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General Category => Firearms Related => Topic started by: GunLink on March 28, 2011, 10:49:53 AM

Title: BATFE Fast and Furious Scandal - 11/4/2014 DOJ Releases 64,280 Pages of Docs
Post by: GunLink on March 28, 2011, 10:49:53 AM
Investigations Into BATFE Accelerate
 Friday, March 25, 2011 (http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=6493)


As the BATFE faces an increasing array of questions about its activities in the "Fast and Furious" and "Project Gunrunner" programs, the scandal has taken its first political casualty and President Obama has finally commented directly on these problems... (READ MORE...) (http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Read.aspx?ID=6493)


What a mess.  The ATF may or may not have let a bunch of guns slip into the hands of the cartels; some of which ended up at the murder scene of a BP agent.

Sept 20, 2012 - Fast and Furious Report Released (http://blog.gunlink.info/2012/09/20/fast-and-furious-report-released/)

Nov 4, 2014 - DOJ Releases 64,280 Pages of F&F documents (http://gunlink.info/forums/index.php?topic=176.msg4021#msg4021)
Title: Re: Investigations Into BATFE Accelerate (via NRA-ILA)
Post by: 1slickAR15 on March 29, 2011, 09:44:03 AM
Big surprise...the ATF isn't on the up and up?!?   :o :o
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on March 29, 2011, 11:06:14 AM

The Scandal of ‘Gun-Walking’
Why did the Justice Department allow Mexican cartels to purchase 2,500 U.S.-made guns?
March 28, 2011 4:00 A.M. (http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/263117/scandal-gun-walking-jim-geraghty)


Why did the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives stand by and watch as guns were transported across our southern border to Mexico, to be used by violent drug cartels?  The phenomenon of “gunwalking” appears to be a standard sting-operation tactic that in this case has gone wildly awry...(READ MORE...) (http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/263117/scandal-gun-walking-jim-geraghty)




I think "gone awry" might be an understatement
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on March 29, 2011, 11:11:27 AM
ATF gunwalker scandal … did US Customs and Border Protection look the other way when the guns were headed south?
Hugh Holub on Mar. 25, 2011 (http://tucsoncitizen.com/view-from-baja-arizona/2011/03/25/atf-gunwalker-scandal-did-us-customs-and-border-protection-look-the-other-way-when-the-guns-were-headed-south/)

Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on March 29, 2011, 11:14:31 AM
Obama Administration Under Mounting Pressure for Botched Gun Trafficking Investigation
William La Jeunesse March 28, 2011 (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/28/obama-administration-mounting-pressure-botched-gun-trafficking-investigation/)

Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on March 29, 2011, 07:33:07 PM
ATF to grant ‘Project Gunwalker’ FOIA inquiry ‘in part’
David Codrea  March 29th, 2011 5:16 pm ET (http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/atf-to-grant-project-gunwalker-foia-inquiry-part)



A March 23 letter from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to Gun Rights Examiner “apologize(s) for the slight delay” in responding to a Freedom of Information Act request...(READ MORE...) (http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-national/atf-to-grant-project-gunwalker-foia-inquiry-part)


(http://i51.tinypic.com/3c46w.jpg)
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on March 30, 2011, 08:42:11 AM
Issa demands "gunwalking" information from Secretary Clinton
Sharyl Attkisson (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20048509-10391695.html)


See Issa's full letter to Clinton here (http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/Issa-Letter-2011-03-29.pdf)





ATF chief won't appear at Senate hearing in wake of "gunwalking" scandal
Sharyl Attkisson (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20048331-10391695.html)

Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on April 21, 2011, 12:56:32 PM
What we know about Project Gunrunner
By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller 12:20 PM 04/21/2011 (http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/21/what-we-know-about-project-gunrunner/)

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, is threatening to begin contempt proceedings if the Justice Department doesn’t start providing documents about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious. But what’s the controversy about? And what could the documents show?... (READ MORE... (http://dailycaller.com/2011/04/21/what-we-know-about-project-gunrunner/))


They generally don't like it when you ignore their requests.  I why they're dragging their feet...maybe the motors on their shredders burned out.
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on April 21, 2011, 12:58:48 PM
U.S. urged dealer to continue gun sales despite concerns, inquiry finds
By Kim Murphy, Los Angeles Times April 15, 2011 (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-guns-20110415,0,132336.story)

...A series of emails released by congressional investigators showed that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives encouraged the gun dealer against his better judgment to sell high-powered weapons to buyers he believed were agents for the drug cartels...(READ MORE... (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-guns-20110415,0,132336.story))



I wonder how high up the knowledge about this goes?
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: Uncle Buck on April 27, 2011, 08:51:57 AM
I would think they would want to get this behind them before the 2012 election, but with the main stream media not really reporting much about it, maybe it will be a non-issue.

Somewhere, someone has paperwork that shows who approved this.  Agent Voth seems to be the scape goat right now. 

Thanks for keeping this updated.  Looking forward to reading more.  I have written to my senators and Congressmen asking them to put pressure on the ATF and Justice department.
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on June 20, 2011, 11:03:40 AM
Hearing On “Fast And Furious” Uncovers Serious Failure At BATFE
NRA-ILA
Friday, June 17, 2011 (http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=6927)

Some of the most important findings of the hearing and the investigative report compiled by the Committee staff include:

BATFE knowingly allowed as many as 2,500 firearms to be sold illegally to known or suspected straw purchasers. One of those purchasers accounted for over 700 illegal guns.  

BATFE ordered its agents working the program not to arrest illegal gun buyers or to interdict thousands of guns that were allowed to “walk” into criminal hands.  ...(READ MORE... (http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.aspx?id=6927))



Doesn't look too good  :-\
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: masfonos on June 21, 2011, 11:13:02 AM
This whole thing is outrageous.  I think it might actually get some mainstream coverage soon, though; then people might start getting outraged like they should.  Rush was talking about it yesterday and it was on Fox & Friends this morning.  F&F had Issa on there talking about it.
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: Uncle Buck on June 21, 2011, 11:40:39 AM
I am afraid with the head of the BATFE  (Mellon) Resigning, this might not get much more coverage.  The only hope is that Rep. Issa will keep the heat on and once the former head of the ATF is indicted, maybe he will sing like a bird. 

I know in my heart they are hoping that with his resignation the case will be dropped.
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: masfonos on June 21, 2011, 11:49:19 AM
I don't know... "They" have been talking more and more about the potential for Holder and his gang (and possibly higher-ups) knowing and/or being involved.  I hope they stay on the scent trail and don't just let it drop.
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on June 22, 2011, 12:27:44 PM
Report: ATF head to resign over botched gun program
By JENNIFER EPSTEIN
6/21/11 8:52 AM EDT (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57358.html)

The acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is expected to resign in the next few days as a scandal over the agency’s “Fast and Furious” anti-gun-trafficking operation continues to boil....  (READ MORE... (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57358.html))



Good riddance?  A scapegoat so "the buck stops there" in hopes that nobody looks any higher?
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on June 22, 2011, 02:39:41 PM
VIDEO:  Jon Stewart's Daily Show on Gun-Running (http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-june-21-2011/the-fast-and-the-furious---mexico-grift?xrs=share_copy)

Tuesday June 21, 2011
The Fast and the Furious - Mexico Grift
The ATF plan to prevent American guns from being used in Mexican gun violence is to provide Mexican gangs with American guns.
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on June 22, 2011, 02:45:13 PM
Representative Issa apparently wasn't very pleased with the redacted documents he received as a result of his discover requests.  I can't imagine why:

(http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n609/GunLink/Web/Issa-Copy.jpg)
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: Uncle Buck on June 25, 2011, 10:08:01 AM
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/fired-gunrunner-whistleblower-vince-cefalu-speaks-pjm-exclusive/   

The above link shows some of the "Stuff" this agent had to go through because he did not want to break the law.  I know a lot of people do not care for the ATF (And after reading about gunwalking and "fast and Furious" I understand why), but I do believe that most of the agents do try to do their jobs in a lawful manner.

Also:  http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110624,0,7283758.story

Seems the acting director is concerned.  (As he should be!)

  I do not read spanish, but I am curious what the press in Mexico is saying about this.
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on July 12, 2011, 07:47:52 PM
Issa, Grassley name 12 senior Justice officials in Fast and Furious letter
7:20 PM 07/12/2011
By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller (http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/12/issa-grassley-name-12-senior-justice-officials-in-fast-and-furious-letter/)

House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, and Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, ripped Attorney General Eric Holder again in another Monday letter.

The top Republicans investigating the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Operation Fast and Furious also blasted Holder for allegations that he allowed his Justice Department to skew potential witnesses by prepping them with...(Read more (http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/12/issa-grassley-name-12-senior-justice-officials-in-fast-and-furious-letter/))



"Nothing to see here.  Move along.  PS...Guns on the border are becoming a real problem, we need enhanced firearm sales reporting (http://gunlink.info/forums/index.php?topic=325.0)"
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: Uncle Buck on July 13, 2011, 08:49:49 AM
I am curious to see how Melsons appearance with his own attorney, as opposed to a DOJ attorney, works out for him.  I think he saw the very real chance of being thrown under the bus wheels on this one.

He, Melson, even admitted the DOJ was obstructing the investigation...  I think the man is in the "Save my career/retirement" mode now.
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on July 13, 2011, 09:40:01 AM
Eric Holder neglected to mention the fact that they were going to be handing thousands of firearms across the border to cartels in this April 2, 2009 address on border security and gun/drug trafficking (http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2009/ag-speech-090402.html).  One day earlier and I might have thought this was his sick idea of an April Fools joke.


Attorney General Eric Holder at the Mexico/United States Arms Trafficking Conference
CUERNAVACA, MEXICO ~ Thursday, April 2, 2009 (http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2009/ag-speech-090402.html)
Quote
First, let me express my thanks to Attorney General Medina Mora and Secretary of Government Gomez Mont for making this conference possible.

