged into the politically-motivated Fast and Furious investigation.
Courtesy of The Right Scoop, here’s an amazing exchange where Holder vows to crack down on the people who blew the whistle on Fast and Furious. Holder later confessed he has never apologized to the completely vindicated whistleblowers whose veracity he had previously questioned.
Although Holder continues to insist he’s a team player and the paragon of transparency, an annoyed Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) pointed out that Holder’s withholding of documents contrasts sharply with the way his predecessors handled subpoena, and called Holder’s tactics “baloney,” concluding that “there are some things hidden on this documents that you don’t want us to see”:
It’s easy to understand Rep. Burton’s surprised reaction to learning that Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division Chief Patrick Cunningham quit just days after taking the Fifth Amendment to escape giving Fast and Furious testimony… or Rep. Darrell Issa’s incredulous response when Holder claimed there’s nothing fishy about Cunningham’s actions. Happily, Holder promised to continue reviewing Justice Department documents pertaining to Cunningham’s actions, and will hand over anything he decides Congress should see. Hopefully Issa and Burton know better than to hold their breath waiting for those new documents.
Holder deflected other questions by referencing the antique “internal investigation” into Fast and Furious his department is supposedly conducting – an inquest that has now run for several months longer than the investigation into JFK’s assassination. He promised that anyone accused of wrongdoing when this epic probe is completed – presumably at some point after the next presidential election, or maybe the one after that – would be “removed from federal service.”
As for the contempt of Congress charges Issa has threatened Holder with, my prediction yesterday was proven true: Holder rejected the February 9th deadline laid out in Issa’s letter, and will evidently ignore the contempt charges.
Holder, echoed by Democrats on the Oversight Committee, also took the opportunity to renew their calls for more gun-control laws, which many suspect was the true purpose of Operation Fast and Furious all along.
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Holder should walk the plank on 'Fast and Furious'
By: Examiner Editorial | 02/02/12 8:05 PM
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AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Attorney General Eric Holder testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012, before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing entitled, "Fast & Furious: Management Failures at the Department of Justice". A petulant, angry, and defiant Attorney General Eric Holder refused yesterday to take any responsibility for the growing scandal surrounding Operation Fast and Furious, the ill-conceived and incompetently managed program in which federal agents allowed thousands of guns to be purchased in the United States by known suppliers to Mexican drug cartels. The hope was to be able to use the weapons to link drug bosses to particular crimes, making it easier to prosecute them. But federal officials lost track of more than 1,400 of the weapons, two of which were used in the slaying of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry just before Christmas in December 2010.
In testimony last year before the House Oversight and Government Operations Committee chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa of California, Holder said he first learned about Fast and Furious only after media reports began appearing about the congressional investigation started in the wake of Terry's slaying. He subsequently recanted that statement and acknowledged being told about the program by aides a few months before the media reports. He has since strenuously denied intentionally misleading Congress about when he first learned of Fast and Furious, and has accused congressional Republicans of using the program to concoct a partisan witch hunt.
But at yesterday's hearing, Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who has also been probing the Fast and Furious program, released a detailed report about their investigation, saying new documents they obtained demonstrate Holder's department "had much greater knowledge of, and involvement in, Fast and Furious than it has previously acknowledged." Despite the widespread knowledge within the department, however, the report said "senior Department officials showed a serious lack of inquisitiveness when it came to discovering details about Operation Fast and Furious. They knew as early as April 2010 that ATF's Phoenix Field Division ... had previously used this same tactic of gunwalking. Still, these officials failed to ascertain the true scope of the program. Later, when whistleblowers came forward with information and supporting documents, these same officials provided false information to Congress and refused to get to the bottom of the matter."
Holder's attitude before the committee yesterday could only be described as contemptuous. At one point, Rep. Raul Labrador read a dozen quotes from Holder over a period of more than a decade in which he had claimed his staff did not inform him about assorted matters. The attorney general disdainfully replied, "maybe this is the way you do things in Idaho or wherever you are from." Labrador was born in Puerto Rico and represents an Idaho congressional district.
Rather than the country bumpkin Holder appears to consider him, Labrador is a lawyer and the former managing partner of a law firm. More important, he is an elected member of Congress tasked by the Constitution to ask whatever questions he deems appropriate in in a congressional oversight hearing probing executive branch law enforcement activities. As much as he clearly chafes under such oversight, Holder should be relieved of his duties.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/2012/02/holder-should-walk-plank-fast-and-furious/2164191#ixzz1lKBDXOkB
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Breaking: Fugitive Obama Fundraiser Linked to Fast and Furious
Pundit Press ^ | 2/7/2012 | Thomas Ferdousi
Some developing news in the case of Juan Jose Rojas Cardona, who is a fugitive on drug and fraud charges. In 2009 it was discovered that he was involved in a plot to assassinate a rival and bribe Mexican officials.
This has gone public, as has his $200,000 in fundraising done for Barack Obama. Obama has now returned the money, but the scrutiny on Cardona continues. It now appears that Cardona's links to the organized crime world also ties him to the DEA, which ran Operation Fast and Furious. Cardona was allegedly involved with a top drug cartel across the border, which laundered millions with the help of the American government.
Just recently, his brother Carlos attempted to his Juan pardoned by the Democratic Party out of Iowa:
As recently as January of last year, one of Mr. Cardona’s brothers in Chicago, Carlos Rojas Cardona, arranged for the former chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party to seek a pardon from the governor for Pepe Cardona, according to prosecutors in that state. None was forthcoming.
Wikileaks exposed a US Consulate cable that showed five million dollars in bribes that the Cardona brother had paid to Mexican politicians, and also exposed that they may be linked to the Beltran Leyva drug cartel!
(Excerpt) Read more at punditpress.com ...
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THIS IS YOUR FUCKING POTUS!
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Fast and Furious: Three Questions Not Asked
PJ Media ^ | Bob Owens
Posted on Tuesday, February 07, 2012
Whether Operation Fast and Furious was a legitimate law enforcement operation, as the Department of Justice claims, or was part of a plot to impose gun control, it was radically different from all other border gun operations in one crucial way. Operation Fast and Furious was the only border gun operation that was undertaken with the full intention of the straw-purchased guns leaving the control of law enforcement officers and reaching the armories of drug cartel murderers. That fact alone should lead to the impeachment or administrative removal of everyone, from field agents to political appointees and elected officials that knew or should have known about the plot.
But that is only half of the horror story.
Operation Fast and Furious was specifically conceived so that “walked” guns would be recovered at crime scenes in Mexico. Their serial numbers would be provided to the ATF by Mexican authorities for tracing. Regardless of motive, the entire operation was premised on weapons being recovered at crime scenes in Mexico, and law enforcement agencies are well aware that criminals primarily abandon weapons only after they’ve been used in serious felony crimes such as murder or attempted murder.
Operation Fast and Furious was conceived knowing that Mexican nationals would be sacrificed in significant numbers if the tracing operation had any chance of working.
Operation Fast and Furious allowed more than 2,000 weapons to “walk,” indicating that those in charge of the operation were willing to let thousands of Mexican nationals die in an effort to identify the ringleaders of a cartel’s weapon acquisition team.
The Department of Justice claims that they did this so that they could trace the weapons to higher-ups in the cartels and take down entire gun-smuggling networks. Decent people can disagree on many aspects of crime fighting and the amount of risk we should be willing to absorb to fight crime, but we should all agree that no criminal network is worth sacrificing the lives of hundreds or thousands of victims. Yet that is precisely the way Operation Fast and Furious was designed to work.
The first question is obvious, and yet remains unasked by the media and unanswered by the Obama administration and Department of Justice:
1.Who conceived this radical departure from normal law enforcement practices? Who conceived an operation that depended upon the deaths of hundreds or thousands of Mexican nationals for its success?
But as disturbing as the conception of the plot was, it was merely an idea, if one that most would agree is objectively evil in design. It should have died stillborn on the proverbial drawing board. Somehow, this idea was not just allowed, but someone with significant political and operational clout within the Justice Department was able to shepherd this high-risk and inarguably lethal program from idea through planning and budgeting into execution. This strongly suggests high-level sponsorship within the Department of Justice. This demands answers to a second question:
2.Which Department of Justice officials saw that Operation Fast and Furious was dependent on hundreds or thousands of firearms being given to the cartels and recovered at the scenes of crimes, knew that the crimes in question were likely to be murders of Mexican nationals or U.S. citizens along the Mexican border where the cartels operate, and approved the operation anyway?
We know that Operation Fast and Furious depended entirely upon hundred or thousands of walked weapons being recovered at crime scenes so that weapons could be traced, and that those crime scenes would almost certainly be murders. We know that such a high-risk, low-reward program could not have be conceived or approved at a local level, and that it must have had high-level sponsorship within Justice. It is reasonable to make the assumption, unless proven otherwise, that such approval could only come from the level of a deputy attorney general or higher.
President Barack Obama is the very definition of a “political creature,” vaulting through local and state politics to the U.S. Senate and into the presidency at phenomenal speed. He knows that liabilities are to be relentlessly purged, and he did so repeatedly to separate himself from old allies and even mentors in his 2008 political campaign. Sentimental he is not.
He is also well aware that an ongoing, long-term political scandal is just the kind of public relations nightmare he does not need as he enters his reelection campaign season in earnest. Once the Republican primary battle is over and the stage is set for the general election battle, the political and legal spectacle of Operation Fast and Furious will be brought to the forefront by the Republican challenger or by one of the super PACs. Operation Fast and Furious is a serious and unresolved problem that endangers his second term as seriously as a problematic economy.
Any competent political operative within the Obama campaign would want the scandal surrounding Operation Fast and Furious resolved as quickly as possible to remove it as a weapon against Obama’s election. Fair or foul, cutting your losses is how the game is played, and it is miraculous that Attorney General Eric Holder still retains the president’s support after the allegations of Operation Fast and Furious and various other scandals that are emerging at precisely the wrong time.
This leads us to a third question:
3.Knowing that Operation Fast and Furious could be the political and criminal albatross that drives away moderates and Latino voters and destroys his chances of winning a second term, why does President Obama refuse to appoint a special prosecutor or, at the very least, call for Eric Holder and his direct reports to resign?
Considering the president’s close relationship with the attorney general, it is possible that Mr. Obama simply does not want to turn on a friend and political ally. There is also the possibility, however, that Mr. Holder is quite well below the person who approved the operation and was aware of it. Evidence suggests that White House officials may have been briefed on the operation. It is conceivable that the attorney general holds evidence that assures he will not be forced out.
These are intriguing questions, and each demands a thorough explanation.
If the media were interested in some sort of objective view of reality that most non-ideologues could easily confuse with something akin to truth, they would only need to relentlessly seek the answers to these three questions on which a presidency may indeed turn.
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Mexico arrests figure in Fast and Furious gun-smuggling scandal
Los Angeles Times ^ | February 7, 2012 | Los Angeles Times
Posted on February 7, 2012 10:05:38 PM EST by DogByte6RER
Mexico arrests figure in Fast and Furious gun-smuggling scandal
REPORTING FROM MEXICO CITY -- Mexican authorities have arrested a reputed enforcer for the country's most powerful drug cartel -- a man also alleged to have amassed weapons from the U.S. government's failed Fast and Furious gun-smuggling operation (link, in Spanish, includes video).
Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo, 33, is also wanted by U.S. officials on drug-trafficking charges in El Paso. Mexican and U.S. authorities say he served as a top lieutenant to Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and the Sinaloa Cartel and was in charge of operations in the border state of Chihuahua (link in Spanish).
It was there, in the violent city of Ciudad Juarez, that a raid by Mexican police in April 2011 turned up high-powered assault guns purchased illegally through the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives "Fast and Furious" program. As the Washington Bureau's Richard A. Serrano reported last fall, the discovery confirmed that Fast and Furious weapons were reaching the ruthless Sinaloa organization and that the geographic spread of the "walked" guns was wider than originally thought.
Mexican federal police said they tracked Torres Marrufo to a recently acquired home in Leon, in central Mexico, and captured him and a bodyguard over the weekend. In a statement, which did not mention the Fast and Furious connection, police said Torres was wanted in connection with numerous crimes including murder, extortion, kidnapping and the sale and distribution of drugs. The statement did not indicate whether Torres resisted arrest.
He was also accused of masterminding the September 2009 massacre of 18 people at a drug rehabilitation clinic in Ciudad Juarez.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimesblogs.latimes.com ...
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latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-fast-furious-20120319,0,3662110.story
latimes.com
Gun-tracking operation caught top suspect, then let him go
Federal agents stopped the main target of the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious in May 2010. After they questioned him, he disappeared back into Mexico, and the program went on to spiral out of control.
By Richard A. Serrano, Washington Bureau
March 19, 2012
Reporting from Washington
Advertisement
Seven months after federal agents began the ill-fated Fast and Furious gun-tracking operation, they stumbled upon their main suspect in a remote Arizona outpost on the Mexican border, driving an old BMW with 74 rounds of ammunition and nine cellphones hidden inside.
Detained for questioning that day in May 2010, Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta described to agents from theBureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosiveshis close association with a top Mexican drug cartel member, according to documents obtained this weekend by the Times/Tribune Washington Bureau.
The top Fast and Furious investigator, Special Agent Hope MacAllister, scribbled her phone number on a $10 bill after he pledged to cooperate and keep in touch with investigators.
Then Celis-Acosta disappeared into Mexico. He never called.
Had they arrested him red-handed trying to smuggle ammunition into Mexico, Fast and Furious might have ended quickly. Instead, the program dragged on for another eight months, spiraling out of control.
Celis-Acosta continued slipping back and forth across the border, authorities say, illegally purchasing more U.S. weapons and financing others. He was not arrested until February 2011, a month after Fast and Furious closed down.
The operation, run by the ATF's Phoenix field office, allowed illegal gun purchases in Arizona in hopes of tracking the weapons to Mexican drug cartel leaders. Instead, about 1,700 guns vanished, and scores turned up at crime scenes in Mexico. Two were found south of Tucson where U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was shot to death in December 2010.
Why ATF agents did not arrest Celis-Acosta immediately is not clear. He was their prime suspect and the subject of secret wiretaps approved by the Justice Department.
"Due to the fact that the criminal case is still ongoing in the courts, and the inspector general's office is still investigating, we cannot comment about this," ATF chief spokesman Drew Wade said.
Other law enforcement officials, speaking anonymously because of ongoing investigations, acknowledged it was a crucial blunder in a deeply flawed program. "I don't know why they didn't arrest him," one said. "They certainly could have."
But, another argued, agents may have viewed Celis-Acosta as a possible conduit to the cartels. "He was cooperating and talking a lot and giving up a lot," he said. "From an investigative standpoint, that's pretty good information you're getting. Maybe he can hook you into even bigger fish."
Fast and Furious, which is under investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), began Oct. 31, 2009. From the start, Celis-Acosta, 24, was the main target, according to internal ATF documents that have not been publicly released. An ATF flow chart listed him at the top of more than two dozen individuals involved in the gun-smuggling ring.
The documents state that Celis-Acosta led the smuggling ring and that he was paid from drug proceeds to illegally acquire firearms for cartels. He carried a permanent U.S. resident card, a Social Security number and an Arizona driver's license. He moved easily between homes in Mexico and Phoenix. Eventually arrested by U.S. marshals at a relative's home in El Paso, he pleaded not guilty to gun-smuggling charges as one of 19 Fast and Furious defendants. None of the 19 has gone to trial.
According to an ATF "Report of Investigation," prepared by MacAllister, authorized by her supervisor, David J. Voth, and reviewed by William D. Newell, then the ATF special agent in charge in Arizona, U.S. authorities stopped Celis-Acosta as he headed south through the border town of Lukeville, Ariz.
The document said an ammunition magazine containing 74 rounds was hidden in a spare tire, and the phones in the dash. In the trunk of the 2002 BMW 754i was a ledger referring to money given to "Killer" and a list of firearms.
Celis-Acosta first said he did not know the ammunition was inside. He said a friend's mother bought the BMW "with a credit card."
MacAllister was called to the scene, and Celis-Acosta began to open up. He admitted he knew "a lot about firearms." He conceded he was en route to a birthday party for "Chendi," a close associate who he said was a Mexican cartel member and "right-hand man" to Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, head of the Sinaloa cartel.
Celis-Acosta said Chendi moved 6,000 pounds of marijuana a week into the U.S., terrorized Mexican police, wore a $15,000 wristwatch and lived in a home with "a lot of gold" inside and a landing strip outside.
MacAllister checked with the Drug Enforcement Administration and learned Chendi — real name Claudio Jamie Badilla — was a "large-scale marijuana and multi-kilogram cocaine trafficker."
MacAllister asked Celis-Acosta whether he "would be willing to cooperate." When he said yes, they confiscated the ammunition and let him go.
richard.serrano@latimes.com
Copyright © 2012, Los Angeles Times
________________________ ________________________ _______________
Unfucking real.
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ATF Managers Lawyer Up, Slam Gun Laws and Still Deny Gunwalking
Townhall.com ^ | March 21, 2012 | Katie Pavlich
Posted on Wednesday, March 21, 2012 8:07:24 AM by Kaslin
The attorneys of Bill Newell, embattled former ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix Field Division, and David Voth, Supervisor of Phoenix Group VII (the group that carried out Operation Fast and Furious), are accusing Senator Charles Grassley and Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa of making “many inaccurate and harmful statements” and “factual distortions against” their clients.
In a letter obtained by Townhall, attorney and former Department of Justice Prosecutor Paul E. Pelletier, representing Newell, writes on behalf his defendant to “correct the factual distortions in your staff’s ‘memorandum.’ To be clear, this faulty memorandum and the conduct of the Committee’s investigation to date has disserved the hard working ATF agents, in Phoenix and elsewhere who, with great personal sacrifice, risk their lives every day to make a difference in the communities in which we live. It is, of course, now evident that the citizens of this country are far less safe today primarily as a result of the irresponsible manner in which this ‘outcome-determined’ investigation has been conducted.”
Pelletier accuses Issa and Grassley of refusing to follow evidence in the Fast and Furious investigation, saying, “I have learned that the ultimate success and legitimacy of any investigation depends upon the capacity of investigators to blindly follow the evidence where it leads and to neutrally and dispassionately evaluate that evidence before reaching a conclusion. Given your staff’s tortured factual conclusions, your staff’s utter disregard of any evidence that contravened or rebutted the preordained and misdirected conclusions of misconduct, speculation to motive is unnecessary.”
The letter lists three “false assertions” made by the Issa and Grassley:
1. ATF purposely failed to confront straw purchasers and interdict guns. Disrupting and deterring the illegal activity took a backseat to the lawful goal of dismantling the entire organization.
2. Intercepts from the DEA wiretap provided the probable cause necessary for ATF to make arrests as early as December 2009, or, at the very least, supplied the necessary predicate to use other investigative techniques to disrupt illegal activity and seize the weapons. ... ATF, however, did not act on this information. Agents could have arrested Celis-Acosta in December of 2009 and used the arrest to work their way up the ladder to the two cartel associates.
3. ATF insisted that the techniques used in Operation Fast and Furious were necessary to take down a complicated gun trafficking operation. In reality, however, the network was not complex.
The letter also refers to Issa and Grassley’s reference to gunwalking as a tactic used by ATF as erroneous and an “attempt to cast wide blame on the ATF supervisors and agents as well as the attorneys in the Department of Justice.” Pelletier says his client Newell advised on multiple occasions and under oath that no such tactics were contemplated or existed in the Fast and Furious investigation. But even putting both Issa and Grassley’s findings aside and simply based on whistleblower testimony, the claims of “false assertions” by Pelletier on behalf of his client Bill Newell are false.
(For evidence against Pelletier's point 2, click here. For evidence against Pelletier's point 3, click here. 70 percent of Fast and Furious guns were bought by just 5 straw purchasers.)
“What I found concerning and alarming was more times than not, no law enforcement activity was planned to stop these suspected straw purchasers from purchasing firearms. The only law enforcement activity that was occasionally taken was to conduct a surveillance of the transaction, and nothing more,” ATF Special Agent and whistleblower Orlindo Casa said under oath on June 14, 2011 before the House Oversight Committee. “On several occasions I personally requested to interdict or seize firearms in such a manner that would only further the investigation, but I was always order to stand down and not to seize the firearms.”
In other words, Casa was told to allow the guns to walk.
Another whistleblower, ATF Special Agent John Dodson, had similar statements during the same committee hearing.
“This was not a matter of some weapons getting away from us, or allowing a few to walk so as to follow them to a much larger or more significant target. Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals -- this was the plan. It was so mandated,” Dodson said. “The numerous guns we let walk have yet to be recovered.”
Not once did Pelletier mention the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry as a result of this program, or the fact that at least two guns that were allowed to walk showed up at the crime scene. Pelletier also failed to mention Americans are now at risk thanks to the actions of the Obama Justice Department, in partnership with ATF, allowing thousands of weapons to be trafficked into the hands of ruthless criminals. Even Eric Holder admits we will see tragic consequences from these actions for years to come. In short, the letter tries to make one staunch point: Bill Newell, as Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix Field Division, did not instruct agents to allow guns to walk and gunwalking tactics were not used in Operation Fast and Furious.
The letter also takes a jab at the nation’s gun laws while giving Newell credit for trying to stop gun trafficking rather than facilitating it through Fast and Furious.
“We need more, not less, public servants like Special Agent Newell and the men and women who, despite the challenges imposed by our nation’s gun laws and the legal system in which they operated, strove to make a difference and tried their level best to put an end to the illegal gun trafficking the plagues the Southwest Border,” Pelletier wrote. Pelletier, who has been described as "left-wing and liberal as Ted Kennedy," also took the opportunity to add that he believes the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious is politically motivated.
In another letter obtained by Townhall addressed to Issa and Grassley from David Voth’s attorney Joshua A. Levy, Issa is accused of mischaracterizing statements and authored documents by Voth in a June 14, 2011 Congressional Report. The letter accuses Special Agents Dodson, Casa and Larry Alt of not complaining about "Operation Fast and Furious' underlying strategy or tactic" during its implementation and attempts to further smear their characters. This letter, like the one from Newell’s attorney, denies gunwalking as a tactic: "In Operation Fast & Furious, the ATF Group VII agents did not walk guns, they did not avoid the interdiction of firearms when they lawfully could have seized them," the letter proclaims. "The ATF did not purposefully fail to interdict firearms."
Once again, whistleblower testimony proves otherwise. From the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on June 14, 2011:
"Although my instincts made me want to intervene and interdict these weapons, my supervisors directed me and my colleagues not to make any stop or arrest, but rather, top keep the straw purchaser under surveillance while allowing the guns to walk." –John Dodson
"Suspected straw purchasers were identified, again with no obvious attempts to interdict the weapons or interview suspects." –Olindo Casa
"No interdiction efforts were planned." –Peter Forcelli
The letter from Levy blames Issa and Grassley for causing damage to Voth and for weakening "the criminal justice system’s attempt to help protect innocent Americans and Mexicans from the drug cartel's conspiracy to purchase, deliver, and use some of the deadliest firearms to protect their dope."
So, who should we believe? Corrupt ATF managers who have denied gunwalking since day one of the Fast and Furious investigation, or brave whistleblowers who have put their personal lives and careers on the line to get the truth to the American people?
Keep in mind: 1,400 Fast and Furious guns are still missing; after more than a year of investigation, the DOJ has still failed to turn over 74,000 requested documents to the House Oversight Committee.
You can read each of the letters here and here.
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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/22/agents-appeared-to-have-probable-cause-to-arrest-fast-and-furious-suspect
BBBOOOOMMMM
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http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2012/03/william-lajeunesse-makes-connection.html
Damn. This this is blowing up.
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More Democrats critical of Holder’s handling of Fast and Furious
The Daily Caller ^ | March 23, 2012 | By Matthew Boyle
Two House Democrats have come forward demanding that Attorney General Eric Holder’s Department of Justice release findings from an internal investigation into Operation Fast and Furious before the upcoming November election.
Democratic Reps. Nick Rahall of West Virginia and Gene Green of Texas told The Washington Times’ Kerry Picket that they want the inspector general to release her report before the election to ensure that any officials from President Barack Obama’s administration who are responsible for Fast and Furious are held accountable.
Green said the DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General was taking too long to release the report. “Yeah,” he said. “They ought to deal with this problem, because there is no reason at all that that many weapons should have made it over to Mexico to be exported into Mexico without controls on it and it’s such a black eye on the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] and the Department of Justice and our government that we allow that to happen.”
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
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http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2012/03/william-lajeunesse-makes-connection.html
Damn. This this is blowing up.
and by blowing up you mean no one is caring?
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and by blowing up you mean no one is caring?
To Obama voters like yourself who thinks he is a gift from the heavens and a legal scholar and toqwer of genius, yes.
Howver, to the families of the dead agents, people who care about the USC, etc - millions of us care.
Remind me again why that racist ghetto terrorist accomplice Holder is withholding 70,000 documents from Issa?
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Family of Border Patrol Agent (Brian)Terry issues statement ...
Twitter Sharyl Attkisson - CBS ^ | 28 March, 2012 | Twitter Sharyl Attkisson
Sharyl Attkisson tweeted the following this afternoon:
Family of Border Patrol Agent Brain Terry issues statement about reports of lack of coordination among feds:
"The Terry Family, like most of America, is sickened to read the latest revelations relating to ATF's error-plagued..."
"...and misguided Fast and Furious Investigation. It is beyond our comprehension that U.S. federal law..."
"...enforcement agencies were not talking with one another. American citizens deserve better..."
"...from their public servants; the FBI, DEA, ATF and U.S. Attorney personnel in Arizona should have been..
"..coordinating their investigative and prosecutorial efforts. This coordination should have started and.."
"..continued with basic information sharing and deconfliction. One can only imagine that if the.."
"..the FBI, DEA, and U.S. Attorney personnel had only shared their information with ATF agents that the.."
"..Miramontes brothers were FBI informants than the entire Fast and Furious debacle could have been avoided."
"...some 200 Mexican citizens would not have had to lose their lives in needless violence..."
"...and U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry would still be alive."
(I only corrected spelling; all tweets cycle in sequence from the initial one in the link above)
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In another significant embarrassment to the scandal-plagued Obama administration, newly released documents revealed that the supposed “drug lords” being targeted in the deadly federal “Fast and Furious” gun-running operation were actually working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) all along.
Thousands of American weapons were illegally offered to violent Mexican cartels by the Justice Department as part of the controversial program — many of them paid for by U.S. tax dollars through the two FBI assets supposedly being targeted in the investigation. Those guns were later linked to hundreds of murders, including the killings of U.S. federal agents.
The operation came to a screeching halt after it was exposed in Congress and the media by whistle-blowers from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (still known as ATF). The government responded to the scandal by claiming it was simply attempting to investigate Mexican cartels using a program that went tragically wrong.
But the facts paint a much different picture. According to documents obtained recently by the Los Angeles Times, the ATF zeroed in on a suspected gun trafficker named Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta. He was detained in May of 2010, questioned, and eventually released after promising to cooperate with investigators seeking to track down two supposed “drug lords.”
Those two cartel chiefs, it turned out, were actually already on the FBI’s payroll. According to a source cited by Fox News, both of the men were considered "national security assets" who were "off limits” and “untouchable." The ATF apparently did not find out until mid-2010.
"This means the entire goal of Fast and Furious — to target these two individuals and bring them to justice — was a failure," noted Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif., pictured above) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), who are investigating the scandal, in a memo to other members of Congress. ATF has refused to comment, citing ongoing investigations.
Rep. Issa and Sen. Grassley also noted that the agency should have known the two supposed “targets” of the purported “investigation” were working for the FBI, blasting "the serious management failures that occurred throughout all levels during Fast and Furious." That would have allowed the deadly operation to be shut down before thousands of taxpayer-funded high-powered firearms were handed over to violent cartels.
A lawyer representing Celis-Acosta, the alleged gun runner who was arrested and released by the ATF, suspects that the various federal agencies involved in the scandal purposely withheld the critical information. "When one hand is not talking to the other, perhaps somebody is hiding something," attorney Adrian Fontes told the Times. "Was this intentional?"
Supporters of the Second Amendment had long suspected that the administration’s firearm-trafficking operation was aimed at demonizing gun rights and imposing more unconstitutional restrictions on Americans’ right to keep and bear arms. Official documents later confirmed those suspicions, revealing that the bloody fallout from the scheme was being used to advance more gun control.
More recently, analysts have pointed to scandalous video footage of Attorney General Eric Holder before he took over the Justice Department. In the speech, then-U.S. Attorney Holder proposes a massive tax-funded propaganda campaign to “brainwash” — in his words — America’s youth against gun rights.
His anti-gun campaign, however, appears to have backfired spectacularly. After bragging about the gun-running program in Mexico during a 2009 speech, Holder later claimed — under oath — that he had not heard of it until it was exposed in the media. He later admitted that was not true.
Since then, Holder has been caught lying repeatedly even as he lashed out at the media and investigators. Over 100 members of Congress are already calling for his resignation. And if he continues his efforts to cover up the Fast and Furious scandal, Rep. Issa has warned that he could be held in contempt.
Incredibly, after the latest public disclosures surrounding the two FBI “drug lords,” the Department of Justice vowed to break more federal laws by refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas. In a letter to Rep. Issa and Sen. Grassley, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich claimed their staffs were exposing the criminality to the public.
"While we do not know who provided these letters to reporters, we are deeply disturbed that the sensitive law-enforcement information contained in them has now entered the public realm," Weich wrote. "This public disclosure is impeding the department's efforts to hold individuals accountable for their illegal acts." He also said the Department would not be handing over any more information due to the purported “sensitivity” of supposed “ongoing operations.”
