Get the leg irons ready - Holder is going to jail for perjury.

[Soul Crusher]

Fast and Furious in a Rotten Nutshell
American Thinker ^ | Oct. 7, 2011 | Ronald Kolb



...after calls from Congress for a special counsel, a Justice spokesman attempted to fend off that plan by saying that once Holder had learned of the operation's "questionable tactics" earlier this year, he then "promptly asked the inspector general to investigate the matter."

Cynthia A. Schnedar is the acting inspector general, and just this past month, in yet another stunning revelation, it was discovered that she had released secret audio tapes of candid conversations from last March between Hope McAllister, an ATF (Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) agent in the Phoenix office, and Andre Howard, owner of a Phoenix-area gun shop, who had been authorized by the ATF to sell weapons to known Mexican cartel members in the botched sting operation.

On one of the tapes, they discuss a third Fast and Furious rifle that was found at the scene of the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in a remote area of southern Arizona last December. It had been widely reported that only two rifles were found at the scene, but recent reports tell of a cover-up. The third rifle would have led to an FBI informant.

As for the tapes, it was discovered by congressional investigators that Schnedar had inexplicably given a copy to the U.S. attorney's office in Phoenix before she had even reviewed them. The tapes then ended up being shared with the ATF office there. Both those agencies are among the many entities under investigation in the ever-expanding scandal.

So just who, one may wonder, is Acting Inspector General Cynthia Schnedar?


(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...

[Soul Crusher]

Gunwalker: Fast Leaks, Furious Congressmen
Pajamas Media ^ | October 7, 2011 | Bob Owens

Posted on Friday, October 07, 2011 2:31:33 PM by jazusamo

CBS News says they have lots more evidence, plus the Gunwalker architect may have been identified.





July 5, July 12, July 19, July 26, and August 9, 2010.

These are the dates of weekly memos provided by National Drug Intelligence Center Director Michael Walther to Attorney General Eric Holder. Each was a short document that included information on Operation Fast and Furious, including descriptions of the operation as a multi-agency task force targeting a gun trafficking ring headed by Manuel Celis-Acosta that had purchased “1,500 firearms that were then supplied to Mexican drug trafficking cartels.”

The release of these documents from mid-2010 — and supporting documents from Department of Justice insiders discussing “gunwalking” — has led House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) to ask President Obama to appoint a special prosecutor. The special prosecutor would investigate whether or not Attorney General Holder committed perjury when he stated in sworn testimony in March: “ probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.”

Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) yesterday called for Holder toresign, and Arizona Senator John McCain is “ leaning towards” demanding a special council appointment to investigate.

With the increased attention on the case — including coverage from johnny-come-lately ABC that needed to add a backstory section to get their readers up to speed — the White House and Department of Justice are fighting back, alleging that the growing scandal is nothing but a game of “gotcha” being played by Republicans:

“Here they go again. Chairman Issa and Senator Grassley can re-package and re-release the same documents every other day and it won’t change the facts: the attorney general’s testimony to both the House and Senate committees has been consistent and truthful,” the department said.

The department said the “brief” passages were “buried in a few written reports” and did not detail the full extent of the operation.

“Instead of peddling selectively edited transcripts and distorting questions and answers in some distracting political game of gotcha, these congressional leaders should be focusing their attention on the underlying public safety problem we confront as a nation — that too many guns are being illegally trafficked to Mexico,” the statement said.

It is worth noting: the documents being released are new; the information was not buried, but featured bullet points of weekly summary reports; and there were no “selectively edited” transcripts or “distorted questions.” The DOJ pushback seems rooted in political firefighting, not facts.

Even left-leaning NPR — which seems to doubt Holder’s truthfulness — reported the details of the key question and answer accurately:

At a hearing in March, California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa asked: “When did you first know about the program officially, I believe, called Fast and Furious? To the best of your knowledge, what date?”

Holder replied: “I’m not sure the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.”

Texas Senator John Cornyn blasted President Obama’s forceful defense of his attorney general, claiming that the president was the “the only person left with any confidence” in Holder:

“It is difficult to believe that after memos were sent to his office, ATF officials briefed Congress on Fast and Furious and it was reported in the media, Mr. Holder still didn’t have knowledge of it, as he claims, for several months,” Cornyn, a San Antonio Republican, said in an emailed statement.

The worst news of the week for Holder and Obama may have come last night. Bill O’Reilly interviewed CBSNews investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson, who has provided the most dogged mainstream media coverage of the administration’s gun-walking plots. O’Reilly asked Attkisson what caused a White House staffer to scream and curse at her several days ago. Her response left little doubt that more damning revelations are to come :

Well, I would say there have been some pretty incredible developments in the past week. Also, documents we haven’t even had time to report on all of them. They are very sensitive documents and allegations going around. Many of them we haven’t reported yet because we need to get more confirmation of them.