 This is my first trip to another country as Attorney General.   I wanted to come to Mexico to deliver a single message: We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you in this fight against the narcotics cartels.  The United States shares responsibility for this problem and we will take responsibility by joining our Mexican counterparts in every step of this fight.

 And, together, we will win – thanks in large part to the courage of my Mexican colleagues here today, who are on the front lines every day, and with whom I am proud to collaborate.

 The topic that has been addressed over the past two days could not be more important – the development of an arms trafficking prosecution and enforcement strategy on both sides of the border. 

 I would like to thank the Mexican and U.S. experts who have worked so hard on this issue.  On our side, Secretary Napolitano and I are committed to putting the resources in place to increase our attack on arms trafficking into Mexico.

 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.  DHS is making similar commitments, as Secretary Napolitano will detail.

 But as today’s conference has emphasized, the problem of arms trafficking will not be stopped at the border alone.  Rather, as our experts emphasized, this is a problem that must be met as part of a comprehensive attack against the cartels – an attack in depth, on both sides of the border, that focuses on the leadership and assets of the cartel.  This is the type of full-bore, prosecution-driven approach that the U.S. Department of Justice took to dismantle La Cosa Nostra – once the most powerful organized crime group operating in the United States. 
 With partners like those we have here today, I am confident that together, we will defeat these narcotics cartels in exactly the same way.  I am proud to stand with you, and to join you in this fight.  Thank you again for inviting me here.

Quiero que el pueblo Mexicano sepa que mi nación está con ustedes en la lucha contra los narcotraficantes.

México y los Estados Unidos comparten mas que una frontera—compartimos cultura, sangre e intereses comunes. Somos hermanos unidos contra una batalla que ganaremos.

Tenemos que aprender de uno a otro, trabajar juntos y luchar juntos.  Si hacemos estas cosas, si nos dedicamos juntos a esta lucha, no tengo duda que tendremos éxito.

Translation of Spanish:
I want the Mexican people to know that my nation is with you in the fight against drug traffickers.

Mexico and the United States share more than a border-sharing culture, blood and common interests. We are brothers united against a battle we will win.

We must learn from each other, work together and fight together. If we do these things, if we engage together in this fight, I have no doubt we will succeed.


Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on July 13, 2011, 09:54:19 AM
No wonder "nobody knew anything" about Project Gun Runner or Operation Fast and Furious.  It was tucked away in the dark void of the stimulus bill.  I must have missed that day in Rebuilding an Economy 101 when they covered "allowing cartels to illegally acquire guns through straw purchases."  File this under "money well spent."  ::)


The Stimulation Of Murder
Investor's Business Daily
Posted 07/08/2011 07:02 PM ET  (http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/577800/201107081902/The-Stimulation-Of-Murder.aspx)

Right there in the stimulus bill that no one in Congress bothered to read is $10 million for Project Gunrunner (aka Operation Fast and Furious), which resulted in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and increased drug cartel violence.

Right there in the "shovel ready" stimulus, no black humor intended, is a provision for $40 million for "state and local law enforcement assistance" along our border with Mexico and in high drug-trafficking areas, "of which $10 million shall be transferred to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, salaries and expenses for the ATF Project Gunrunner."
(READ MORE... (http://ttp://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/577800/201107081902/The-Stimulation-Of-Murder.aspx))
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: 1slickAR15 on July 14, 2011, 08:13:16 AM
money well spent
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on July 26, 2011, 09:07:10 PM
Holder Lied, Agents Died?
Posted 06:41 PM ET
IBD Editorials (http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/579545/201107261841/Holder-Lied-Agents-Died-.htm)


Any doubt that Project Gunrunner had to do with creating an atmosphere for more gun control ended with the revelation by Fox News that two convicted felons were allowed to buy and move more than 300 guns into Mexico, something the FBI should have caught but didn't.  Under current federal law, people with felony convictions are not permitted to buy weapons, and those with felony arrests are typically flagged while the FBI conducts a thorough background check through its National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS).

Jacob Wayne Chambers and Sean Christopher Stewart obtained more than 360 weapons despite criminal records that should have prevented them from buying even one gun.
...
We suspect the FBI was ordered to look the other way just as ATF agents were told to every time they had a chance to interdict weapons going to Mexico, allegedly the whole purpose of the operation. That order could only have come from Attorney General Eric Holder.
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: Uncle Buck on July 27, 2011, 10:08:36 AM
I watched a little of the hearings held yesterday.  Very interesting to say the least.  One of the female congresswomen was a little (OK, A lot) over the top, when she said everyone was in the pocket of the NRA.
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: 1slickAR15 on July 27, 2011, 11:36:15 AM
Lots of those people are "over the top" 

Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) thinks that there aren't laws to prevent this sort of thing  :o

This statement is straight from her house.gov (http://www.norton.house.gov/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=121) website:

The controversy surrounding ATF's Operation Fast and Furious has revealed a virgin law enforcement issue.  Americans may be astonished to discover that the U.S. has no gun-trafficking law, even for long guns such as AK-47s and .50 caliber sniper rifles.  Without most Americans realizing it, we have tied the hands of law enforcement officers, who can only pursue traffickers for paperwork violations, which carry light sentences.  U.S. attorneys, given caseloads full of felonies, do not usually prosecute violations where there is no penalty sufficient to discourage the crime.  This serious gap in federal law has fueled trafficking of assault weapons, perhaps most notoriously to Mexico, where that government is in an all out war against traffickers and their clients.  This hole in our law is just as dangerous to American citizens, as gangs and criminals here traffic the assault weapons that are commonly confiscated following criminal activity without fear of prosecution.

Traffickers are not gun collectors.  Perhaps most often, they are protecting the delivery of their goods, and their commodity of choice, which is, of course, drugs.  A law against gun trafficking is also a strong weapon against drug trafficking.  Our bill has multiple benefits.  It is a deterrent against the illegal proliferation of guns, which have taken such a tragic toll in human life, and a new and powerful deterrent in the nation's long struggle against drugs.

There is an attempt underway to open a hole in a long-standing gun law that makes it more difficult to traffic handguns.  Since 1968, federal law has prohibited crossing state lines to purchase handguns.  However, the pending gun lobby-backed bill to abolish D.C.'s gun laws would also increase gun trafficking in the District.  The bill would create a unique exception to the federal law that prohibits individuals from crossing state lines to purchase handguns by allowing D.C. residents to do so in Maryland and Virginia.  Gun traffickers could use this exception to purchase large quantities of handguns, including assault pistols, in Maryland and Virginia and then bring them back into the District. 




This "gap" is what fuels trafficking to Mexico??  Are you sure it's not the ATF encouraging sending thousands of guns across the border?  Are you sure that it's not the FBI giving felons the OK to purchase guns during NICS checks?  Are you sure it's not a useless agency ignoring its agents when they call attention to this cluster****?  Are you sure it's not the AG who, at a minimum, purposely ignored the issue and possibly was involved even more?

If what that other congressman said was true about this whole thing being meant to push anti gun agendas then this woman took the bait hook line and sinker!
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on July 27, 2011, 11:37:20 AM
From the Democratic Oversight page:   HEARING: Documents for the July 26th Hearing: Operation Fast and Furious: The Other Side of the Border (http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5385:hearing-documents-for-the-july-26th-hearing-operation-fast-and-furious&catid=3:press-releases&Itemid=49)

Read the opening statement (http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/FULLCOM/726%20FF%20-%20other%20side%20border/Cummings%20Opener%20ATF%20Hearing%207.26.11.pdf) of Ranking Member Elijah E. Cummings

Read the Testimony of Carlos Canino (http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/FULLCOM/726%20FF%20-%20other%20side%20border/Canino%20Testimony.pdf), ATF Acting Attaché to Mexico

Read the Testimony of Darren Gil (http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/FULLCOM/726%20FF%20-%20other%20side%20border/Darren%20Gil%20opening%20statement%20-%20FINAL%20_07%2026%202011_.pdf), Former ATF Attaché to Mexico

Read the Testimony of  Jose Wall (http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/FULLCOM/726%20FF%20-%20other%20side%20border/Jose%20Wall%20Testimony.pdf), ATF Senior Special Agent, Tijuana, Mexico

Read the Testimony of  Lorren Leadmon (http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/FULLCOM/726%20FF%20-%20other%20side%20border/Leadmon%20Testimony.pdf), ATF Intelligence Operations Specialist

Read the Testimony of  William Newell (http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/FULLCOM/726%20FF%20-%20other%20side%20border/Newell%20Testimony.pdf), Former ATF Special Agent in Charge, Phoenix Field Division

Read the Testimony of  William McMahon (http://democrats.oversight.house.gov/images/stories/FULLCOM/726%20FF%20-%20other%20side%20border/McMahon%20Testimony.pdf), ATF Deputy Assistant Director for Field Operations
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on July 27, 2011, 11:45:16 AM
Gun Runner/Fast and Furious is making front page news:

A gunrunning sting gone fatally wrong
By Sari Horwitz,
Tuesday, July 26, 12:01 AM (http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-anti-gunrunning-effort-turns-fatally-wrong/2011/07/14/gIQAH5d6YI_story.html)

Quote
On his first day undercover, John Dodson, who had been an ATF agent for seven years in Virginia, sat in a Chevy Impala with Olindo Casa, an 18-year veteran from Chicago. They watched a suspected gun trafficker buy 10 semiautomatic rifles from a Phoenix gun store and followed him to the house of another suspected trafficker. All of their training told them to seize the guns.

The agents called their superior and asked for the order to “take him.” The answer came back swiftly, instructing them to stay in the car. The message was clear: Let the guns go...But Dodson and Casa were confused and upset.

ATF agents hate to let the guns “walk.” Yet it happened again, day after day, month after month, for more than a year.  (READ More... (http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/us-anti-gunrunning-effort-turns-fatally-wrong/2011/07/14/gIQAH5d6YI_story.html))








ATF officials admit mistakes in Operation Fast and Furious gun program
By Mike M. Ahlers, CNN
July 26, 2011 5:49 p.m. EDT (http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/07/26/atf.fast.and.furious/index.html)

Quote
Two federal officials admitted Tuesday they made "mistakes" during the controversial Operation Fast and Furious gunrunner program, but they disputed contentions by a parade of other agents that their bureau knowingly let guns "walk" into Mexico.
...
Newell's insistence that guns were not allowed to cross the border drew an angry rebuke from Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House committee investigating the program, who called Newell a "paid non-answerer" at Tuesday's hearing.