A spokesman for Rep. Issa, however, said the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee would not put up with such lawlessness. "It is troubling that the attorney general continues to express the outlandish view that his compliance with lawful and binding subpoenas is merely optional," Issa spokeswoman Becca Watkins told CNN.
Issa’s Committee is also attempting to investigate a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) scheme to launder the profits of Mexican drug cartels. The Justice Department has so far refused to cooperate, but pressure is still growing after the New York Times blew the whistle on the program late last year.
And it is not just Congress that is growing weary of the administration’s antics. A recent survey of ATF agents reveals an extreme lack of trust in leadership. According to the study, less than half of those surveyed believed the agency’s senior leaders maintained high standards of honesty and integrity.
The Fast and Furious scandal — and the retaliation against brave whistleblowers who exposed the scheme — contributed to the dismal results. "The controversies plaguing ATF over the last year have weighed heavily on the morale of employees and their faith in senior leadership," ATF spokesman Drew Wade told Fox News. "Mistakes were made."
More than a few top drug bosses and even government agents have claimed the U.S. government is arming and protecting certain drug cartels. And as the administration continues to stonewall while top Justice officials plead the Fifth Amendment, public suspicion is only
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White House thumbs nose at Grassley, Issa over F&F request(gunwalker)
Seattle Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 6 April, 2012 | Dave Workman
Posted on April 8, 2012 4:06:26 PM EDT by marktwain
President Barack Obama’s White House counsel has essentially told Congressman Darrell Issa and Senator Charles Grassley to “dream on” if they think a recent request to interview former National Security Staffer Kevin O’Reilly about Operation Fast and Furious is going to happen.
The Gun Rights Examiner has obtained a copy of an April 5 letter sent to Issa and Grassley by Kathryn Ruemmler, counsel to the president. In the letter, she tells them:
Over six months ago, the White House produced documents responsive to your prior request for communications between Mr. O’Reilly and ATF agent William Newell that relate to “Operation Fast and Furious” or any ATF gun trafficking cases in Phoenix, AZ. At the time we produced these documents, you had already received many of those same documents from the Department of Justice. And what was true then remains true today: none of these limited communications between Mr. O’Reilly and Mr. Newell revealed the existence of any of the inappropriate investigative tactics at issue in your inquiry, let alone any decision to allow guns to “walk.”
Issa and Grassley, as this column reported, want to speak to O’Reilly – now assigned to a job in Iraq – about what he may have known and when he knew it, regarding Fast and Furious. Newell was forced to acknowledge that he had had some communications with O’Reilly that mentioned Fast and Furious when he testified before Issa’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform last July, which this column discussed.
Newell’s responses to questions from Issa and his fellow committee members became so frustrating that Issa called him the “paid non-answerer.”
Ruemmler’s letter to Issa and Grassley may aggravate that frustration. A Capitol Hill staffer noted to this column:
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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Napolitano perjured herself to Congress in Fast & Furious testimony
by Neil W. McCabe04/13/2012
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=50807
In her explosive new book Fast and Furious, Katie Pavlich makes the case that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano not only failed to stop an operation that led to the death of one of her own, Border Agent Brian A. Terry, but she may have also lied to Congress in sworn testimony at a hearing held to find out what really happened.
Inside sources told Pavlich that Napolitano’s testimony was in direct contradiction to emails she exchanged, and reports and briefing she received, according to an exclusive preview of the book by Human Events.
Pavlich’s book Fast and Furious is due to be released Monday, April 16. It is published by Regnery Publishing, owned by Eagle Publishing, which also owns Human Events.
Most of the focus in the Fast and Furious scandal has been on attorney Gen. Eric Holder, because his Department of Justice ran the program through its Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, still referenced to as ATF, its old initials from before it was tasked with explosives.
But while Holder's people waved the questionable gun purchasers through the checkout line, Napolitano was in charge of the Mexican border those guns crossed.
Pavlich's book is particularly revealing, especially considering the lengths the Obama administration has gone to keep anyone from knowing anything about Fast & Furious and other gun-running operations. These operations involved multiple federal agencies facilitating illegal gun purchases, by co-opting the normal checks at gun stores in the Southwest, and then ignoring the guns as they were taken into Mexico. In Mexico, the guns were picked up at hundreds of gun sites.
Letting the guns slip away is a called “gun walking,” because the guns were allowed to walk.
In her September testimony to a Senate committee, Napolitano told senators she knew nothing about Fast & Furious until after Terry was killed in a gunfight on the night of Dec. 14, 2010 with an AK-47 purchased at one of the gun stores that was one of the key retailers where federal agents actively let guns walk.
In October, she told Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) at a hearing at the Senate Judiciary Committee she never spoke to the Dennis Burke about Fast & Furious. Burke, who was the U.S. Attorney for the Arizona Department, was her chief of staff when she was the governor of Arizona and a close friend.
In the same month, the Napolitano told Rep. Jason E. Chaffetz (R-Utah) at a hearing held by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that she never spoke to Holder about Fast & Furious.
Homeland Security insiders paint a different picture, Pavlich reports.
Members of Congress questioning the secretary seem to know it, too.
One source said to the author, “When she says that [she] and Attorney General Eric Holder have not discussed it, that is a lie. That's why they keep asking her those questions in the Judicial, Oversight, Homeland Security Committee hearings. They've asked her that same questions twice and she’s lied twice.”
How did she know? The source said, “There are five emails linking her to Holder. They go back two days after it happened—the first email was two days after Brian was killed.”
In the emails, Holder and Napolitano discuss Terry's murder, the source said to Pavlich.
The source concedes that Holder may have “kept her in the dark” about all of the details of the gun walking, but her office approved letting the guns walk into Mexico and one of the agencies under her command, Customs and Border Protection, allowed guns through.
Another source from the ATF confirmed to Pavlich that Napolitano was briefed regularly by an agent from another of her agencies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE.
“There was an ICE agent assigned specifically to be the co-case agent of Fast & Furious. He had to [file] an ICE report that either mirrored or referenced every ATF report that was done,” the ATF source said.
Beyond reports, there were inter-agency jealousies that had to be settled in Washington, he said.
The source said to Pavlich there were constant battles between ICE and ATF agents over who would get credit for different seizures or other issues. “I know phone calls were made to both headquarters to try and settle those disputes.”
It was Terry's death that brought Operation Fast and Furious to an abrupt end. But now, more than 16 months later, no one has been charged with crimes associated with either the gun walking programs or the cover-up.
Pavlich makes a strong case that when people are finally charged with crimes, Napolitano will have to answer for her perjury to Congress.
“Let me tell you something about Janet,” another source said to the author. “Janet will be lucky not to go to prison.”
To watch part one of Human Events' interview with Katie Pavlich, click here.
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Neil W. McCabe is the editor of Guns & Patriots. McCabe, was a reporter and photographer at The Pilot, Boston's Catholic newspaper for several years. An Army reservist, he served 14 months in Iraq as a combat historian. Follow him on Twitter
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Just checking.. Is Eric and Obama unemployed yet?
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Just checking.. Is Eric and Obama unemployed yet?
Soon - November is coming.
Do you like Holder?
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still no indictments.
clinton couldn't get away with a slurpee in the oval office. But Obama does all this and the repubs can't prosecute.
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still no indictments.
clinton couldn't get away with a slurpee in the oval office. But Obama does all this and the repubs can't prosecute.
I told you - they are doing drip drip and seeing how far this goes up. If they can hang napolitano and holder, perhaps they can get even more.
personally - I believe Fast n Furious is worthy of public execution for what they did.
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Fast and Furious Scandal Launched Into 2012 Presidential Election by Mitt Romney
Townhall.com ^ | April 13, 2012 | Katie Pavlich
GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney applauded House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley for their efforts to investigate the Obama Justice Department’s lethal Operation Fast and Furious scandal today during a speech at the NRA Annual Meeting Leadership Forum in St. Louis. This is the first time any GOP presidential candidate has mentioned the Fast and Furious scandal by name in a public event speech, officially bringing the scandal into the 2012 general election with President Barack Obama. Romney also embraced the NRA’s calls for Attorney General Eric Holder to resign or be fired for his role in Fast and Furious.
"I applaud Congressman Issa and Senator Grassley for their work in exposing the “Fast and Furious” scandal. And I applaud NRA leadership for being among the first and most vocal in calling upon Attorney General Holder to resign," Romney said.
To give readers some context, out of more than 21 debates during the 2012 GOP presidential primary, Fast and Furious was mentioned once.
Update: GOP Presidential Candidate Newt Gingrich also mentioned Fast and Furious in his remarks, saying we must "get to the bottom of Operation Fast and Furious."
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Just checking.. Is Eric and Obama unemployed yet?
Has he stepped down yet to seek a pardon?
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Taking Down Fast and Furious: It Wasn't Botched
Townhall.com ^ | April 16, 2012 | Erika Johnson
"Botched."
That is the word the mainstream media too often associates with the federal gunwalking scandal known as Operation Fast and Furious—but in her new book, Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and Its Shameless Cover-Up, investigative reporter Katie Pavlich fearlessly chronicles exactly why the only thing "botched" about the ill-fated operation was the Obama administration's shoddy attempt to cover their tracks.
Having shared office space with Katie for well over a year now, I've witnessed her ferocious commitment to this story since before Fast and Furious was even a thought in the national consciousness. I wasn't always quite sure what her mysterious phone calls and outings were about, but I trusted that she was relentlessly collecting research and gathering evidence—and the product of her intrepidness and hard work is all too timely. She's left no stone unturned in her explanation and analysis of the deadly operation and, as this story continues to unfold nationally, her book serves as a thorough primer of the harrowing circumstances that led to it. I'll confess that, until reading Katie's book, the exact nature of Operation Fast and Furious had eluded me. I generally understood that President Obama has deliberately surrounded himself with an administration chock-full of anti-gun groupies, and that the execution of Operation Fast and Furious was very carelessly thought out, to say the least. But, I didn't quite understand exactly why the now-well-publicized deaths of American federal agents and countless Mexican citizens were more than just the result of some belligerent Mexican gang members—as the Obama administration no doubt wishes us to believe.
Prefacing her work with an apt introduction from ATF Special Agent Jay Dobyns, one of the whistleblowers who have selflessly helped to illuminate this very dark (redacted!) splotch on the Obama administration's record, Dobyns lays out the landscape in which Fast and Furious was a ticking time bomb just waiting to explode. Over his decades of service, Dobyns witnessed the slow but sure shift in the management of the U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives: from dedicated men with boots-on-the-ground know-how and well-weathered experience, to well-suited, expensively educated yuppies with agendas other than protecting the United States in mind. The instances of corruption, the ideological feuds, and the lack of integrity eventually began to dominate the agency in a way that could have only heralded disaster.
Katie takes it away from there, further setting the Fast and Furious stage by taking us through the horrendous death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, and then detailing the well-documented anti-gun history of Obama and his cronies—and that's when things start to get really hairy for the Obama administration. From the seeming pointlessness of allowing straw purchasers to send untraceable (until they turn up at crime scenes, that is) guns into Mexico, with no hope of catching the cartel kingpins; to forcing individual gun-shop business owners to sell their products to known criminals, regardless of the bewildered protestations of honest ATF agents; to the ATF's bitter and dangerous retaliation against said honest agents—the possible motives of the people in charge become more and more ominous with every detail.
Despite the involved Obama appointees' best efforts to downplay the impact of their recklessness, shift blame, avoid accountability, stonewall their watchdogs, and perpetuate the "botched" narrative, the unremitting investigations of Congressmen Darrell Issa, Charles Grassley, John Cornyn, and others have eventually revealed that there is something much deeper, and much more formidable, at play here than the perpetrators would like to portray.
In a readable style that's thorough yet concise, detailed but not overwhelming, Katie presents all of the relevant players in this bloody scandal, and demonstrates the power of smaller media, the blogosphere, and determined individuals like her in uncovering the stories that the mainstream media would be all-too-willing to ignore, instead forcing the nation to finally sit up and pay attention.
While the dubious nature of outrages like the Obama administration's Department of Energy loan guarantees and financial bailouts have illustrated the president's willingness to throw taxpayers' money around, the consequences of this scandal were, and will likely continue to be, American lives. As Katie points out, if the Obama administration is ready to be so cavalier with the Constitution and a few American lives here and there, just to push their leftist agenda—of what else are they capable?
Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and Its Shameless Cover-Up is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and local bookstores.
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Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal
Townhall.com ^ | April 16, 2012 | Katie Pavlich
Operation Fast and Furious is the deadliest and most sinister scandal in American history. A scandal so big, it’s worse than Iran-Contra and makes Watergate look like a high school prank gone wrong.
In the early days of the Obama Administration, President Obama claimed his goal was to stop the trafficking of guns from the United States into the hands of violent Mexican drug cartels. He claimed gun dealers in the United States were responsible for sending guns to Mexico. Both of his claims were lies.
In order to push his lies and policies built around them, with a goal of implementing harsher gun control laws and reinstating the assault weapons ban, President Obama packed his administration full of anti-Second Amendment zealots. After all, personnel is policy.
In my new book, Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and Its Shameless Coverup, I document the conspiracy of senior Obama officials to subvert the Second Amendment, which led directly to the murders of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, I.C.E. Agent Jaime Zapata and countless, faceless lives in Mexico. It debunks the Obama administration’s lies, denials and excuses. This administration was willing to use humans as collateral damage to push a political agenda, and had no shame in doing so. Now, the administration has no shame in covering up their reckless actions.
Since just moments after Brian Terry was killed in the Arizona desert on December 15, 2010 by Mexican cartel thugs, carrying AK-47s provided to them by the Obama Justice Department through Operation Fast and Furious, the FBI, Homeland Security, ATF, Justice Department and the White House have been engaged in a full scale cover-up. These are simply names of government agencies, but who are the people behind the cover-up?
I unravel a tangled web connecting President Obama, Eric Holder, Janet Napolitano and a number of advisors and political appointees behind Fast and Furious. These officials have deep loyalties to each other and their anti-Second Amendment ideology dating as far back as the Clinton Administration. In fact, many key Fast and Furious players have deep ties to Chicago and helped craft the 1994 Clinton assault weapons ban legislation.
If the majority of American people knew Fast and Furious like they know Solyndra or the GSA scandal, they would be outraged. Despite very few exceptions, the media has been complicit in the cover-up of Obama’s bloodiest scandal by ignoring and refusing to report about it. Why? To protect the President. This scandal, one that has left hundreds of bodies in its wake, would be deadly to the administration. This is the scandal that will bring President Obama down in November, so long as the American people know its details.
Over the weekend, GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney officially made Fast and Furious a general election issue. His advisors are now directly pointing to the scandal as an example of how the Obama Administration used in its first term to “provide cover for potential efforts to restrict Second Amendment rights." In the book, I provide the documents and interviews to prove it.
The Obama administration is acting guilty, not innocent, in its actions to continually stonewall and deny the truth. Any American who believes the President, the Attorney General of the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and a long list of other government officials responsible for this reckless program are not above the law, need this book.
Operation Fast and Furious wasn't a "botched" program. It was a calculated and lethal decision to purposely place thousand of guns into the hands of ruthless criminals. The operation was a coordinated and planned effort not to track guns, but to arm thugs south of the border for political gain. Eric Holder should be removed from office for incompetence, dishonesty and charged with perjury. My sources, documented in the book, say Janet Napolitano may also face charges of perjury and potentially obstruction of justice. It is time for President Obama to take responsibility, denounce the operation and fire those involved.
You can buy a copy at Amazon.
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No charges filed in Fast and Furious suspect’s drug and gun bust
Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 15 April, 2012 | David Codrea
Posted on Monday, April 16, 2012 10:52:43 AM by marktwain
“Police records show the chief target of Operation Fast and Furious, a man pursued by ATF agents for 18 months, was actually arrested twice in 2010 for gun and drug violations, but released,” William La Jeunesse of Fox News reported yesterday, corroborating and adding new details regarding the arrest report posted in Gun Rights Examiner.
Left unsaid in that column is what happened to the suspects as a result of that bust. La Jeunesse solves that mystery:
The case was sent to prosecutors but never filed. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office said it sent the case back to police for further investigation. Phoenix Police say they completed the investigation and resubmitted the case. No charges were ever filed.
Left unsaid about that is why no charges were filed, albeit the Fox report acknowledges a motive advanced by “critics” that “federal agents purposely allowed Acosta and his associates to continue to buy and illegally traffic guns to the Mexican cartels, not just to build a bigger case, but to develop a reason to restrict gun sales in the Southwest.”
That accusation, contrary to administration apologists and latecomer media allies engaging in damage control by dismissing and ridiculing it as “right wing conspiracy theory,” was documented in this column on January 5, 2011, when an ATF source asserted guns were walked to “pad statistics.”
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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THE THIRD GUN
NEW BOOK CLAIMS FBI COVER UP OF THIRD GUN IN MURDER OF BORDER PATROL AGENT
EMAIL US
BY: CJ Ciaramella - April 21, 2012 12:26 am
The Department of Justice is using the liberal “watchdog” group Media Matters for America to deflect questions about the Fast and Furious scandal, including those regarding a gun that might have been used in the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
A new book raises questions as to whether the FBI hid the existence of a weapon recovered at the scene of murdered U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Conservative commentator and author Katie Pavlich lays out evidence she says points to a FBI cover-up to protect a confidential informant in her recently released book, Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and Its Shameless Cover-up,
In response to an inquiry from the Free Beacon, a Justice Department spokeswoman said in an email that she “was told to direct your questions to the FBI, and also to provide you with a link to this story: http://mediamatters.org/research/201204190011”
The link was to a story at the George Soros-funded Media Matters for America supposedly refuting many of Pavlich’s claims. Media Matters is a partisan organization whose founder, David Brock, is also running a pro-Obama super PAC.
In Operation Fast and Furious, federal agents allowed more than 2,000 weapons to be smuggled across the U.S.-Mexican border and into the hand of violent drug cartels, with the intent of tracking them to learn more about the cartels.
Two weapons connected to Fast and Furious were discovered at the murder scene of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was gunned down in the Southern Arizona desert in 2010 by five criminals armed with AK-47s.
However, Pavlich asserts there was a third gun. The book details three separate pieces of evidence that point to a third weapon being recovered and then covered up by the FBI and the Justice Department.
Border Patrol agents, who have since been issued gag orders, were overheard at Terry’s funeral discussing the third gun.
“The idea that the border patrol agents were issued gag orders and not allowed to talk about this is very telling,” Pavlich said in an interview with the Free Beacon.
An email sent less than 12 hours after Terry’s death also mentioned the weapon.
Finally, an audio recording of a discussion between Andre Howard, owner of Lone Wolf Trading Company, and ATF agent Hope MacAllister also references a third gun.
The investigation of Fast and Furious revealed that at least six FBI informants were involved in the operation, as well as an unknown number of DEA informants. Pavlich claims in her book that a confidential source told her the FBI hid the third gun from evidence because it was linked to a confidential informant or the brother of the informant.
“The reason they’re covering up the third gun is because it could lead to the confidential informant,” Pavlich said. “They’re protecting him at the cost of justice to Brian Terry and his family. I am not an expert on what confidential informants are allowed to get away with, but I guarantee they’re not allowed to kill federal agents.”
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Katie Pavlich, Fast & Furious BS, and Generation Scary
Townhall.com ^ | April 22, 2012 | Doug Giles
Posted on April 22, 2012 8:40:08 AM EDT by Kaslin
If you’re looking for light summer beach reading then do not, I repeat … do not … buy Katie Pavlich’s disturbing new book, Fast & Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up.
Further, if you want to live undisturbed in Obama la-la-land, you need to put your tennis shoes on and run away from this tome. Indeed, Pollyanna, this book will smash all the windows of your enchanted little cottage and grind your rose-colored Obama glasses into powder.
Fast & Furious parlays into the public arena the scurrilous way the ATF, at the behest of the DOJ, allowed thousands of weapons to get into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. These firearms, in turn—as anyone with even half a brain can imagine—were used to slaughter thousands of Mexicans and to take the lives of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE’s Jaime Zapata.
Now, why would our government agents give thousands of working, untraceable arms to some of the worst SOBs on the planet? Well, we the sheeple were told it’s how the ATF could “know who the bad guys are”—or some crap to that effect.
Hey, wizards at the ATF and the DOJ: If you want to know who the major Mexican dirt bags are who are moving big chunks of weed and mowing down their people and ours with AK-47s, why not use Google versus giving Miguel a machine gun? Por qué?
Most folks, when they take a poke into the Fast & Furious debacle, say, “How can our feds be so stupid?” Which begs the question, was placing thousands of functioning, high-powered weapons in filthy thugs’ hands stupidity on steroids or some twisted scheme with a hidden agenda? Pavlich smelled the latter. The DOJ says it was a whoopsie daisy. Katie thinks they should go sell crazy somewhere else.
Pavlich said “puh-lease” to the 5th amendment-pleading DOJ: “If you’re going to bloviate and obfuscate, Mr. Holder, then I’m going to investigate. And if I find dirt then I’m going to expose you and this massive and murderous crime and cover-up.”
And investigate Katie did, and the gold (or, rather, blood) she found led her to pin the blame on the Attorney General, the Department of Homeland Insecurity and ultimately, the president himself. Katie concluded in her investigations, coupled with the insane lack of media attention and the stalling and bawling by the DOJ, that F&F was not an op that went awry but rather a backdoor grab for our guns that was uncovered when Terry was murdered. FYI to naysayers: Good luck refuting Katie’s conclusions.
Finally, I’d like to praise the 23-year-old Miss Pavlich, the product of a strong and loving dad and a stay-at-home mom—y’know, the kind of mom who “doesn’t work” whom the Left loathes? My tribe and I have been friends with Katie for the last couple of years, and here’s what I dig about her personally and professionally and which other young people would do well to emulate …
1. Katie, unlike the occupunks, believes that America and the principles upon which our nation was founded do not suck. She believes that the U.S.A. deserves our respect and is definitely worth fighting for.
2. Katie picks big fights. BHO, the DOJ and Mexican drug cartels are no small targets, mind you. Go big or go home, boys.
3. Katie is a hard worker and is not a prissy wannabe conservative starlet begging to be fawned over.
4. Katie is a happy warrior. Fighting for justice in this crap-laden culture can be a joy-sucking, hopeless business. Katie’s confident, however, that in time truth will prevail; it simply needs someone to find it, dust it off and declare it without fear.
Katie and other young twentysomethings like her whom I know—including both of my daughters and my son-in-law—represent what I have come to call “Generation Scary.” They are some of the scariest and most fearless young patriots walking this great land, and everybody and their dog who loves this country should get behind them and praise them and promote these young charges wherever the sun doth shine.
Once again, for those who can handle truth in an uncut form, this balls-out book picks no small fight and is definitely worth your time and money.
Watergate … meet #Murdergate.
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its easy for Mittens to trash holder and F&F when he's speaking to the NRA on a weekday afternoon.
if he has balls, he'll be calling out obama in the opening argument in the debates. Let's see THAT.
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2 Accused in Fast and Furious Case to Change Plea
Updated: Monday, 23 Apr 2012, 4:46 AM MST
Published : Monday, 23 Apr 2012, 4:46 AM MST
PHOENIX (AP) - Two men charged with participating in a gun smuggling ring are expected to change their pleas in the federal government's botched investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious.
Alfredo Celis is set to change his plea on May 11, while Danny Cruz Morones is scheduled to change his plea on May 14.
Celis is accused of buying 70 guns for the ring.
Authorities say Morones had bought 20 guns.
Both men have pleaded guilty to charges that include conspiracy and dealing firearms without a license.
Investigators have faced criticism for allowing suspected straw gun buyers to walk away from gun shops with weapons, rather than arrest the suspects and seize the guns there.
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High-ranking DOJ official to resign amid Fast and Furious, Virgin Island Bribery scandals
The Daily Caller ^ | 25 April 2012 | Matthew Boyle
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich plans to resign his position soon, as two different scandals rage on in which he has provided allegedly misleading information to Congress.
Weich, who has served as Attorney General Eric Holder’s emissary... will become the next dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law in July, according to the National Law Journal.
The DOJ official is the same Holder deputy who falsely told Congress that neither the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives nor any part of the Department of Justice ever allowed illicit firearms to “walk” across the U.S.-Mexico border...
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
drip drip drip
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High-ranking DOJ official to resign amid Fast and Furious, Virgin Islands bribery scandals
By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller 3:40 PM 04/25/2012
U.S. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich plans to resign his position soon, as two different scandals rage on in which he has provided allegedly misleading information to Congress.
Weich, who has served as Attorney General Eric Holder’s emissary in congressional communications, will become the next dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law in July, according to the National Law Journal.
The DOJ official is the same Holder deputy who falsely told Congress that neither the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives nor any part of the Department of Justice ever allowed illicit firearms to “walk” across the U.S.-Mexico border — even as contrary facts emerged from the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious.
On Feb. 4, 2011, Weich wrote to Congress that the idea that “ATF ‘sanctioned’ or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico … is false.”
“ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico,” Weich added in that letter.
The DOJ has since retracted Weich’s letter but has not held anyone accountable for providing that misinformation to Congress, or for Operation Fast and Furious itself.
Scores of lawmakers — 125 House members, three U.S. Senators, two governors — and many major political figures including likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney have demanded Holder’s resignation or firing over Fast and Furious.
In February, Weich denied the Justice Department’s involvement in another scandal. The Daily Caller learned that the DOJ had failed to arrest and prosecute several indicted financial criminals because of an alleged bribery scheme. Weich said the DOJ had no knowledge of any bribery.
But TheDC’s investigation unearthed allegations that two DOJ prosecutors on a team of more than 25 accepted cash bribes from indicted finance executives in the U.S. Virgin Islands. And USVI Gov. John de Jongh allegedly accepted part of at least $20 million in cash bribes in exchange for favors from his administration. At least five other prosecutors, according to TheDC’s well-placed source in the DOJ, were compromised.
Weich’s letter denying the allegations was carefully worded. He addressed few specifics in TheDC’s reporting or in the letter Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley sent him requesting additional information. His response made no mention of sealed indictments, or of the lengthy investigation the DOJ conducted into the financial irregularities at the center of the Virgin Islands case.
Instead, Weich challenged only The Daily Caller’s decision to give its source protection through anonymity, claiming the DOJ has no knowledge of the alleged bribes explored in the story.
“The Department is not aware of facts supporting any allegations of bribery, as purported by the article,” Weich wrote.
DOJ spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler has not responded to months of questions from TheDC about the specifics of this story. Schmaler also didn’t respond on Wednesday when asked what connection, if any, Weich’s resignation has to Operation Fast and Furious, or to the Virgin Islands case.
Follow Matthew on Twitter
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/04/25/high-ranking-doj-official-to-resign-amid-fast-and-furious-virgin-islands-bribery-scandals/#ixzz1t5iQcuDA
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April 25, 2012 1:23 PM
ATF's mysterious grenade smuggler case: new photos, documents turned over to Congress
By Sharyl Attkisson .
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-57421072-10391695/atfs-mysterious-grenade-smuggler-case-new-photos-documents-turned-over-to-congress
New evidence photos recently turned over to Congress show a stash of grenade parts, fuse assemblies and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition.
Evidence photos just turned over to Congress under subpoena show a frightening stash of grenade parts, fuse assemblies and more than 2,000 rounds of ammunition. It was all hidden in a spare tire of an SUV crossing from the US to Mexico in 2010. The accused smuggler, an alleged drug cartel arms dealer named Jean Baptise Kingery, was questioned by agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) but released.
Documents handed over to Congress by the Justice Department shed new light on missteps in the grenades case, and how ATF tracked the suspect for years.
ATF started watching Kingery in "2004 related to AK47 purchases," according to an internal email, "it is believed that he is trafficking them to Mexico." A full five years later in late 2009, ATF also learned Kingery was dealing in grenades: he'd ordered 120 grenade bodies on the Internet.
Grenades are weapons of choice for Mexico's killer drug cartels. An attack on a casino in Mexico last year killed 53 people.
Documents show ATF secretly intercepted the grenade bodies Kingery had ordered, marked them, and delivered them to him on Jan. 26, 2010. Their plan was to follow Kingery to his weapons factory in Mexico, with help from Mexican authorities Immigration and Customs (ICE).
Jean Baptise Kingery
(Credit: AP) ATF realized they might lose track of Kingery and the grenade parts in Mexico. But their emails show little attention to those who could be killed. Instead, officials expressed concerned with tying the grenades to Kingery after they reached Mexico. "Even in a post blast, as long as the safety lever is recovered we will be able to identify these tagged grenades," says one email.
An official now investigating ATF and the Justice Department for their actions in the Kingery case tells CBS News: "All the usual safeguards of law enforcement were thrown out. They were more worried about making a big case than they were about the public safety."
The plan to allow Kingery to traffic grenade parts into a foreign country and track him to his factory drew strong internal objections.
"That's not possible," wrote a lead ATF official in Mexico. "We are forbidden from doing that type of activity. If ICE is telling you they can do that, they are full of [expletive]..."
ATF officials in Mexico worried that once Kingery and the grenades crossed the border, they would disappear. And that's exactly what happened. Though ATF agents say they'd given all the specifics to Mexican military and police, the Mexicans failed to stop Kingery once he crossed into Mexico.