But what you see on the surface that we do report in our stories is really only a part of what may be going on and we may be reporting the future when we can get confirmation.

Attkisson may have been alluding to more evidence about Operation Fast and Furious, or perhaps about the nine other alleged gunwalking programs in five states which seem to have been implemented with the singularly practical purpose of getting thousands of weapons into the hands of criminals, both drug cartels and domestic gangs. Using Operation Fast and Furious as a baseline, it is reasonable to assume that if the other gunwalking operations were as productive, the U.S. may have run between 10,000 and 20,00o guns, enough weapons to outfit an entire U.S. Army infantry division.

If these numbers could be verified, it would prove that the Obama administration is the number one U.S. source of cartel guns.

As if things were not bad enough for the White House, Mike Vanderboegh — one of the bloggers who broke the original story linking ATF gunwalking to Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s death — has sources claiming “Obama’s man in the State Department,” (former) Deputy Secretary of State Jim Steinberg, was the State Department operative who helped Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and the Department of Justice Deputy Attorney General David Ogden formulate the strategy that led to the tactics used in Operation Fast and Furious.

And a follow-up story asserts what many have long suspected: that Gunwalker came about out of a desire to “pad” the Obama administration’s “ 90-pecent lie.”

If evidence can be obtained to support these contentions, then perjury is going to be the least of the worries for those involved. As Dave Gibson at the Examiner notes:

With the recent revelation that Attorney General Eric Holder knew about the ATF gun smuggling scheme as early as July 2010, which is nearly a year earlier than he claimed before Congress, the question becomes … Is Eric Holder an accomplice to Agent Brian Terry’s murder?

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu recently pointed out: “If somebody gives a gun to somebody knowing they’re going to commit murder, guess what we call them? … We call them accomplices.”

Bob Owens blogs at Confederate Yankee and Bob's Gun Counter.

[Soul Crusher]

Informant: ATF "gun walking" went on for years(Wide Reciever)
CBS ^ | 5 October, 2011 | Sharyl Attkisson



The ATF, the agency that's supposed to stop gun smuggling, turned a blind eye for years, as hundreds of guns "walked" across the Mexican border, CBS News has learned.

In a report on "The Early Show," CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson said a confidential informant has come forward "with a fascinating story of how U.S. agents began letting guns 'walk' across the Mexican border - more than four years ago."

ATF "Fast and Furious": New documents show Attorney General Eric Holder was briefed in July 2010

Gun enthusiast and licensed dealer Mike Detty said he was working a Tucson, Ariz., gun show in early 2006 when a young Hispanic man bought a half-dozen semi-automatic rifles. He paid $1,600 cash.

Detty recalled, "But then he asked if I had more, and I told him that later in the month I would have another 20 from my supplier. And he said, 'I'll take 'em all.'"

Detty said he suspected the buyer was trafficking for a drug cartel. Tucson is just an hour from the Mexican border and a popular shopping center for smugglers.

Detty notified ATF - the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. To his surprise, ATF told him to go ahead with the big sale and sent an undercover agent to watch. Then, a local ATF manager made an unusual and dangerous proposition: He asked Detty to be a confidential informant.

Detty told CBS News, "He said, 'Mike, I think we've got a real chance at taking out a powerful cartel. Can you help us?' I made that commitment. And I really thought I was doing something good."

Detty said he even signed an informant contract. As he understood it, he'd sell to suspected traffickers. Agents would track the weapons, expose the cartel's inner workings, and then interdict the guns before they could ever get loose on the street - or so Detty thought.

Detty said his business, "Mad Dawg," catered to this dangerous clientele in his living-room showroom. ATF agents watched and listened outside.

In an audio recording from a sale, Detty can be heard saying, "if your guys need more guns - " A suspect replies, "I do." Detty says, "You let me know."

"I do," the suspect repeats. Detty says, "And it's cool with me, OK?"

"I want to buy all of them that are like that. All of them I can get," the suspect says. Detty responds, "OK, I have a lot of them like that."

"I want to buy them all," the suspect responds.

Detty said ATF would have a small audio recording device. Sometimes it was hidden in a box of Kleenex," he said. One of the biggest cases was code-named: "Operation Wide Receiver."

Attkisson asked Detty, "Do you know about how many guns we're talking about?"

Detty said, "It's right around 450."

Detty came forward after things didn't work out as Detty had thought they would. Detty says he realized ATF was letting guns "walk" and instead of helping to take down cartels, he'd helped ATF arm them.