"Are they (the other agents) lying, or are you lying?" Issa asked Newell.
"We did not let guns walk," Newell responded.
"You're entitled to your opinion, not to your facts," Issa said.
...
At the opening of the hearing, Issa, R-California, accused the Obama administration of stonewalling the investigation, saying the Department of Justice continues to withhold information and has "inappropriately interfered" with the committee's work.

"Let me be clear: the Justice Department is not our partner in this effort. They are the subject of this investigation and their continued interference will not be allowed to derail the committee's work," Issa said.

Issa said the Justice Department has blocked efforts to identify those inside the department who were aware of the program, and who endorsed it. (READ MORE... (http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/07/26/atf.fast.and.furious/index.html))
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on July 27, 2011, 11:57:05 AM
Here are some clips posted to the YouTube account for The Committee on Oversight and Reform:


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WANSbwmYlYI[/youtube]


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6vrRco01XA[/youtube]


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAKXvgR7Aj4[/youtube]


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIcLZZ0tqOs[/youtube]


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZXCJaY1Oi8[/youtube]


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAdav1YDuKo[/youtube]
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on July 27, 2011, 03:33:38 PM
"Operation Fast & Furious: The Other Side of the Border" Part 1

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53ETDnGKR2c[/youtube]


"Operation Fast & Furious: The Other Side of the Border" Part 2

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yen7xusqDGs[/youtube]


"Operation Fast & Furious: The Other Side of the Border" Part 3


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z33Lntd4uzU[/youtube]




House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, "Operation Fast & Furious: The Other Side of the Border." The hearing continued to explore the scope of Operation Fast and Furious, conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and approved by the Department of Justice. The hearing examined its effect on the country of Mexico.



Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on July 27, 2011, 03:59:12 PM

The Department of Justice’s Operation Fast and Furious:
Fueling Cartel Violence

JOINT STAFF REPORT
(http://www.gunlink.info/downloads/FastAndFuriousJointReport.pdf)

Prepared for
Rep. Darrell E. Issa, Chairman
United States House of Representatives
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
&
Senator Charles E. Grassley, Ranking Member
United States Senate
Committee on the Judiciary

112th Congress

July 26, 2011



I. Executive Summary
The previous joint staff report entitled The Department of Justice’s Operation Fast and
Furious: Accounts of ATF Agents chronicled Operation Fast and Furious, a reckless program
conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), and the
courageous ATF agents who came forward to expose it. Operation Fast and Furious made
unprecedented use of a dangerous investigative technique known as “gunwalking.” Rather than
intervene and seize the illegally purchased firearms, ATF’s Phoenix Field Division allowed
known straw purchasers to walk away with the guns, over and over again. As a result, the
weapons were transferred to criminals and Mexican Drug Cartels.

This report explores the effect of Operation Fast and Furious on Mexico. Its lethal drug
cartels obtained AK-47 variants, Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifles, .38 caliber revolvers, and FN
Five-seveNs from Arizona gun dealers who were cooperating with the ATF by continuing to sell
to straw purchasers identified in Operation Fast and Furious.

In late 2009, ATF officials stationed in Mexico began to notice a large volume of guns
appearing there that were traced to the ATF’s Phoenix Field Division. These weapons were
increasingly recovered in great numbers from violent crime scenes. ATF intelligence analysts
alerted Darren Gil, Attaché to Mexico, and Carlos Canino, Deputy Attaché, about the abnormal
number of weapons. Gil and Canino communicated their worries to leadership in Phoenix and
Washington, D.C., only to be brushed aside. Furthermore, ATF personnel in Arizona denied
ATF personnel in Mexico access to crucial information about the case, even though the operation
directly involved their job duties and affected their host country.

Rather than share information, senior leadership within both ATF and the Department of
Justice (DOJ) assured their representatives in Mexico that everything was “under control.” The
growing number of weapons recovered in Mexico, however, indicated otherwise. Two
recoveries of large numbers of weapons in November and December 2009 definitively
demonstrated that Operation Fast and Furious weapons were heading to Mexico. In fact, to date,
there have been 48 different recoveries of weapons in Mexico linked to Operation Fast and
Furious.

ATF officials in Mexico continued to raise the alarm over the burgeoning number of
weapons. By October 2010, the amount of seized and recovered weapons had “maxed out”
space in the Phoenix Field Division evidence vault.1 Nevertheless, ATF and DOJ failed to share
crucial details of Operation Fast and Furious with either their own employees stationed in
Mexico or representatives of the Government of Mexico. ATF senior leadership allegedly feared
that any such disclosure would compromise their investigation. Instead, ATF and DOJ
leadership’s reluctance to share information may have only prolonged the flow of weapons from
this straw purchasing ring into Mexico.

ATF leadership finally informed the Mexican office that the investigation would be shut
down as early as July 2010. Operation Fast and Furious, however, continued through the rest of
2010. It ended only after U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered in December 2010
with weapons linked to this investigation. Only then did the ATF officials in Mexico discover the
true nature of Operation Fast and Furious. Unfortunately, Mexico and the United States will
have to live with the consequences of this program for years to come.



II. Findings
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on July 28, 2011, 10:32:20 AM
Surprise, surprise...White house officials knew about Fast and Furious?


Bombshell: White House Knew About ATF Gunrunning Scandal
1:00 PM, Jul 27, 2011
MARK HEMINGWAY (http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/bombshell-white-house-new-about-atf-gunrunning-scandal_577666.html)

For various reasons relating to the White House's gun policies and relations with Mexico, many have speculated that the White House was involved.  But this is the first concrete proof that the White House knew what was going on.  (READ MORE... (http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/bombshell-white-house-new-about-atf-gunrunning-scandal_577666.html))





ATF Manager says he shared Fast and Furious Info with White House
July 26, 2011 5:02 PM
Sharyl Attkisson  (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20083772-10391695.html)

At a lengthy hearing on ATF's controversial gunwalking operation today, a key ATF manager told Congress he discussed the case with a White House National Security staffer as early as September 2010. The communications were between ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office, Bill Newell, and White House National Security Director for North America Kevin O'Reilly. (READ MORE... (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20083772-10391695.html))
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: Uncle Buck on July 28, 2011, 10:53:35 AM
Thanks for all the links.  It is taking awhile to digest this, but well worth the read.
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: 1slickAR15 on July 28, 2011, 11:56:56 AM
Thanks for all the links.  It is taking awhile to digest this, but well worth the read.


Most of the stuff coming out of those people's mouths is already "digested" if you get my drift ;)
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on July 29, 2011, 09:53:16 PM
(http://i51.tinypic.com/a5dwzp.jpg)
Down the Rabbit Hole by Samantha Marx 2006
How Deep Does it Go?

“Fast & Furious” Hearings Raise More Questions Than Answers
Friday, July 29, 2011
NRA-ILA
 

The more information that comes out about the reckless “Fast and Furious” gun running operation conducted by the Phoenix BATFE office, the more clear it seems that knowledge of the operation, and approval for it, went a lot higher than the Phoenix field office, or even the BATFE.

There is now clear evidence, uncovered by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee headed by Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) that senior Obama Administration officials were aware of this disastrous operation.

Last Tuesday, Rep. Issa conducted another round of hearings. Among those who testified were William Newell and William McMahon, BATFE Special Agents who oversaw the program in Phoenix. Those hearings revealed that senior Dept. of Justice officials, including former Deputy Attorney General David Ogden and Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, knew about the program.

Additionally, other federal agencies were identified as having been made aware of the operation, including the IRS, DEA and ICE.

The Committee also heard testimony from four BATFE agents stationed in Mexico during the time “Fast and Furious” was in operation.  All testified they knew nothing of this scheme, in spite of promises from Obama Administration officials, and Obama himself to share all relevant information with Mexican authorities engaged in the fight against the drug cartels.

When asked about the operation, these BATFE agents described it as absurd and ill-conceived, and declared that it was not consistent with established BATFE procedures or methods.

One of the biggest bombshells to come out of the hearing was the revelation that Agent Newell had sent an e-mail, under the subject line “You did not hear this from me,” to Kevin O’Reilly, the National Security Director for North America. That e-mail, dated Sept. 2010, included information about “Fast and Furious.”

After repeated questioning, Newell admitted he had spoken to O’Reilly about the operation.

This revelation, that a senior White House official knew about the program, combined with the senior DOJ officials listed above, casts serious doubts on claims by Attorney General Holder and even President Obama that they knew nothing about “Fast and Furious.”

As more is learned about the “Fast and Furious” operation, two serious questions come to the forefront: Did BATFE abandon standard procedures and methods in this project in order to achieve the political goal of making U.S. gun laws the issue in the war against the Mexican drug cartels?  And if so, was it the BATFE that proposed and advanced the scheme, or was it senior political appointees in the Obama administration who wanted to “prove” that it is American gun freedoms that are “causing” the violence in Mexico?   Stay tuned for more as details continue to emerge.
Title: Re: BATFE "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on July 29, 2011, 10:36:08 PM
US Report: Government Sting Operation 'Reckless'
VOA News
July 26, 2011


A U.S. congressional committee has reported that officials failed to inform diplomats at the U.S. embassy in Mexico about a "reckless" sting operation that allowed hundreds of guns to be smuggled into Mexico.

Tuesday's report, released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said officials with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives jeopardized U.S. relations with Mexico by not telling Mexico-based U.S. diplomats about "Operation Fast and Furious."

The operation allowed Arizona gun dealers to sell AK-47 variants, .50-caliber rifles and .38-caliber revolvers to known intermediaries who would then smuggle the guns to Mexico for resale. U.S. officials hoped to trace the guns to Mexican drug cartels.