Four months later, Kingery surfaced again in the U.S. This time, the Border Patrol caught him trying to smuggle the new stash of grenade hulls shown in the photos. ATF questioned him but, once again, he was let go. Nobody has stepped forward to explain why Kingery was released after this incident. He allegedly continued to supply the Mexican drug cartels for another year and a half.
Evidence photos turned over to Congress
Kingery might still be on the street if Mexican authorities hadn't arrested him last August after raiding his stash house and factory. Police say they found enough parts to build 1,000 grenades. They also say Kingery confessed to teaching cartels how to make grenades, as well as helping them convert semi-automatic weapons to fully-automatic.
The Justice Department Inspector General is investigating the Kingery case along with ATF's Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to "walk" into the hands of Mexican drug cartels in a failed attempt to take down a major cartel.
There are some similarities between the Kingery grenade case and Fast and Furious. The chief suspect in Fast and Furious, Manuel Celis-Acosta was stopped by law enforcement three times but released -- while allegedly trafficking firearms for cartels. It wasn't until weapons linked to him turned up at the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry that ATF finally charged Acosta.
The Kingery case and Fast and Furious were both supervised out of ATF's Phoenix office by Special Agent in Charge Bill Newell. It was Newell who wrote an email and delivered the bad news about Kingery to Washington DC headquarters: Mexican officials "lost Kingery" even though "they had plenty of notice and descriptive info."
The Justice Department and ATF had no immediate comment.
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Republicans prepare contempt citation against Eric Holder over Fast and Furious
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57423017-503544/republicans-prepare-contempt-citation-against-eric-holder-over-fast-and-furious
Posted on Friday, April 27, 2012 12:09:30 PM by kcvl
(CBS News) -- House Republicans investigating the Fast and Furious scandal have gotten the go-ahead by their party leaders to pursue a contempt citation against Attorney General Eric Holder, senior congressional aides told CBS News. The resolution will accuse Holder and his Justice Department of obstructing the congressional probe into the allegations that the government let thousands of weapons fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
The citation would attempt to force Holder to turn over tens of thousands of pages documents related to the probe, which has entered its second year.
For months, congressional Republicans probing ATF's Fast and Furious "Gunwalker" scandal - led by California Republican Darrell Issa, have been investigating a contempt citation. They've worked quietly behind the scenes to build support among fellow Republicans, since it could ultimately face a full House vote. CBS News has confirmed that House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican, has given Rep. Issa, who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the go-ahead to proceed. A 48-page long draft contempt resolution is being prepared.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Good! FUCK OBAMA & HOLDER!!!!!
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2 ATF agents: Our hands were tied, so guns walked ( Fast and Furious )
Arizona Daily Star ^ | April 15, 2012 | Tim Steller
Posted on April 29, 2012 10:05:10 PM EDT by george76
Two of the supervising agents implicated in the Operation Fast and Furious gun-trafficking scandal are mounting a counteroffensive, arguing they had no choice but to let criminal suspects buy guns.
Last month, lawyers for ATF supervisors Bill Newell and David Voth sent letters to two members of Congress who are leading an investigation into the Phoenix-based probe of people buying guns in Arizona for criminals in Mexico.
One of their key arguments: From the operation's inception in September 2009 until June 2010, federal prosecutors told the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents running the investigation that they did not have probable cause to arrest the people buying the weapons or seize the guns from them. During that time, suspects bought the majority of the nearly 2,000 guns they ended up purchasing while being investigated.
"According to the prosecutor, the agents lacked sufficient evidence that the firearms were illegally purchased, and it would have been unlawful for the agents to seize them," attorney Joshua Levy said in a letter on Voth's behalf to Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. "Under those circumstances, non-interdiction by the agents is not gunwalking."
This version of events runs counter to what Issa and Grassley have found in their investigation of Fast and Furious, which has singled out Voth, then the group supervisor overseeing the case, and Newell, then the special agent in charge of ATF's Phoenix division.
"Allowing guns to fall into the hands of the (drug trafficking organizations) was the operation's central goal," a staff report written for Issa and Grassley concluded last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at azstarnet.com ...
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Clues Put FBI Informant at the Apex of Fast and Furious Scandal
narcosphere.narconews.co m ^ | 29 April, 2012 | Bill Conroy
US Weapons “Walked” Into Mexico Under ATF Operation Supplied Firepower for Juarez Bloodbath
A top enforcer for the Sinaloa drug organization and his army of assassins in Juarez, Mexico — responsible for a surge in violence in that city that has led to thousands of deaths in recent years — may well have been supplied hundreds, if not thousands, of weapons through an ill-fated US law-enforcement operation known as Fast and Furious.
That enforcer, Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo, was arrested by Mexican police in February this year and is now the subject of a 14-count US indictment unsealed in late April in San Antonio, Texas, that also charges the alleged leaders of the Sinaloa organization (Joaquin Guzman Loera, or El Chapo; and Ismael Zambada Garcia, or El Mayo) and 21 other individuals with engaging in drug and firearms trafficking, money laundering and murder in “furtherance of a criminal enterprise.”
However, public records and media reports reveal that the trail of weapons that reportedly helped Maruffo unleash a bloody war against the rival Juarez drug organization for control of the market leads, at least in part, back to the doorstep of US law enforcement agencies, principally the FBI and ATF, through the contortions of the US-sanctioned gun-running operation known as Fast and Furious.Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo is now in the custody of Mexican law enforcement.
Marrufo is allegedly responsible, according to the Mexican government, for the murders of some 18 people at the El Aliviane drug-treatment center in Juarez in the fall of 2009. In addition, the indictment in San Antonio contends he is responsible for the kidnapping, torture and murders of several people who lived in the United States, including a Horizon City, Texas, resident who was killed for losing a load of marijuana to a Border Patrol seizure.
In another case, the US indictment alleges, according to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office in San Antonio, the following:
Specifically, Torres Marrufo caused an individual in El Paso to travel to a wedding ceremony in Juarez to confirm the identity of a target. The target was the groom, a United States citizen and a resident of Columbus, NM. Under Torres Marrufo’s orders, the groom, his brother and his uncle were all kidnapped during the wedding ceremony and subsequently tortured and murdered. Their bodies were discovered by Juarez police a few days later in the bed of an abandoned pickup truck. Additionally, a fourth person was killed during the kidnapping at the wedding ceremony.
Fast and Furious
Under Fast and Furious, launched in the fall of 2009, the nation’s federal gun-law enforcer, ATF, in conjunction with a task force composed of several other federal agencies, including the FBI, allowed nearly 2,000 weapons to be smuggled into Mexico. These deliveries of deadly weapons were allowed to “walk” across the border, where they were put into the clutches of criminal organizations, such as those overseen by alleged Sinaloa enforcer Marrufo, so that US law enforcers could supposedly later trace the trail of those guns to the so-called kingpins of Mexico’s criminal organizations.
That evidence would, in theory, lead to some major convictions in US courts and plenty of positive press for the drug-law enforcers. All that makes for big career boosts for the US attorneys and law enforcement brass who get to stand in front of the cameras and take credit for helping to "win" the drug war.
The problem, of course, is that in the wake of Fast and Furious, many people, many innocent Mexican citizens, were mowed down by the bullets fired by those smuggled guns — which could have, and should have, been intercepted by ATF agents long before they ever crossed the border.
The entire operation came to a screeching halt in early 2011, after a Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry, was murdered in Arizona in late 2010 and a couple of assault rifles used in that attack were found at the scene and traced back to the Fast and Furious operation. That incident prompted a Congressional investigation. led by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley and Republican U.S. Rep. Darryl Issa, that, though seemingly more political than truth-seeking, continues to this day.
The main US target of Fast and Furious from the start was an individual named Manuel Celis Acosta, who has since been indicted. Acosta was supposedly the ringleader of a group of “straw” gun purchasers who were acquiring weapons from US gun stores, under the watch of ATF, and then smuggling them into Mexico.
A Sept. 27, 2011, letter drafted by U.S. Rep. Issa and U.S. Sen. Grassley and directed to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., however, contends that “the financier for Acosta's firearms trafficking ring … began cooperating with the FBI and may have received additional payments as a confidential informant.”
A Feb. 1, 2012, memo drafted by staff for Grassley and Issa, thickens the plot, indicating that there were, in fact, two FBI informants involved with purchasing weapons from Acosta, and ATF had no clue that these so-called “big fish,” the high-level targets of Fast and Furious, were, in fact, working for a sister agency.
From the Congressional memo:
When ATF finally brought the ringleader, Celis-Acosta, in for his proffer after his indictment in January 2011, ATF learned the names of the two cartel associates. These were the “big fish” that [ATF Phoenix Special Agent in Charge Bill] Newell had hoped to catch as a result of Fast and Furious and the federal wiretaps. Because the ATF wiretaps and ATF agent surveillance had thus far failed to identify these associates, the proffer was the first time ATF identified these individuals.
Shockingly, though, other federal law enforcement components of the Department of Justice [such as the FBI and DEA] were already aware of the two cartel associates that ATF had finally identified. Their names appeared frequently in DEA call logs provided to ATF — in December 2009. Inexplicably, ATF failed to review all the materials DEA had provided, missing these prime investigative targets.
Additionally, DEA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had jointly opened a separate investigation specifically targeting these two cartel associates. As early as mid-January 2010, both agencies had collected a wealth of information on these associates. Yet, ATF spent the next year engaging in the reckless tactics of Fast and Furious in attempting to identify them.
During the course of this separate investigation, the FBI designated these two cartel associates as national security assets. [essentially foreign-intelligence agents, or informants]. In exchange for one individual’s guilty plea to a minor count of “Alien in Possession of a Firearm,” both became FBI informants and are now considered to be unindictable. This means that the entire goal of Fast and Furious — to target these two individuals and bring them to justice — was a failure. ATF’s discovery that the primary targets of their investigation were not indictable was “a major disappointment.” [Emphasis added.]
The Connections
A recent Fox News report purports, via unnamed sources, to reveal the identity of these two alleged FBI informants.
That report identifies them as Eduardo and Jesus A. Miramontes Varela — both Mexican nationals who “worked for the Sinaloa Cartel when they became informants for the FBI in 2009.”
Then, in late April of this year, the Los Angeles Times came out with an exclusive story about Jesus A. Miramontes Varela, though that report, based on leaked documents, does not link him to Acosta or directly to the Fast and Furious investigation, other than to indicate that ATF “had tracked $250,000 in illegal gun purchases to Miramontes Varela and his brother through its ill-fated Fast and Furious gun-smuggling surveillance operation in Arizona.”
The Los Angeles Times report traces the history of Miramontes Varela, revealing that just prior to becoming an FBI informant, he pleaded guilty to charges of being an illegal immigrant in possession of a firearm — the same charge mentioned in the Congressional memo. Miramontes Varela, the Los Angeles times reports, worked in the drug-trafficking business in Juarez in the early 2000s but by 2008 had set up his own arms- and drug-trafficking network on the US side of the border, operating out of New Mexico and Colorado — before being “transformed into one of the FBI’s top informants on the Southwest border.”
So it seems — if those media reports and Congressional records are to be believed — Miramontes Varela was, in fact, a major financier and purchaser of weapons acquired from US gun stores by the gun-smuggling ring headed by Fast and Furious’ target Acosta.
Yet another staff report prepared for Grassley and Issa’s investigation into Fast and Furious, released on July 26, 2011, reports the following:
On January 13, 2010, the ATF Dallas Field Division seized 40 rifles [in the US] traced to [an] Operation Fast and Furious suspect. This seizure connected Operation Fast and Furious suspects with a specific high-level “plaza boss” in the Sinaloa DTO [drug trafficking organization]. Additionally, this seizure may have represented a shift in the movement of Operation Fast and Furious weapons in order to provide the necessary firearms for the Sinaloa Cartel’s battle for control of the Juarez drug smuggling corridor. [Emphasis added.]
Mexican federal police in February of this year arrested Marrufo, who was described by the Mexican government as a significant player in the Sinaloa drug organization.
Last year, in April, Mexican police raided a Juarez home allegedly owned by Marrufo (who was not there at the time) and discovered a cache of high-powered weapons, 40 of which were traced back to gun sales made through ATF’s Fast and Furious operation, according to news reports at the time.
Those 40 weapons, it appears, according to an October 2011 Lost Angeles Times report, were likely part of a cache of “100 assault weapons acquired under Fast and Furious [and] transported 350 miles from Phoenix to El Paso.”
“Forty of the weapons made it across the border and into the arsenal of Jose Antonio Torres Marrufo, a feared cartel leader in Ciudad Juarez,” the Los Angeles Times reported, sourcing federal court documents and ATF records.
One Narco News source, who claims to have known and worked under Marrufo in Mexico in the past and is now in hiding in the US, contends that Miramontes Varela in the early 2000s did business for the Juarez “Cartel” — as did Marrufo, the source alleges, prior to switching allegiances in the early 2000s and putting in his lot with the rival Sinaloa organization. The source alleges further that Miramontes Varela had a falling out with the Juarez organization after “he stole from them” and “that’s when he started working with Marrufo and the Sinaloa organization” — as well, apparently, for the FBI.
Whether that source is to be believed, given the murky world within which the drug-trafficking business exists, is not clear, nor is it clear from the available evidence if the guns found in Marrufo’s home in Juarez in April 2011 can be linked directly to Miramontes Varela.
But it is clear, based on the media reports and Mexican government press statements about Marrufo, that, prior to his arrest earlier this year, he was a “high-level ‘plaza boss,’” for the Sinaloa organization in Juarez and that he has clearly been connected to weapons that were smuggled across the border into Juarez as part of Fast and Furious. And it also seems probable, according to the Congressional and media reports, that alleged FBI informant Miramontes Varela was a major “financier for” Fast and Furious weapons purchases, weapons that eventually landed in the hands of the Sinaloa “Cartel’s” enforcers in Juarez.
No one in US law enforcement contacted by Narco News wanted to discuss the particulars of Miramontes Varela’s informant status, or his possible connections to Marrufo, due to the sensitive nature of informant matters.
In addition to San Antonio, Marrufo also is facing a drug- and gun-trafficking charges in an indictment filed against him in February 2011 by the US Attorney's office in El Paso, which is under the umbrella of the US Attorney’s Office in San Antonio.
Should Marrufo be extradited by Mexico to stand trail in federal court in San Antonio or El Paso, those cases may yet yield future clues to the sordid relationships that were part of the failed Fast and Furious operation and the trail of blood left in its wake in Mexico and the US — all for the sake, seemingly, of allowing US law enforcement brass and prosecutors to score career and media points.
For now, though, we will have to be satisfied with the clues we can piece together from the public-record trail, all pointing to yet another chapter of US complicity in murder in Latin America to advance classified national interests, which, in this era, all too often are cloaked in the empty rhetoric of the war on drugs.
Stay tuned….
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ssa, Chaffetz confirm contempt plans for Holder over Fast and Furious(gunwalker)
foxnews.com ^ | 27 April, 2012 | NA
House GOP leaders said Friday they are pursuing a plan to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and the Justice Department in contempt for “stonewalling” them over information regarding the administration’s failed Fast and Furious gun-tracking program.
GOP Rep. Darrell Issa confirmed to Fox News that House Speaker John Boehner gave him and others on his House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform the authority to drafted a contempt of Congress resolution.
“We have a few other options (but) to a great extent we’ve been stonewalled by the Justice Department,” said Issa, R-Calif.
The news of the document and the extended meeting in Boehner’s office was reported first by The Los Angeles Times.
“We have issued a subpoena,” Utah GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a member of the oversight committee, said earlier on Fox News. “We have bent over backwards to be patient and take time. (Holder) is leading us down a path where we have no other choice.”
The resolution, if approved by the GOP-led House, could force Holder to release thousands of pages of documents related to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ program.
Holder and other Justice Department officials say they are cooperating with Congress’ investigators.
The Fast and Furious program was run by the ATF’s Phoenix office from 2009 until early 2011. It allowed illegal gun purchases with the expectation of tracking the weapons to Mexican drug cartel leaders. However, hundreds of guns disappeared, with some eventually turning up at crime scenes in Mexico.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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House Drafts Contempt Citation Against Eric Holder
Breitbart.com ^ | April 27, 2012 | Mary Chastain
Posted on April 30, 2012 10:12:27 PM EDT by Daffynition
Republican House leaders are finally holding Attorney General Eric Holder accountable for some of his actions. Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, drafted a 48-page contempt of Congress citation against him. The charge? Repeatedly obstructing and slowing the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious.
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
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House GOP to distribute draft contempt citation against Eric Holder over "gunwalking"
By Sharyl Attkisson Topics Congress . Attorney General Eric Holder
(Credit: AP)
(CBS News) Republicans on the House Oversight Committee were to take the first formal step Thursday toward contempt proceedings against Attorney General Eric Holder over the Fast and Furious "gunwalking" operation, CBS News has learned.
The case for a citation declaring Holder in contempt will be laid out in a briefing paper and 48-page draft citation distributed to Democrats and Republicans on the committee. CBS News has obtained copies of both documents. In them, Republican members use strong language to accuse Holder of obstructing the committee's investigation, which is now in its second year.
The documents allege that the Justice Department has issued, "false denials, given answers intended to misdirect investigators, sought to intimidate witnesses, unlawfully withheld subpoenaed documents, and waited to be confronted with indisputable evidence before acknowledging uncomfortable facts."
Gov't answers CBS News "Fast and Furious" records requests with blank pages
Republicans prep contempt citation against Holder over Fast and Furious
ATF let "gunwalking" suspect go after arrest
"The Justice Department's demonstrable contempt for the congressional investigation has inflicted harm on the people of two nations seeking the truth - and very pointedly on the family of fallen Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ATF whistleblowers who now face retaliation in the wake of their own heroic efforts to expose wrongdoing," says the brief to be distributed Thursday.
For its part, the Justice Department says it has complied with the congressional investigations, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa).
"We've done twice-a-month (document) productions since last year, and the Attorney General has testified about this matter no less than seven times," a Justice official tells CBS News.
There have been at least three House contempt actions against the Executive Branch in the past 30 years.
In 1983, Congress found EPA administrator Anne Gorsuch Burford in contempt for failing to produce subpoenaed documents.
In 1998, the GOP-controlled House Oversight committee found Attorney General Janet Reno in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena on campaign finance law violations.
In 2008, the Democrat-controlled House found former White House counsel Harriet Miers and Chief of Staff John Bolton in contempt for failing to cooperate with an inquiry into whether a purge of federal prosecutors was politically motivated.
In 2008, the Democratic-led Oversight Committee found two White House officials in contempt in the probe of Bush Administration firings of U.S. Attorneys. Congress went to federal court to seek enforcement of that contempt action, but a compromise was reached with the Executive Branch before any court decision was final.
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Eric Holder’s contempt of Congress citation takes shape - It’s go time.
HUMAN EVENTS ^ | 05/03/2012 | John Hayward
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, is preparing contempt of Congress charges against Attorney General Eric Holder for his failure to cooperate fully with the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious, the Obama Administration’s deadly gun-running program. Warnings were issued, deadlines have passed, and it’s just about “go time.”
To this end, Issa has prepared an extensive staff briefing(PDF) on the case, along with a draft of Holder’s contempt citation. A press release from the House Oversight Committee says the briefing paper “explains what happened in Operation Fast and Furious, the hardships faced by the family of fallen Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in getting truthful answers about his death, how agents who blew the whistle on the reckless operation have faced retaliation, and the carnage in Mexico that Fast and Furious has helped fuel.”
Among the lowlights of this paper are the ATF’s discovery that two of the top ostensible “targets” for the operation that pumped thousands of American guns into the hands of Mexican cartel killers were actually FBI informants; Holder’s failure to provide documents in 12 of the 22 categories set forth in House subpoenas; the stone walls thrown before Agent Terry’s family as they investigate his death; an ATF whistleblower whose career was ruined on the pretext of punishing him for downloading $8 worth of applications to his smartphone; the appearance of Fast and Furious guns at crime scenes across Mexico, including the murder of a state Attorney General’s brother; and the dismaying decision of Patrick Cunningham, criminal division chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona, to take the Fifth instead of testifying before Issa’s committee.
At 44 pages in length, Issa’s briefing paper is one of the most comprehensive summaries of the Fast and Furious scandal you can read online. Issa appeared on Fox News this morning to discuss the case against Eric Holder, noting his reluctance to “say to the Administration that we’ve come to the end.” He was very blunt about saying Holder’s Justice Department has lied to his committee.
In the middle of his appearance, the Justice Department released a statement – read to Issa while he was sitting in the studio – that said they’ve offered just about all the compliance they’re going to. The Congressman did not seem terribly surprised to hear it. Further stonewalling, he said, would be like Richard Nixon offering to release the Watergate tapes in fifty years, and the “drop dead date” for DOJ compliance with those House subpoenas is “immediately.”
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Democrat representative breaks ranks, criticizes Eric Holder
Human Events ^ | 05/08/2012 | John Hayward
Posted on Tuesday, May 08, 2012 3:37:49 PM by neverdem
Sometimes elections get results, even before they happen.
Matthew Boyle at the Daily Caller reports what could be a significant development in the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious, the Obama Administration’s deadly “gun walking” program. A House Democrat has broken ranks with his party - which is absurdly trying to claim that Attorney General Eric Holder has complied with House Oversight subpoenas, even though not a single category of requested documents has been fully provided, and Holder has failed to produce anything to satisfy 13 of the 22 categories.
The ranking Democrat on House Oversight, Elijah Cummings (D-MD), comically insists that Holder is “still producing documents,” a process that apparently involves chiseling subpoena responses upon blocks of granite, and will be completed at some indeterminate point after the next election. It’s noteworthy that Holder’s defenders can never specify exactly which documents are still squeezing their way between the cracks of the Justice Department stone wall, or explain why it’s taking them so long to materialize.
On the eve of Holder’s citation for contempt of Congress, one Democrat appears to have had enough:
Indiana Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly told The Daily Caller on Tuesday that he supports the House oversight committee’s efforts to enforce the congressional subpoena of Attorney General Eric Holder over Operation Fast and Furious.
“One of the duties of Congress is to provide oversight of the Executive Branch,” Donnelly told TheDC. “There has been a serious allegation of federal law enforcement misconduct and we need to get to the bottom of this issue without playing partisan politics.”
It’s not clear from this statement whether Donnelly would support contempt charges against Holder, but he’s making a pretty major break from the Party line, which holds that the entire Fast and Furious investigation is a partisan witch hunt. The other members of the distressingly small group of House Democrats who took Fast and Furious seriously are more likely to answer questions about it with a terse “no comment” these days.
As it happens, Donnelly is the sole Democrat candidate in the Indiana Senate race, whose Republican contender will be either incumbent Richard Lugar or Richard Mourdock, depending on how Tuesday night’s primary goes. Sometimes elections get results, even before they happen.
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GOP hits Holder on 'Fast and Furious,' pushes ban on Justice lying to Congress
The Hill ^ | 5/9/2012 | By Pete Kasperowicz
Posted on May 9, 2012 9:42:49 PM EDT by nakutny
House Republicans on Wednesday presented an amendment to a Department of Justice spending bill that would prevent Justice from using taxpayer funds to lie to Congress.
The bill, which is likely to pass, was presented by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and supported by several other Republicans who are outraged over a February 2011 letter from the department that denied any involvement in a gun-walking program....
On Tuesday night, the House voted to strip $1 million in funding from Justice in response to the Fast and Furious scandal.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
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Brian A. Terry Memorial Act creates political dilemma for Obama(Murdergate)
Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 9 May, 2012 | David Codrea
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2012
“Legislation to honor fallen Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry unanimously passes U.S. Senate,” a May 9 press release from the Office of Congressman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., announces.
“The Brian A. Terry Memorial Act, sponsored by Issa with nearly seventy bipartisan cosponsors, will rename the United States Border Patrol Station in Bisbee, AZ to honor the memory of Agent Brian Terry who was gunned down in the line of duty by heavily-armed drug smugglers on December 14, 2010. Terry died the following day,” the release states. “Weapons found at the scene were connected to the Department of Justice’s reckless Fast & Furious Operation.” View slideshow: Issa Press Release: Terry Memorial Act passes Senate
Gun Rights Examiner reported passage of the act in the House of Representatives last December, concluding “A symbolic act is appropriate. Now it's up to us to use our voices and not allow it to remain just that.”
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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Democrats’ Support for Holder Collapsing
newsmax.com ^ | 8 May, 2012 | Martin Gould
Cracks have started to appear in the wholehearted Democratic support for embattled Attorney General Eric Holder as he faces possible contempt hearings for refusing to hand over papers relating to the Fast and Furious gun-running scandal.
Three House Democrats and one Senate candidate have added their voices to the growing clamor for Holder and his Justice Department to come clean on the scheme that allowed thousands of guns to fall into the hands of violent Mexican drug cartels.
The move comes the day before congressmen will be given the opportunity to vent on their feelings in the case in a “special order” session which is expected to result in a concerted Republican call for Holder to quit or be fired.
The three congressmen, Nick Rahall of West Virginia, Gene Green of Texas, and Ron Kind of Wisconsin, were among 31 Democratic representatives who signed a letter last summer urging the Justice Department to cooperate with investigations being spearheaded by Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California and Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
But they are the first to say that Holder and his department have failed to live up to the expectations they expressed in the letter which was sent to President Barack Obama in June last year. “I know there’s embarrassment at ATF, and I know this program is not just under President Obama,” Rahall told The Washington Times. “It was going on previous to that, but they ought to deal with it. They ought to clean it up and make sure that doesn’t happen.”
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
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Obama admin furious over proposed ATF restriction, threatens veto
Dave Workman
Seattle Gun Rights Examiner
The Obama administration is threatening to veto the House Appropriations bill, HR 5326 by Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY) because, among other things, it would roadblock a multiple long gun sales reporting requirement in four southwest states for the embattled Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
This new angle should get the attention of Northwest gun owners who faithfully follow the Fast and Furious scandal at WaGuns, Seattle Guns, Northwest Firearms, Shooters Northwest and GunRights Media forums.
Advertisement
A message from the Obama administration on the proposed legislation says this:
The Administration strongly opposes problematic policy and language riders that have no place in funding legislation, including, but not limited to, the following provisions in this bill…
Prohibition on Multiple Sales of Rifles Reporting Requirement. Preventing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives from requiring licensed firearms dealers in four border States to report information on the sale of multiple rifles or shotguns to the same person would hamper efforts to address the problem of illegal gun trafficking along the Southwest Border and in Mexico.
ATF used ramped-up gun recoveries in Mexico that can at least be party attributed to Operation Fast and Furious to justify the reporting requirement. A lawsuit to stop the requirement failed, but – as this appropriations measure suggests – there is more than one strategy toward skinning the proverbial cat.
'If the President were presented with H.R. 5326, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.'—Statement of Administration Policy
Late Tuesday, as this column reported, Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) followed through on a threat – at least symbolically – by pushing an appropriations amendment to take $1 million away from the Department of Justice because of Attorney General Eric Holder’s continued reluctance to provide tens of thousands of subpoenaed documents from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
According to the Washington Examiner:
House appropriators are set to give the agency that handled Operation Fast and Furious the exact funding requested by President Obama, which is an increase in funding since last year.
"The legislation contains $1.2 billion for the [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] ATF, $1 million above fiscal year 2012 and the same as the [president's] request," the House Appropriations Committee explained last month.
President Obama has threatened to veto this appropriations bill because, among other things, it limits the gun control authority of ATF.
With the addition of a restriction on ATF to push its multiple long gun reporting requirement in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California to the appropriations process, the Fast and Furious debacle has taken on a new political overtone, as if it needed one. Already, the House Oversight committee, chaired by California Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) has divided along party lines over the prospect of pushing a contempt citation against Holder. This column reported about Issa’s draft plan. On Tuesday, Issa reached across the aisle to 31 Democrats, reminding them that last June, they urged President Obama to compel Holder and the Justice Department to cooperate with the House investigation. This column reported that development.
But there is a problem for the White House, as explained in the Washington Examiner report. Under the appropriations measure, ATF actually gets an extra million dollars for FY 2013. The agency just can’t spend any money on its long gun reporting effort.
Many who have followed the Fast and Furious investigation are convinced that the gun trafficking operation was not a “sting” in the normal sense, but was actually launched to “pad the numbers” of recovered U.S.-origin firearms at Mexican crime scenes, thus justifying more gun control measures. As this column reported, the ATF now claims mot of the weapons recovered at Mexican crime scenes and referred to the agency for tracing, allegedly do come from the United States. However, questions have been raised about whether the number of trace guns represents all guns recovered by Mexican authorities, or only firearms they know or suspect can be traced back to this country,
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BREAKING: Gowdy follows through on threat to cut DoJ funding, but…
Seattle Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 8 May, 2012 | Dave Workman
Posted on Thursday, May 10, 2012 10:57:27 AM by marktwain
Following through on a threat made to this column and to Fox News, South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy on Tuesday introduced an amendment — passed by voice vote in the House of Representatives — cutting $1 million from the Justice Department’s appropriation for FY 2013.
Gowdy told this column that he would pursue that avenue because of Attorney General Eric Holder’s continual stalling and failures to provide tens of thousands of document pages requested and subpoenaed by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, of which Gowdy is a member.
In his freshman term, Gowdy — a former federal prosecutor — told the Gun Rights Examiner bluntly that one way or the other, Holder will comply with the subpoenas by the Memorial Day weekend. The clock is ticking and Gowdy has just demonstrated that he was not bluffing.
Following through on a threat made to this column and to Fox News, South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy on Tuesday introduced an amendment — passed by voice vote in the House of Representatives — cutting $1 million from the Justice Department’s appropriation for FY 2013.