Attkisson asked, "When you look back and think in hindsight knowing what we know now - that all those guns were going on the street - what do you think about?"

Detty said, "It really makes me sick."

Attkisson noted that all this happened under the Bush administration - three years before the start of "Fast and Furious," the better-known ATF operation under the Obama administration that has come under scrutiny . "Fast and Furious" allegedly let thousands of weapons fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, and is now the subject of two investigations.

The "Fast and Furious" tactic of letting guns "walk" was exposed after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered last December and at least two assault rifles from "Fast and Furious" were found at the scene.

As for its predecessor, "Wide Receiver,": prosecutors finally, quietly, rounded up seven suspects last fall. No cartel leaders, just buyers who - critics say - should never have been allowed to put even one weapon on the street, let alone operate for years.

Detty said, "My first day as an informant, if they had said, 'Here's our plan, Mike: We're going to let as many guns go across the border as they can haul, and we're just gonna look and see where they pop up,' I'd have said, 'No way. That's not a plan. That's idiocy.' "

Attkisson said efforts to reach former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, who was in office when "Wide Receiver" started under the Bush administration, were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, his successor is under fire. Republicans are calling for a special prosecutor to investigate whether Attorney General Eric Holder told the truth when he testified earlier this year to Congress about when he first knew about 'Fast and Furious.'"

According to Atkisson, "gunwalking" may not be limited to border towns.

She said, "We have found allegations of gunwalking in at least 10 cities in five states, so this apparently was not isolated to Arizona."



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Holy Shit Batman     

[Dos Equis]

Holder Challenges 'Fast and Furious' Allegations in Scathing Letter to Congress
By Mike Levine
Published October 07, 2011
FoxNews.com
 
Attorney General Eric Holder speaks during a conference at the 66th session of the General Assembly at United Nations headquarters on Sept. 19.

Attorney General Eric Holder, under new pressure from Republicans over when he learned of "Operation Fast and Furious," has mounted his most forceful defense to date, accusing critics of using "irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric" and insisting his statements have been "truthful and accurate."

"I have no recollection of knowing about 'Fast and Furious' or of hearing its name prior to the public controversy about it," Holder wrote in a letter to congressional leaders Friday. "Prior to early 2011, I certainly never knew about the tactics employed in the operation."

. . .

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/07/holder-challenges-fast-and-furious-allegations-in-scathing-letter-to-congress/

[Soul Crusher]

His letter was pure nonsense. 

[Soul Crusher]

10 Arizona Sheriffs Call For Eric Holder to Resign or Be Fired
Stand With Arizona ^ | 10-07-2011 | John Hill
Posted on October 7, 2011 10:06:13 PM EDT by montag813



by John Hill
Stand With Arizona

Sheriff Paul Babeu led a press conference with 9 other Arizona sheriffs today, to blast Attorney General Eric Holder and the Administration for the disastrous 'Operation Fast and Furious', calling it a a "betrayal of state law enforcement".

Standing in front of a Phoenix memorial for fallen law enforcement officers, including Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry - murdered as a direct result of the operation - the sheriffs called for the president to launch an independent investigation and for Attorney General Eric Holder to step down or be fired. They are demanding that Holder reveal the truth behind the scandal, and believe that those responsible should be criminally accountable for allowing 2,000 guns to be purchased on U.S. Soil and turned over to the Mexican drug cartels.

Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said:

We are here to help defend America, whether it's beyond the border or any place north where the tentacles of these cartels reach into our communities across this nation every single day. And for our own government to be complicit in helping them conduct that business is offensive to us.
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu remembered Brian Terry's family, saying their "hearts are broken":

They want the truth, and they haven't been given the truth," he said. "Where's the honor of our country and us in law enforcement when a brother officer is murdered in our state here in Arizona, protecting our country, and then we find out months later that two of these weapons were weapons from Fast and Furious?

Five of the sheriffs are Democrats, and the other five are Republicans. But they spoke in united outrage over the conduct of the Obama Administration in this scandal...and demanded results.
On Tuesday, Republic Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas also called for a special counsel to investigate Fast and Furious, saying that Holder may have misled Congress about his knowledge of the operation. In his press conference on Thursday, Obama said Holder had his "full confidence" in Holder, but did not address accusations that Holder perjured himself in his May 2011 testimony before Congress.

And of course, a compliant media did not even ask Obama about Holder's testimony, the perjury allegations, or even the special prosecutor request. Hugo Chavez has a more challenging press than does Obama. Disgraceful.

The House GOP must act if Obama refuses to...and impeach Eric Holder.