The program was shut down after U.S.-purchased weapons were found at the scene of the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in December.

The committee's findings showed more than 100 guns recovered at crime scenes have been linked to the operation.

A separate report released last month by three U.S. senators said 70 percent of the nearly 30,000 firearms recovered in Mexico in 2009 and 2010 came from the United States.

Mexico has been increasingly critical of U.S. efforts to stop guns from crossing the border.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has deployed nearly 50,000 troops in the crackdown against drug violence since he took office in late 2006. More than 37,000 people have been killed in the country's drug war since then.
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: Uncle Buck on July 31, 2011, 08:48:18 AM
I normally am not a conspiracy theorist at all.  But I honestly do believe this operation (or investigation, as Mr. Newell put it) was a back door attempt to be able to say "See, we need stricter gun laws."

Please keep in mind the reason we know about this crap is because the ATF agents turned the whole operation over to the media.  At least a few of the people there still have integrity.
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: 1slickAR15 on July 31, 2011, 06:30:53 PM
I normally am not a conspiracy theorist at all.  But I honestly do believe this operation (or investigation, as Mr. Newell put it) was a back door attempt to be able to say "See, we need stricter gun laws."

Please keep in mind the reason we know about this crap is because the ATF agents turned the whole operation over to the media.  At least a few of the people there still have integrity.


Yeah, the agents were just following orders.  I guess they questioned it a few times to  their superiors who said go ahead anyway.  Good on the whistle blowers.  They're just humans doing their jobs, not policy makers.  Somebody up high had something up their sleeve though
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on August 09, 2011, 09:23:12 PM
Well, well. Serrano gets another scoop. DEA admits Gunwalker Scandal involvement.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Sipsey Street Irregulars (http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2011/08/well-well-serrano-gets-another-scoop.html)


The head of the Drug Enforcement Administration has acknowledged to congressional investigators that her agency provided a supporting role in the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious run by the group's counterparts at the ATF.

Michele M. Leonhart, the DEA administrator, said DEA agents primarily helped gather evidence in cases in Phoenix and El Paso, and in the program's single indictment last January that netted just 20 defendants for illegal gun-trafficking.

The development marks the first time another law enforcement agency has said it also worked on Fast and Furious cases other than the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which is under two investigations into why it allowed at least 2,000 firearms to be illegally purchased and then lost track of the guns’ whereabouts. . .
(READ MORE... (http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2011/08/well-well-serrano-gets-another-scoop.html))
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: ThatGuy762x51 on August 11, 2011, 09:40:31 AM
I am almost to the point where I've stopped caring.  I am definitely not surprised now every time a new person or agency is found to be involved.
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on August 11, 2011, 11:53:07 AM
'Fast and furious' failure -- still waiting for accountability
8:36 AM, August 11, 2011
Abby W. Schachter (http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/capitol/fast_and_furious_failure_still_waiting_TJSy61M6L1JNDTaQZWamzK)

According to the Los Angeles Times, the ATF's gun-running sting operation called 'Fast and Furious' was a complete failure from the beginning but it wasn't until nearly two-months after a US border patrol agent was murdered with a gun that was purposefully sold to criminals that the program was shut down.

"Acting Deputy Director William Hoover called an emergency meeting [five months after the program started] and said he wanted an "exit strategy" to shut down the program. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for decades had...
(READ MORE... (http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/capitol/fast_and_furious_failure_still_waiting_TJSy61M6L1JNDTaQZWamzK))





ATF's gun surveillance program showed early signs of failure
Richard A. Serrano, Washington Bureau
August 11, 2011
 (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110811,0,7349292.story)


In March 2010, the No. 2 man at the ATF was deeply worried. His agents had lost track of hundreds of firearms. Some of the guns, supposed to have been tracked to Mexican drug cartels, were lost right after they cleared the gun stores.

Five months into the surveillance effort — dubbed Operation Fast and Furious — no indictments had been announced and no charges were immediately expected. Worse, the weapons had turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and the ATF official was worried that someone in the United States...
(READ MORE... (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110811,0,7349292.story))
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on August 16, 2011, 02:22:37 PM
Congratulations on a job well done?   ??? :-\ >:(




ATF promotes supervisors in controversial gun operation
By Richard A. Serrano
August 16, 2011 (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110816,0,7676977.story)

The three, who have been criticized for pushing on with the border weapons sting even as it came apart, receive new management jobs in Washington.

The ATF has promoted three key supervisors of a controversial sting operation that allowed firearms to be illegally trafficked across the U.S. border into Mexico.

All three have been heavily criticized for pushing the program forward even as it became apparent that it was out of control. At least 2,000 guns were lost and many turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and two at the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.

The three supervisors have been given new management positions at the agency's headquarters in Washington. They are William G. McMahon, who was the ATF's deputy director of operations in the West, where the illegal trafficking program was focused, and William D. Newell and David Voth, both field supervisors who oversaw the program out of the agency's Phoenix office.
(READ MORE...) (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110816,0,7676977.story)
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on August 21, 2011, 12:40:11 AM
A bit behind the LA Times, but here goes...

Also, the end of the article mentions the NRA's call for Eric Holder's termination.  For more information on signing the petition to fire Eric Holder, click here (http://gunlink.info/forums/index.php?topic=326.0)

ATF Rewards Agents Who Ran "Fast and Furious" and Then Helped Cover It Up
Friday, August 19, 2011
NRAILA

In what can only be described as "Washington D.C. logic," the three BATFE agents who were responsible for the "Fast and Furious" debacle in Phoenix have been promoted.

You read that right, promoted!  Not reprimanded, not demoted and certainly not fired, but given bigger jobs with more responsibility and more pay.

Each of the agents now have high profile positions in D.C. William Newell is now special assistant to the assistant director of the agency's Office of Management, David Voth has been made branch chief for the BATFE's tobacco division.

And if those two promotions seem hard to understand, the third is particularly hard to fathom. William G. McMahon, who had been the BATFE's deputy director of operations in the West, has been made the deputy assistant director of the Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations.  That is the division within BATFE that investigates misconduct by agency personnel.

Now, McMahon will be called on to investigate BATFE agents who abuse their positions.  Perhaps in "Washington D.C. logic" it makes sense to put a rogue agent in charge of investigating other rogue agents. To the rest of the country, it makes no sense at all.

For months, the Department of Justice and the BATFE have stonewalled congressional inquiries into "Fast and Furious."  These three agents were not only at the center of running the failed operation in Phoenix, but directly aided DOJ in the efforts to hide the truth from Congress.

In testimony before Rep. Darrell Issa's House Oversight Committee, all three evaded and dodged questions. This appears to be exactly what senior DOJ officials wanted and expected, and now they have rewarded the agents with promotions.

NRA has called for the resignation of attorney General Eric Holder. But all those involved in "Fast and Furious" should be fired. To promote them instead is a slap in the face of Congress and the American people.
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on September 03, 2011, 10:35:55 AM
Heads Roll In Wake of BATFE “Fast and Furious” Scandal
NRA-ILA
Friday, September 02, 2011
 

In the latest development in the on-going Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) “Fast and Furious” scandal, the Department of Justice announced this week the appointment of U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota B. Todd Jones to serve as Acting Director of BATFE, replacing Kenneth Melson.  The DOJ also announced that Dennis Burke, U.S. attorney for the district of Arizona, has resigned.  And the Wall Street Journal reported that Emory Hurley, the assistant U.S. attorney responsible for the day-to-day operations of “Fast and Furious,” has been removed from his post and reassigned to the department’s Civil Division.

As we have frequently noted in this Alert, the reckless and utterly failed BATFE operation known as “Operation Fast And Furious” was run out of the BATFE’s field office in Phoenix.  The bungled operation put thousands of guns into the hands of violent criminals in Mexico.

The more information comes out about “Fast and Furious,” the more clear it seems that knowledge of the operation, and approval for it, went higher than the Phoenix field office, or even BATFE.  There is clear evidence, uncovered by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee headed by Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), that senior Obama Administration officials were aware of this disastrous operation.  And as the evidence continues to mount, it’s looking more and more likely that what we’re seeing unfold is a large-scale cover-up.

A Thursday Fox News story reported that federal officials quickly tried to cover up evidence that a gun found at the scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder was one the government intentionally helped sell to the Mexican cartels via the “Fast and Furious” program.  The article also reported that late Thursday, the office of Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, revealed that 21 more “Fast and Furious” guns have been found at violent crime scenes in Mexico, up from 11 the agency admitted to just last month.  According to the article, Sen. Grassley and Rep. Issa said Thursday they are expanding their investigation into the scandal, and have sent a strongly worded letter to Anne Scheel, the new U.S. attorney for Arizona, requesting interviews, e-mails, memos and even hand-written notes from members of the U.S. Attorney's office that played key roles in the failed program.

Regarding this week’s shake-up, Rep. Issa released the following statement:  "While the reckless disregard for safety that took place in Operation Fast and Furious certainly merits changes within the Department of Justice, the Oversight and Government Reform Committee will continue its investigation to ensure that blame isn't offloaded on just a few individuals for a matter that involved much higher levels of the Justice Department. There are still many questions to be answered about what happened in Operation Fast and Furious and who else bears responsibility, but these changes are warranted and offer an opportunity for the Justice Department to explain the role other officials and offices played in the infamous efforts to allow weapons to flow to Mexican drug cartels. I also remain very concerned by Acting Director Melson's statement that the Department of Justice is managing its response in a manner intended to protect its political appointees. Senator Grassley and I will continue to press the Department of Justice for answers in order to ensure that a reckless effort like Fast and Furious does not take place again."

Sen. Grassley released this statement:  "[This week’s] announcement is an admission by the Obama administration that serious mistakes were made in Operation Fast and Furious, and is a step in the right direction that they are continuing to limit any further damage that people involved in this disastrous strategy can do.  There's a lot of blame to go around. As our investigation moves forward, and we get to the bottom of this policy, I wouldn't be surprised to see more fall out beyond the resignations and new assignments announced today.  The Justice Department and the ATF have yet to answer a majority of the questions and still must produce many of the documents Congressman Issa and I have asked for. We're looking for a full accounting from the Justice Department as to who knew what and when, so we can be sure that this ill-advised strategy never happens again."