Gowdy told this column that he would pursue that avenue because of Attorney General Eric Holder’s continual stalling and failures to provide tens of thousands of document pages requested and subpoenaed by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, of which Gowdy is a member.
In his freshman term, Gowdy — a former federal prosecutor — told the Gun Rights Examiner bluntly that one way or the other, Holder will comply with the subpoenas by the Memorial Day weekend. The clock is ticking and Gowdy has just demonstrated that he was not bluffing. Advertisement
In an e-mail announcement, the Oversight Committee noted:
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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Van Jones rips Holder over Operation Fast and Furious: ‘We just don’t value all life the same’
The Daily Caller ^ | 5/18/12 | Mathew Boyle
Posted on Friday, May 18, 2012 1:15:39 AM by Nachum
During a radio interview Wednesday night, former Obama “green jobs czar” Van Jones broke ranks with current and former administration officials and ripped Attorney General Eric Holder for his handling of Operation Fast and Furious, the failed gun-walking operation that trafficked thousands of firearms across the Mexican border.
“I believe that if this was happening across our other border in Canada, we’d probably take it a little more seriously,” Jones said, implying much of the carelessness over Operation Fast and Furious came because many of the victims are Hispanics from Mexico.
“I worry sometimes that we just don’t value all life the same,” Jones added.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
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Boehner pushes Obama to make Holder comply with Fast and Furious subpoena
The Daily Caller ^ | 05/16/2012 | Matthew Boyle
House Speaker John Boehner reportedly pushed President Barack Obama on Wednesday to make Attorney General Eric Holder comply with the congressional subpoena of Operation Fast and Furious documents.
Boehner was meeting for lunch with the president and “other congressional leaders” to discuss upcoming issues. An aide in Boehner’s office told The Daily Caller the president talked about his “to-do-list” and the group discussed several other major topics on the political horizon.
The Boehner aide said one topic the Speaker brought up was Holder’s failure to comply with the Fast and Furious subpoena. “The Speaker also asked the President to encourage the Attorney General to provide the information Congressional investigators have sought about the Fast and Furious operation,” the Boehner aide said in an email.
It’s unclear what, if anything, Obama said in response. The White House did not immediately respond when asked.
Holder has failed to comply with House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa’s Oct. 12, 2011, subpoena of him on Fast and Furious. Holder has thus far failed to comply with all 22 categories of the subpoena that requires him to provide Congress with documents relating to Fast and Furious. On 13 of the categories, Holder has provided no documents. On the other nine subpoena categories, Holder is still far from compliant.
Issa is planning to move forward with contempt of Congress proceedings against Holder if he continues failing to comply. The Department of Justice claims the contempt proceedings are “unwarranted.” (RELATED: Full coverage of Operation Fast and Furious)
Last week, Boehner publicly threw his full support behind Issa’s push to enforce the subpoena.
“I’m supporting their efforts to hold those people in the Department of Justice accountable for what happened,” Boehner said then. “The committee has work to do; they know what they have to do. They’re pursuing a lot of unanswered questions. And I would hope that they would continue that.”
“All options are on the table,” Boehner added during that press conference.
In his account of the lunch meeting between Obama, Boehner and other congressional leaders, White House spokesman Jay Carney did not mention that Boehner brought up Fast and Furious.
The White House has avoided talking about the scandal and would not comment when President Obama signed the Brian A. Terry Memorial Act into law on Tuesday. Terry was the Border Patrol agent who was killed with Fast and Furious weapons that fell into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
Boehner’s aide also said the Speaker was “was very pleased with the sandwiches served” at the lunch.
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wait til Holder beats the rap with the Alberto Gonzalez defense - "I don't remember" hahahahahah
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Pressure On: House Leadership Tell Holder to Come Forward on Fast and Furious Details
Townhall.com ^ | 5/18/2012 | Katie Pavlich
Posted on Friday, May 18, 2012 2:39:03 PM by Servant of the Cross
The pressure is on. House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy has sent a letter to Attorney and Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa have sent a letter directly to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding "full cooperation with the ongoing investigation into the 'Fast and Furious' operation and the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry." The letter, as past letters from Issa have, points out that the Obama Justice Department and Holder in particular, has not complied with a congressional subpoena asking for information and documents about the lethal program. Here is the letter in full.
May 18, 2012
The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530
Dear Attorney General Holder:
We write to express our concerns with the lack of full cooperation from the Department of Justice (“the Department”) with the ongoing Congressional investigation into the operation known as “Fast & Furious” and the related death of Border Agent Brian Terry. While we recognize that the Department has provided some documents in response to some aspects of the October 11, 2011, subpoena from the Chairman of the Oversight & Government Reform Committee (“the Committee”), two key questions remain unanswered: first, who on your leadership team was informed of the reckless tactics used in Fast & Furious prior to Agent Terry’s murder; and, second, did your leadership team mislead or misinform Congress in response to a Congressional subpoena?
We are troubled by the Department’s assertions that the Executive Branch possesses the ability to determine whether inquiries from the Legislative Branch have been fully complied with. As the Supreme Court has noted, each co-equal branch of our Government is supreme in their assigned area of Constitutional duties. Thus, the question of whether the Executive Branch has sufficiently complied with a Congressional subpoena requesting specific information pursuant to Congress’ Article I responsibilities is one only the Legislative Branch can answer.
One fact appears to be undisputed by all concerned: Fast & Furious was a fundamentally flawed operation. It was taken to an extreme that resulted in at least one death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent and unknown other consequences, because U.S. law enforcement agencies allowed thousands of firearms to be illegally “walked” into Mexico and into the hands of drug cartels. Beyond the horrific impact on the Terry family, there is no doubt that this operation has done serious harm to one of the United States’ most important bilateral relationships. It is our hope that, in finding the truth, we can both provide closure to the Terry family, begin to repair our relationship with Mexico, and take steps to make necessary changes at the Department.
Clearly, the Department must take steps to ensure that tragic mismanagement like Fast & Furious does not occur in the future. Unfortunately, without the disclosure of the information requested in the October 11, 2011, subpoena regarding which members of your leadership team were informed of the reckless tactics that were used in the operation, the American people cannot be confident that any remedial steps you implement will accomplish this goal. For example, your leadership team recently asserted that “Department leadership was unaware of the inappropriate tactics used in Fast and Furious until allegations about those tactics were made public in early 2011.” Yet, Federal law requires that you, or a member of your leadership team, approve the application to a Federal judge for use of a wiretap.
In approving such an application, you or your designee would – or should – have reviewed the accompanying materials and affidavits that provided the basis for the wiretap application prior to affixing the Department’s approval to the application. We understand that the Fast & Furious operation may have included seven such wiretaps between March and July 2010. Whether the information used to justify the wiretap application or the information gained from the wiretaps is being used in any ongoing criminal prosecution is immaterial to the question of who on your leadership team reviewed and approved the wiretaps and was therefore privy to the details of the Fast & Furious operation. The assertion that your leadership team could approve wiretaps in 2010 and yet not have any knowledge of the tactics used in Fast & Furious until 2011 simply cannot be accurate and furthers the perception that the Department is not being forthright with Congress.
We would note that correspondence between your Deputy and Chairman Issa raises concerns that further Congressional actions might cause damage between the Legislative and the Executive branch. We would submit that the damage to that relationship began with a February 4, 2011, letter from the Department to the Congress that was subsequently withdrawn because it provided Congress with false information. The means to repair the damage caused by your Department lies within your powers to work with the Committee to find a mutually satisfactory level of compliance with the subpoena and avoid further confrontation.
While we are disappointed that a Senior Department official would provide false information to Congress, we are also concerned that it took your Department ten months to acknowledge the inaccuracy and ultimately withdraw the letter. In light of the letter and its subsequent withdrawal, it is critical for Congress to understand whether the letter was part of a broader effort by your Department to obstruct a Congressional investigation. We are unaware of any assertions of executive privilege that would prevent compliance with the Congressional subpoena. We are also unaware of any national security concerns or diplomatic sensitivities that would preclude compliance with the subpoena. Finally, as these post-February 4, 2011, communications concern the Department’s response to Congress, their disclosure to Congress would not impact any ongoing criminal investigations or prosecutions.
If the Office of Legal Counsel has provided a legal opinion that takes into account the specific circumstances of this investigation and you are relying on that opinion to maintain your current position, we would request that the opinion be provided to Congress at the earliest possible opportunity. Similar to arrangements previously made between your Department and Congressional investigators, we are confident that you possess adequate means to provide substantive compliance with a Congressional subpoena while protecting the integrity and confidentiality of specific documents.
We firmly believe and hope that you agree that a mutually acceptable resolution to this matter may yet be achieved. The Terry family deserves to know the truth about the circumstances that led to Agent Terry’s murder. The whistle-blowers who brought these issues to light deserve to be protected, not intimidated, by their government. And, the American people deserve to know how such a fundamentally flawed operation could have continued for so long and have a full accounting of who knew of and approved an operation that placed weapons in the hands of drug cartels.
As co-equal branches of the U.S. Government, the relationship between the Legislative and Executive branches must be predicated on honest communications and cannot be clouded by allegations of obstruction. If necessary, the House will act to fulfill our Constitutional obligations in the coming weeks. It is our hope that, with your cooperation, this sad chapter in the history of American law enforcement can be put behind us.
Sincerely,
Honorable John A. Boehner
Speaker
Honorable Eric Cantor
Majority Leader
Honorable Kevin McCarthy
Majority Whip
Honorable Darrell E. Issa
Chairman, Oversight and Government Reform Committee
The letter comes just days after Boehner pressed President Obama to push Eric Holder to comply with the subpoena. Contempt charges are looming.
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Mexican official: Fast and Furious 'poisoned' public opinion of US
The Hill ^ | 5/31/12 | Jordy Yager
Posted on June 1, 2012 4:59:51 AM EDT by Libloather
Mexican official: Fast and Furious 'poisoned' public opinion of US
By Jordy Yager - 05/31/12 05:36 PM ET
The Mexican ambassador to the United States on Thursday said a botched gun-tracking operation by America “poisoned” public opinion of the United States for the citizens of its southern neighbor.
Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan told a room of reporters on Capitol Hill that the failed Operation Fast and Furious, which has been the focus of a Republican investigation in the House for more than a year, “put a lot of strain” on U.S.-Mexico relations.
“Fast and Furious has poisoned the well-spring of public opinion in Mexico as it relates to the cooperation and engagement with the United States,” Sarukhan said.
“It does put a lot of strain on the huge strides that we’ve achieved with two successive administrations in the United States,” he said.
Sarukhan was on the Hill at the invitation of Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) to promote tighter gun laws in the United States, including the reinstatement of the federal assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004.
Sarukhan argued that Mexico has seen an enormous surge in illegal assault weapons since the ban was allowed to expire and that more must be done in the United States to try and curb the number of guns flowing into Mexico.
Nearly 70 percent of all guns found in Mexico came from the United States since 2007, according to the latest data released by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) last month.
Gun-rights advocates say the numbers do not accurately reflect the true number of guns found in Mexico, which they argue is much higher. Instead, they say, the ATF's data reflect only the number of guns that were submitted for traces.
Some gun advocates in the United States have argued that Democrats try to use the inflated numbers to make their case for stricter gun laws.
But Sarukhan, Democrats, and proponents for tighter gun laws cite the statistics in making their case to instate firmer penalties against illegal gun traffickers and straw buyers.
“Beyond learning what happened in Fast and Furious, there’s a much larger task at hand, which is how do we prevent the volumes of guns coming across the border into Mexico ... and feeding into the violence,” said Sarukhan, referring to the nearly 50,000 people who have been killed in Mexico over the past five years since that nation declared a war on the drug cartels.
Fast and Furious was an attempt by the ATF to track the flow of weapons from the United States into Mexico by drug cartels in hopes of dismantling their network.
Nearly 2,000 guns were sold in the United States to straw buyers for the cartels, but instead of tracking the weapons, ATF agents were ordered to let them go with the hope of rediscovering them later at a crime scene or drug bust.
“We are extremely concerned about what happened with Fast and Furious,” Sarukhan said. “The Mexican government was never appraised of how the operation was being designed and implemented, therefore we also asked for a full-fledged investigation from the Justice Department, which we are awaiting.
“I hope to see that investigation concluded soon because hopefully that will provide some closer and a very clear sense of what happened and we hope also, if need be, the appropriate accountability of those involved,” Sarukhan said.
The Department of Justice's inspector general, at the request of Attorney General Eric Holder, has been investigating Fast and Furious for more than a year and searching for who is responsible for the controversial “gun walking” tactics.
Sarukhan said that the Mexican government is conducting its own investigation into what happened once the weapons crossed the border from the United States.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has led Congress’s investigation into the operation and recently took steps to hold Holder in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents that the powerful lawmaker has subpoenaed.
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Eric Holder still employed?
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Eric Holder still employed?
LOL.
yeah - shows just how horrible his boss is that he would have such a thug as AG
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LOL.
yeah - shows just how horrible his boss is that he would have such a thug as AG
Then is his boss still employed?
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Then is his boss still employed?
Not for long. 5 months left of this horrible administration.
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http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/2012-06-06-DEI-to-Holder-Wiretap-App.pdf
bbboooommmm - more Holder lies exposed.
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clinton got impeached for lying about a BJ.
obama/holder hand over dump trucks of guns to drug gangs who murder americans and thousands of civilians.
and obama is golfing and high-fiving holder.
SEriously, the republican investigation/prosecution is a bleak failure here. The fact obama can essentially say "I choose for you not to prosecute me" shows either presidential power is too powerful (1) or Issa is inept (2).
And if it's #1, you must remember the 911 commission (when bush/cheney got to testify together and no notes recorded), and suck a cawk if you were okay with it ;)
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clinton got impeached for lying about a BJ.
obama/holder hand over dump trucks of guns to drug gangs who murder americans and thousands of civilians.
and obama is golfing and high-fiving holder.
SEriously, the republican investigation/prosecution is a bleak failure here. The fact obama can essentially say "I choose for you not to prosecute me" shows either presidential power is too powerful (1) or Issa is inept (2).
And if it's #1, you must remember the 911 commission (when bush/cheney got to testify together and no notes recorded), and suck a cawk if you were okay with it ;)
Obama and Holder have a similar thing in common that makes them immune
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Obama and Holder have a similar thing in common that makes them immune
they're both smarter than Darrell Issa?
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Fast and Furious: Wiretap documents confirm senior Justice officials knew about “gun walking”
Human Events ^ | 6/5/12 | John Hayward
Posted on Tuesday, June 05, 2012 3:19:14 PM by Nachum
It’s becoming increasingly clear why Attorney General Eric Holder is so reluctant to hand over subpoenaed documents to Congressional investigators. Today, House Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) wrote Holder to discuss some wiretaps related to Operation Fast and Furious, the deadly Obama Administration program that put American guns into the hands of Mexican cartel killers.
Holder has always maintained that he and his top deputies were unaware of the outrageous methods employed in Fast and Furious, which involved “walking” American guns across the border, ostensibly to trap cartel bigwigs with firearms charges. No serious effort was made to track the guns. They have a distressing tendency to turn up in close proximity to dead Mexican and American citizens, with hundreds of them still unaccounted for.
“In a May 15, 2012 letter,” Issa reminded Holder, “the Deputy Attorney General reiterated the Department’s position that the ‘inappropriate tactics used in Fast and Furious… were not initiated or authorized by Department leadership in Washington.’ We now know that statement is false.”
Issa knows this because his committee has obtained “copies of six wiretap applications in support of seven wire intercepts utilized during Fast and Furious.” These applications are sealed from public view by judicial order, but Issa’s committee has reviewed them, and found they “show immense detail about questionable investigative tactics was available to the senior officials who reviewed and authorized them.”
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
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New Documents Show Senior DOJ Officials Were Informed of Gunwalking in Fast and Furious
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ^ | June 6, 2012 | NA
Sealed applications for wiretaps – approved by senior DOJ officials and obtained by the Oversight Committee – detail gunwalking efforts
WASHINGTON— Today, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa confronted Attorney General Eric Holder with new documents showing that senior Justice Department Officials in Washington were given specific information about reckless tactics in Operation Fast and Furious. In a letter, Issa rebuked the Attorney General for his continuing efforts to mislead Congress about both the contents of the wiretap applications and details of who knew about and gave approval for reckless tactics. While refusing to produce the subpoenaed documents, Holder has previously denied knowledge of and cast doubt on the possibility that the wiretap applications contained information about reckless tactics.
“The wiretap applications show that immense detail about questionable investigative tactics was available to the senior officials who reviewed and authorized them. The close involvement of these officials – much greater than previously known – is shocking,” Issa wrote to Holder. “Throughout the course of the congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious, the [Justice] Department has consistently denied that any senior officials were provided information about the tactics used in Operation Fast and Furious. The wiretap applications obtained by the Committee show such statements made by senior Department officials regarding the wiretaps to be false and misleading. You have repeatedly either denied involvement by senior officials in Fast and Furious, or asserted that the wiretap applications do not contain rich detail about irresponsible investigative tactics.”
Wiretaps utilized in Operation Fast and Furious were intended to allow investigators in Arizona to listen to the phone calls of suspects as part of a strategy to reveal evidence of involvement by high level Mexican cartel associates. The six applications for wiretaps, which have been sealed by a federal judge, detail specific actions taken by agents in Operation Fast and Furious. This includes conscious decisions not to interdict weapons that agents knew were illegally purchased by smugglers taking weapons to Mexico.
The wiretaps, as required by federal law, were submitted to Washington for approval by senior Justice Department officials in the Washington based Criminal Division of the Justice Department. They were approved under the authority of Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer of the Criminal Division. To justify the need for the invasive law enforcement tool, Justice Department officials use robust and detailed information to explain the evidence used to merit its use and why other tactics are not sufficient to achieve the goals of the operation.
Information contained in the wiretaps had been subpoenaed by the Oversight Committee, but the Justice Department had refused to turn them over to investigators. Obtaining them answers some of the questions the Committee and House leadership have warned(PDF) Attorney General Holder he must fully address to avoid contempt proceedings. To date, Holder has not responded to this letter. As the wiretaps have been sealed, the committee cannot publicly release them but copies have been sent to the committee minority and the wiretaps are available for review by Members of the Committee.
Click here for the letter from Chairman Issa to Attorney General Eric Holder(PDF?)
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Issa: Wiretaps show 'immense detail' about questionable Fast & Furious tactics
Fox News ^ | 5 June 2012 | Mike Levine, et al
Posted on June 6, 2012 2:03:04 AM EDT by XHogPilot
A House investigative committee said Tuesday it has obtained new information from wiretaps related to the Obama administration’s Operation Fast and Furious that suggests high-ranking officials know more than they are telling Congress about the flawed weapons sting.
“The wiretap applications show that immense detail about questionable investigative tactics was available to the senior officials who reviewed and authorized them,” Issa said in a June 5 letter to Holder. “The close involvement of these officials -- much greater than previously known -- is shocking.”
The targets of "Fast and Furious" bought nearly 2,000 weapons over several months. For reasons that are still in dispute, most of those weapons were never followed. High-powered weapons tied to the investigation ended up at crime scenes in Mexico and the United States, including the December 2010 murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
The wiretaps were intended to allow investigators in Arizona to listen to the phone calls of suspects as part of the strategy to reveal evidence of involvement by high-level Mexican cartel associates. The six applications for wiretaps, which have been sealed by a federal judge, detail specific actions taken by agents involved in the operation, the GOP-controlled committee said in a statement.
The information shows the officials made “conscious decisions” not to interdict weapons that agents knew were illegally purchased by smugglers taking weapons to Mexico, according to the statement.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/05/issa-wiretaps-show-immense-detail-about-questionable-fast-furious-tactics/?intcmp=obnetwork#ixzz1wzR5NZdg
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
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Reporter violated NYT ethics code with false Fast and Furious story
The Daily Caller ^ | 6 June, 2012 | Matthew Boyle
Posted on June 6, 2012 9:55:36 PM EDT by marktwain
Charlie Savage, a reporter for The New York Times, violated the newspaper’s own code of ethics by printing a false story about the ongoing congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious on Tuesday evening.
For the Times, Savage reported late on Tuesday that House Speaker John Boehner had “opened direct negotiations with the Department of Justice aimed at resolving a dispute over subpoenaed information related to the botched gun-trafficking investigation dubbed Operation Fast and Furious.” The story ran under the headline “Boehner in talks with Justice Dept. on gun-running inquiry,” implying that the speaker was directly participating in talks.
Boehner spokesman Michael Steel, however, said the report was not true, and in a blog post attacking the Times, Boehner’s office wrote that neither the newspaper nor Savage reached out to Boehner’s team before publishing the story.
Savage has since “updated” the post, as opposed to issuing a correction for the implication that Boehner was directly negotiating with the Justice Department.
“After I received his [Steel’s] email, I updated the blog post to include his characterization of the talks,” Savage said in comments to Politico. “As part of the update I also made clearer that these are staff-level discussions. The original version, including its headline, had said Boehner was engaged in direct talks, by which I meant that the speaker’s office is talking directly to DOJ rather than routing the conversation exclusively through Issa’s shop as before, not that Boehner himself is personally negotiating.”
Section 20 of The New York Times Company’s publicly printed policy for “Ethics in Journalism” states that “anyone [‘staff members or outside contributors’] who knowingly or recklessly provides false information” to the Times for publication “betray our fundamental pact with our public.”
Savage admitted that he failed to seek comment from Boehner’s team in a comment to Politico, which resulted in the incorrect report. “He [Steel] was right that I should have reached out to them,” Savage said.
While it’s unclear whether Savage knew the information he provided to the Times was false — as alleged by Boehner’s office and confirmed by Savage’s own post-publication admission — his failure to verify his report with Boehner’s office ahead of time stands out as “reckless” under the Times’ ethics policy. Savage has not responded to The Daily Caller’s repeated requests for comment on the issue.
The Times’ ethics code says the publication takes these violations seriously. “We will not tolerate such behavior,” reads the policy.
It’s unclear if the Times intends to hold Savage accountable for the report. Times spokeswoman Danielle Rhoades-Ha has not responded to TheDC’s repeated requests for comment.
The original story was posted at 6:51 p.m. on Tuesday, according to a time stamp on the Times website. The Times edited the story after publication, removing the statement Boehner’s office said was false and changing the focus of the article, while adding a quote from Boehner’s spokesman. The Times also changed the article’s headline.
The way this was executed may be another violation of The New York Times’ ethics code. In Section 17 of the Times’ journalistic ethics policy, the publication says that it “correct our errors explicitly as soon as we become aware of them.”
“We do not wait for someone to request a correction,” the ethics code reads. “We publish corrections in a prominent and consistent location or broadcast time slot.”
Savage’s story was not edited until after Boehner’s office publicly pressed him on its inaccuracies. Boehner’s office published a blog post pointing out his false reporting at least an hour and a half before Savage updated the piece. Also, the speaker’s office said they’d sent Savage a statement about the inaccuracies after seeing the story online.
The online version of the article contains no correction or explanation as to why Savage’s story was edited after the fact. A note does tell readers the article was “updated” at 11:39 p.m., but doesn’t say why.
The timing and nature of the update shows the Times’ de facto correction was neither explicit nor published until after a request for correction was received and broadcast online by the speaker’s office. The Times spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on whether this too constituted an ethics policy violation.
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Mole helps Rep. Issa whack Justice Dept.
www.thehill.com
By Jordy Yager - 06/07/12 05:00 AM ET
With the help of a mole, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has turned the tables on Attorney General Eric Holder.
Issa has long been exasperated with Holder, claiming that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been withholding information on a controversial gun-running operation. But through an anonymous source, Issa has obtained information about the initiative that is under a federal court-ordered seal.
Giving such information out is a federal crime, raising the question of whether the Justice Department will seek to prosecute what Republicans are calling a whistleblower.
Issa has asked the DOJ for the documents — wiretap applications it used in the botched federal gun-tracking Operation Fast and Furious — for months. The California lawmaker has taken preliminary steps to move contempt-of-Congress citations against Holder, but it remains unclear if GOP leaders support that move. This new controversy could help Issa attract more Republican support for a contempt-of-Congress resolution.
If Holder does launch an investigation into where the leak originated, the powerful Republican could paint the move as an attempt by the DOJ to hide the documents’ contents. It would also raise the possibility that DOJ investigators will seek information from Issa, who has been trying to determine who approved the “gun-walking” tactics used in Fast and Furious along the U.S.-Mexico border.
On the other hand, not launching a probe would mean turning a blind eye to a criminal breach and could lead Issa’s source and others to reveal other information sealed by a judge.
Issa told Fox News on Wednesday that he has no intention of shining the light on his source: “We’re not going to make our whistleblower available. That’s been one of the most sensitive areas, because some of the early whistleblowers are already feeling retribution. They’re being treated horribly.”
Asked earlier this week where he got the wiretap applications, Issa told The Hill, “You can ask, but you should have no expectation of an answer. By the way, if I asked you where you got yours, would you give me your sources?”
Of course, there is some political risk for Issa. The Obama administration could point out that he is stonewalling federal authorities after complaining throughout this Congress of being stonewalled by DOJ.
As the lead congressional investigator of Fast and Furious, Issa says the documents show top-ranking DOJ officials signing off on the condemned “gun-walking” tactics used in the failed operation. Senior DOJ officials have repeatedly denied that they approved the botched initiative.
The documents have not been made public, and Issa has apparently broken no laws by being given the information.
Regardless, the DOJ is not pleased.
“Chairman Issa’s letter makes clear that sealed court documents relating to pending federal prosecutions being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California have been disclosed to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in violation of law,” wrote Deputy Attorney General James Cole to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Issa this week.
“This is of great concern to us,” the letter added.
A spokesman for the DOJ declined to comment about whether it was planning to launch an investigation into the leak.
Democrats say that Issa is exaggerating what he has. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking member on Issa’s panel, reiterated this week that top-ranking DOJ officials didn’t personally review any of the six wiretap applications related to Fast and Furious. Issa sent Cummings the information he received from his source.
In the past, the DOJ has justified not turning over the wiretap applications to Issa by saying that doing so could jeopardize the current criminal cases it is prosecuting.
Two former prosecutors for the DOJ, who were not familiar with the details of this article, independently told The Hill that defense lawyers could use an instance of documents being leaked in violation of a court-ordered seal to justify seeking a mistrial.
It is unlikely that the DOJ, if it does investigate the leak, will have grounds to go after Issa for accepting the documents. In past instances of court-ordered seals being broken, it is the actual breaker of the seal who is held responsible, which in this case could mean criminal contempt proceedings and possible jail time.
The battle between Issa and the DOJ has escalated over the past month, with House Republican leaders writing a letter to Holder asking him to hand over information about who was responsible for Fast and Furious. The letter also asked whether the DOJ misled Congress on when officials, including Holder, became aware of the program.
Issa is set to square off against Holder on Thursday when the attorney general is scheduled to appear before the House Judiciary Committee. The Republican lawmaker will appear on a panel to discuss oversight of the DOJ.
Under the now-defunct Fast and Furious initiative, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is under the DOJ, authorized the sale of firearms to known and suspected straw purchasers for Mexican drug cartels, but lost track of many of the weapons. Some of those guns might have contributed to the December 2010 shooting death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
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Issa exploding on Holder today. Funny how the idiot 95ers are trying anything to divert and save his ass.
Pathetic, FUCKING PATHETIC, how 95% of blacks act like fucking slaves to defend these criminals obama and holder.
Eric Holder is so fucking pathetic along with every piece of shit on that panel providing him cover. Incredible.
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Holder ducks questions on who highest-ranking official with Fast and Furious knowledge was
The Daily Caller ^ | 6/7/12 | Matthew Boyle
Posted on Thursday, June 07, 2012 1:14:52 PM by Nachum
Attorney General Eric Holder again today would not answer who the highest-ranking Obama administration official was that had knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious and the gunwalking tactics it employed before Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered.
Instead, when House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith pressed him directly during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday, Holder dodged giving a response.
“Mr. Attorney General, who is the highest ranking official in this administration that knew that these tactics were being used?” Smith asked of Holder at the beginning of a Thursday hearing. “And I’m talking about, knew the tactics were being used before the death of Agent Brian Terry on December 15, 2010.”
Holder attempted to answer a question that wasn’t asked. “Well we know that the operation began in the field offices in Arizona,” Holder said. “Both in the US Attorney’s office and in the ATF office there. The inspector general is in the process of examining –”
Smith then cut off Holder and asked his question again: “To your knowledge, who was the highest-ranking official in the administration who knew about the tactics?”
Holder again deflected. “At this point I can say that it started in Arizona and I’m not at all certain who beyond that can be said to have been involved with regard to the use — now there was knowledge of it, but the use of the tactics,” he responded again.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
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Holder admits Axelrod, White House helped Justice Dept craft Fast and Furious public relations..
The Daily Caller ^
Posted on Thursday, June 07, 2012
Holder admits Axelrod, White House helped Justice Dept craft Fast and Furious public relations strategy By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller 1:32 PM 06/07/2012
Attorney General Eric Holder admitted on Thursday that President Barack Obama’s chief campaign strategist David Axelrod and the White House are helping the Department of Justice craft its messaging about Operation Fast and Furious.
“We [Holder, Axelrod and the White House] have certainly talked about ways in which we could deal with the interaction between the Justice Department and Congress — about ways in which we would,” Holder said in questioning before the House Judiciary Committee.