Video coverage below:

[Soul Crusher]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2789650/posts


Good article.   holder is fos and nneds to come clean. 

[Hugo Chavez]

So it did start under Bush and continued under Obama?

[Hugo Chavez]

interesting timeline on the bullshit going on down there:

You can see when it starts and then starts escalating.  In the same year it starts, we're sending guns to these guys and that continues into the Obama admin?  This all seems so freaking insane.  No arrests in all that time on these programs?  Hell, that almost looks like we were backing the cartels against the Mexican government who were trying to crack down on them...  Why the hell would we do that lol...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Mexican_Drug_War

[Soul Crusher]

‘Wide Receiver’ CI: ‘It had nothing to do with Bush or even DOJ’

Add a comment
David Codrea, Gun Rights Examiner
October 7, 2011 - Like this? Subscribe to get instant updates.
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Exclusive report by Gun Rights Examiner

“The ATF,  the agency that's supposed to stop gun smuggling, turned a blind eye for years, as hundreds of guns  ‘walked’ across the Mexican border,” Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News reported Wednesday.  The subject of the report was licensed firearms dealer Mike Detty, who volunteered to become a confidential informant for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after he suspected straw purchases were being made by suspicious customers to arm drug cartels.

“The federal government under the Bush administration ran an operation that allowed hundreds of guns to be transferred to suspected arms traffickers - the same tactic that congressional Republicans have criticized President Barack Obama's administration for using, two federal law enforcement officials said Tuesday,” Peter Yost of the Associated Press also reported on Wednesday.

Advertisement

Both reports focused on the “Operation Wide Receiver” program, a gun interdiction effort now being compared as an earlier parallel to “Fast and Furious,” unsruprisingly by the same media outlets that have been providing cover fire for the administration throughout the unfolding "Project Gunwalker" story.

There were significant differences, however, Detty advised Gun Rights Examiner yesterday via email.  As background, this correspondent has been communicating with him since March of this year, introducing him to investigators for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in August.  This has not been reported on previously due to guarding Detty’s interests, and the same commitment not to exploit information shared in confidence that whistleblowing ATF agents have learned to trust.

Because some of the new reports have created no small amount of speculation about Bush administration involvement in what some are representing to be an identical enterprise, Detty felt compelled to offer clarification, and has consented to sharing his observations:

The AP story said that under Bush this case was never prosecuted and it took the Obama administration to find this Bush debacle and prosecute.

The truth is that the first two AUSA's assigned to this case declined to prosecute it because ATF, ASAC, SAC and above, lied to him and told him that the guns were being followed on the other side of the border. One AUSA told me, "Why would I take this case to court when I'd have to sacrifice my integrity and professional credibility because ATF screwed up so badly?"

There you have it. It had nothing to do with Bush or even DOJ at that point. ATF decision makers made the decision to devote 3 years worth of resources on a case based on a lie.

Detty’s coming forward now with this revelation should help those interested in preventing the lies from being compounded and conflated.

UPDATE: The following was received from Mr. Detty upon his reading this report:

I feel one more point worth mentioning is how can a new prosecutor take this case to court when the fundamentals have not changed? The foundation of the investigation was based on a lie.

Also see:

Kurt Hofmann: 'Gunwalking' then and now: The differences
Bob Owens: Gunwalker: Gunning Down the ‘Bush Did It, Too’ Lie
A Journalist’s Guide to ‘Project Gunwalker' Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five and Part Six 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.

------------

[Hugo Chavez]

Oh Brother   nice double standard.

[George Whorewell]

Oh Brother   nice double standard.

If I'm not mistaken, under Bush gun buyers were tracked and then intercepted immediately. Under Osama, the guns disappeared across the border to make Swiss cheese out of innocent people.

Does the double standard make more sense now?

[240 is Back]

I have to wonder what 33 and others will do if/when it ends up F&F got its initial start under Bush.

Sure, holder is a lying POS... but how many repubs will give a shit about mex drug violence on the other side of teh border if Obama doesn't have exclusive ownership?

If if if this thing got its foothold under Dubya... it'll be interesting.  Obama and holder will still be guilty as shit... but will they be as loud/?

[Option D]

YEah yeah... screw facts.. Blame bush

[Soul Crusher]

YEah yeah... screw facts.. Blame bush

Gunrunner was a lot different and Gunwalker.   Educate yourself and stop kneepadding.

[240 is Back]

Gunrunner was a lot different and Gunwalker.   Educate yourself and stop kneepadding.

how were they different?   Is one "okay"?

Or one is just more evil?  The one on obama's watch?


If Bush started such a program, this discussion will be great.