And House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) said:  "The announcement by the Department of Justice to reassign Kenneth Melson is not the resolution Congress and the American people need. This move by the Administration indicates that Director Melson may be being used as a scapegoat for a much larger problem within ATF and DOJ. It appears that other senior officials at DOJ may have been involved in this deadly operation. The American people and Congress will not be appeased until we have the whole truth about how and why Operation Fast and Furious was authorized. Congress will not ignore an agency so out of control that its decisions and operations cost American lives."

Meanwhile, Attorney General Eric Holder has insisted that he knew absolutely nothing about “Fast and Furious.”  As the investigation continues, hopefully we’ll find out if that unlikely insistence is the truth.


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooZFt2R-zv4[/youtube]
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on September 29, 2011, 11:30:47 PM
Nothing to see here, move along.


A 'Furious' revelation
Feds sold guns to drug gangs

5:10 AM, September 29, 2011
Michael A. Walsh (http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/furious_revelation_OhK6TBqPlEpRglHjsSbiBI)

The Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives apparently ordered one of its own agents to purchase firearms with taxpayer money, and sell them directly to a Mexican drug cartel.

Let that sink in: After months of pretending that “Fast and Furious” was a botched surveillance operation of illegal gun-running spearheaded by the ATF and the US attorney’s office in Phoenix, it turns out that the government itself was selling guns to the bad guys.

Agent John Dodson was ordered to buy four Draco pistols for cash and even got a letter from his supervisor, David Voth, authorizing a federally licensed gun dealer to sell him the guns without bothering about the necessary paperwork.

“Please accept this letter in lieu of completing an ATF Form 4473 for the purchase of four (4) CAI, Model Draco, 7.62x39 mm pistols, by Special Agent John Dodson,” read the June 1, 2010, letter...
(READ MORE... (http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/furious_revelation_OhK6TBqPlEpRglHjsSbiBI))
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on October 29, 2011, 12:02:27 AM
NRA-Backed Amendment to Prohibit Funding of "Gun-Walking" Programs Passes Unanimously in U.S. Senate
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
NRAILA
 

Today, an NRA-supported amendment offered by U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Tex.) to prohibit funds from being used by the Department of Justice to conduct "gun-walking" programs similar to the now-infamous "Fast and Furious" operation was passed in the Senate with unanimous, bipartisan support (99-0).

Specifically, the amendment to the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations bill states that:  "No funds made available under this Act shall be used to allow the knowing transfer of firearms to agents of drug cartels where law enforcement personnel of the United States do not continuously monitor or control such firearms at all times."

Responding to the passing of the amendment Sen. Cornyn said, "Today's bipartisan effort is just the first step towards ensuring that such a foolish operation can never be repeated by our own law enforcement.  The onus is now on Attorney General Holder to hear not just today’s bipartisan call for answers, but the American people’s demands that Washington be held accountable."

To read Sen. Cornyn's official press release, please click here (http://cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=95648475-738d-4f1a-9cf0-60edfd0419d3).

Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on November 02, 2011, 11:40:15 AM
ATF Gunwalking docs show Justice Dept. feared bad press (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20128626-10391695/atf-gunwalking-docs-show-justice-dept-feared-bad-press/)
November 1, 2011 4:20 PM
Chris Scholl - CBS


An e-mail exchange among Justice Department officials in 2010 shows some in the Department worried about bad press if reporters knew the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives let guns "walk" into the hands of drug cartels.

The e-mail exchange occurred in October 2010, almost four months before the gunwalking scandal broke publicly.

It's included among more than 500 pages of documents released Monday by the Justice Department in response to a Congressional subpoena. The exchange is especially revealing because it demonstrates a level of awareness among some at Justice, which oversees ATF, that the practice of "gunwalking" could be viewed as embarrassing...
(READ MORE... (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20128626-10391695/atf-gunwalking-docs-show-justice-dept-feared-bad-press/))


Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on November 14, 2011, 12:21:28 PM
Holder: Blame Fast and Furious on Someone Else
NRA-ILA
Thursday, November 10, 2011
 

This week, Attorney General Eric Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was not aware of the gunwalking tactics used in Operation Fast and Furious until early this year, and that he and senior Justice Department officials were initially unaware that a claim made by other department officials in a Feb. 4, 2011, letter to Congress—that “A.T.F. makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transport into Mexico”—was false.

During the committee’s hearings on Justice Department oversight, Holder also blamed the on-going inquiry into Fast and Furious on Republican politics. He refused to apologize to the family of murdered U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, beside whose lifeless body one, and perhaps two, guns walked by Fast and Furious were found.  In another effort to protect the Obama Administration against criticism, Holder suggested that Agent Terry’s murder shouldn’t be blamed on Fast and Furious in the first place. And he faulted the House of Representatives for voting to withhold federal funds from any effort to implement the BATFE’s requirement that firearm dealers in the southwest border states report sales of two or more detachable-magazine semi-automatic rifles of greater than .22 caliber. (The NRA is challenging the illegal requirement in federal court.)

“I am determined to ensure that our shared concerns about Operation Fast and Furious lead to more than headline-grabbing Washington 'gotcha' games and cynical political point-scoring," Holder said early on, trying to impugn the motives of Republican senators Chuck Grassley of Iowa and John Cornyn of Texas, who later pressed Holder for detailed answers about the timeline of events in the unfolding of the gunwalking scandal.

Sen. Grassley asked Holder why he risked being in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with congressional requests for information about who signed off on a Feb. 4, 2011, letter from Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Ronald Weich to Sen. Grassley, which falsely stated that “ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico.”

Sen. Cornyn asked Holder whether he had apologized to the family of Agent Terry, but Holder said that he hadn’t even spoken to the family. Sen. Cornyn then gave Holder the opportunity to apologize to the Terry family on the spot, but Holder declined. “I certainly regret what happened to Agent Brian Terry,” Holder managed to say. But further demonstrating the Obama Administration’s refusal to take responsibility for any wrongdoing, Holder added, “It is not fair, however, to assume that the mistakes that happened in Fast and Furious directly led to the death of Agent Terry.”

Understandably, the Terry family didn’t agree. “Mr. Holder needs to own up to Operation Fast and Furious,” the family said. “In the end, Mr. Holder may choose not to apologize to the Terry family for the role that ATF and DOJ played in the death of Brian Terry, but the Attorney General should accept responsibility immediately. It is without question, the right thing to do.”

When it became his turn to question Holder, one of the Senate’s most aggressive gun control supporters, Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), engaged in a little “gotcha gaming” and “political point-scoring” of his own, by claiming that gunwalking had first taken place during the Bush Administration.

“It didn't start with the Obama administration,” Schumer said. “It started with [Bush Attorney General] Alberto Gonzales and then continued with General Mukasey” during Operation Wide Receiver.  Schumer was wrong because the movement of guns during Wide Receiver was monitored by U.S. and Mexican agents, while Fast and Furious deliberately allowed guns to disappear.  As even Schumer unwittingly admitted,  “The briefing material from 2007, which was prepared for General Mukasey, stated that, quote, ‘ATF has recently worked jointly with Mexico on the first ever attempt to have a controlled delivery of weapons being smuggled into Mexico by a major arms trafficker.... The ATF would like to expand the possibility of such joint investigations and controlled deliveries, since only then it will be possible to investigate an entire smuggling network, rather than arresting a simple smuggler.”

Meanwhile, on Thursday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Cal.) pressed Assistant Attorney General Weich, author of the Feb. 4 letter Sen. Grassley asked about, to provide documents and other information about the letter. Also, this week, the number of congressmen calling for Holder’s resignation rose to 38, with Bill Flores (R-Tex.) and Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) adding their names to the growing list of men and women in the House of Representatives who think that Holder knew, should have known, or should have since found out who knew about Fast and Furious’s gunwalking before it became public earlier this year.

And, former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke admitted that he leaked secret records about BATFE Special Agent John Dodson, the leading whistle-blower against Fast and Furious. When Burke was forced to resign from his former post in August, Holder issued a statement praising Burke for demonstrating “an unwavering commitment to the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s office.”
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on December 05, 2011, 09:52:35 AM

(http://media.voanews.com/images/480*288/AP_ATF_fast_furious_holder_480_8nov11.JPG)
Attorney General Eric Holder, right, and former ATF Director Kenneth Melson
at the ATF's 13th Annual Memorial Observance for agency officials killed in
line of duty, May 2009




US Attorney General: 'Fast and Furious' Effects to Linger
VOA News

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says the effects of a failed investigation into weapons-trafficking on the U.S.-Mexico border will be felt for years to come.

Holder spoke Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee in a hearing on the so-called "Fast and Furious" operation meant to track guns bought in the United States and smuggled into Mexico.

Agents with the U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agency have told lawmakers they were ordered by their bosses to stand aside while gun buyers purchased weapons that were suspected to be destined for Mexican drug cartels. The agents said they were told not to arrest the buyers, but instead to track where the purchasers went.

Two of the guns later turned up at the scene of a shoot-out in Arizona that left a U.S. border patrol agent dead.

Holder said Tuesday that any incidence of so-called "gun walking" is unacceptable and must never happen again. He added that the scandal has highlighted the fact that the U.S. is losing the battle to stop the flow of illegal guns to Mexico.

The revelations have outraged some members of Congress, prompting calls for Holder's resignation.







Aren't there emails and memos showing that Holder was presented details of the operation pretty early on?

Quote
hyp·o·crite
   /ˈhɪpəkrɪt/ [hip-uh-krit]
noun

1. a person who pretends to have virtues, moral or religious beliefs, principles, etc., that he or she does not actually possess, especially a person whose actions belie stated beliefs.
2. a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, especially one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on December 10, 2011, 11:08:28 PM
We're not sure about being the "only logical conclusion," but it could be plausible.