Virginia Republican Rep. Randy Forbes pressed Holder further by asking him if Axelrod, Obama’s re-election campaign and the White House were involved in crafting the DOJ’s policy for dealing with press. He said they were. “In terms of trying to get any message out that was consistent with facts and make sure it was done in an appropriate way, I’ve had conversations like that with people in the White House.”
Forbes was pressing Holder on the recent reports that he and Axelrod almost got into a physical altercation in the West Wing in early 2009. Holder said the allegation that he and Axelrod almost fought — before Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett broke it up — was slightly mischaracterized. Axelrod was reportedly trying to get Holder to hire political staff to influence law enforcement. Holder said the conversation was about a communications strategy, “not hiring decisions.”
“We talked about not hiring decisions, but ways we might improve the ability of the Justice Department to respond to political attacks coming my way,” Holder said of the incident, adding that he considers Axelrod a “close friend of mine.”
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
DRIP DRIP DRIP DRIP DRIP
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Fast And Furious Hearing: Republicans Clash With Eric Holder On Gun-Walking Program
By PETE YOST 06/07/12 04:32 PM ET
WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder clashed Thursday with congressional Republicans seeking more information about a flawed gun-trafficking investigation in Arizona.
Lawmakers at a House Judiciary Committee hearing asked Holder what he knew in advance of public disclosure of a so-called gun-walking tactic in early 2011. As part of Operation Fast and Furious, agents were told to forego immediate arrests of suspected straw purchasers of guns and instead try to track the guns to higher-ups in gun-smuggling rings. Such a tactic is normally barred under Justice Department policy.
Agents lost track of hundreds of guns which flowed south to Mexico, where many were recovered at crime scenes. Two such guns were found in the U.S. at the scene of the killing of border agent Brian Terry.
Holder told the committee he became aware of the gun-walking tactic at the same time as the public and that he found out "about the same time" that guns found at the scene of Terry's death were part of Operation Fast and Furious.
Holder has faced off repeatedly with Issa and other Republicans in recent months over his handling of the aborted firearms investigation. Issa's committee has prepared a contempt citation against Holder but not voted on it yet, applying pressure for more documents on Operation Fast and Furious.
Holder said the Justice Department has cooperated fully with congressional investigators and turned over 7,600 pages of material to Congress about the operation.
"Look, I don't want to hear about the 7,600," snapped Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that is investigating the operation, Issa has been Holder's frequent sparring partner during recent gun-walking hearings.
Issa said Thursday that wiretap applications in Operation Fast and Furious indicate that a number of key individuals at the Justice Department were responsible for the use of the gun-walking tactic.
"I've read them," replied Holder, adding that he disagreed with Issa's conclusions. The material on the wiretaps is sealed in a federal court, but Issa said the committee obtained the applications from whistleblowers cooperating with his investigation.
Gun-walking has long been barred by Justice Department policy, but was used in the Arizona operation in an effort to dismantle entire arms-trafficking networks and reach kingpins who had long eluded prosecution. Previous law enforcement strategy had focused on prosecuting low-level illicit arms buyers at the bottom of the chain, but that allowed thousands of weapons to reach Mexico. The gun-walking tactic was first used in two similar operations during the George W. Bush administration.
Committee chairman Lamar Smith of Texas asked for the identity of the highest-level official in the Obama administration who knew gun-walking was taking place. Holder replied that the operation began in law enforcement offices in Arizona and that he was not at all certain beyond that.
I don't think anybody in Washington knew about those tactics," said the attorney general.
The Justice Department's inspector general is looking into who knew.
"How many people in Mexico have been killed as a result of the U.S." engaging in the gun-walking tactic? asked Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas.
"I don't know, but I think there would be some," replied Holder. The attorney general pointed to a broader picture: That 68,000 guns recovered by Mexican authorities in the past five years have been traced back to the United States. Operation Fast and Furious involved about 2,000 guns in total, and agents lost track of about 1,400 of those.
At Thursday's hearing, House Democrats placed on record letters urging Issa not to pursue Holder's contempt citation. The letters included notes from Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the survivors of the mass shooting in Tucson that wounded former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the National Action Network headed by the Rev. Al Sharpton.
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nobody cared when alberto gonzalez lied about everything without punishment.
suddenly you give a shit.
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nobody cared when alberto gonzalez lied about everything without punishment.
suddenly you give a shit.
3 dead le officers, 200 plus dead mexicans, Mexican Foregin minister said that F&F has destroyed relations w Mexico and all you can do is blame Bush? ha ha ha ha
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Mole helps Rep. Issa whack Justice Dept.
The Hill ^ | 6/7/12 | Jordy Yager
Posted on June 7, 2012 3:38:42 PM EDT by hope
With the help of a mole, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has turned the tables on Attorney General Eric Holder.
Issa has long been exasperated with Holder, claiming that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been withholding information on a controversial gun-running operation. But through an anonymous source, Issa has obtained information about the initiative that is under a federal court-ordered seal.
Giving such information out is a federal crime, raising the question of whether the Justice Department will seek to prosecute what Republicans are calling a whistleblower.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Good. FUEH. FUBO.
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This is your AG. Be proud obama voters. Be very proud.
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House committee schedules contempt vote against Holder
By Sharyl Attkisson Topics Domestic Issues ,Congress .
(CBS News) CBS News has learned the House Oversight Committee will vote next week on whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. It's the fourth time in 30 years that Congress has launched a contempt action against an executive branch member.
This time, the dispute stems from Holder failing to turn over documents subpoenaed on October 12, 2011 in the Fast and Furious "gunwalking" investigation.
The Justice Department has maintained it has cooperated fully with the congressional investigation, turning over tens of thousands of documents and having Holder testify to Congress on the topic at least eight times.
However, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., says the Justice Department has refused to turn over tens of thousands of pages of documents. Those include materials created after Feb. 4, 2011, when the Justice Department wrote a letter to Congress saying no gunwalking had occurred. The Justice Department later retracted the denial.
"The Obama Administration has not asserted Executive Privilege or any other valid privilege over these materials and it is unacceptable that the Department of Justice refuses to produce them. These documents pertain to Operation Fast and Furious, the claims of whistleblowers, and why it took the Department nearly a year to retract false denials of reckless tactics," Issa wrote in an announcement of the vote to be released shortly. It will reveal the vote is scheduled for Wednesday, June 20.
Read the memo and draft version of contempt report (PDF)
Gov't answers CBS News "Fast and Furious" records requests with blank pages
Republicans prep contempt citation against Holder over Fast and Furious
ATF let "gunwalking" suspect go after arrest
Issa says the Justice Department can still put a stop to the contempt process at any time by turning over the subpoenaed documents.
If the House Oversight Committee approves the contempt citation, the matter would likely be scheduled for a full House vote.
For several weeks, there has been closed-door discussions and debate among House Republicans as to whether to move forward with contempt. Some have expressed concern that it could distract from the Republican's focus on the economy in this election year.
Led by Republicans Senator Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Issa, Congress' investigation into Fast and Furious is now in its second year. In the ATF operation, agents allowed thousands of weapons to "walk" into the hands of Mexican drug cartels in the hope it would somehow help ATF take down a major cartel. Some of the weapons were used in the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry at the hands of illegal immigrants crossing into Arizona. Mexican press reports say hundreds of Mexicans have died at the hands of the trafficked weapons. The story was exposed nationally for the first time by CBS News in February 2011.
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee have called the Republicans' move to find Holder in contempt a politically-motivated "witch hunt."
In 1983, Congress found EPA administrator Anne Gorsuch Burford in contempt for failing to produce subpoenaed documents.
In 1998, the GOP-controlled House Oversight committee found Attorney General Janet Reno in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena on campaign finance law violations.
In 2008, the Democratic-led House Oversight Committee found former White House counsel Harriet Miers and Chief of Staff John Bolton in contempt for failing to cooperate with an inquiry into whether a purge of federal prosecutors by the Bush administration was politically motivated.
Congress went to federal court to seek enforcement of that contempt action, but a compromise was reached with the Executive Branch before any court decision was final.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57450110-503544/house-committee-schedules-contempt-vote-against-holder/?tag=cbsnewsMainColumnArea
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ABOUT FUCKING TIME! ! ! ! ! !
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http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/issa_DOJ_050312.pdf?tag=contentMain;contentBody
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CBS scoops contempt vote, claims credit for nationally breaking Fast and Furious
Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 11 June, 2012 | David Codrea
Posted on June 11, 2012 9:43:09 PM EDT by marktwain
The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has scheduled a vote for next week on finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for noncompliance with information demands about the Fast and Furious “gunwalking” operation, Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News revealed this morning. If the measure passes, “the matter would likely be scheduled for a full House vote,” she reports.
This has been confirmed by a press release from the committee put out today assigning a June 20 date to “consider” the move.
The news will be welcomed by those who believe Holder and the Justice Department have been stonewalling congressional investigators and that a timid Republican leadership has been dragging its feet on getting serious about consequences. It’s another in an extensive series of noteworthy scoops Attkisson has achieved since her first report, an exclusive interview with whistle-blowing ATF Agent John Dodson, which established her as a premiere reporter among the few journalists electing to treat this story as one of national importance that merited balanced reporting.
That makes a repeated claim all the more confounding.
“The story was exposed nationally for the first time by CBS News in February 2011,” Attkisson writes.
“Considering that CBS got to the whistleblowers through David and me (and we have the emails to prove it), that last statement is a cheeky bit of hubris,” citizen journalist Mike Vanderboegh observed on his Sipsey Street Irregulars blog. Vanderboegh was the first to report in late December 2010 about ATF allowing guns to be walked to Mexico and a connection to a murdered Border Patrol agent. By the time Attkisson presented her first report, this column and Vanderboeghs’ blog had produced 157 posts documenting everything from retaliation against agents to the Mexican government being intentionally left in the dark, and much more.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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Armed American Radio
Atlanta GA --(Ammoland.com)- Award-winning citizen journalist and blogger Mike Vanderboegh along with regular AAR contributor and award-winning journalist David Codrea, join host Mark Walters to blow the lid off of Eric Holder’s and Janet Napolitano’s cover-up of Operation Fast and Furious on nationally syndicated Armed American Radio this weekend. (AAR is distributed nationally on the Salem Radio Network)
Vanderboegh and Codrea, the two men who originally broke the story now known as Operation Fast and Furious, will discuss claims from “multiple previously highly credible sources” that at least one, and possibly two high-ranking sources from within the Justice Department have “come in from the cold” seeking whistleblower status and “hold the keys to the kingdom”…with knowledge of Eric Holder’s actions before and after ” the 4 February 2011 DOJ letter denying that the DOJ and its subordinate agencies knew about ‘gunwalking’.”
In a second bombshell revelation, Vanderboegh reports that murdered ICE agent Jaime Zapata was investigating Fast and Furious weapons—despite Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s sworn testimony that there was no connection.
Armed American Radio is one of the fastest growing talk radio shows in America, and the fastest growing pro-gun show in the nation.
AAR airs live nationwide every Sunday from 8-11pm ET, 5-8pm PT. Each week Mark Walters discusses...
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
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FACT SHEET: Today’s Meeting with AG Holder about Fast and Furious Documents and Contempt
June 19, 2012
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Today’s Meeting is at 5 p.m. in the Capitol
Chairman Issa, Senator Grassley, and Attorney General Holder have agreed to meet this evening at 5 p.m. in the Capitol. The best place to stake out the meeting is the Rotunda (Members of Leadership and their staff will not be participating in the meeting). DOJ has requested that Rep. Elijah Cummings and Sen. Patrick Leahy also be permitted to attend. Chairman Issa has indicated he will grant this request. Currently, DOJ has not delivered or shown the Committee ANY of the documents it has said it is prepared to produce. It is not clear if they will actually produce these documents to the Committee before the Wednesday vote to facilitate a postponement.
Possibility of postponement is and always has been about whether DOJ produces a described subset of documents before Wednesday’s vote
This evening’s meeting between Chairman Issa and Attorney General Holder is NOT being done “in exchange” for a postponement of Wednesday’s vote. Chairman Issa has repeatedly stated over the past week that a postponement of Wednesday’s vote would only come after the delivery of a subset of Post February 4 documents that Attorney General Holder said he was prepared to produce and the Department of Justice further outlined to Committee investigators on Thursday, June 14. The length of any postponement would depend on the amount and substance of documents delivered.
• On June 14, 2012, Attorney General Holder wrote that, “the Department is prepared to provide documents that, while outside the scope of the Committee’s interest in the inappropriate tactics used in Fast and Furious, are responsive to how the Department’s understanding of the facts regarding that matter evolved throughout 2011 and how the Department came to withdraw its February 4, 2011, letter to Senator Grassley.”
• On June 15, 2012, Chairman Issa wrote to the Attorney General that, “production of the documents noted in your letter and outlined yesterday in a meeting with Committee staff would be sufficient for me to justify a postponement of the Committee’s scheduled vote on contempt to facilitate their review and discussions with the Department. I am prepared to announce this delay once the Department produces these documents.”
• On June 18, 2012, Chairman Issa reiterated this position writing, “only the delivery of documents outlined and offered by the Department of Justice last Thursday to staff will be sufficient to justify a postponement of Wednesday’s scheduled vote.”
The Committee is not in a position to take contempt completely and permanently off the table at this evening’s meeting
• On June 15, 2012, Chairman Issa indicated to the Attorney General that documents that could justify a postponement still leave, “substantial concerns that these documents may not be sufficient to allow the Committee to complete its investigation.”
• On June 18, 2012, Chairman Issa reiterated this position: “I will not be in a position tomorrow to negotiate over whether certain actions – short of full compliance – are sufficient to warrant more than a delay of contempt proceedings.”
Chairman Issa has explained what DOJ needs to do to have serious discussions about fully and finally ending contempt proceedings
On June 18, Chairman Issa explained that full information is necessary for the Committee to determine exactly what post February 4, 2011, documents the Department may not need to produce:
“The Department has also failed to provide a log that includes descriptions of documents, the dates they were created, who created them, and individualized explanations for why the Department believes these documents should not be produced pursuant to the subpoena. Only the Department knows what it possesses. A full understanding of the post-February 4, 2011, documents under subpoena that the Department is not prepared to produce is essential for the Committee to determine whether the Department has substantially met its obligations.”
Chairman Issa ultimately seeks an agreement rendering contempt unnecessary
On June 13, Chairman Issa wrote to Attorney General Holder: “I believe the interests of the Department, Congress, and those directly affected by reckless conduct in Operation Fast and Furious are best served by an agreement that renders the process of contempt unnecessary.”
Chairman Issa, as outlined above, has indicated that he will continue to pursue contempt if the Justice Department does not agree to produce documents they have indicated they will produce prior to the scheduled contempt vote.
House has narrowed its request to accommodate DOJ’s concerns about material gathered that could affect prosecutions
Chairman Issa has outlined the substantial efforts he and House leadership have made to accommodate the Justice Department’s wish to avoid producing materials gathered during the Fast and Furious investigation. This has been done by narrowing the focus to subpoenaed documents created after the investigation ended and indictments had been announced.
Why are the post February 4, 2011, documents critically important?
On February 4, 2011, the Department of Justice denied whistleblower allegations that guns in Operation Fast and Furious had been allowed to “walk” to Mexico and defended the Operation itself. Ten months later, on December 2, 2011, the Justice Department formally withdrew this denial and acknowledged that Fast and Furious was “fundamentally flawed.” In responding to Congress, however, the Justice Department has taken the position that it will not share its internal deliberations related to Operation Fast and Furious that occurred after it denied anything inappropriate occurred on February 4, 2011. This position effectively denies Congress and the American people information about:
o The Justice Department switching its view from denying whistleblower allegations to admitting they were true.
o Hiding the identity of officials who led the charge to call whistleblowers liars and retaliate against them.
o The reactions of top officials when confronted with evidence about gunwalking in Fast and Furious, including whether they were surprised or were already aware.
o The Justice Department’s assessment of responsibility for officials who knew about reckless conduct or were negligent.
o Whether senior officials and political appointees at fault in Operation Fast and Furious were held to the same standards as lower level career employees whom the Department has primarily blamed.
While officials at the Department of Justice had earlier claimed that divulging this information would have a “chilling effect” on future internal deliberations, they have more recently expressed a greater willingness to produce this material. Congress, under both Democratic and Republican leadership, has never recognized internal agency discussions as privileged and protected.
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MEETING OVER: Contempt still lives, DOJ didn't produce documents #fastandfurious
Twitter ^ | 06/19/12 | Katie Pavlich
Posted on Tuesday, June 19, 2012 5:58:11 PM by PhilosopherStone1000
KatiePavlich Katie Pavlich Jun 19, 05:46 PM MEETING OVER: Contempt still lives, DOJ didn't produce documents #fastandfurious
Latest news on Issa's meeting with Holder which apparently has just finished FWIW.
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Fuck pobama and holder!
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BREAKING: After Issa and Holder Meet, Still No Documents, Contempt Charges Still Looming
Townhall.com ^ | June 19, 2012 | Katie Pavlich
Posted on Tuesday, June 19, 2012 6:36:32 PM by Kaslin
The meeting between Attorney General Eric Holder and Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa has ended after 20 minutes of discussion. Holder came with an offer of a briefing on Fast and Furious documents, but did not physically turn over any documents. This is unsatisfactory to Issa who has said repeatedly that in order for Holder to avoid a contempt vote Wednesday at 10 AM, he must hand over 1300 Fast and Furious documents to the committee.
"The documents they may choose to give in the future, we need before tomorrow," Issa said to reporters. "“Ultimately the documents needed for postponement seem to be in their possession.”
Holder's failure to produce documents at the 5 PM meeting come after he failed to present them by this morning as requested, after he failed to respond to an October 2011 subpoena as requested and after more than a year of requests for transparency surrounding his role in Operation Fast and Furious.
Issa said there is a chance Holder would submit the requested documents tonight but that a contempt vote is still scheduled for Wednesday and has released an official statement.
“I had hoped that after this evening’s meeting I would be able to tell you that the Department had delivered documents that would justify the postponement of tomorrow’s vote on contempt. The Department told the Committee on Thursday that it had documents it could produce that would answer our questions. Today, the Attorney General informed us that the Department would not be producing those documents. The only offer they made involved us ending our investigation.
“While I still hope the Department will reconsider its decision so tomorrow’s vote can be postponed, after this meeting I cannot say that I am optimistic. At this point, we simply do not have the documents we have repeatedly said we need to justify the postponement of a contempt vote in committee.”
Stay tuned for updates.
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33,
what date will Issa officially charge Holder?
Sometime in November
2017?
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33,
what date will Issa officially charge Holder?
Sometime in November
2017?
Skip to comments.
Darrell Issa: Contempt vote coming on Fast and Furious
Politico ^ | 19 June 2012 | JOHN BRESNAHAN and JAKE SHERMAN
Posted on June 19, 2012 8:17:25 PM EDT by Erik Latranyi
House Republicans are charging head first into their most direct conflict with President Barack Obama’s administration over the extent of executive branch power, as they prepare to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress on Wednesday.
Holder and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) failed to reach an agreement on what documents the administration would fork over to help Republicans investigate the Fast and Furious program, a joint Justice Department-Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives operation that put guns into the hands of Mexican cartels.
The two sides remained at loggerheads Tuesday evening, after a 20-minute huddle in Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s third-floor Capitol suite. Holder later called Issa’s position “political gamesmanship” and not a true attempt to resolve the dispute.
After the session, Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said no deal was in hand and Wednesday’s vote would move forward, barring a last-minute reversal.
The contempt fight with Holder and the White House is a big moment for House Republicans. With stubbornly high unemployment, a president with weak approval ratings, a redistricting process that has shored up Republican seats from coast to coast and a worse-than-expected economic recovery, GOP officials think they’re poised to keep the House in their control, and many believe they have a shot at taking the Senate and White House.
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the Terry family deserves answers.
[ Invalid YouTube link ]
The video is attributed to American Future Fund, which you have failed to mention.
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BREAKING - VIA DRUDGE
HOLDER ASKING OBAMA FOR EXECUTIVE PRIVILEDGE OVER F&F DOCS.
WATERGATE ANYONE? DRIP DRIP DRIP
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/attorney-general-asks-white-house-to-exert-executive-privilege-over-fast-and-furious-documents/2012/06/20/gJQABd4EqV_story.html
Wow. Just fucking wow.
FUCK YOU HOLDER
FUCK YOU OBAMA!
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Obama grants Holder request on 'Furious' documents as contempt vote looms
Published June 20, 2012
FoxNews.com
President Obama has granted an 11th-hour request by Eric Holder to exert executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents, a last-minute maneuver that appears unlikely to head off a contempt vote against the attorney general by Republicans in the House.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is expected to forge ahead with its meeting on the contempt resolution anyway.
ORIGINAL STORY ...
House Republicans appear to be charging ahead with a high-drama contempt vote against Eric Holder, after GOP Rep. Darrell Issa said the attorney generally failed to produce the documents he requested for the probe into the Justice Department's botched Fast and Furious operation.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. ET on Wednesday. Barring a last-minute document dump from Holder, lawmakers are poised to vote on a contempt resolution following debate this morning.
If the vote proceeds, Republicans have more than enough votes on committee to pass the resolution. However, Holder would not be considered to be held in contempt of Congress unless and until the full House approves the measure.
Issa and Holder have been going back and forth since last week over Issa's request for documents. Issa, R-Calif., indicated a willingness to postpone the vote after Holder indicated a willingness to make compromises and supply some documents in response to House Republicans' subpoena.
But Issa told reporters after a roughly 20-minute meeting with Holder Tuesday that the attorney general instead briefed them on the documents in lieu of delivering them.
Issa told Fox News that Holder didn't provide "anything in writing," and said the family of murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry wants the documents as much as he does.
"We want the documents. Brian Terry's family would like the documents that are responsive to how in fact their son was gunned down with weapons that came from lawful dealers but at the ... behest of the Justice Department," Issa told Fox News.
Weapons from the Fast and Furious anti-gunrunning operation were found at Terry's murder scene.
Issa suggested earlier Tuesday that the vote could still be up in the air.
"The deadline will always move to the last minute," said Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. "We're not looking to hold people responsible. We're looking for document production."
The failed Fast and Furious operation attempted selling thousands of guns to arms dealers along the U.S.-Mexico border to trace them to leaders of drug cartels. However, many of them showed up in crime scenes.
Congressional investigators have been trying to determine if and when high-level Justice officials knew about problems with the operation.
Holder said Issa rejected what he thought was "an extraordinary offer."
"We offered the documents that we thought would resolve the subpoenas," he said. "The ball is in their court."
The contempt vote in the oversight committee will likely pass considering Republicans outnumber Democrats 22 to 16.
GOP House leadership has given Issa the green light to proceed how he sees fit, sources told Fox News, which suggests the vote would reach the House floor.
Holder called for the Capitol Hill meeting late Monday in a possible attempt to make a deal with Issa and avoid the contempt vote.
Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House oversight panel, said he after the meeting he is confident that Justice officials are not attempting a cover-up by withholding documents.
Holder's letter stated the Justice Department "has offered a serious, good faith proposal to bring this matter to an amicable resolution in the form of a briefing based on documents that the committee could retain."
Issa had demanded to see a trove of documents on the controversial Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation. He also wants to know who prepared a now-retracted letter from Feb. 4, 2011, in which the department claimed the U.S. did not knowingly help smuggle guns to Mexico, including those found where Terry was killed.
Issa wrote back to Holder later Monday requesting he deliver roughly 1,300 documents pertaining to the Feb. 4 letter.
The letter also stated Holder needed to deliver a description of all the documents he will not produce. Issa said the log is "essential for the committee to determine whether the department has substantially met its obligations" -- a statement he repeated Tuesday after the meeting.
Fox News' William LaJeunesse and Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/20/house-republicans-tee-up-imminent-contempt-vote-against-holder/#ixzz1yLJ2Xkw4
FUCKING WOW~!
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Return to the Article
June 21, 2012
Fast and Furious Falling Apart
By Russ Vaughn
When BATF agents first blew the whistle on what is now known as Operation Fast and Furious, the rationale offered by DoJ for such an evidently foolish operation was that it was designed to allow BATF to track and prosecute the leaders of the Mexican drug cartels. As more information surfaced from the Mexican government and the BATF's Mexican bureau chief specifying that none of them knew anything of this operation, many of us who were paying a bit closer attention to the case immediately smelled the first foul scent of corruption.
The fatal flaw in DoJ's explanation was this: if the Mexican authorities had not been brought into the operation, nor even the BATF's own agents authorized to operate in Mexico, then the proffered DoJ justification made utterly no sense, for the simple reason that once those walked guns hit the south side of that border, there was absolutely no process in place to track them to their supposed targets. Therefore, DoJ was patently misrepresenting its motive. Why?
For those who keep a constant wary eye on the left's never-ending war on our 2nd-Amendment right to keep and bear arms, the increasingly fishy smell emanating from Washington led to connecting the dots back to the year-earlier revelations in the liberal media that weapons being used in Mexican crimes were traceable back to American sources more than 90% of the time. That false meme had spread quickly through the major liberal media, along with calls for stricter gun control laws in this country by...guess who! How about our president, our secretary of state, our attorney general, and other notable Democrats, for starters?
Here we had an operation mounted by the executive branch of the United States, an operation which had as its stated goal -- after being outed, that is -- the targeting of Mexican drug lords on sovereign Mexican soil. Yet this was done without the knowledge of anyone in the Mexican government. Quite clearly, a secret and subversive operation had been conceived and implemented against our sister nation to the south -- subversive because, again, quite clearly, the American government was subverting the sovereign authority of Mexico without that nation's knowledge. If the goal was, as stated later by DoJ, to track guns into Mexico to the purchasing sources in the cartels, then was there not some diplomatic requirement to notify the Mexican government that we were arming their most violent criminal elements? And what was the need for keeping our own BATF agents in Mexico -- the only American agents with Mexican presence to conduct such surveillance and tracking operations on Mexican soil -- equally in the dark?
It doesn't require much in the way of deductive powers to conclude that the fish-wrap smell seeping out of Washington probably had to do with Eric Holder's Department of Justice being used to tightly wrap something rotting from the head down. And what could that be? Early proponents of the theory suggesting that if the DoJ's rationale smelled fishy, then perhaps the true reason for F&F was to create justification for more gun control legislation here in this country were looked at as crackpot conspiracists. Even now, most of those Republican members of Congress pursuing this scandal refuse to cite the true purpose of F&F, still referring to it as a bungled federal program. There are exceptions: Florida congressman John Mica speaking on one of the Sunday talk shows this weekend, made clear his opinion that F&F was a sinister and cynical attempt by the Obama administration to undermine the 2nd Amendment. I watched him say it, but Google has no link. Imagine that.
For those who haven't really followed the Fast and Furious scandal, here's a five-step summary of how the operation was supposed to work:
Allow guns to flow freely to criminal elements in Mexico, where they are naturally used in the extremely violent and deadly criminal activities of the drug cartels.
When sufficient guns of American origin have been used in such criminal activities, enlist the willing services of the liberal media to announce the discovery thereof to the world.
Enlist multiple prominent Democrats to untruthfully proclaim that 90% of the guns used in Mexican crimes originate in the U.S.
Use steps one through three to substantiate the liberal fallacy that private gun ownership leads to increased gun violence by gun owners.
With the compliance of a thoroughly duped American public, enact increasingly restrictive gun ownership policies through federal agencies, bypassing Congress and the Supreme Court.
When looked at this way, doesn't Obama's statement to a group of gun control advocates in March 2011 that he was taking steps to further gun control restrictions, but "under the radar," now seem less cryptic than it did at the time? For those who still don't believe Fast & Furious was an end-run on the 2nd Amendment by a liberal, gun-averse administration, here are five questions to consider:
Could the possibility that this plan was concocted at the very top of the administration, putting it on par with Watergate, explain Eric Holder's entrenched refusal to release the tens of thousands of documents being sought by congressional investigators?
Is the liberal media's refusal to investigate this scandal due to the fact that they suspect that the acts of this administration may rise to criminal and impeachable offenses?
Has the reluctance of the Republican leadership to more aggressively support the House investigation been attributable to the same possibility -- that full exposure could lead straight to the Oval Office and the politically unsavory possibility of impeachment of the nation's first black president?
Does anyone really think an ambitious politician like Holder would risk career-ending contempt of Congress charges to protect some incredibly stupid subordinates who supposedly, all by themselves, planned and implemented such a boondoggle?
In an administration known for its quickness in throwing friends and associates under the bus in matters of self-preservation, is it not remarkable that rather than being so dispatched by Holder, many of the key players in F&F have been promoted despite denials by their bureau?
If all this sounds like a bit too much to swallow, consider the political origins of the key players in the current administration. All are products of the Chicago political machine, a thoroughly Democrat movement particularly hostile to the concept of citizen gun ownership as demonstrated by the some of the nation's most restrictive gun ownership laws being in place there. And to prove the folly of those laws and the liberal fallacy that disarming the citizenry reduces crime, here's a quite recent headline from that bastion of conservative thought and opinion, Huffington Post: "Chicago Homicide Rate Worse Than Kabul, Up To 200 Police Assigned To High-Profile Wedding (Video)."
We are quick to blame the policies and activities of the Mexican drug cartels for their nation's murder rate being among the highest in the world. Is it not then fair to apply the same blame to those who control a city with some of the most restrictive gun ownership laws in America, which are yielding gun-death fatality stats almost double the total casualty rate for American troops in the Afghan war zone? It is the total and vise-like hold the Democrat machine has on Chicago that has made this city the riskiest place in America for law-abiding citizens, turning them into helpless, unarmed sheep at the mercy of roving, well-armed, predatory wolves.