[Fury]

How many people died in Gunrunner? Looks like 0.

How many people died in Gunwalker? Over 200.


Thanks for playing.

[240 is Back]

How many people died in Gunrunner? Looks like 0.

How many people died in Gunwalker? Over 200.


Thanks for playing.

Oh, death toll is now the measurement tool? 

Slippery slope there...

[Fury]

Oh, death toll is now the measurement tool?  

Slippery slope there...

Not really.

You can go a step further.

One was designed to arrest straw purchasers before they crossed the border, thus ensuring no guns were put into cartel hands.

One was designed to purposely allow straw purchases across the border, thus ensuring guns were put into cartel hands.

Keep swinging, douche.

[George Whorewell]

Oh, death toll is now the measurement tool? 

Slippery slope there...

No dickhead-- One program was successful= Nobody Died, no guns crossed into Mexico
                    One program was a catastrophe= Hundreds died including US agents, guns made it into Mexico

What's slippery about that?

Bush's program worked. Obama's program was a mess.

Hope this helps.

[Soul Crusher]

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Gunwalker: Dems Abandoning Ship?
Pajamas Media ^ | October 8, 2011 | Bob Owens
Posted on October 8, 2011 12:14:11 PM EDT by Kaslin

The typical gun-control advocates don't have the president's and attorney general's backs this time.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has come under fire this week: evidence revealed he either ignored weekly reports in the summer of 2010 that discussed Operation Fast and Furious, or he committed perjury when he claimed he first found out about the program in early 2011. The former suggests incompetence, the later criminality — either would be legitimate reasons to see him removed from office.

Despite recent developments, the Department of Justice is publicly pushing back in favor of their boss, even as a key source claims career employees’ morale is at an all time low and that “Stalinesque complete control” over internal communications has been implemented to squelch leaks.

The White House is also publicly standing up for Holder, with President Obama providing unqualified support:

“He’s indicated that he was not aware of what was happening in Fast and Furious,” the president said in support of Holder, speaking at a White House news conference Thursday. “Certainly I was not. And I think both he and I would have been very unhappy if somebody had suggested that guns were allowed to pass through that could have been prevented by the United States of America.”

The President also touted the DOJ inspector general’s investigation of the scandal. He did not note that Cynthia A. Schnedar is an acting inspector general who has already been accused of using her office to obstruct the House Oversight Committee’s investigation, and who works for an administration that tends to fire inspector generals that do not report what the administration would like to hear.

However, it seems that the Obama administration’s allies are falling silent in regards to Holder, Obama, Fast and Furious, and allegations of other gunwalking programs.

When the story first broke early in 2011, Democratic lawmakers and leftist gun-control groups rallied to the administration’s defense, and they still provided support through midsummer. Paul Helmke of the Brady Campaign wrote a typical screed of the type on June 29, attempting to blame Republicans for the plot:

If California Rep. Darrell Issa and other congressional members who are in lock-step with the NRA bosses want to get to the bottom of the ATF gun trafficking operation, they need to start looking at their own actions and lack of action. By blocking and loosening laws to prevent gun violence they, too, are culpable in ATF’s “Fast and Furious” apparent debacle.

This poorly executed operation had agents skulking around gun shops to watch and possibly document numerous illegal firearms sales in Arizona. The unstopped gun runners then resold about 2,000 assault weapons to violent Mexican drug cartels. Further tragedy unfolded when two of the guns were found at the murder scene of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.

Helmke would later testify at a dog and pony show organized by Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings that sought to be a rhetorical counter against Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa’s congressional investigation. Cummings and a handful of fellow Democrats then tried in July to use Operation Fast and Furious as an excuse to call for more gun control. This also fell flat.

Since that last effort the administration’s allies have fallen silent.

New York Democrat Carolyn B. Maloney hasn’t said a word about Operation Fast and Furious since she supported the doomed “Stop Gun Trafficking and Strengthen Law Enforcement Act” in mid-July. Neither has her even more zealously anti-gun collegue Carolyn McCarthy.

As pressure has increased on the administration this week, the silence from House Democrats has been deafening. And like House Democrats, Senate Democrats are quietly abandoning the White House and attorney general.

Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein have consistently pushed for gun control throughout their Senate careers. Along with Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, they fabricated a report in June that supported the administration with a walked-back version of the 90-percent lie.

Schumer in particular has been a strong ally of the president, and yet he has also been silent on Operation Fast and Furious.

How many major political scandals have there been in recent memory where an entire political party fell silent for months at a time — and how should we interpret that silence?