No Surprises Here-- BATFE Wanted Fast and Furious to Justify Gun Control
Friday, December 09, 2011
NRA-ILA
 

From the first moment that the American people became aware that senior BATFE officials ordered agents in the field to allow guns sold in the U.S. to be smuggled on an all-but-certain path to Mexico’s vicious drug cartels, many of us have wondered “why.”

What possible legitimate purpose could be fulfilled by allowing a large number of guns—over 2,000, by some estimates—to disappear across our southwestern border without the Mexican government’s knowledge?

There has been only one logical answer possible. Someone within the BATFE or higher in the Department of Justice wanted the smuggled guns to be recovered at crime scenes in Mexico, and traced to sources within the U.S., so that the Obama Administration could claim a need for one or another gun control measure being pushed by anti-gun groups. Someone who values gun control more than the lives of innocent people killed by cartel operatives armed with the BATFE’s “walked” guns. Someone who believes, as one BATFE official put it, that “to make an omelet, you have to break some eggs.”

Until now, there was no proof, however. But this week, CBS News reported that the BATFE “discussed using their covert operation Fast and Furious to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales.” In particular, agency officials wanted guns to fall into Mexican drug cartel hands and be traced back to gun dealers in the U.S. to make a case for requiring dealers to report individuals who buy more than one detachable-magazine semi-automatic rifle over .22 caliber in a five day period.

According to CBS, “emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called Demand Letter 3. That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or ‘long guns.’”

CBS singled out a July 14, 2010 email sent by BATFE Field Operations Assistant Director Mark Chait to Bill Newell, the agency’s Special Agent in Charge in Phoenix, from which Fast and Furious was based. In the email, Chaits asked Newell to “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.”

Pro-Second Amendment U.S. Senator John Cornyn (Texas), the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Refugees and Border Security subcommittee, quickly responded to CBS’s revelation, saying “If these reports are true, even by Washington standards this reaches a new level of arrogance and corruption.” With Attorney General Holder again appearing before Congress to testify about Fast and Furious this week, Sen. Cornyn added, “again, the Attorney General has some explaining to do.”

Also this week, CBS reported another means by which Mexico’s drug cartels have acquired a large enough number of U.S.-made firearms to partially explain the high tallies repeated time and again by Mexican president Felipe Calderon, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, and other gun control supporters.

Apparently, hundreds of firearms sent to Mexico by U.S. firearms manufacturers, through Direct Commercial Sales approved by the State Department since 2006, cannot be accounted for by Mexican officials and are presumed to have made their way to the cartels. As CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson relates it, “The Mexican military recently reported nearly nine thousand police weapons missing. Yet, the U.S. has approved the sale of more guns to Mexico than ever before.” The government of Mexico now buys more U.S.-made firearms than Iraq, whose security forces American and allied troops trained from the ground up, after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Providing some insight into the scope of the problem, after one U.S.-made rifle sold to the Mexican military ended up in a cartel arms cache, the State Department asked Mexico to account for 1,030 more rifles, but received no reply. Between 2006 and 2009, 2,400 firearms were sold to Mexico through direct sales. But trying to avoid further embarrassment, State refuses to provide the numbers for 2010 and 2011. Attkisson says, “With Mexico in a virtual state of war with its cartels, nobody is tracking how many U.S. guns are ending up with the enemy.”
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on December 17, 2011, 01:12:17 PM
US Attorney General Faces Critics Mexico Gun Operation
Cindy Saine
VOA News - Capitol Hill


U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is defending his Justice Department's record and is pushing back against what he terms politically motivated attacks by Republican lawmakers over the "Operation Fast and Furious" gun scandal.  More than 50 Republican lawmakers want Holder to resign over an operation in which U.S. law enforcement officers allowed suspects to walk off with weapons believed to be heading for the top levels of Mexican drug cartels. 

"Operation Fast and Furious" led to a day of fast and furious grilling of Attorney General Eric Holder in front of the House Judiciary Committee.

Holder made clear Thursday that the controversial tactic known as "gun-walking", where U.S.  law enforcement officials allowed suspects to take guns across the border into Mexico in an effort to track and arrest top arms and drug traffickers, is no longer being used.

Officers lost track of hundreds of weapons in Arizona that they were supposed to be monitoring.  Many of the guns were eventually recovered from crime scenes, and two were found at the scene of a shooting in 2010 that killed U.S. border agent Brian Terry, provoking outrage.

Holder warned that more deaths could result from what he called a "fundamentally flawed" operation.

"Now, although the department has taken steps to ensure that such tactics are never used again, it is an unfortunate reality that we will continue to feel the effects of this flawed operation for years to come," he said. "Guns lost during this operation will continue to show up at crime scenes on both sides of the border."

But Holder again insisted that he and other top Justice Department officials were not aware of the operation when it was under way, and that when he found out about it, he stopped it.

Republican lawmakers are venting their anger over the failed operation at Holder, who has been a target for criticism of Democratic President Barack Obama over where to detain terrorists suspects.

"But Mr. Attorney General, the blame must go to your desk, and you must today take the real responsibility," said Republican Representative Darrell Issa of California, who is one of Holder's leading critics. "Why have you not terminated the many people involved?"

President Obama has repeatedly expressed his confidence in Holder. Democratic members of the panel came to his defense, saying this one failed operation is just a small part of broad cooperation between U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials to fight the drug and arms smuggling rings at the border.

Holder also pushed back at his critics.

"As we work to avoid future losses and further mistakes, it is unfortunate that some have used inflammatory and inappropriate rhetoric about one particular tragedy that occurred near the Southwest border in an effort to score political points," he said.

"Operation Fast and Furious" also attracted a lot of attention in Mexico, where top officials have long argued that U.S. weapons fuel the country's drug war. The Mexican attorney general's office has demanded a quick U.S. investigation of the operation and said authorities must hold those responsible accountable.
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on January 06, 2012, 10:38:27 PM
Holder to Testify on “Fast and Furious” Before House Committee
NRA-ILA
Friday, January 06, 2012
 
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) announced this week that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will testify on Feb. 2 before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about his role in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ now-infamous “Operation Fast and Furious.”

Issa, who is chairman of the House committee, and Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have led an ongoing investigation into the role of Holder and the Department of Justice in the operation.

According to a release from Rep. Issa, Holder will be asked to testify on what happened during “Fast and Furious” and how the DOJ has responded to the congressional investigation into the program.  This will include the DOJ's refusal to disclose information following a Feb. 4, 2011 letter to Sen. Grassley, which the Department has withdrawn because it contained false information denying allegations made by whistleblowers about “Fast and Furious.”  The committee's investigation has found documentation that numerous members of the Justice Department knew the letter to Congress contained false information both before it was sent and later withdrawn.

"The Department of Justice's conduct in the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious has been nothing short of shameful," said Issa. "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."

Fast on the heels of Issa’s announcement that Holder will testify, the DOJ supplied congressional investigators with 482 pages of subpoenaed internal documents relevant to the “Fast and Furious” investigation.

As we reported last month, at least 90 congressmen have either signed Rep. Paul Gosar's (R-Ariz.) "no confidence" (in Holder) resolution or believe Holder should step down.

Rest assured that NRA-ILA will continue to closely follow this investigation and will report on developments as they occur.
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on May 21, 2012, 11:42:06 AM
Fast & Furious: House Leaders Demand Answers from Attorney General


May 18, 2012

Washington - House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), and Oversight & Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder this morning demanding full cooperation with the ongoing investigation into the "Fast and Furious" operation and the death of Border Agent Brian Terry.

The letter states that the Department of Justice has not sufficiently complied with a Congressional subpoena seeking answers on the operation, and questions whether false information that was provided – and later withdrawn – was "was part of a broader effort by your Department to obstruct a Congressional investigation."

"The Terry family deserves to know the truth about the circumstances that led to Agent Terry's murder," write the Congressional leaders. 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."


FULL TEXT OF LETTER:

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


Title: 'FAST AND FURIOUS' : OPEN BORDERS SPECIAL REPORT
Post by: GunLink on May 24, 2012, 12:18:33 PM
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vnqb6op364[/youtube]

Description:  "Infowars.com correspondent Patrick Henningsen mounts part one of an in depth investigation into Operation 'Fast and Furious' in the search for accountability, understanding how it happened, and who is responsible, with highlights of Congressional hearings, White House speeches, and exclusive interviews with ranking members of the Arizona state legislature. The conclusions are a damning indictment of a federal government bent on the restricting the Second Amendment, in a conspiracy that has already cost lives along the US border with Mexico."
Title: Holder Claims Emails Don’t Refer to Operation Fast and Furious
Post by: GunLink on June 08, 2012, 12:41:52 AM
Holder Claims Emails Using Words ‘Fast and Furious’ Don’t Refer to Operation Fast and Furious
By Matt Cover
June 7, 2012 (http://cnsnews.com/news/article/holder-claims-emails-using-words-fast-and-furious-don-t-refer-operation-fast-and)


(CNSNews.com) – Attorney General Eric Holder claimed during congressional testimony today that internal Justice Department emails that use the phrase “Fast and Furious” do not refer to the controversial gun-walking operation Fast and Furious.

Under questioning from Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), who read excerpts of the emails at a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Justice Department oversight, Holder claimed that the phrase “Fast and Furious” did not refer to Fast and Furious but instead referred to another gun-walking operation
(READ MORE... (http://cnsnews.com/news/article/holder-claims-emails-using-words-fast-and-furious-don-t-refer-operation-fast-and))
Title: Mole helps Rep. Issa whack Justice Dept.
Post by: GunLink on June 08, 2012, 12:44:03 AM
Mole helps Rep. Issa whack Justice Dept.
By Jordy Yager
06/07/12 (http://thehill.com/homenews/house/231387-mole-helps-rep-issa-whack-doj)

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.
(READ MORE... (http://thehill.com/homenews/house/231387-mole-helps-rep-issa-whack-doj))
Title: Oversight Committee to Consider Contempt Report for Attorney General Eric Holder
Post by: GunLink on June 13, 2012, 10:13:02 PM
Keep an eye on http://issues.oversight.house.gov/fastandfurious (http://issues.oversight.house.gov/fastandfurious) (AKA http://www.fastandfuriousinvestigation.com (http://www.fastandfuriousinvestigation.com)) for official updates on the F&F case.