Doesn't Chicago sound a lot like Mexico to you?
Never lose sight of the real reason why liberals want to confiscate your guns. Liberals assert that government is the protector of all our freedoms, and therefore we need not be concerned with protecting ourselves and our loved ones. The folly of that assertion can be refuted with one word: Chicago. But the true reason for wanting an unarmed public is because such a citizenry is powerless in the face of armed government and therefore compliant. Liberals and Democrats know full well that the key to unrestrained governing is to first disarm the citizenry.
Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2012/06/fast_and_furious_falling_apart.html at June 21, 2012 - 05:02:38 AM CDT
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Editorial: End the secrets on Fast and Furious
By The Denver Post The Denver Post
Posted: DenverPost.com
President Obama's declaration of executive privilege in the Fast and Furious scandal may have been envisioned as a checkmate move in an escalating confrontation, but instead it had the opposite effect.
A U.S. House oversight committee voted Wednesday to hold U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt for failing to provide relevant documents about a scandalous government gun-smuggling investigation.
The dispute didn't have to get to that point.
The administration has been inexcusably holding out on fully disclosing who knew what and how high that knowledge went up the food chain.
Congressional investigators — admittedly Republicans going after a Democratic administration in an election year — suspect the Department of Justice is sandbagging when it comes to releasing pertinent documents about the investigation. There is good reason for that belief, which we will address.
The so-called Fast and Furious investigation was a 15-month operation in which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives engaged in a dangerous strategy of allowing the bad guys, thought to be buying guns on behalf of Mexican drug lords, "walk" with what ended up totaling about 2,000 guns. The idea was to track the weapons back to bigger fish — the drug kingpins.
U.S. Border Patrol officer Brian Terry was killed in 2010 by a Mexican drug cartel armed with weapons from the failed investigation. The guns have shown up at the scenes of other crimes as well.
Fast and Furious was a disaster, and one that must be fully explored. Yes, there has been friction on this count, with Democrats saying the GOP cannot be satisfied, and Republicans saying Holder's offer to brief lawmakers on information in documents the committee wants is inadequate.
The GOP is right. Holder ought to disclose the documents. Also, the use of executive privilege is questionable, based on what has been disclosed thus far. The privilege pertains to the president, and the White House is not supposed to have been involved in the operation.
Furthermore, though the DOJ says it has given thousands of pages of documents to Congress, there are far more it hasn't provided.
The administration can avoid a full House vote on the contempt charge by turning over the requested documents, and it should. The gamesmanship must end.
Share this article inShare.7
http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_20901658/editorial-end-secrets-fast-and-furious
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http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/06/21/Fast-and-Furious-Beyond-Gun-Control-Obama-Wants-to-Erase-His-First-and-Only-Political-Defeat
Good article. Too long to post but puts this in context.
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Return to the Article
June 21, 2012
Fast and Furious Falling Apart
By Russ Vaughn
When BATF agents first blew the whistle on what is now known as Operation Fast and Furious, the rationale offered by DoJ for such an evidently foolish operation was that it was designed to allow BATF to track and prosecute the leaders of the Mexican drug cartels. As more information surfaced from the Mexican government and the BATF's Mexican bureau chief specifying that none of them knew anything of this operation, many of us who were paying a bit closer attention to the case immediately smelled the first foul scent of corruption.
The fatal flaw in DoJ's explanation was this: if the Mexican authorities had not been brought into the operation, nor even the BATF's own agents authorized to operate in Mexico, then the proffered DoJ justification made utterly no sense, for the simple reason that once those walked guns hit the south side of that border, there was absolutely no process in place to track them to their supposed targets. Therefore, DoJ was patently misrepresenting its motive. Why?
For those who keep a constant wary eye on the left's never-ending war on our 2nd-Amendment right to keep and bear arms, the increasingly fishy smell emanating from Washington led to connecting the dots back to the year-earlier revelations in the liberal media that weapons being used in Mexican crimes were traceable back to American sources more than 90% of the time. That false meme had spread quickly through the major liberal media, along with calls for stricter gun control laws in this country by...guess who! How about our president, our secretary of state, our attorney general, and other notable Democrats, for starters?
Here we had an operation mounted by the executive branch of the United States, an operation which had as its stated goal -- after being outed, that is -- the targeting of Mexican drug lords on sovereign Mexican soil. Yet this was done without the knowledge of anyone in the Mexican government. Quite clearly, a secret and subversive operation had been conceived and implemented against our sister nation to the south -- subversive because, again, quite clearly, the American government was subverting the sovereign authority of Mexico without that nation's knowledge. If the goal was, as stated later by DoJ, to track guns into Mexico to the purchasing sources in the cartels, then was there not some diplomatic requirement to notify the Mexican government that we were arming their most violent criminal elements? And what was the need for keeping our own BATF agents in Mexico -- the only American agents with Mexican presence to conduct such surveillance and tracking operations on Mexican soil -- equally in the dark?
It doesn't require much in the way of deductive powers to conclude that the fish-wrap smell seeping out of Washington probably had to do with Eric Holder's Department of Justice being used to tightly wrap something rotting from the head down. And what could that be? Early proponents of the theory suggesting that if the DoJ's rationale smelled fishy, then perhaps the true reason for F&F was to create justification for more gun control legislation here in this country were looked at as crackpot conspiracists. Even now, most of those Republican members of Congress pursuing this scandal refuse to cite the true purpose of F&F, still referring to it as a bungled federal program. There are exceptions: Florida congressman John Mica speaking on one of the Sunday talk shows this weekend, made clear his opinion that F&F was a sinister and cynical attempt by the Obama administration to undermine the 2nd Amendment. I watched him say it, but Google has no link. Imagine that.
For those who haven't really followed the Fast and Furious scandal, here's a five-step summary of how the operation was supposed to work:
Allow guns to flow freely to criminal elements in Mexico, where they are naturally used in the extremely violent and deadly criminal activities of the drug cartels.
When sufficient guns of American origin have been used in such criminal activities, enlist the willing services of the liberal media to announce the discovery thereof to the world.
Enlist multiple prominent Democrats to untruthfully proclaim that 90% of the guns used in Mexican crimes originate in the U.S.
Use steps one through three to substantiate the liberal fallacy that private gun ownership leads to increased gun violence by gun owners.
With the compliance of a thoroughly duped American public, enact increasingly restrictive gun ownership policies through federal agencies, bypassing Congress and the Supreme Court.
When looked at this way, doesn't Obama's statement to a group of gun control advocates in March 2011 that he was taking steps to further gun control restrictions, but "under the radar," now seem less cryptic than it did at the time? For those who still don't believe Fast & Furious was an end-run on the 2nd Amendment by a liberal, gun-averse administration, here are five questions to consider:
Could the possibility that this plan was concocted at the very top of the administration, putting it on par with Watergate, explain Eric Holder's entrenched refusal to release the tens of thousands of documents being sought by congressional investigators?
Is the liberal media's refusal to investigate this scandal due to the fact that they suspect that the acts of this administration may rise to criminal and impeachable offenses?
Has the reluctance of the Republican leadership to more aggressively support the House investigation been attributable to the same possibility -- that full exposure could lead straight to the Oval Office and the politically unsavory possibility of impeachment of the nation's first black president?
Does anyone really think an ambitious politician like Holder would risk career-ending contempt of Congress charges to protect some incredibly stupid subordinates who supposedly, all by themselves, planned and implemented such a boondoggle?
In an administration known for its quickness in throwing friends and associates under the bus in matters of self-preservation, is it not remarkable that rather than being so dispatched by Holder, many of the key players in F&F have been promoted despite denials by their bureau?
If all this sounds like a bit too much to swallow, consider the political origins of the key players in the current administration. All are products of the Chicago political machine, a thoroughly Democrat movement particularly hostile to the concept of citizen gun ownership as demonstrated by the some of the nation's most restrictive gun ownership laws being in place there. And to prove the folly of those laws and the liberal fallacy that disarming the citizenry reduces crime, here's a quite recent headline from that bastion of conservative thought and opinion, Huffington Post: "Chicago Homicide Rate Worse Than Kabul, Up To 200 Police Assigned To High-Profile Wedding (Video)."
We are quick to blame the policies and activities of the Mexican drug cartels for their nation's murder rate being among the highest in the world. Is it not then fair to apply the same blame to those who control a city with some of the most restrictive gun ownership laws in America, which are yielding gun-death fatality stats almost double the total casualty rate for American troops in the Afghan war zone? It is the total and vise-like hold the Democrat machine has on Chicago that has made this city the riskiest place in America for law-abiding citizens, turning them into helpless, unarmed sheep at the mercy of roving, well-armed, predatory wolves.
Doesn't Chicago sound a lot like Mexico to you?
Never lose sight of the real reason why liberals want to confiscate your guns. Liberals assert that government is the protector of all our freedoms, and therefore we need not be concerned with protecting ourselves and our loved ones. The folly of that assertion can be refuted with one word: Chicago. But the true reason for wanting an unarmed public is because such a citizenry is powerless in the face of armed government and therefore compliant. Liberals and Democrats know full well that the key to unrestrained governing is to first disarm the citizenry.
Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2012/06/fast_and_furious_falling_apart.html at June 21, 2012 - 07:41:11 PM CDT
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Terry family on Hannity . heartbreaking.
fuck you obama you disgusting wretch.
Fuck you holder you thug and ghetto savage traitor.
fuck you napolitano you dyke lezbo bitch.
fuck you Hillary you Nasty bi sexual piece of shit.
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http://honorbrianterry.com
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Fast and Furious front and center
Victim becoming a footnote
By Michael Graham | Friday, June 22, 2012 | http://www.bostonherald.com | Op-Ed
The two most important words in the current Obama administration scandal aren’t “Fast” or “Furious.” They are “Brian Terry.”
In December 2010, Brian Terry — a former Marine and police officer turned Border Patrol agent — was working in Arizona, 11 miles from the Mexican border. He was killed in a gunfight with Mexican drug runners, and two of the AK-47s found at the scene were linked to a then-unknown program of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms called “Operation Fast and Furious.”
The name is perfect, because the president wants you furious — and fast.
He wants you focused on those mean ol’ House Republicans who, according to Department of Justice consultant Robert Raben, are just “doing the bidding of the National Rifle Association.” Obama wants you debating Bush-era gun programs vs. his own, the limits of presidential privilege — anything except the fact that yesterday brought us the highest four-week average of initial jobless claims for the year.
For Team Obama, this story is all about politics.
But for the family of Brian Terry, it’s the story of their son — murdered with guns given to killers by his own government. Yet many mainstream news consumers never heard of it until this week. According to Media Research Center, the first time NBC mentioned the story was last week.
For the Terry family, it has been a year and a half of lies, obfuscation and stonewalling. They just want to know what happened to their son — the kind of son who, before he died on Dec. 14, had already bought and mailed them Christmas gifts.
His brother-in-law tells the rest:
“We buried him not far from the house that he was raised in just prior to Christmas day. The gifts that Brian had picked out with such thought and care began to arrive in the mail that same week. With each delivery, we felt the indescribable pain of Brian’s death.”
Are Democrats like Raben right? Is finding the person responsible for arming Terry’s killers with government-issue guns really merely doing “the bidding of the NRA?” Why the hell isn’t it the “bidding” of the entire Justice Department? Of the whole White House? Instead, Democrats like our own Reps. Stephen Lynch and John Tierney have consistently voted against having Attorney General Eric Holder provide documents that could end this family’s pain. Ranking House Oversight Committee member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) famously pledged, “I will not rest” until justice is done for the Terry family.
But what did he and every other Democrat on the committee do this week?
They sided with Holder and voted against holding him in contempt.
Tierney demeaned the effort to get the documents as “partisan political theater.” Lynch went even further, offering an amendment calling for a review of the costs of the investigation and complaining that it had dragged on.
“I want to balance out the benefits of this investigation with costs being accrued,” Lynch complained.
“I would remind the member we’re talking about the death of an American border patrol agent,” replied Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.).
“Brian Terry’s family deserves every penny we have spent,” added Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).
I agree. Lynch does not.
Michael Graham hosts an afternoon drive time talk show on 96.9 WTKK.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view.bg?articleid=1061140561
Obama / Holder / Napolitano are ghetto thugs and traitors.
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[ Invalid YouTube link ]
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Issa's just taking his sweet time on this shit.
CLinton was busted and impeached in under 11 months, right?
issa is just kicking the can down the street taking his sweet time on F&F.
Bump - didnt I tell you how this would unfold?
yes or no?
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Issa's just taking his sweet time on this shit.
CLinton was busted and impeached in under 11 months, right?
issa is just kicking the can down the street taking his sweet time on F&F.
Now the Democrats want MORE TIME. Defending Holder and Obama.
So much for Republicans being the "do nothing" party.
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Murdered border agent Brian Terry's parents accuse Obama officials of 'hiding something'
Published June 22, 2012
FoxNews.com
The parents of murdered border agent Brian Terry told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Thursday that they think Attorney General Eric Holder and other Justice Department officials are "hiding something" in their response to the botched anti-gunrunning operation Fast and Furious.
The operation let illicit guns "walk" in the hope of tracking them to bigger traffickers, but many of the guns just disappeared into Mexico. Two of those guns were later found at the crime scene where Terry was killed in December 2010 just north of the border.
A House panel voted Wednesday along party lines to recommend holding Holder in contempt of Congress for not handing over a trove of documents related to Fast and Furious, and GOP leaders are considering a full House vote. President Obama has asserted executive privilege in keeping many of the documents out of public view.
Holder has not yet been formally held in contempt of Congress. The full House would still need to approve the resolution in order for that to happen --Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., suggested the vote can be avoided if the attorney general turns over more emails and memos about the Fast and Furious sting.
Holder has testified he only found out about Fast and Furious after Terry's death, and he condemned the tactics. But GOP lawmakers have suggested top officials at the Justice Department knew more about the operation than they have said.
Terry's parents, Kent and Josephine Terry, said they are upset that the Obama administration may be preventing them from getting the full story about how their son died.
"They're lying. ... They're passing the buck," Kent Terry told Hannity. "I just know that they're hiding something big. Something happened out there."
The interview comes a day after the Terry's released a statement expressing disappointment with the Obama's administration's latest actions.
"Attorney General Eric Holder's refusal to fully disclose the documents associated with Operation Fast and Furious and President Obama's assertion of executive privilege serves to compound this tragedy. It denies the Terry family and the American people the truth," they said.
President Obama's decision to assert executive privilege over Operation Fast and Furious documents not only failed to delay contempt proceedings against Attorney General Eric Holder -- it raised a whole new line of constitutional questions and challenges about the power of the presidency.
The immediate question was whether the documents contained information so damaging that the president was willing to risk the bad PR by moving to lock them down. GOP lawmakers also questioned whether Obama's assertion was legitimate, later voting in committee that it was not appropriate in this case. And Republicans repeatedly suggested that the White House had tipped its hand, and acknowledged being involved in Fast and Furious discussions by asserting privilege over the documents in question.
The Department of Justice has adamantly defended its response. Holder said Issa, the committee chairman who has led the charge in the House for answers about Fast and Furious, rejected what he thought was "an extraordinary offer."
Wednesday's developments follow a flurry of activity Tuesday, as Holder tried to negotiate a way to avert the contempt proceedings. Issa had earlier indicated a willingness to postpone the vote after Holder indicated a willingness to make compromises and supply some documents in response to House Republicans' subpoena.
Issa had demanded to see a trove of documents on the controversial Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation. He also wants to know who prepared a now-retracted letter from Feb. 4, 2011, in which the department claimed the U.S. did not knowingly help smuggle guns to Mexico, including those found where Terry was killed.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/21/parents-murdered-border-agent-brian-terry-accuse-obama-officials-hiding/#ixzz1yWodqWXZ
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STFU you troll. If you lost a family memeberr due to one of obamas scams and he kept covering it up you would be pissed off too.
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just listen to the real attorney,and learn something :D
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http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/Kati
Good video.
Obama and Holder should both rot in hell for what they are doing.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/fast-and-furious
Cool CBS set up its own Fast n Furious site
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Mexico's Obama Rifles
Town Hall ^ | June 25, 2012 | reasonmclucus
Posted on Tuesday, June 26, 2012 4:53:35 PM by kathsua
Historian Tim Stanley in the "London Telegraph" suggests "The Fast and Furious scandal is turning into President Obama's Watergate". Stanley reminds everybody that President Richard Nixon was hurt by the ill advised cover up of the operation rather than by the second rate burglary itself.
A better comparison to a past scandal might be what is called the "Iran Contra" scandal. Both Iran Contra and Fast and Furious involved the United States helping groups in Latin American countries obtain weapons without the approval of the government of that country. In both cases drug money was used to purchase the weapons. The United States helped the Nicaraguan Contras obtain weapons to help the group overthrow what the Reagan Administration considered to be a communist government.
So far there is no evidence the United States wants the Mexican drug cartels it helped obtain weapons to overthrow the Mexican government. However, in the past U.S. policy was to restrict the ability of rebel groups from obtaining assistance if the U.S. supported a Latin America government and to allow or even encourage rebel groups to obtain assistance if the U.S. opposed that government. The 2,020 weapons purchased during Fast and Furious would have been enough to equip four battalions of troops.
The drug cartels continue to pose a major threat to the Mexican government. Obama's rifles continue to kill people.
Fast and Furious was conducted more like an operation to provide weapons to insurgents in another country than an operation to catch criminals. If the Obama administration had wanted to catch criminals it would have tried to keep the weapons under surveillance such as by implanting tracking devices and would have coordinated the operation with the Mexican government like the Bush administration had done in Operation Wide Receiver.
The U.S. Congress is currently investigating Fast and Furious. An international investigation by the Organization of American States or United Nations is needed because the operation involved the U.S. illegally aiding a criminal element in another country. Did the U.S. have an ulterior motive in helping the group? Were any of the U.S. officials involved taking money from the drug cartels obtaining the weapons? Did any U.S. official take an action that should be prosecuted before the World Court?
Watergate happened as I was beginning graduate school. I thought about doing a Master's Thesis on the subject until my adviser convinced me it wasn't practical to do a history thesis about an event that was still happening. One thing I remember from my research was that there was virtually no change in public opinion polls regarding how deeply people thought Nixon was involved in Watergate from early 1973 to early 1974 with most believing he was involved in some way. However, there was a change in how serious people thought Nixon's actions were.
Nixon's decision to invoke executive privilege to keep his White House tapes secret insured that some conversations would be interpreted as indicating involvement in Watergate. For example, a conversation with John Dean was interpreted as indicating Nixon's approval of Watergate even though the conversation didn't specifically refer to any such operation.
President Barack Obama's claim of executive privilege in the Fast and Furious operation strongly implies that he was directly involved in it. Obama is committing a major blunder if he is trying to protect Attorney General Eric Holder. If Holder has any loyalty to Obama, he should be willing to figuratively "fall on his sword" for his boss. Holder should have already taken personal responsibility for the misguided operation and resigned because as Attorney General he is responsible for what happens in his department. At the very least Fast and Furious indicates Holder failed to adequately supervise the department.
The timing of Obama's announcement of amnesty for children who grew up in the United States after being brought here illegally is suspicious. Obama's amnesty could be an attempt to distract people from the fact Obama's rifles continue to kill Mexican citizens. The decision could be an admission of guilt by Obama who wants to prevent children raised in the United States from being killed by Obama's rifles.
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A primer on the "Fast and Furious" scandal
cbsnews.com ^ | 26 June, 2012 | Sharyl Attkisson
What is "gunwalking"?
"Gunwalking" is law enforcement vernacular for the concept of allowing criminal suspects to "walk" off with guns, without police interdicting or tracking them. It's widely considered taboo, since "walked" guns may be used in violent crimes, including murders.
What is "Project Gunrunner"?
"Project Gunrunner" is a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) national initiative under the Justice Department started in 2006 aimed at reducing US-Mexico cross-border drug and gun trafficking and violence.
What is "Fast and Furious"?
"Fast and Furious" is the name ATF assigned to a group of Phoenix, Arizona-area gun trafficking cases under Project Gunrunner that began in fall of 2009. It's the largest of several known operations in which ATF employed gunwalking, involving more than 2,000 weapons, including hundreds of AK-47 type semi-automatic rifles and .50 caliber rifles. According to sources who worked directly on the case, the vast majority of guns were not tracked and Mexico's government was not fully informed of the case. The ATF Special Agent in Charge of the operation was Bill Newell.
Complete coverage of the "Fast and Furious" scandal from CBS News
What is "Wide Receiver"?
"Wide Receiver" is the name ATF assigned to a group of gun trafficking cases investigated out of the Tucson, Arizona office beginning in 2006. Like Fast and Furious, it was supervised by ATF Special Agent in Charge Bill Newell. Sources indicate it involved about 275 "walked" guns. According to sources who worked directly on the case, the vast majority of guns were not tracked and Mexico's government was not fully informed of the case. Apparently worried that the gunwalking tactics could be viewed as inappropriate, federal prosecutors in Arizona abandoned the case. Then, in fall of 2009, Justice Department officials decided to go ahead and prosecute the case.
How did Fast and Furious start?
A number of Federal Firearms Licensed (FFL) gun dealers in the Phoenix area routinely contacted ATF when they noticed suspicious customers attempting purchases; for example, someone ordering large numbers of AK-47 variant rifles and other so-called "weapons of choice" used by the Mexican drug cartels, and paying with large sums of cash brought in a paper bag. But starting in fall 2009, instead of stopping the transactions or questioning the customers, ATF often encouraged select gun dealers to go ahead and complete suspicious sales. ATF further asked the gun dealers to continue to cooperate by selling to the suspicious customers repeatedly, and providing ATF with names and weapons' serial numbers. Several gun dealers expressed concerns to ATF: they worried if they cooperated in selling guns to suspected criminals, they would later be unfairly blamed or even prosecuted, and that some of the weapons might be used one day to murder federal agents.
What was the motivation for ATF to employ such a controversial tactic?
Many US-sold guns were being trafficked to Mexico and used in drug cartel violence. Though the exact percentage and number is the subject of debate, ATF was tasked with trying to stop the flow of guns. A year after Fast and Furious began, ATF remained under pressure from a Nov. 2010 Inspector General review (PDF) of Project Gunrunner that criticized ATF's focus on low level gun dealers and straw purchasers "rather than on higher-level traffickers, smugglers, and the ultimate recipients of the trafficked guns."
ATF officials who supported "gunwalking" say they thought that by seeing where the guns later "ended up" in Mexico would help them take down a cartel big fish.
Who thought up the idea to use gunwalking to try to counter gun trafficking to Mexican drug cartels?
Nobody has publicly acknowledged being the architect of the plan and available documents shed no light on the answer. Justice Department officials have maintained it was a scandal brainstormed at the ATF Phoenix level. The same ATF Special Agent in Charge, Bill Newell, supervised the Bush era Wide Receiver gunwalking operation and some of the later gunwalking cases, including Fast and Furious.
How did Fast and Furious come to light and who was Brian Terry?
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was gunned down on Dec. 14, 2010 in Arizona just north of the Mexican border, allegedly by illegal aliens armed with at least two AK-47 variant rifles trafficked by Fast and Furious suspects who had not been arrested by ATF. The public was not told about the link between Terry's murder and Fast and Furious, nor was the gunwalking revealed. But ATF insiders began sharing their concerns anonymously online, including to the forum CleanupATF.org. Gun rights advocates including David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh wrote extensively on the controversy and rumors surrounding Terry's death, and the allegation that ATF was attempting to "bump up its case numbers" by letting large numbers of guns "walk" into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Several ATF agents became whistleblowers and contacted Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), who began investigating the controversy in Jan. 2011. CBS News spoke to a half dozen ATF sources and reported the story on Feb. 22, 2010.
On March 3, 2010, the first ATF whistleblower, John Dodson, spoke publicly to CBS News.
Who was Jaime Zapata?
Jaime Zapata was an Immigration and Customs Special Agent under the Department of Homeland Security who was ambushed and murdered on assignment on a desolate road in Mexico on Feb. 15, 2011, two months after Brian Terry was murdered. Two weapons used in Zapata's murder were linked to suspects who had been under ATF surveillance for at least six months before Zapata's murder, but were not arrested.
What are Operations "Castaway," "Too Hot to Handle," and the Hernandez case?
Operations Castaway and Too Hot to Handle are among a dozen or so other cases ATF operated that allegedly employed gunwalking in recent years including Florida, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. In the Hernandez case, started under the Bush Administration in 2007, documents show ATF agents watched several suspects and weapons cross the border in coordination with Mexican officials who then failed to stop the suspects, so they were lost.
What's the controversy over the Justice Department's Feb. 4, 2010 letter to Sen. Grassley?
In its earliest response to Sen. Grassley's questions about the gunwalking operation, the Justice Department sent a letter that contained inaccurate information. The letter, signed by Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, stated that ATF never "knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico." Ten months later, the Justice Department withdrew the letter acknowledging that it contained inaccuracies. In April 2012, Weich announced his intention to resign from the Justice Department to become dean of the University of Baltimore Law School. Documents subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee, but not turned over, include Justice Department communications after the Feb. 4, 2010 letter leading up to the Dec. 2010 retraction of the inaccurate letter. Republicans in Congress want to see who-knew-when that the Feb. 4 assertion denying gunwalking was false, and why it took ten months for the administration's retraction.
What law enforcement agencies were involved in "Fast and Furious"?
Records show that in addition to ATF; Immigration and Customs (ICE) under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Arizona US Attorney's office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) played roles in Fast and Furious.
Who is the highest-ranking official who has admitted knowing about gunwalking?
The head of the Justice Department's criminal division, Lanny Breuer, is the highest-ranking official who admits knowing that ATF had used the tactic of gunwalking early on. Breuer's deputy wrote him in April 2010 that in Wide Receiver, a case started under the Bush Administration. "ATF let a bunch of guns walk," and said it could be "embarrassing" to ATF. When those documents were made public on Oct. 31, 2011, Breuer issued a statement saying he didn't alert others in Justice Department leadership about the gunwalking, that he "regrets" not having done so, and that he likewise regretted not alerting leaders about the similarities between Wide Receiver, started in 2006, and Fast and Furious, started in 2009, at a time when the Justice Department's public position was that no gunwalking had ever occurred. Documents show two other justice officials mulled over gunwalking in Wide Receiver on Oct. 18, 2010 as they discussed the pros and cons of prosecuting the case. "It's a tricky case given the number of guns that have walked but is a significant set of prosecutions," wrote Jason Weinstein, Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division. Deputy Chief of the National Gang Unit James Trusty replied "I'm not sure how much grief we get for 'guns walking.' It may be more like, "Finally they're going after the people who sent guns down there."
What have Bush Administration officials said about Wide Receiver under their watch?
Former Bush Administration Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (Attorney General from Feb. 2005- Sept. 2007) has denied repeated interview and information requests made by CBS News. In a 2006 memo to the US Attorney's office, an ATF attorney outlined a gunwalking proposal from his agency and stated that he had "moral objections" to the idea. In an interview with CBS News, the US Attorney at the time, Paul Charlton, said he had no memory of the memo but that "I don't believe I would or ever did approve letting guns walk." However, we know the gunwalking operation proceeded anyway. (In a strange twist, Charlton is the lawyer for Brian Terry's family, but after questions about Wide Receiver, handed the lead role in the case to a partner ). Gonzales' successor, Michael Mukasey (Attorney General from Nov. 2007-Jan. 2009) has provided no public comment. At a Senate Judiciary hearing on June 12, 2012 Holder claimed Mukasey "was briefed" on gunwalking tactics in Wide Receiver "and did nothing to stop them - nothing." When Sen. Grassley asked Holder's office to provide any evidence to back the claim, Holder retracted it saying the statement was "inadvertent."
What's the controversy over wiretap applications?
Several detailed wiretap applications were approved by the Justice Department's Breuer for Fast and Furious in 2010. Republicans who were provided the applications by a source contend the documents disclose that gunwalking tactics were being used and, therefore, the Justice Department was well aware of gunwalking despite the agency's subsequent denials. The Justice Department disputes that, and says approving the wiretap applications doesn't mean Breuer actually read the applications or was aware of the tactics of letting guns walk. The wiretap applications are technically under court seal, and so neither side has released them to the public.
What is Attorney General Holder's position on what-he-knew-when?
Holder has consistently denied knowing anything about gunwalking within his agency when it was occurring. ATF is a division of Holder's Justice Department. He asked the Justice Department Inspector General to investigate in late February 2010. That investigation is ongoing. Holder has answered Congressional questions on Fast and Furious at nine hearings. On May 3, 2011 he told a Judiciary Committee hearing, "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks." Yet documents show that at least ten months before the hearing, frequent memos discussing Fast and Furious were addressed to Holder. There were memos dating as far back as July 2010 to Holder from Breuer and the head of the National Drug Intelligence Center. However, the Justice Department says Holder didn't read the memos, and that any mention of Fast and Furious did not discuss the controversial gunwalking tactics. The Justice Department also said that Holder misunderstood the question at the May 3, 2011 hearing and that, while he heard of Fast and Furious much earlier than he'd stated, he meant to say that he hadn't heard specifically about any gunwalking.
What is the White House position on who-knew-what-when?