Democratic senators and representatives may feel they have nothing to gain by speaking out on behalf of the gunwalking scandals. It would be a logical position to adopt if they’re assuming that Operation Fast and Furious is a serious political liability.

Regardless of the specific reason, the Obama administration’s usual allies of gun-control groups and Democratic members of the House and Senate seem to have abandoned the executive branch to sink or swim on its own.

[Soul Crusher]

Deputy AG received detailed Fast and Furious briefing
By Sharyl Attkisson Topics News
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(Credit: CBS) Documents recently turned over by the Justice Department to Congressional investigators indicate that then-Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler received a detailed briefing on Fast and Furious more than a year and a half ago.
"Deputy Attorney General" is the Justice Department's No. 2 figure, directly under Attorney General Eric Holder.

Grindler moved from Deputy Attorney General to a spot as Holder's chief of staff last January.

The briefing Grindler attended was on March 12, 2010, six months into ATF's Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed thousands of weapons on the street in an attempt to track down Mexican drug cartels. Portions of the documents are redacted.

In handwritten notes about Fast and Furious that are not all legible, Grindler writes about "seizures in Mexico" and "links to cartel." He also noted "seizures in Mexico" on a map of Phoenix, the home base for Fast and Furious, and Mexico locations where some guns ended up.  And Grindler made notations on a photograph of several dozen rifles.

There is no specific mention of the controversial tactic known as "letting guns walk" which, law enforcement sources say, was the heart of the Fast and Furious case.

Late today, a spokesman for the Justice Department told CBS News that "Much like presentations given in 2010 on the status of ATF's investigative efforts along the SW Border to many others - including a briefing to Chairman Issa within the same timeframe - this one did not get into the operational tactics that have since raised concerns... Indeed, as both the former U.S. Attorney in Arizona and the former Acting Director of ATF (who provided this briefing) have made clear, they did not themselves know the operational details and did not brief Justice officials on them."

Yesterday, the President stated he has full confidence in Holder and reiterated that neither he nor Holder knew of the controversial tactics being used in Fast and Furious. Holder has asked the Inspector General to investigate.



http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20117305-10391695.html

[Soul Crusher]

Wide Receiver’ CI: ‘It had nothing to do with Bush or even DOJ’
By David Codrea, Gun Rights Examiner
..Exclusive report by Gun Rights Examiner



“The ATF,  the agency that's supposed to stop gun smuggling, turned a blind eye for years, as hundreds of guns  ‘walked’ across the Mexican border,” Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News reported Wednesday.  The subject of the report was licensed firearms dealer Mike Detty, who volunteered to become a confidential informant for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives after he suspected straw purchases were being made by suspicious customers to arm drug cartels.

“The federal government under the Bush administration ran an operation that allowed hundreds of guns to be transferred to suspected arms traffickers - the same tactic that congressional Republicans have criticized President Barack Obama's administration for using, two federal law enforcement officials said Tuesday,” Peter Yost of the Associated Press also reported on Wednesday.

Advertisement
 
Both reports focused on the “Operation Wide Receiver” program, a gun interdiction effort now being compared as an earlier parallel to “Fast and Furious,” unsruprisingly by the same media outlets that have been providing cover fire for the administration throughout the unfolding "Project Gunwalker" story.

There were significant differences, however, Detty advised Gun Rights Examiner yesterday via email.  As background, this correspondent has been communicating with him since March of this year, introducing him to investigators for the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in August.  This has not been reported on previously due to guarding Detty’s interests, and the same commitment not to exploit information shared in confidence that whistleblowing ATF agents have learned to trust.

Because some of the new reports have created no small amount of speculation about Bush administration involvement in what some are representing to be an identical enterprise, Detty felt compelled to offer clarification, and has consented to sharing his observations:

The AP story said that under Bush this case was never prosecuted and it took the Obama administration to find this Bush debacle and prosecute.

The truth is that the first two AUSA's assigned to this case declined to prosecute it because ATF, ASAC, SAC and above, lied to him and told him that the guns were being followed on the other side of the border. One AUSA told me, "Why would I take this case to court when I'd have to sacrifice my integrity and professional credibility because ATF screwed up so badly?"

There you have it. It had nothing to do with Bush or even DOJ at that point. ATF decision makers made the decision to devote 3 years worth of resources on a case based on a lie.

Detty’s coming forward now with this revelation should help those interested in preventing the lies from being compounded and conflated.

UPDATE: The following was received from Mr. Detty upon his reading this report:

I feel one more point worth mentioning is how can a new prosecutor take this case to court when the fundamentals have not changed? The foundation of the investigation was based on a lie.