Much of the current coverage is focusing on Contempt of Congress hearings for AG Eric Holder, but there is also a lot of other good, in depth information there.


Key goals of the investigation are listed as:

The site also provides overviews of what is going on:


The Key Players:
(http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n609/GunLink/Web/KeyPlayers.jpg) (http://fastandfuriousinvestigation.com/KeyPlayers.pdf)


The Victims:
(http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n609/GunLink/Web/TheVictims.jpg) (http://fastandfuriousinvestigation.com/TheVictims.pdf)


And, of course, don't forget to follow Rep. Issa on Twitter (http://twitter.com/darrellissa)
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on June 20, 2012, 09:57:19 AM
Holder's Contempt of Congress hearings begin in 4 minutes at 10:00 AM.

Watch live here (http://issues.oversight.house.gov/fastandfurious/)
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: jonbouy00 on June 21, 2012, 07:15:21 AM
CCRKBA SAYS OBAMA ADMINISTRATION
‘TRYING TO HIDE BLOOD ON HANDS’

http://www.ccrkba.org/?p=2895
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on June 26, 2012, 09:59:58 AM
From the @DarrelIssa (http://twitter.com/DarrellIssa) twitter feed:

Executive Privilege is only applicable when info implicates confidentiality of POTUS' decision making process

So does @whitehouse executive privilege=#fastandfurious was part of internal POTUS communication? I've asked

@whitehouse assertion of #fastandfurious executive privilege means one of two things. Care to take a guess?

Either @barackobama & top @whitehouse staff were involved in managing #fastandfurious & aftermath

Or @whitehouse wrongly asserting #fastandfurious exec privilege to knowingly obstruct truth & accountability



Darrel Issa Challenges the president's Assertion of Executive Privilege in the Fast and Furious Issue

For the full original letter, including references, see this link (http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/oversight@mail.house_.gov_20120625_230445.pdf).



Quote
Dear Mr. President:

On June 19, 2012, shortly after leaving a meeting in the U.S. Capitol, Attorney General Eric Holder wrote to request that you assert executive privilege with respect to Operation Fast and Furious documents he is withholding from this Committee. The next day, Deputy Attorney General James Cole notified me in a letter that you had invoked executive privilege. The Committee received both letters minutes before the scheduled start of a vote to recommend that the full House hold the Attorney General in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with its subpoena.

Courts have consistently held that the assertion of the constitutionally-based executive privilege — the only privilege that ever can justify the withholding of documents from a congressional committee by the Executive Branch — is only applicable with respect to documents and communications that implicate the confidentiality of the President’s decision-making process, defined as those documents and communications to and from the President and his most senior advisors. Even then, it is a qualified privilege that is overcome by a showing of the committee’s need for the documents. The letters from Messrs. Holder and Cole cited no case law to the contrary.

Accordingly, your privilege assertion means one of two things. Either you or your most senior advisors were involved in managing Operation Fast & Furious and the fallout from it, including the false February 4, 2011 letter provided by the Attorney General to the Committee, or, you are asserting a Presidential power that you know to be unjustified solely for the purpose of further obstructing a congressional investigation. To date, the White House has steadfastly maintained that it has not had any role in advising the Department with respect to the congressional investigation. The surprising assertion of executive privilege raised the question of whether that is still the case.

As you know, the Committee voted to recommend that the full House hold Attorney General Holder in contempt of Congress for his continued refusal to produce relevant documents in the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious. Last week’s proceeding would not have occurred had the Attorney General actually produced the subpoenaed documents he said he could provide. The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on the contempt resolution this week. I remain hopeful that the Attorney General will produce the specified documents so that we can work towards resolving this matter short of a contempt citation. Furthermore, I am hopeful that, consistent with assertions of executive privilege by previous Administrations, you will define the universe of documents over which you asserted executive privilege and provide the Committee with the legal justification from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC).

Background

U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in a firefight with a group of armed Mexican bandits who preyed on illegal immigrants in a canyon west of Rio Rico, Arizona on December 14, 2010. Two guns traced to Operation Fast and Furious were found at the murder scene. The Terry family appeared before the Committee on June 15, 2011, to ask for answers about the program that put guns in the hands of the men who killed their son and brother. Having been stonewalled for months by the Attorney General and his senior staff, the Committee issued a subpoena for documents that would provide the Terry family the answers they seek. The subpoena was served on October 12, 2011.

Internally, over the course of the next eight months, the Justice Department identified 140,000 pages of documents and communications responsive to the Committee’s subpoena. Yet, the Department handed over only 7,600 of these pages. Through a series of accommodations and in recognition of certain Executive Branch and law enforcement prerogatives, the Committee prioritized key documents the Department needed to produce to avoid contempt proceedings. These key documents would help the Committee understand how and why the Justice Department moved from denying whistleblower allegations to understanding they were true; the identities of officials who attempted to retaliate against whistleblowers; the reactions of senior Department officials when confronted with evidence of gunwalking during Fast and Furious, including whether they were surprised or already aware of the use of this reckless tactic, and; whether senior Department officials are being held to the same standard as lower-level employees who have been blamed for Fast and Furious by their politically-appointed bosses in Washington.

I met with Attorney General Holder on June 19, 2012, to attempt to resolve this matter in advance of the Committee’s scheduled contempt vote. We were joined by Ranking Member Elijah Cummings and Senators Patrick Leahy and Charles Grassley, respectively the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary. The Department had previously identified a small subset of documents created after February 4, 2011 — the date of its letter containing the false claim that no gunwalking had occurred — that it would make available to the Committee. The Justice Department described this small subset as a “fair compilation” of the full universe of post-February 4th documents responsive to the subpoena.

During the June 19th meeting, the Attorney General stated he wanted to “buy peace.” He indicated a willingness to produce the “fair compilation” of post-February 4th documents. He told me that he would provide the “fair compilation” of documents on three conditions: (1) that I permanently cancel the contempt vote; (2) that I agree the Department was in full compliance with the Committee’s subpoenas, and; (3) that I accept the “fair compilation,” sight unseen.

As Chairman of the primary investigative Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, I considered the Attorney General’s conditions unacceptable, as would have my predecessors from both sides of the aisle. I simply requested that the Department produce the “fair compilation” in advance of the contempt vote, with the understanding that I would postpone the vote to allow the Committee to review the documents.

The short meeting in the Capitol lasted about twenty minutes. The Attorney General left the meeting and, shortly thereafter, sent an eight-page letter containing more than forty citations requesting that you assert executive privilege. The following morning, the Deputy Attorney General informed me that you had taken the extraordinary step of asserting the privilege that is designed to protect presidential decision making.

In his letter, the Attorney General stated that releasing the documents covered by the subpoena, some of which he offered to the Committee hours earlier, would have “significant, damaging consequences.”[1] It remains unclear how — in a matter of hours — the Attorney General moved from offering those documents in exchange for canceling the contempt vote and ending the congressional investigation to claiming that they are covered by executive privilege and that releasing them — which the Attorney General was prepared to do hours earlier — would now result in “significant, damaging consequences.”

The Scope of Executive Privilege

Deputy Attorney General Cole’s representation that “the President has asserted executive privilege over the relevant post-February 4, 2011, documents” raised concerns that there was greater White House involvement in Operation Fast and Furious than previously thought.[2] The courts have never considered executive privilege to extend to internal Executive Branch deliberative documents.

Absent from the Attorney General’s eight-page letter were the controlling authorities from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. As the court held in the seminal case of In re Sealed Case (Espy):

The privilege should not extend to staff outside the White House in executive branch agencies. Instead, the privilege should apply only to communications authored or solicited and received by those members of an immediate White House adviser’s staff who have broad and significant responsibility for investigating and formulating the advice to be given the President on the particular matter to which the communications relate.[3]

The D.C. Circuit established the “operational proximity test” to determine which communications are subject to privilege. Espy made clear that it is “operational proximity to the President that matters in determining whether the president’s confidentiality interest is implicated.”[4]

In addition, even if the presidential communications privilege did apply to some of these subpoenaed documents, Espy made clear that “the presidential communications privilege is, at all times, a qualified one,” and that a showing of need could overcome it.[5] Such a need — indeed a compelling one — plainly exists in this case.

The Justice Department has steadfastly maintained that the documents sought by the Committee do not implicate the White House whatsoever. If true, they are at best deliberative documents between and among Department personnel who lack the requisite “operational proximity” to the President. As such, they cannot be withheld pursuant to the constitutionally-based executive privilege. Courts distinguish between the presidential communications privilege and the deliberative process privilege. Both, the Espy court observed, are executive privileges designed to protect the confidentiality of Executive Branch decision-making. The deliberative-process privilege, however, which applies to executive branch officials generally, is a common law privilege that requires a lower threshold of need to be overcome, and “disappears altogether when there is any reason to believe government misconduct has occurred.”[6]
The Committee must assume that the White House Counsel’s Office is fully aware of the prevailing authorities of Espy, discussed above, and Judicial Watch v. Dep’t of Justice.[7] If the invocation of executive privilege was proper, it calls into question a number of public statements about the involvement of the White House made by you, your staff, and the Attorney General.

Finally, the Attorney General’s letter to you cited numerous authorities from prior Administrations of both parties. It is important to note that the OLC opinions provided as authorities to justify expansive views of executive privilege are inconsistent with existing case law.