President Obama has consistently said he knew nothing of any gunwalking while it was occurring. When asked about the gunwalking allegations by a reporter from Univision on March 22, 2011, President Obama stated that "a serious mistake may have been made." He also stated that there would be an investigation and whoever was found to be responsible would be held accountable. Documents and testimony since that time indicate then-National Security staffer at the White House named Kevin O'Reilly repeatedly communicated by email and telephone with ATF Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious, Bill Newell, about the case while it was underway. O'Reilly indicated in one email that he wanted to share information about the case with other National Security staffers, but stated that it would go no further than that. White House officials have said there is no evidence that Newell and O'Reilly ever discussed the controversial tactic of gunwalking and, on those grounds, have blocked the attempts of Congressional Republicans to interview O'Reilly, who has since been sent on assignment to Iraq for the State Department. In documents turned over by the White House to date, there is no evidence the President or others at the White House had knowledge of gunwalking.
What is "Grenadewalker"?
"Grenadewalker" refers to another controversial ATF case out of Phoenix. In it, Jean Baptiste Kingery allegedly smuggled parts for as many as 2,000 grenades from the US to Mexico for killer drug cartels, sometimes under the direct watch of US law enforcement. Sources say Kingery could have been prosecuted twice in the US for violating export control laws but that each time, prosecutors in Arizona refused to make a case. In one instance, Kingery had allegedly gotten caught leaving the US with 114 disassembled grenades in a tire, but the ATF agent on the case says he was ordered by the US Attorney's office to let Kingery go because the grenade parts were "novelty items" and the case "lacked jury appeal." A year and a half after Kingery was first let go, Mexican authorities raided Kingery's stash house and factory and found materials for 1,000 grenades. Kingery allegedly admitted teaching cartels how to make grenades as well as helping cartel members convert semi-automatic rifles to fully-automatic.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/fast-and-furious
Cool CBS set up its own Fast n Furious site
are they out of the liberal media doghouse now? can they be trusted?
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are they out of the liberal media doghouse now? can they be trusted?
They have one crack reporter over there who deserves a pulitzer prize since she broke this story first w agent dobbins.
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They have one crack reporter over there who deserves a pulitzer prize since she broke this story first w agent dobbins.
i dont think that crack reporter built this page on the CBS site. just the 1, or 2 now? or dozens of CBS employees crossing over now?
tough to use them as a reliable source, then call them part of the evil lib media empire next. at some point, to use them as a source, you have to assign some credibilitiy to this MSN news organization. Or you dont, in which case fck what they have to say aboutF&F, it's probably all lies.
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i dont think that crack reporter built this page on the CBS site. just the 1, or 2 now? or dozens of CBS employees crossing over now?
tough to use them as a reliable source, then call them part of the evil lib media empire next. at some point, to use them as a source, you have to assign some credibilitiy to this MSN news organization. Or you dont, in which case fck what they have to say aboutF&F, it's probably all lies.
She has gained CBS a lot of cred on this story since they have allowed her to stay on it like crazy.
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She has gained CBS a lot of cred on this story since they have allowed her to stay on it like crazy.
do we trust them on 2012 election coverage?
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do we trust them on 2012 election coverage?
she is an investigative journalist in the field, not part of the election coverage you crackpot.
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She has gained CBS a lot of cred on this story since they have allowed her to stay on it like crazy.
So if they report something negative towards Obama they are cool but if its positive they are the evil liberal media? For a lawyer you have a very simple way of thinking
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:o :o :o
DRIP DRIP DRIP
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Slain officer’s parents call President Obama a liar
thenewsherald.com ^ | 26 June, 2012 | Scott Held
Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2012 3:23:40
WASHINGTON — A slain former Downriver police officer is at the center of criticism of President Barack Obama’s dealings with an investigation into a federal program that allowed guns to end up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels and bandits.
The parents of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was fatally shot by bandits, appeared on a Fox News program last week and called Obama a liar after he asserted executive privilege to keep Attorney General Eric Holder and other Department of Justice officials from a congressional investigation of “Operation Fast and Furious.”
“It sounds like they’re hiding something,” Kent Terry said Thursday during an interview. “They’re lying big time and passing the buck. That’s how I feel. I just know they’re hiding something big.
“Something happened out there and we’re not supposed to know.”
Kent and Josephine Terry’s son was shot Dec. 14, 2010, and died a day later after his group encountered some men near Rio Rico, Ariz. The unit was targeting so-called “rip crews” that stalk and rob drug runners crossing the U.S. border from Mexico. Terry was 40.
Two of the guns used by the bandits — four were captured and another escaped — were traced to a dealer who sold them to a suspected Mexican drug cartel. The sales were allowed during a surveillance program conducted by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Terry’s family filed a $25 million wrongful death suit against the federal government in February, claiming the ATF created the conditions for his death by allowing more than 1,400 guns to be sent to Mexico and fall into the hands of traffickers who supply the country’s drug cartels. The suit also alleges that the federal government attempted to cover up the ATF’s role in the gun-running program.
In 2009, ATF agents noticed large numbers of guns being purchased in the United States by suspected drug cartels, but didn’t stop the sales. Instead, they allowed the transactions to go through and followed the guns into Mexico, presumably hoping to trace them to drug organizations.
After Terry was killed, Holder issued a directive stopping the so-called “gun walking.” The Department of Justice initially denied any role in allowing the guns to cross the border, but an agent later told CBS News he was part of a group that did just that.
Kent Terry said he was amazed when he learned the guns used to shoot his son were procured while federal agents watched.
“I was furious; I was shocked,” he said. “I don’t think my son should’ve went before me. It’s very hard.”
The couple said they received a call from Obama before their son’s funeral but have not had any correspondence with the White House or Department of Justice since learning that guns procured under the “Fast and Furious” period were used in his shooting.
In a party-line vote, Holder was held in contempt last week by a House subcommittee.
Terry was buried a week after his death at Michigan Memorial Park in Huron Township, and the Border Patrol office in Bisbee, Ariz., was renamed in his memory.
The Flat Rock Community High School graduate, like an uncle, Robert Heier, a former Lincoln Park police chief and mayor, went into law enforcement after a four-year stint in the Marine Corps. He became an Ecorse police officer in 1998 and later transferred to Lincoln Park.
He was accepted into the Border Patrol Academy in 2007 and was assigned to the Tucson (Ariz.) sector. He eventually became part of the patrol’s elite BORTAC unit.
Kent and Josephine Terry could not be reached for comment by yesterday. Brian Terry’s family created a website (rememberbrianterry.com) and foundation to honor his memory.
Contact Staff Writer Scott Held at 1-734-246-0865 or sheld@heritage.com. Follow him on Facebook and @ScottHeld45 on Twitter.
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THE BIGGEST SCANDAL IN U.S. HISTORY
June 27, 2012
Forget executive privilege, contempt of Congress, "fast and furious," how many documents the government has produced and who said what to whom on which date.
The Obama administration has almost certainly engaged in the most shockingly vile corruption scandal in the history of the country, not counting the results of Season Eight on "American Idol."
Administration officials intentionally put guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, so that when the guns taken from Mexican crime scenes turned out to be American guns, Democrats would have a reason to crack down on gun sellers in the United States.
Democrats will never stop trying to take our guns away. They see something more lethal than a salad shooter and wet themselves.
But since their party was thrown out of Congress for the first time in nearly half a century as a result of passing the 1994 "assault weapons ban," even liberals know they were going to need a really good argument to pass any limitation on guns ever again.
So it's curious that Democrats all started telling the same lie about guns as soon as Obama became president. In March 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced to reporters on a trip to Mexico: "Since we know that the vast majority, 90 percent of that weaponry (used by Mexican drug cartels), comes from our country, we are going to try to stop it from getting there in the first place."
As she sentimentally elaborated on Fox News' Greta Van Susteren show: "The guns sold in the United States, which are illegal in Mexico, get smuggled and shipped across our border and arm these terrible drug-dealing criminals so that they can outgun these poor police officers along the border and elsewhere in Mexico."
Suddenly that 90 percent statistic was everywhere. It was like the statistic on women beaten by their husbands on Super Bowl Sunday.
CBS' Bob Schieffer asked Obama on "Face the Nation": "It's my understanding that 90 percent of the guns that they're getting down in Mexico are coming from the United States. We don't seem to be doing a very good job of cutting off the gun flow. Do you need any kind of legislative help on that front? Have you, for example, thought about asking Congress to reinstate the ban on assault weapons?"
At a Senate hearing, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said: "It is unacceptable to have 90 percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors ... come from the United States."
And then, thanks to Fox News -- the first network to report it -- we found out the 90 percent figure was complete bunkum. It was a fabrication told by William Hoover, of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF), and then spread like wildfire by Democrats and the media.
Mexican law enforcement authorities send only a fraction of the guns they recover from criminals back to the U.S. for tracing. Which guns do they send? The guns that have U.S. serial numbers on them. It would be like asking a library to produce all their Mark Twain books and then concluding that 90 percent of the books in that library are by Mark Twain.
You begin to see why the left hates Fox News so much.
Obama backed away from the preposterous 90 percent claim. His National Security Council spokesman explained to Fox News that by "recovered," they meant "guns traceable to the United States." So, in other words, Democrats were frantically citing the amazing fact that almost all the guns traceable to the U.S. were ... traceable to the U.S.
Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters that even if the percentage is inaccurate, the "vast majority" of guns seized in crimes in Mexico come from the United States. (And he should know, because it turns out he was sending them there!)
This was absurd. Most of the guns used by drug cartels are automatic weapons -- not to mention shoulder-fired rockets -- that can't be sold to most Americans. They are acquired from places like Russia, China and Guatemala.
Right about the time the 90 percent lie was unraveling, the Obama administration decided to directly hand thousands of American guns over to Mexican criminals. Apart from the fact that tracking thousands of guns into Mexico is not feasible or rational, the dumped guns didn't have GPS tracing devices on them, anyway. There is no conceivable law enforcement objective to such a program.
This is what we know:
(1) Liberals thought it would be a great argument for gun control if American guns were ending up in the hands of Mexican criminals;
(2) They wanted that to be true so badly, Democrats lied about it;
(3) After they were busted on their lie, the Obama administration began dumping thousands of guns in the hands of Mexican criminals.
We also know that hundreds of people were murdered with these U.S.-government-supplied guns, including at least one American, U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
But let's look on the bright side. The BATF was originally going to ship warheads to Iran until realizing the explosions might disable the tracking devices.
(Contrary to more Democrat lies, there was no program to dump thousands of guns in Mexico under George W. Bush. The Bush administration did have a program that put GPS trackers on about 100 guns in order to actually trace them. That operation was ended almost as soon as it began because of the lack of cooperation from Mexican officials. You may as well say Holder's program was "started" by the first cop who ever put tracer dye on contraband.)
No one has explained what putting 2,500 untraceable guns in the hands of Mexican drug dealers was supposed to accomplish.
But you know what that might have accomplished? It would make the Democrats' lie retroactively true -- allowing them to push for the same gun restrictions they were planning when they first concocted it. A majority of guns recovered from Mexican criminals would, at last, be American guns, because Eric Holder had put them there.
Unfortunately for the Democrats, some brave whistleblower inside the government leaked details of this monstrous scheme. As soon as Congress and the public demanded answers, Holder clammed up. He just says "oops" -- and accuses Republicans of racism.
COPYRIGHT 2012 ANN COULTER
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THE BIGGEST SCANDAL IN U.S. HISTORY
June 27, 2012
Read this list of top 10 US presidential scandals-
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/uspresidents/tp/presidential_scandals.htm
Then come back and tell me losing 2000 guns is the biggest scandal in US history.
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Darrell Issa Puts Details of Secret Wiretap Applications in Congressional Record
By Jonathan Strong
Roll Call Staff
June 29, 2012, 12:06 p.m.
In the midst of a fiery floor debate over contempt proceedings for Attorney General Eric Holder, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) quietly dropped a bombshell letter into the Congressional Record.
The May 24 letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member on the panel, quotes from and describes in detail a secret wiretap application that has become a point of debate in the GOP’s “Fast and Furious” gun-walking probe.
The wiretap applications are under court seal, and releasing such information to the public would ordinarily be illegal. But Issa appears to be protected by the Speech or Debate Clause in the Constitution, which offers immunity for Congressional speech, especially on a chamber’s floor.
According to the letter, the wiretap applications contained a startling amount of detail about the operation, which would have tipped off anyone who read them closely about what tactics were being used.
Holder and Cummings have both maintained that the wiretap applications did not contain such details and that the applications were reviewed narrowly for probable cause, not for whether any investigatory tactics contained followed Justice Department policy.
The wiretap applications were signed by senior DOJ officials in the department’s criminal division, including Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco and another official who is now deceased.
In Fast and Furious, agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed assault guns bought by “straw purchasers” to “walk,” which meant ending surveillance on weapons suspected to be en route to Mexican drug cartels.
The tactic, which was intended to allow agents to track criminal networks by finding the guns at crime scenes, was condemned after two guns that were part of the operation were found at U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder scene.
Straw purchasers are individuals who buy guns on behalf of criminals, obscuring who is buying the weapons.
While Issa has since said he has obtained a number of wiretap applications, the letter only refers to one, from March 15, 2010. The full application is not included in what Issa entered into the Congressional Record, and names are obscured in Issa’s letter.
In the application, ATF agents included transcripts from a wiretap intercept from a previous Drug Enforcement Administration investigation that demonstrated the suspects were part of a gun-smuggling ring.
“The wiretap affidavit details that agents were well aware that large sums of money were being used to purchase a large number of firearms, many of which were flowing across the border,” the letter says.
The application included details such as how many guns specific suspects had purchased via straw purchasers and how many of those guns had been recovered in Mexico.
It also described how ATF officials watched guns bought by suspected straw purchasers but then ended their surveillance without interdicting the guns.
In at least one instance, the guns were recovered at a police stop at the U.S.-Mexico border the next day.
The application included financial details for four suspected straw purchasers showing they had purchased $373,000 worth of guns in cash but reported almost no income for the previous year, the letter says.
“Although ATF was aware of these facts, no one was arrested, and ATF failed to even approach the straw purchasers. Upon learning these details through its review of this wiretap affidavit, senior Justice Department officials had a duty to stop this operation. Further, failure to do so was a violation of Justice Department policy,” the letter says.
Holder declined to discuss the contents of the applications at a House Judiciary Committee hearing June 7 but said the applications were narrowly reviewed for whether there was probable cause to obtain a wiretap application.
Thousands of wiretap applications are reviewed each year by the DOJ’s criminal division. The applications are designed to obtain approval, so they tend to focus on the most suspicious information available.
A line attorney first creates a summary of the application, which is then usually reviewed by a deputy to Lanny Breuer, the head of the division, on his behalf. It is then reviewed and approved or denied by a judge.
Cummings has sided with the DOJ in the debate over the secret applications, but the full substance of his argument is unknown.
A June 5 letter from Cummings responding to Issa’s May 24 letter said Issa “omits the critical fact that [redacted].” The entire first section of the letter’s body is likewise blacked out.
"Sadly, it looks like Mr. Issa is continuing his string of desperate and unsubstantiated claims, while hiding key information from the very same documents," a Democratic committee staffer said. "His actions demonstrate a lack of concern for the facts, as well as a reckless disregard for our nation’s courts and federal prosecutors who are trying to bring criminals to justice. We’re not going to stoop to his level. Obviously, we are going to honor the court’s seal and the prosecutors’ requests. But if Mr. Issa won’t tell you what he is hiding from the wiretaps, you should ask him why."
JonathanStrong@cqrollcall.com | @j_strong
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Obama Contributor, Who Helped Enact Assault-Weapons Ban, Ran ‘Fast and Furious’
By Fred Lucas
June 29, 2012
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Former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke (AP Photo)
(CNSNews.com) – Dennis K. Burke, who as a lawyer for the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 1990s was a key player behind the enactment of the 1994 assault-weapons ban, and who then went on to become Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano’s chief of staff, and a contributor to Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential primary campaign, and then a member of Obama's transition team focusing on border-enforcement issues, ended up in the Obama administration as the U.S. attorney in Arizona responsible for overseeing Operation Fast and Furious.
When Obama nominated Burke to be U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona, Burke told the Arizona Capitol Times he believed he understood what the president and his attorney general wanted him to do.
“There’s clearly been direction provided already by President Obama and Attorney General Holder as to what they want to be doing, and this is an office that is at the center of the issues of border enforcement,” said Burke.
Over the course of several days, CNSNews.com left multiple telephone messages with Burke for comment on this story. He did not respond.
Dennis K. Burke has had a long career working as an aide and political appointee to Democratic elected officials. From 1989 to 1994, he was a counsel for the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, working in that capacity for several years on an assault-weapons ban, which was finally enacted on Sept. 13, 1994 as the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. That act expired on Sept. 13, 2004. (See NYT: Dennis Burke, Sen. DeConcini, Weapons Ban.pdf)
From 1994-95, Burke served in the Clinton Justice Department in the Office of Legislative Affairs, and in 1997-99, he was an assistant U.S. attorney in Arizona.
From 1999 to 2003, Burke was chief deputy and special assistant to Arizona Attorney General Janet Napolitano.
In 2003, when Napolitano became governor, Burke became her chief of staff. He stayed in that job until the fall of 2008, when he left to help Democratic political campaigns, including then-Sen. Obama’s presidential campaign.
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-contributor-who-helped-enact-assault-weapons-ban-ran-fast-and-furious
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DOJ charges five with Brian Terry’s murder, FBI offers $1M reward for arrests
Washington Examiner ^ | 7/9/12 | Joel Gehrke
Posted on July 9, 2012 2:06:37 PM EDT by Nachum
Justice Department (DOJ) officials indicted five individuals for the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry — who was murdered by drug traffickers armed through Operation Fast and Furious – and a $1 million reward for information leading to their arrest.
“Agent Terry served his country honorably and made the ultimate sacrifice in trying to protect it from harm, and we will stop at nothing to bring those responsible for his murder to justice,” Attorney General Eric Holder said today. “This investigation has previously resulted in one defendant being charged with Agent Terry’s murder and taken into custody, and today’s announcement reflects the department’s unrelenting commitment to finding and arresting the other individuals responsible for this horrific tragedy so that Agent Terry’s family, friends and fellow law enforcement agents receive the justice they deserve.”
Terry’s death sparked a national scandal when House investigators learned that U.S. law enforcement facilitated the arming of his shooters through the gun-walking scheme, Operation Fast and Furious. The Justice Department wrote a letter in February 2011 to Congress denying that law enforcement knowingly allowed guns to be trafficked into Mexico. That claim was retracted in December of that year.
Two weeks ago, the U.S. House of Representatives cited Holder for contempt of Congress due to his refusal to hand over documents pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious. Holder is the first sitting cabinet member cited for contempt.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
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TUCSON, Ariz. — Authorities made a rare disclosure Monday linked to the botched gun-smuggling investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious, revealing identities and requesting the public's help in capturing four fugitives accused in the shooting death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent 18 months ago.
The announcement comes in the wake of pressure from U.S. House Republicans who led a vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, criticizing the nation's top prosecutor for withholding information related to the probe.
"We believe it's in the best interest of this ongoing investigation to unseal the case at this point in time and to enlist the assistance of the general publics in both Mexico and the United States," said federal prosecutor Laura Duffy. She said the decision to release the information came independently and would not discuss the recent congressional action against Holder.
Operation Fast and Furious was launched in 2009 to catch trafficking kingpins, but federal agents lost track of about 1,400 of the more than 2,000 weapons – including AK-47s and other high-powered assault rifles.
Some of the guns purchased illegally with the government's knowledge were later found at crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S.
Critics have hammered federal authorities for allowing informants to walk away from Phoenix-area gun shops with weapons, rather than immediately arresting suspects and seizing firearms.
Since the fatal shootout near the U.S.-Mexico line in December 2010, deep flaws in the government's weapons trafficking case have come to light. Federal authorities have repeatedly declined to disclose information related to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, such as what became of the gun used to kill him.
The release of the suspects' identities in a newly unsealed indictment Monday came with the offer of a $1 million reward for information leading to their capture.
The FBI says it is seeking information related to Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga, 31, Ivan Soto-Barraza, 34, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, 34, and Lionel Portillo-Meza.
Portillo-Meza's age and birthplace were unavailable. The other three fugitives were born in Mexico, but their hometowns were not available.
Authorities had previously released the identity of the fifth suspect, Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, of El Fuerte in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. He was shot during the gunfight, and has been in custody since the night of the shooting. He has pleaded not guilty in the case, telling investigators that he raised his weapon toward the agents during the shootout but didn't fire, the FBI said in records.
His age was not immediately available.
All five have been charged with murder. They also face charges of assaulting four federal agents.
FBI agents declined to discuss which fugitive is suspected of firing the shot that killed Terry. They also would not comment on whether the weapon was linked to an Operation Fast and Furious purchase.
The five men, plus another who faces lesser charges in the case, came to the U.S. from Mexico in order to rob marijuana smugglers, the indictment said.
The disclosures are among the few details released by authorities despite repeated requests from congressional leaders and news organizations, including The Associated Press. The FBI, ATF, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have all denied Freedom of Information Act requests that seek reports and other documents in the investigation of the shooting.
Patrick McGroder, an attorney for the Terry family, said in a statement that Monday's information shows that the prosecution is moving forward, but efforts to hold federal officials accountable for the flawed investigation remain stalled.
McGroder says Holder's office should release the documents sought by members of Congress.
Agent Terry "and his family rightly deserve a full and thorough explanation of how Operation Fast and Furious came to be," McGroder said.
Terry, a former Marine and Michigan police officer, was part of an elite squad similar to a police SWAT team that was sent to the remote areas north of Nogales known for border crime, drug smuggling and violence.
FBI Special Agent James Turgal said in announcing the reward that "we stand in support of the Terry family and our partners in Border Patrol."
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http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/07/09/DOJ-Reveals-Brian-Terry-Was-Shooting-Bean-Bags-At-Men-Who-Killed-Him
DISGUSTING!
WTF!
Imagine losing a relative knowing that our govt only let Terry fire back w Bean Bags?
Speechless at the actions of our disgusting government.
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http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/07/09/DOJ-Reveals-Brian-Terry-Was-Shooting-Bean-Bags-At-Men-Who-Killed-Him
DISGUSTING!
WTF!
Imagine losing a relative knowing that our govt only let Terry fire back w Bean Bags?
Speechless at the actions of our disgusting government.
Hold on there cowboy...
You are making assumptions that contradict common practice. Police Officers are also issued less lethal shotguns that fire bean bags in ADDITION to their regular side arms and AR15's. Knowing that, and knowing border patrol agents are not ONLY armed with less lethal, it is certainly POSSIBLE that at the time, the agents thought the situation called for less lethal, maybe they didn't see firearms at the moment. To shoot bean bags at rifle carrying people is just plain stupid. Agents are not stupid. We are required to have lethal force at the ready when we use less lethal, i.e. an officer with a real gun covering the bad guy just in case... I don't see them having a different policy. So given the limited information, let's not go off the deep end thinking agents were on patrol with just bean bag guns and that was the only weapons they had. It is more LIKELY the situation quickly deteriated from a less lethal situation to a very lethal situation
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Hold on there cowboy...
You are making assumptions that contradict common practice. Police Officers are also issued less lethal shotguns that fire bean bags in ADDITION to their regular side arms and AR15's. Knowing that, and knowing border patrol agents are not ONLY armed with less lethal, it is certainly POSSIBLE that at the time, the agents thought the situation called for less lethal, maybe they didn't see firearms at the moment. To shoot bean bags at rifle carrying people is just plain stupid. Agents are not stupid. We are required to have lethal force at the ready when we use less lethal, i.e. an officer with a real gun covering the bad guy just in case... I don't see them having a different policy. So given the limited information, let's not go off the deep end thinking agents were on patrol with just bean bag guns and that was the only weapons they had. It is more LIKELY the situation quickly deteriated from a less lethal situation to a very lethal situation
They just released this yesterday. I agree it seems bizarre if he had a regular firearm he would use a bean bag gun.
I guess they will release more data as time goes on.
I also wonder how far was the distance he was shot from.
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Hold on there cowboy...
You are making assumptions that contradict common practice. Police Officers are also issued less lethal shotguns that fire bean bags in ADDITION to their regular side arms and AR15's. Knowing that, and knowing border patrol agents are not ONLY armed with less lethal, it is certainly POSSIBLE that at the time, the agents thought the situation called for less lethal, maybe they didn't see firearms at the moment. To shoot bean bags at rifle carrying people is just plain stupid. Agents are not stupid. We are required to have lethal force at the ready when we use less lethal, i.e. an officer with a real gun covering the bad guy just in case... I don't see them having a different policy. So given the limited information, let's not go off the deep end thinking agents were on patrol with just bean bag guns and that was the only weapons they had. It is more LIKELY the situation quickly deteriated from a less lethal situation to a very lethal situation
Havent you seen the new release instructing agents to run and hide when fired upon, or to throw things at them?
Serious.
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Havent you seen the new release instructing agents to run and hide when fired upon, or to throw things at them?
Serious.
Like what ? Tennis balls or frisbees?
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Obama mum on Fast and Furious - President speaks up for Holder.
The Hawkeye ^ | 7/11/12 | CHRISTINIA CRIPPES
Posted on July 11, 2012 9:54:27 PM EDT by Nachum
CEDAR RAPIDS - President Barack Obama didn't answer a question posed by The Hawk Eye about the so-called Fast and Furious scandal, citing the ongoing investigation.
But he took the opportunity to defend Attorney General Eric Holder's actions so far. The U.S. House voted to find Holder in contempt of Congress last week, due to the fact that his office did not turn over key documents to aid in Congress' investigation of the scandal.
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has been at the forefront of the investigation, which alleges that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed guns to be sold to straw dealers in Arizona who then sold the weapons to criminals across the border. The "gun-walking" resulted in the deal of a U.S. Border Patrol agent, Brian Terry. On Monday, five individuals were indicted on charges in connection with Terry's death.
"What I will say is this: Everybody acknowledges that gun-running to Mexican cartels is a big problem along the borders," Obama said, adding that it's a challenge for not only the ATF but also other federal officials. "Attorney General Holder has been the first to acknowledge that anything that happened under his watch, you know, he takes responsibility for."
(Excerpt) Read more at thehawkeye.com ...
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Skip to comments.
DOJ withheld 'Fast and Furious' whistleblower memo
Washington Guardian ^ | 7/17/12 | John Solomon
Posted on Tuesday, July 17, 2012 12:09:18 PM by Nachum
The Justice Department has withheld from Congress memos showing that senior officials inside the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives began preparing as early as February 2011 to treat the agents who unmasked the bungled Fast and Furious gun operation as whistleblowers.
The memos, obtained by the Washington Guardian, were triggered by the agents' allegations, Justice officials confirmed. In them, ATF officials in Washington instructed field supervisors not to retaliate against the agents in Arizona who complained they had been ordered to let semiautomatic weapons flow to suspected straw buyers for Mexican drug cartels rather than interdicting them.
Even as the warning was being sent, Obama administration political appointees were publicly undercutting the agents’ credibility, insisting to Congress that ATF never knowingly let weapons cross the border into Mexico’s violent drug wars - a denial that turned out to be false.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonguardian.com ...
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ATF official resigns after Issa, Grassley nail him in congressional Fast and Furious report
The Daily Caller ^ | 8/2/12 | Matthew Boyle
Posted on August 2, 2012 10:32:39 PM EDT by Nachum
The man who served as the deputy director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives during Operation Fast and Furious resigned on Tuesday, an agency spokesman told The Associated Press on Thursday.
William Hoover was one of the five ATF officials House oversight committee chairman Darrell Issa and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley singled out as responsible for Operation Fast and Furious. ATF spokesman Drew Wade told the AP that Hoover resigned on Tuesday – the day Issa and Grassley released the congressional report in which they singled out Hoover and four of his colleagues.
Wade did not immediately responded to a request from The Daily Caller seeking confirmation that the GOP lawmakers’ report prompted Hoover’s resignation, and did not answer whether or not resignations are in the works for the other four officials.
The other four ATF officials Issa and Grassley blamed Fast and Furious on in this report are:
William Newell, the special agent in charge of the phoenix field division William McMahon, Newell’s boss who was ATF’s deputy assistant director for field operations Mark Chait, McMahon’s boss who was ATF’s assistant director for field operations Kenneth Melson, former acting ATF director
Since Fast and Furious broke out as a major national scandal, all five of those ATF leaders have since been reassigned within ATF and the Justice Department.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
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Report: Drug cartel used Fast and Furious weapon in failed assassination plot
Published: 11:24 PM 08/07/2012
By Matthew Boyle
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Drug cartel operatives used weapons from Operation Fast and Furious in a failed attempt to assassinate a high-ranking Mexican law enforcement official, the El Paso Times reports in an article that follows up on an initial report from Breitbart News’ Mary Chastain.
The gun — which “was seized in Tijuana in connection with a drug cartel’s conspiracy to kill the police chief of Tijuana, Baja California, who later became the Juárez police chief” — is tied to Fast and Furious.
“The firearm was found Feb. 25, 2010, during an arrest of a criminal cell associated with Teodoro ‘El Teo’ García Simental and Raydel ‘El Muletas’ López Uriarte, allies of the Sinaloa cartel,” Diana Washington Valdez wrote on Monday for the El Paso Times. “Tijuana police said they arrested four suspects in March 2010 in connection with a failed attempt to take out Julián Leyzaola, and that the suspects allegedly confessed to conspiring to assassinate the police chief on orders from Tijuana cartel leaders.”
“Leyzaola, a retired Mexican army officer, reportedly survived several attempts on his life while trying to bring order to Tijuana, a city torn apart by turf battles following the arrests and deaths of Arellano Felix cartel leaders,” Valdez added.
Leyzaola has since moved to Ciudad Juarez, a town right across the border from El Paso, Texas, to become the police chief there.