Also see:


Kurt Hofmann: 'Gunwalking' then and now: The differences
Bob Owens: Gunwalker: Gunning Down the ‘Bush Did It, Too’ Lie
A Journalist’s Guide to ‘Project Gunwalker' Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five and Part Six 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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Continue reading on Examiner.com ‘Wide Receiver’ CI: ‘It had nothing to do with Bush or even DOJ’ - National gun rights | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/wide-receiver-ci-it-had-nothing-to-do-with-bush-or-even-doj#ixzz1aFWSDYl4

[Soul Crusher]

High-powered assault weapons illegally purchased under the ATF's Fast and Furious program in Phoenix ended up in a home belonging to the purported top Sinaloa cartel enforcer in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, whose organization was terrorizing that city with the worst violence in the Mexican drug wars.

In all, 100 assault weapons acquired under Fast and Furious were transported 350 miles from Phoenix to El Paso, making that West Texas city a central hub for gun traffickers. 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, according to federal court records and trace documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The smugglers' tactics — quickly moving the weapons far from ATF agents in southern Arizona, where it had been assumed they would circulate — vividly demonstrate that what had been viewed as a local problem was much larger. Six other Fast and Furious guns destined for El Paso were recovered in Columbus, N.M.

"These Fast and Furious guns were going to Sinaloans, and they are killing everyone down there," said one knowledgeable U.S. government source, who asked for anonymity because of the ongoing investigations. "But that's only how many we know came through Texas. Hundreds more had to get through."

Torres Marrufo, also known as "the Jaguar," has been identified by U.S. authorities as the enforcer for Sinaloa cartel chieftain Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman. The Fast and Furious weapons were found at one of Torres Marrufo's homes April 30 when Mexican police inspected the property. It was unoccupied but "showed signs of recent activity," they said.

The basement had been converted into a gym with a wall covered with built-in mirrors. Behind the mirrors they found a hidden room with the Fast and Furious weapons and dozens more, including an antiaircraft machine gun, a sniper rifle and a grenade launcher.

"We have seized the most important cache of weapons in the history of Ciudad Juarez," Chihuahua state Gov. Cesar Duarte said at the time, though he did not know that many of the weapons came from the U.S. and Fast and Furious.

Torres Marrufo has been indicted in El Paso, but authorities have been unable to locate and arrest him.

In the U.S., intelligence officials consider the Sinaloa cartel the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world. Weekly reports from U.S. intelligence authorities to the Justice Department in the summer of 2010, at the height of Fast and Furious, warned about the proliferation of guns reaching the Sinaloa cartel.

Under Fast and Furious, begun in fall 2009, the ATF allowed illegal buyers to walk away with weapons in the hope that agents in Phoenix could track the guns and arrest cartel leaders.

Three months into the program, El Paso began to emerge as a hub, perhaps the central location, for Fast and Furious weapons. On Jan. 13, 2010, El Paso police stumbled upon 40 firearms after following a suspicious dark blue Volkswagen Jetta that backed into a garage at a local residence, according to federal court records.

Alberto Sandoval told authorities he acquired the weapons three days after they were purchased from someone he knew only as "Rudy." He said he was paid $1,000 to store the guns and "knew the firearms were going to Mexico."

Sandoval pleaded guilty in federal court in El Paso and was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison. A month later, on Dec. 17, 2010, he escaped from a minimum-security prison in Tucson; officials believe he fled to Mexico.

Two others, Ivan Chavira and Edgar Ivan Galvan, were subsequently charged in that gun recovery, along with the recovery of 20 Fast and Furious weapons on April 7, 2010, in El Paso. Those guns also were discovered by chance by local authorities, and ATF trace records show that the weapons were purchased in Phoenix two weeks before they were found in El Paso.

Chavira and Galvan pleaded guilty. Chavira received eight years in prison; Galvan is to be sentenced next month.

richard.serrano@latimes.com

Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Mexico City contributed to this report.








Wow!!!!    this thing is like a dirty bomb. 

[Soul Crusher]

 
Fast and Furious fallout puts Holder on collision course with Congress
By Jordy Yager    - 10/08/11 09:30 AM ET
The fierce battle over a botched gun-tracking operation is intensifying and has put Attorney General Eric Holder on a collision course with his critics in Congress. 

Republicans are calling for his resignation in the wake of Fast and Furious, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives operation that may have inadvertently contributed to the death of at least one federal agent.

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee has called for an independent investigation of Holder, and the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee wants to have Holder testify again before Congress. 

 
Holder replied Friday to mounting accusations against him in a scathing letter to the congressional leaders who are investigating his involvement.
Holder wrote in a letter to the chairmen and ranking members of three Congressional committees that he has been "truthful and accurate" about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms operation and that the rhetoric coming from Republican legislators has been "irresponsible and inflammatory."