This new information comes on the heels of the release of a lengthy congressional report into Fast and Furious from House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Chuck Grassley. That report — the first of three — named five Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives officials Grassley and Issa believe are ultimately responsible for Fast and Furious. On the same day of the report’s public release, one of those officials — former deputy ATF director William Hoover — resigned his position.
That congressional report also saw the release of new evidence that Obama administration ATF officials sought to cover up the Fast and Furious connection to a death other than that of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
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Mario Gonzalez, the brother of then-Mexican prosecutor Patricia Gonzalez, was killed with Fast and Furious weapons in early November 2010. According to internal ATF emails congressional investigators obtained and released in this report, one ATF agent had discovered that two of the guns found at Mario Gonzalez’s murder scene were Fast and Furious weapons.
That agent, Tonya English, emailed her supervisors David Voth and Hope MacCallister asking them to “not release any information” on the Fast and Furious connection to that murder.
House Republicans are gearing up their lawsuit against President Barack Obama’s assertion of executive privilege to withhold Fast and Furious documents from Congress and the American people. Because the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia has refused to enforce the congressional citation finding Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal contempt of Congress, the House is moving on the civil contempt of Congress resolution. That civil contempt resolution allows the House to fight the president’s privilege claim in court.
Issa recently said he’s “100 percent” confident a federal judge will force Obama to cough up the documents.
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Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/07/report-drug-cartel-used-fast-and-furious-weapon-in-failed-assassination-plot/#ixzz22yJqYJ3x
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http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/07/09/DOJ-Reveals-Brian-Terry-Was-Shooting-Bean-Bags-At-Men-Who-Killed-Him
DISGUSTING!
WTF!
Imagine losing a relative knowing that our govt only let Terry fire back w Bean Bags?
Speechless at the actions of our disgusting government.
youre making quite an assumption there. that's not like you.
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High-Ranking Mexican Drug Cartel Member Makes Explosive Allegation: ‘Fast and Furious’ Is Not What You Think It Is
Posted on August 9, 2012 at 8:00am by Jason Howerton
Comments (237)
A high-ranking Mexican drug cartel operative currently in U.S. custody is making startling allegations that the failed federal gun-walking operation known as “Fast and Furious” isn’t what you think it is.
It wasn’t about tracking guns, it was about supplying them — all part of an elaborate agreement between the U.S. government and Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa Cartel to take down rival cartels.
The explosive allegations are being made by Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla, known as the Sinaloa Cartel’s “logistics coordinator.” He was extradited to the Chicago last year to face federal drug charges.
Jesus Vincente Zambada-Niebla (Source: MSNBC)
Zambada-Niebla claims that under a “divide and conquer” strategy, the U.S. helped finance and arm the Sinaloa Cartel through Operation Fast and Furious in exchange for information that allowed the DEA, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal agencies to take down rival drug cartels. The Sinaloa Cartel was allegedly permitted to traffic massive amounts of drugs across the U.S. border from 2004 to 2009 — during both Fast and Furious and Bush-era gunrunning operations — as long as the intel kept coming.
This pending court case against Zambada-Niebla is being closely monitored by some members of Congress, who expect potential legal ramifications if any of his claims are substantiated. The trial was delayed but is now scheduled to begin on Oct. 9.
Zambada-Niebla is reportedly a close associate of Sinaloa Cartel kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and the son of Ismael “Mayo” Zambada-Garcia, both of which remain fugitives, likely because of the deal made with the DEA, federal court documents allege.
Based on the alleged agreement ”the Sinaloa Cartel under the leadership of defendant’s father, Ismael Zambada-Niebla and ‘Chapo’ Guzman, were given carte blanche to continue to smuggle tons of illicit drugs into Chicago and the rest of the United States and were also protected by the United States government from arrest and prosecution in return for providing information against rival cartels which helped Mexican and United States authorities capture or kill thousands of rival cartel members,” states a motion for discovery filed in U.S. District Court by Zambada-Niebla’s attorney in July 2011.
A source in Congress, who spoke to TheBlaze on the condition of anonymity, said that some top congressional investigators have been keeping “one eye on the case.” Another two members of Congress, both lead Fast and Furious Congressional investigators, told TheBlaze they had never even heard of the case.
One of the Congressmen, who also spoke to TheBlaze on the condition of anonymity because criminal proceedings are still ongoing, called the allegations “disturbing.” He said Congress will likely get involved once Zambada-Niebla’s trial has concluded if any compelling information surfaces.
“Congress won’t get involved in really any criminal case until the trial is over and the smoke has cleared,” he added. “If the allegations prove to hold any truth, there will be some serious legal ramifications.”
Earlier this month, two men in Texas were sentenced to 70 and 80 months in prison after pleading guilty to attempting to export 147 assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition to Mexico’s Los Zetas cartel. Compare that to the roughly 2,000 firearms reportedly “walked” in Fast and Furious, which were used in the murders of hundreds of Mexican citizens and U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry, and some U.S. officials could potentially face jail time if they knowingly armed the Sinaloa Cartel and allowed guns to cross into Mexico.
If proven in court, such an agreement between U.S. law enforcement agencies and a Mexican cartel could potentially mar both the Bush and Obama administrations. The federal government is denying all of Zambada-Niebla’s allegations and contend that no official immunity deal was agreed upon.
To be sure, Zambada-Niebla is a member of one of the most ruthless drug gangs in all of Mexico, so there is a chance that he is saying whatever it takes to reduce his sentence, which will likely be hefty. However, Congress and the media have a duty to prove without a reasonable doubt that there is no truth in his allegations. So far, that has not been achieved.
Zambada-Niebla was reportedly responsible for coordinating all of the Sinaloa Cartel’s multi-ton drug shipments from Central and South American countries, through Mexico, and into the United States. To accomplish this, he used every tool at his disposal: Boeing 747 cargo planes, narco-submarines, container ships, speed boats, fishing vessels, buses, rail cars, tractor trailers and automobiles. But Guzman and Zambada-Niebla’s overwhelming success within the Sinaloa Cartel was largely due to the arrests and dismantling of many of their competitors and their booming businesses in the U.S. from 2004 to 2009 — around the same time ATF’s gun-walking operations were in full swing. Fast and Furious reportedly began in 2009 and continued into early 2011.
According Zambada-Niebla, that was a product of the collusion between the U.S. government and the Sinaloa Cartel.
Soldiers and police officers guard packages of seized marijuana during a presentation for the media in Tijuana, Mexico. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)
The claims seem to fall in line with statements made last month by Guillermo Terrazas Villanueva, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state government in northern Mexico who said U.S. agencies ”don’t fight drug traffickers,“ instead ”they try to manage the drug trade.”
Also, U.S. officials have previously acknowledged working with the Sinaloa Cartel through another informant, Humberto Loya-Castro. He is also allegedly a high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel as well as a close confidant and lawyer of “El Chapo” Guzman.
Joaquin Guzman Loera, aka "El Chapo" (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
Loya-Castro was indicted along with Chapo and Mayo in 1995 in the Southern District of California in a massive narcotics trafficking conspiracy (Case no. 95CR0973). The case was dismissed in 2008 at the request of prosecutors after Loya became an informant for the United States government and subsequently provided information for years.
In 2005, “the CS (informant Loya-Castro) signed a cooperation agreement with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California,” states an affidavit filed in the Zambada-Niebla case by Loya-Castro’s handler, DEA agent Manuel Castanon.
“Thereafter, I began to work with the CS. Over the years, the CS’ cooperation resulted in the seizure of several significant loads of narcotics and precursor chemicals. The CS’ cooperation also resulted in other real-time intelligence that was very useful to the United States government.”
Under the alleged agreement with U.S. agencies, “the Sinaloa Cartel, through Loya-Castro, was to provide information accumulated by Mayo, Chapo, and others, against rival Mexican Drug Trafficking Organizations to the United States government,” a motion for discovery states.
In return, the United States government allegedly agreed to dismiss the charges in the pending case against Loya-Castro (which they did), not to interfere with his drug trafficking activities and those of the Sinaloa Cartel and not actively prosecute him or the Sinaloa Cartel leadership.
Taken directly from the motion filed in federal court:
“This strategy, which he calls ‘Divide & Conquer,’ using one drug organization to help against others, is exactly what the Justice Department and its various agencies have implemented in Mexico. In this case, they entered into an agreement with the leadership of the Sinaloa Cartel through, among others, Humberto Loya-Castro, to receive their help in the United States government’s efforts to destroy other cartels.”
“Indeed, United States government agents aided the leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel.”
The government has denied this and says the deal did not go past Loya-Castro.
Zambada-Niebla was arrested by Mexican soldiers in late March of 2009 after he met with DEA agents at a Mexico City hotel in a meeting arranged by Loya-Castro, though the U.S. government was not involved in his arrest. He was extradited to Chicago to face federal drug charges on Feb. 18, 2010. He is now being held in a Michigan prison after requesting to be moved from Chicago.
“Classified Materials”
During his initial court proceedings, Zambada-Niebla continually stated that he was granted full immunity by the DEA in exchange for his cooperation. The agency, however, argues that an “official” immunity deal was never established though they admit he may have acted as an informant.
Zambada-Niebla and his legal council also requested records about Operation Fast and Furious, which permitted weapons purchased in the United States to be illegally smuggled into Mexico, sometimes by paid U.S. informants and cartel leaders. Their request was denied. From the defense motion:
“It is estimated that approximately 3,000 people were killed in Mexico as a result of ‘Operation Fast and Furious,’ including law enforcement officers in the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, the headquarters of the Sinaloa cartel. The Department of Justice’s leadership apparently saw this as an ingenious way of combating drug cartel activities.”
“It has recently been disclosed that in addition to the above-referenced problems with ‘Operation Fast & Furious,’ the DOJ, DEA, and the FBI knew that some of the people who were receiving the weapons that were being allowed to be transported to Mexico, were in fact informants working for those organizations and included some of the leaders of the cartels.”
Zambada’s attorney has filed several motions for discovery to that effect in Illinois Federal District Court, which were summarily denied by the presiding judge who claimed the defendant failed to make the case that he was actually a DEA informant.
In April, 2012, a federal judge refused to dismiss charges against him.
From a Chicago Sun Times report: “According to the government, [Zambada-Niebla] conveyed his interest and willingness to cooperate with the U.S. government, but the DEA agents told him they ‘were not authorized to meet with him, much less have substantive discussions with him,’” the judge wrote.
In this courtroom artist's drawing Jesus Vincente Zambada-Niebla appears before U.S. District Judge Ruben Castillo Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Verna Sadock)
In their official response to Zambada-Niebla’s motion for discovery, the federal government confirmed the existence of “classified materials” regarding the case but argued they “do not support the defendant’s claim that he was promised immunity or public authority for his actions.”
Experts have expressed doubts that Zambada-Niebla had an official agreement with the U.S. government, however, agree Loya Castro probably did. Either way, the defense still wants to obtain DEA reports that detail the agency’s relationship with the Sinaloa Cartel and put the agents on the stand, under oath to testify.
The documents that detail the relationship between the federal government and the Sinaloa Cartel have still not been released or subjected to review — citing matters of national security.
(Editor’s note: The impetus for this article came from author Reed A. Williams, whose upcoming book “The Weed That Just Won’t Die” delves deeply into the Zambada-Niebla court case. Get more details on the book here.)
Follow Jason Howerton (@jason_howerton) on Twitter
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A high-ranking Mexican drug cartel operative currently in U.S. custody
if there's one person I'd believe, it's a drug dealer locked in jail.
No motive to lie or anything like that.
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if there's one person I'd believe, it's a drug dealer locked in jail.
No motive to lie or anything like that.
As opposed to obama and Holder?
LOL!!!!!
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As opposed to obama and Holder?
LOL!!!!!
so they're all a pack of liars? It's tough to believe a foreign drug dealer, than it is the leaders of my own nation.
I mean, say it slowly... "I believe a busted drug dealer espousing some serious conspiracy theory that goes against everything my govt has said for the last 100 years".
So the US is feeding guns and allowing drugs, to keep their budgets and profit, huh? Kinda a wild theory there, 333386.
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so they're all a pack of liars? It's tough to believe a foreign drug dealer, than it is the leaders of my own nation.
I mean, say it slowly... "I believe a busted drug dealer espousing some serious conspiracy theory that goes against everything my govt has said for the last 100 years".
So the US is feeding guns and allowing drugs, to keep their budgets and profit, huh? Kinda a wild theory there, 333386.
Executive Priviledge
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Executive Priviledge
so you believe the foreign drug dealer, and not every president since Reagan?
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'Fast and Furious' guns ended up in Colombia
Columbia News ^ | 9/10/12 | Adriaan Alsema
Posted on Monday, September 10, 2012 1:54:10 PM
U.S. weapons that were exported to Mexico as part of the controversial "Fast and Furious" program ended up in the hands of Colombia crime syndicate Oficina de Envigado, reported newspaper El Tiempo Monday.
According to the newspaper, investigations by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have established that some of the weapons found during the arrest of Oficina boss "Sebastian" were part of the thousands of arms lost in the Fast and Furious program.
"Two rifles that were seized in February with "Frank," the brother of Sebastian also are part of the tracking operations of the ATF, the same with 14 Five-seven guns we have found in several raids," an anonymous high-ranking source within Colombia's National Police was quoted as saying by El Tiempo.
The source added that ATF agents are in Medellin where the Oficina operates and inspect every seized firearm found in raids in Colombia's second largest city.
In the U.S., a House Judiciary Committee and the Department of Homeland Security have been investigating the Fast and Furious scandal which is held responsible for the export of at least 2,000 firearms.
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ATF Whistleblower Vince Cefalu Fired
ticklethewire.com ^ | 10 October, 2012 | Allan Lengel
Posted on October 11, 2012 6:29:44 AM EDT by marktwain
Veteran ATF agent Vince Cefalu, a whistleblower who became a particularly controversial figure after voicing concern about the failed Operation Fast and Furious, was “unceremoniously” handed his dismissal papers on Tuesday, according his spokesman.
An ATF official met him at the Denny’s parking lot in South Lake Tahoe, Nevada, near his home, where Cefalu turned in his credentials, said his spokesman Patrick Crosby, a former spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Atlanta, who now has his own public relations firm.
Crosby said Cefalu was fired for “lack of candor.” He did not elaborate.
Cefalu has hired an Atlanta law firm to fight the dismissal.
Cefalu worked for more than two decades for ATF, often in an undercover capacity in major cases involving motorcycle gangs in California and the Ku Klux Klan in Georgia.
Wade Drew, a spokesman for ATF, said he could confirm that Cefalu worked for ATF for nearly 25 years and that he was no longer with the agency. But he said ATF does not comment on personnel or disciplinary matters.
In recent years, Cefalu has been one of the more publicly vocal critics of ATF management. He claims to have gone through all the proper channels to voice his concerns about ATF management, but all to no avail.
“I have just been trying to do my job: make good cases, put away the bad guys, keep the our citizens and our agents safe,” he said in a statement after his termination. “ATF management has been bending the rules and breaking the rules. The agents want ATF to be the proud agency it once was, not a place where some managers jeopardize our citizens and our cases. The behavior of ATF management has been speaking for itself with all the transfers, reassignments, resignations. It has been a mess and an embarrassment. That’s not the ATF I have devoted my career and life to, and I do not regret trying to change it.”
Zahra S. Karinshak, an Atlanta-based attorney from Krevolin & Horst, who represents Cefalu, said in a statement:
“Vince has tremendous courage. Anyone who infiltrates the KKK and biker gangs to bring them to justice has an incredible sense of dedication. Vince has a team who will fight for him in court as aggressively as he fought violent crime on our streets.”
ATF had tried firing Cefalu last year. However, he appealed the termination. It became final on Tuesday.
TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; Click to Add Topic
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http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/05/20/DOJ-Inspector-General-confirms-US-Attorney-DOJ-headquarters-leaked-documents-to-smear-Fast-and-Furious-whistleblower
The Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General published a new report Monday that confirms former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke leaked a document intended to smear Operation Fast and Furious scandal whistleblower John Dodson.
The DOJ IG said it found “Burke’s conduct in disclosing the Dodson memorandum to be inappropriate for a Department employee and wholly unbefitting a U.S. Attorney.”
“We are referring to OPR our finding that Burke violated Department policy in disclosing the Dodson memorandum to a member of the media for a determination of whether Burke’s conduct violated the Rules of Professional Conduct for the state bars in which Burke is a member,” the IG wrote.
Burke resigned from his post as U.S. Attorney over the incident in August 2011, the first major Department of Justice official to leave his or her post in the Fast and Furious scandal. He said after the fact, in interviews with congressional investigators, that he now views leaking the document as a “mistake.”
In addition to Burke’s involvement in leaking the document, emails the IG uncovered show senior officials at the Department of Justice discussed smearing Dodson.
One of those was Tracy Schmaler, the Director of the Department’s Office of Public Affairs, who resigned her position at the DOJ after emails uncovered through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request showed that she worked with leftwing advocacy group Media Matters for America to smear whistleblowers and members of Congress and the media who sought to investigate DOJ scandals under Attorney General Eric Holder.
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IG: ex-US Attorney retaliated in Fast and Furious
By PETE YOST | Associated Press – 1 hr 41 mins ago..
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Attorney in Arizona violated Justice Department policy by providing Fox News with information apparently aimed at undercutting the credibility of a federal agent who helped reveal the botched arms-trafficking probe called Operation Fast and Furious, the Justice Department's inspector general said Monday.
There was substantial evidence in the 2011 incident that then-U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke's motive for disclosing a memo by federal agent John Dodson was retaliation, the inspector general's report said. In testimony to a House committee just two weeks earlier, Dodson had raised serious concerns about Operation Fast and Furious.
In Dodson's memo, which was eventually leaked, Dodson proposed a tactic similar to the one being used at the time in Operation Fast and Furious. Dodson proposed acting in an undercover capacity to deliver firearms to a suspected firearms trafficker, but taking no enforcement action upon delivering the firearms.
Dodson later told investigators that he and other ATF agents had proposed the transaction in hopes that it would shock their superiors into realizing what they were doing in Operation Fast and Furious. Instead, a superior approved Dodson's proposal and Dodson sold six firearms to the suspect. Dodson later told investigators that he regretted delivering the firearms.
The Fast and Furious operation used a tactic called gun-walking in an attempt to follow illicit gun buyers to major arms traffickers and dismantle the gun rings supplying weapons to drug cartels in Mexico. The tracking effort was largely unsuccessful and hundreds of weapons wound up at crime scenes in the U.S. and Mexico. Two of the weapons were found at the site of the slaying of U.S. border agent Brian Terry.
After Terry's death, Dodson and several other agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives described the gun-walking tactic to U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
As the controversy grew, Burke and Justice Department officials exchanged emails about Dodson's earlier memo, the report said.
"Unbelievable," Burke said in one message. "This guy called Grassley and CBS to unearth what he in fact was proposing to do by himself. When you thought the hypocrisy of this whole matter had hit the limit already..."
The report noted that in a separate incident, Burke had told the deputy attorney general that he himself had improperly disclosed information to The New York Times about a criminal suspect in Operation Fast and Furious.
According to the IG, Burke knew at the time of his disclosure of the Dodson memorandum that he was under investigation by the department's Office of Professional Responsibility for that earlier leak.
The inspector general's office is referring its report to OPR to determine whether Burke's conduct violated rules in the states where Burke is licensed to practice law.
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IG Report Says U.S. Attorney Sought to Undermine Credibility of Fast and Furious Whistleblower
Senator Chuck Grassley ^ | May 20, 2013 | Senator Grassley
Posted on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 10:37:16 AM
Senator Chuck Grassley, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, made the following statement after an Office of Inspector General Report showed that U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke leaked a sensitive document to the press regarding a whistleblower who had come forward with allegations of gunwalking, that he leaked an internal memo regarding Fast and Furious suspect Jaime Avila to the New York Times, and that he lied to Deputy Attorney General James Cole. The document leaked to Fox News was deemed so sensitive by the Justice Department that it was not provided to Congress, except in a secured room at department headquarters.
“The Inspector General outlined the Justice Department’s efforts to undermine Special Agent Dodson’s credibility, the whistleblower who had the guts to come forward and tell Congress the truth about Operation Fast and Furious. The Inspector General confirmed that Mr. Burke went to great lengths to discredit Special Agent Dodson and Congress’ investigation into the gunwalking that led to the death of Customs and Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Mr. Burke’s refusal to cooperate with the Inspector General’s investigation shows me that he didn’t operate in good faith. His actions are indicative of this administration’s willingness to attack whistleblowers who cooperate with Congress and show the administration’s commitment to undermine legitimate congressional oversight.
“The report brings into question, yet again, the treatment that whistleblowers receive from this administration. Instead of examining the allegations that came forward, the Justice Department almost immediately began to attack the credibility and good name of a dedicated federal agent upset with what he was ordered to do.”
Further background information The Inspector General report does not include the following important context regarding the Dodson Memo that was leaked to Fox News. The memo is addressed in Grassley’s first report on Operation Fast and Furious, written with House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa. That segment of the report (Appendix III) can be found here and sections regarding the Dodson memo are highlighted (pp. 33-39). The full report can be found here.
Here is some additional information from the report that addresses the Dodson memo. • As Dodson’s supervisor, David Voth had responsibility for the Fernandez case, ordered the memo to be written, and edited it before it was approved by the Assistant Special Agent in Charge in Phoenix. Still, Dodson did not hide from what he did. In fact, he expressed remorse for it.
• In his very first public appearance on CBS Evening News, Dodson told the world in a powerful interview that he had walked guns: “Here I am. Tell me I didn’t do the things that I did. Tell me you didn’t order me to do the things I did.”[1] He also apologized to the Terry family: “First of all, I’d tell [Agent` Terry’s family] that I’m sorry.”[2]
• Agent Dodson was upfront about the Fernandez case throughout his interactions with Congressional investigators, and Senator Grassley’s letter attaching the Fernandez documents came out the same day Dodson went on the CBS Evening News and publicly expressed remorse for his admitted role in walking guns.
• As the documentation makes clear, Dodson’s participation in walking guns in the Fernandez case came just weeks after Voth’s schism email, which warned dissenters to fall in line or find another job.
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ATF whistleblower Dobyns’ case against government to begin on Monday (Fast and Furious)
Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 5 June, 3013 | David Codrea
Posted on June 6, 2013 10:24:51 PM EDT by marktwain
The case of Jay Anthony Dobyns v. The United States is scheduled to begin Monday by the United States Court of Federal Claims, an entry yesterday on the ATF agent’s blog announced. “The trial will start in Arizona and end in Washington, D.C. in early August,” Dobyns wrote.
Dobyns is the agent who gained fame after infiltrating the Hells Angels in a “harrowing undercover journey” he wrote about in his New York Times bestseller “No Angel.” He, along with colleague, friend and fellow whistleblower Vince Cefalu, has been the subject of several Gun Rights Examiner reports focused on retaliation they have been subjected to for coming forward with information exposing official wrongdoing.
After his role in the Hells Angels investigation became known, Dobyns and his family received death threats. His house was burned down. The basis of Dobyn’s claims against the government centers on its lack of appropriate actions followed by acts of retaliation for his then coming forward.
“ATF has breached its settlement contract terms ... and has continually failed to approach minimal standards of law enforcement safety practices by failing to properly assess, respond to, investigate, process or document any of these threats and occurrences,” the Synopsis of Facts in Dobyn’s complaint states.
“ATF has refused to adequately protect or defend Dobyns and Family from the threats coming from the very criminals and alleged syndicates that ATF encouraged Dobyns to investigate,” the complaint continues, and then raises chilling allegations.
(Excerpt) Read more at examiner.com ...
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2013/06/14/cbs-news-confirms-multiple-breaches-of-sharyl-attkissons-computer
Damn!!!! Friday news dump
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Mexican chief killed with rifle lost in ATF's 'Fast and Furious' program
UnionLeader ^ | July 5, 2013 | Richard A. Serrano
Posted on July 6, 2013 6:57:49 AM EDT by Daffynition
WASHINGTON — A high-powered rifle lost in the ATF’s Fast and Furious controversy was used to kill a Mexican police chief in the state of Jalisco earlier this year, according to internal Department of Justice records, suggesting that weapons from the failed gun-tracking operation have now made it into the hands of violent drug cartels deep inside Mexico.
Luis Lucio Rosales Astorga, the police chief in the city of Hostotipaquillo, was shot to death Jan. 29 when gunmen intercepted his patrol car and opened fire. Also killed was one of his bodyguards. His wife and a second bodyguard were wounded.
Local authorities said eight suspects in their 20s and 30s were arrested after police seized them nearby with a cache of weapons _ rifles, grenades, handguns, helmets, bulletproof vests, uniforms and special communications equipment. The area is a hot zone for rival drug gangs, with members of three cartels fighting over turf in the region.
A semi-automatic WASR rifle, the firearm that killed the chief, was traced back to the Lone Wolf Trading Company, a gun store in Glendale, Ariz.
(Excerpt) Read more at unionleader.com ...
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Yep, now I see why only the government should have guns ::) WTG American government, I`ll be listening to you on gun control ;)
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2013/06/14/cbs-news-confirms-multiple-breaches-of-sharyl-attkissons-computer
Damn!!!! Friday news dump
on a holiday weekend. every year, you see douchebags release unflattering news right on/before a holiday weekend.
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Watchdog faults U.S. grenade-trafficking probe tied to Fast and Furious
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Reuters
By Aruna Viswanatha
1 hour ago
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By Aruna Viswanatha
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Units of the U.S. Department of Justice "seriously" botched an investigation into a suspected trafficker of grenade parts and failed to adequately consider the public safety risk posed by letting the suspect walk free, a watchdog for the agency said on Thursday.
The probe had been tied to Operation Fast and Furious, a failed effort by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Attorney's office in Arizona to stop gun smuggling across the U.S. border with Mexico.
ATF agents learned in 2009 that Jean Baptiste Kingery, a U.S. citizen, was buying large amounts of grenade components online, and suspected he was transporting them to Mexico, according to the report, from the Justice Department's inspector general.
Border patrol agents stopped him in 2010, but U.S. law enforcement authorities let Kingery go after questioning him and soon lost contact.
Kingery, who was arrested in Mexico in 2011 and accused of trafficking grenade and gun parts to the Sinaloa cartel, is facing prosecution in Mexico.
"We found that the investigation of Kingery was seriously flawed...and that Kingery should have been arrested and charged...long before he finally was," the inspector general, Michael Horowitz, said in the report.
In a statement, the Justice Department said the individuals responsible for the operations have been reassigned or have left, and that the agency took "aggressive action" to make sure it didn't repeat the mistakes.
(Reporting by Aruna Viswanatha; Editing by Alan Crosby)
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Watchdog faults U.S. grenade-trafficking probe tied to Fast and Furious
At this point, Obama could hand-feed RPGs to ISIS in plain site, and 2 things would happen, for sure:
Libs woudln't impeach him.
Republicans woudln't impeach him.
Left and Right seem to have more in common than they want to admit. They both let this lawless fuck do whatever he wants in office.
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http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/12/fast-and-furious-scandal-suspected-triggerman-in-border-agents-murder-arrested.html
Good fry this MOFO
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BREAKING: DOJ Announces Fast and Furious Documents Withheld by Eric Holder Will Be Released
Townhall ^ | 03/07/2018 | Katie Pavlich
Posted on 3/7/2018, 1:48:49 PM by DFG
The Department of Justice announced Wednesday additional documents related to the Operation Fast and Furious scandal during the Obama administration will be released to the House Oversight Committee. The documents were previously withheld by Attorney General Eric Holder, who was voted in civil and criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to turn them over.
“The Department of Justice under my watch is committed to transparency and the rule of law. This settlement agreement is an important step to make sure that the public finally receives all the facts related to Operation Fast and Furious,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions released in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
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BREAKING: DOJ Announces Fast and Furious Documents Withheld by Eric Holder Will Be Released
Townhall ^ | 03/07/2018 | Katie Pavlich
Posted on 3/7/2018, 1:48:49 PM by DFG
The Department of Justice announced Wednesday additional documents related to the Operation Fast and Furious scandal during the Obama administration will be released to the House Oversight Committee. The documents were previously withheld by Attorney General Eric Holder, who was voted in civil and criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to turn them over.
“The Department of Justice under my watch is committed to transparency and the rule of law. This settlement agreement is an important step to make sure that the public finally receives all the facts related to Operation Fast and Furious,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions released in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
Transparency is a good thing.
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Trump administration to provide records on Obama-era gun-smuggling probe
Reuters ^ | May 16, 2018 | Sarah N. Lynch
Posted on 5/17/2018, 9:47:04 AM by COUNTrecount
The U.S. Justice Department has agreed to provide congressional investigators confidential records on a failed gun-trafficking operation during the Obama administration known as "Fast and Furious" that long has been criticized by Republican lawmakers.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the Justice Department would hand over documents to the Republican-led House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that had been withheld by Democratic former President Barack Obama's administration.
The agreement reached by Republican President Donald Trump's administration will effectively end a six-year long legal battle in which the committee had gone to federal court to try to enforce a subpoena it had issued to obtain the records.
Congressional Republicans have been pressing the Justice Department for years about the operation. Named after a movie about car racing, the operation sought to curb gun-trafficking criminals who were selling weapons to Mexican drug cartels.
In June 2012, the Republican-led House voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder, an Obama appointee, in contempt for failing to turn over documents about the operation. The committee sued Holder for access to the documents in August 2012. Obama asserted executive privilege to block the disclosure of the documents.
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.reuters.com ...