The torrent of scrutiny comes after a series of internal Justice Department memos were released this week and show that Holder was informed about the existence of Operation Fast and Furious last year.

Holder testified in May before the House Judiciary Committee that he did not learn about the operation until earlier this year. Officials with the DOJ say Holder was referring to when he learned about the controversial tactics, known as “walking” guns into the hands of known and suspected criminals, that were employed by the operation.

"My testimony was truthful and accurate and I have been consistent on this point throughout," Holder wrote Friday night. "I have no recollection of knowing about Fast and Furious or of hearing its name prior to the public controversy about it."

President Obama has thrown his full support behind Holder, but the coming weeks will be the true test as Republicans put the administration under the microscope.

After receiving Holder's letter, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) promised the investigations would continue.

"The Attorney General’s denials of any personal knowledge will have to be tested against all the evidence as the investigation continues, just as the Department’s initial denials were," Beth Levine, a Grassley spokeswoman, said.

The following is a timeline of events surrounding Holder and Congress’ dealings with Operation Fast and Furious:

2009 — Operation Fast and Furious is launched under the supervision of the ATF's Group VII, based out of Phoenix.

March 12, 2010 — Group VII Supervisor David Roth sends an email to the group acknowledging a “schism” in the attitudes of the agents. ATF agents in the group would later testify they were conflicted over the tactics being used. “Whether you care or not people of rank and authority at HQ are paying close attention to this case,” wrote Roth.

July 2010 — Michael Walther, the director of the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC), wrote three memos to Holder in which he mentions Operation Fast and Furious. In one memo, Walther advises Holder that NDIC and a Phoenix drug enforcement task force would assist the ATF with an investigation of a suspected gun trafficker, Manuel Celis-Acosta, being run under Operation Fast and Furious.

“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 Manuel Celis-Acosta,” the memo states. “Celis-Acosta and [redacted] straw purchasers are responsible for the purchase of 1,500 firearms that were then supplied to Mexican drug trafficking cartels.” 

Nov. 2010 — Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer sent a weekly memo to Holder notifying him of a sealed indictment against alleged gun traffickers in Arizona by the DOJ’s organized crime and gang section. Breuer wrote that the indictment would remain sealed “until another investigation, Phoenix-based ‘Operation Fast and Furious,’ is ready for takedown.”

Nov. – Dec. 2010 — Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is contacted by whistleblowers within ATF about the tactics used in Operation Fast and Furious.

Dec. 15, 2010 — Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry is killed in a firefight in Arizona. Two of the guns found at the scene were sold to suspected straw buyers under the operation.

Jan. 2011 — Grassley meets with Holder and DOJ officials to discuss the whistleblower allegations. 

Feb. 2011 — DOJ sends a letter to Grassley denying that the ATF would knowingly sell assault weapons to straw purchasers and that the agency makes every effort to prevent weapons from going to Mexico.



March 2011 — Holder asks the DOJ’s Inspector General to investigate Operation Fast and Furious.
March 8, 2011 — Eleven people are federally indicted for alleged weapons trafficking crimes in connection with Fast and Furious.

March 16, 2011 — Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) sends his first letter to ATF’s acting-director Kenneth Melson requesting documents pertaining to the origin of Fast and Furious and who authorized it.

March 31, 2011 — Issa issues first subpoena on Fast and Furious to DOJ for documents he requested in March.

May 3, 2011 — Holder testifies before the House Judiciary Committee saying, “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.”

June 15, 2011 — Issa holds his first hearing on Fast and Furious where former and current ATF agents testified about the controversial tactics employed under the operation and their efforts to stop them. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, who operates as a legislative liaison to Congress, also testifies that the DOJ was doing everything in its power to assist Issa with his investigation. Republicans have said the DOJ is “stonewalling” their efforts to get information about the operation.

June 29, 2011 — Obama says he will not comment on Fast and Furious further until the IG investigation is complete. “My attorney general has made clear that he certainly would not have ordered gun running to be able to pass through into Mexico,” said Obama. “I'm not going to comment on a current investigation. I've made very clear my views that that would not be an appropriate step by the ATF, and we've got to find out how that happened.”

July 4, 2011 — Melson testifies in a closed setting before Issa and Grassley’s investigators. Melson acknowledges that Fast and Furious was under the jurisdiction of the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s office.

August 30, 2011 — Holder transfers Melson out of his position as acting director and Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke resigns.



Source:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/186351-fast-and-furious-probe-puts-holder-on-collision-course-with-congress
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