Remarks about White House Involvement in Fast and Furious

For the past sixteen months, Senator Grassley and I have been investigating Operation Fast and Furious. In response to a question about the operation during an interview with Univision on March 22, 2011, you stated that, “Well first of all, I did not authorize it. Eric Holder, the Attorney General, did not authorize it.”[8] You also stated that you were “absolutely not” informed about Operation Fast and Furious.[9] Later in the interview, you said that “there may be a situation here in which a serious mistake was made and if that’s the case then we’ll find out and we’ll hold somebody accountable.”[10]

From the early stages of the investigation, the White House has maintained that no White House personnel knew anything about Operation Fast and Furious. Your assertion of executive privilege, however, renews questions about White House involvement.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney emphasized your denial that you knew about Fast and Furious. Mr. Carney stated, “I can tell you that, as the president has already said, he did not know about or authorize this operation.”[11] A few weeks later, Mr. Carney reiterated the point, stating, “I think he made clear . . . during the Mexican state visit and the press conference he had then that he found out about this through news reports. And he takes it very seriously.”[12]

In an October 6, 2011 news conference, you maintained that Attorney General Holder “indicated that he was not aware of what was happening in Fast and Furious.”[13] Regarding your own awareness, you went on to state, “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.”[14]

On March 28, 2012, Senator Grassley and I wrote to Kathryn Ruemmler, who serves as your Counsel, to request that she grant our numerous requests to interview Kevin O’Reilly, a member of the White House National Security Staff. We needed Mr. O’Reilly’s testimony to ascertain the extent of White House involvement in Operation Fast and Furious. In her response, Ms. Ruemmler advised us that the e-mail communications between Mr. O’Reilly and William Newell, the Special Agent in Charge of ATF’s Phoenix Field Division, did not reveal “the existence of any of the inappropriate investigative tactics at issue in your inquiry, let alone any decision to allow guns to ‘walk.’”[15] She further emphasized “the absence of any evidence that suggests that Mr. O’Reilly had any involvement in ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ or was aware of the existence of any inappropriate investigative tactics.”[16] Your assertion of executive privilege renews concerns about these denials.

Earlier this month, when House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith asked the Attorney General when the Justice Department first informed the White House about the questionable tactics used in Fast and Furious, he responded, “I don’t know.”[17] He informed Chairman Smith that his focus was on “dealing with the problems associated with Fast and Furious,” and that he was “not awfully concerned about what the knowledge was in the White House.”[18]

Attorney General Holder has assured the public that he takes this matter very seriously, stating that “to the extent we find that mistakes occurred, people will be held accountable.”[19] Yet, he has described the Committee’s vote as “an election-year tactic.”[20] Nothing could be further from the truth. This statement not only betrays a total lack of understanding of our investigation, it exemplifies the stonewalling we have consistently faced in attempting to work with the Justice Department. If the Attorney General had produced the responsive documents more than eight months ago when they were due, or at any time since then, we would not be where we are today.

Moving Forward

At the heart of the congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious are disastrous consequences: a murdered Border Patrol Agent, his grieving family, countless deaths in Mexico, and the souring effect on our relationship with Mexico. Members of the Committee from both sides of the aisle agree that the Terry family deserves answers. So, too, do Agent Terry’s brothers-in-arms in the border patrol, the Mexican government, and the American people. Unfortunately, your assertion of executive privilege raises more questions than it answers. The Attorney General’s conditional offer of a “fair compilation” of a subset of documents covered by the subpoena, and your assertion of executive privilege, in no way substitute for the fact that the Justice Department is still grossly deficient in its compliance with the Committee’s subpoena. By the Department’s own admission, it has withheld more than 130,000 pages of responsive documents.

I still believe that a settlement, rendering further contempt of Congress proceedings unnecessary, is in the best interests of the Justice Department, Congress, and those most directly affected by Operation Fast and Furious. In light of the settled law that confines the constitutionally-based executive privilege to high-level White House communications, I urge you to reconsider the decision to withhold documents that would allow Congress to complete its investigation.

In the meantime, so that the Committee and the public can better understand your role, and the role of your most senior advisors, in connection with Operation Fast and Furious, please clarify the question raised by your assertion of executive privilege: To what extent were you or your most senior advisors involved in Operation Fast and Furious and the fallout from it, including the false February 4, 2011 letter provided by the Attorney General to the Committee? Please also identify any communications, meetings, and teleconferences between the White House and the Justice Department between February 4, 2011 and June 18, 2012, the day before the Attorney General requested that you assert executive privilege.

I appreciate your prompt attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,
Darrell Issa
Chairman

cc: The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
U.S. House of Representatives

Senator Charles E. Grassley, Ranking Member
Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. Senate

Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. Senate

The Honorable Kathryn Ruemmler, Counsel to the President
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on October 02, 2012, 10:05:37 AM
5 Things You Didn't Know About Operation Fast and Furious (http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/News/things-operation-fast-furious/story?id=17362933)


1. Fast and Furious Guns Used in Infamous Massacre

2. 57 Previously Unidentified Weapons Surface

3. Mexico Knew About Fast and Furious

4. U.S. Gun-Walking Operations Extended to Other Countries

5. U.S. Agents Were Attacked with U.S. Weapons

(Read The Article) (http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/News/things-operation-fast-furious/story?id=17362933)
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on October 16, 2012, 10:49:29 AM
"Fast and Furious" Whistleblower Calls On Fortune to Retract False Story (http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2012/fast-and-furious-whistleblower-calls-on-fortune-to-retract-false-story.aspx)
From NRA-ILA

A key figure in the "Fast and Furious" scandal is now fighting to clear his name against a discredited media attack.

Special Agent John Dodson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was one of the whistleblowers who came forward to tell the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee about the operation, which helped funnel thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels.  His testimony provided vital information that has helped shine a light on this scandal.

In spite of the mountain of evidence that firearms were allowed to be trafficked to criminals without any effort to track or interdict them, Fortune magazine published a story in June written by Katherine Eban (http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/27/fast-and-furious-truth/) that made the implausible claim that it never really happened.

The story--conveniently published the week of the House vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over the scandal--attacked Dodson's character and argued that his account was a fiction created by infighting among agents.

However, the facts detailed in the Department of Justice Inspector General's report (http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/2012/s1209.pdf) last week confirm that Dodson was right. Now, in light of the report, Dodson has called on Fortune to retract the story (http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/09/exclusive-fast-and-furious-whistleblower-demands-fortune-136926.html) because it clearly is "demonstrably false in many respects."

Eban (a one-time campaign operative for former President Bill Clinton) continues to claim she got it right, claiming that the inspector general simply came to a different conclusion than she did. But her claims do not stand up against the facts uncovered by the Congressional investigation or the findings of the inspector general's report.

The House Oversight and Government Committee agrees with Dodson and has also called on Fortune to retract the story (http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/09/house-oversight-committee-attacks-fortune-over-fast-136301.html). "The DOJ report 'firmly rejects Eban's conclusions,' according to committee spokesman Frederick Hill.

Hill went on to characterize the Eban article. "If they gave out Pulitzer prizes for understatement, Eban's admission that her story's conclusions 'differ' from the reality other investigations found about Operation Fast and Furious would win. This kind of misleading and highly opinionated narrative masquerading as objective mainstream journalism is an example of why many Americans distrust what they're told by the media."

Without the courage of Dodson and the other whistleblowers who came forward, this scandal would have remained hidden from the American people. Eban's article is not supported by the facts. Fortune should retract the story and regain a small measure of its integrity as a financial publication.
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on October 16, 2012, 10:53:23 AM
Justice Department seeks dismissal of Fast and Furious lawsuit (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/16/justice-department-seeks-dismissal-fast-and-furious-lawsuit/)


The Justice Department on Monday night sought dismissal of a lawsuit by a Republican-led House of Representatives committee demanding that Attorney General Eric Holder produce records about the botched law enforcement probe of gun-trafficking called Operation Fast and Furious.

President Barack Obama has invoked executive privilege and the attorney general has been found to be in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over documents that might explain what led the Justice Department to reverse course after initially denying that federal agents had used a controversial tactic called gun-walking in the failed law enforcement operation. The tactic resulted in hundreds of illegally acquired weapons purchased at Arizona gun shops winding up in Mexico, where many of them were recovered from crime scenes.
...
In its court papers, the Justice Department says the Constitution does not permit the courts to resolve the political dispute between the executive branch and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that is seeking the records. The political branches have a long history of resolving disputes over congressional requests without judicial intervention, the court filing said...
(Continue Reading) (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/10/16/justice-department-seeks-dismissal-fast-and-furious-lawsuit/)
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious "Gun Walking" Scandal
Post by: GunLink on May 22, 2013, 07:43:58 AM
'Fast and Furious' Scandal Returns to Haunt Obama (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-21/fast-and-furious-scandal-returns-to-haunt-obama)
By Paul M. Barrett
May 21, 2013

Fast and Furious is back. As if the Obama Administration needed an additional problem, the U.S. Justice Department inspector general said Monday that one of the department’s politically appointed officials retaliated against a whistleblower by leaking derogatory information to a Fox News (NWS) television producer.

...Fast and Furious eerily foreshadowed themes now casting ominous shadows over Obama’s second term...

In the process, Team Obama enmeshes itself more deeply in failures...

During the two-year Fast and Furious operation, agents in Arizona with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed the sale of more than 2,000 guns to suspected criminals thought to be linked to Mexican drug gangs. The ATF planned to trace the guns over the border as part of an investigation of the violent cartels. In a stupendous demonstration of incompetence, however, the ATF agents failed to track the contraband firearms...

All of which brings us to why Fast and Furious has returned: the Justice Department IG report detailing how former Phoenix-based U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke violated department policy by giving a Fox News producer a memo about an ATF agent named John Dodson, who had testified before Congress about his agency’s missteps...
(Read full article (http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-05-21/fast-and-furious-scandal-returns-to-haunt-obama))
Title: DOJ Releases 64,280 Pages of Fast & Furious Docs
Post by: GunLink on November 05, 2014, 10:08:31 AM
GunLink Blog: 
DOJ Document Dump: 64,280 Pages of Fast and Furious Docs
Documents Released Less Than Two Weeks After DOJ Head Eric Holder Announces Resignation (http://blog.gunlink.info/2014/11/05/doj-document-dump-64280-pages-of-fast-and-furious-docs/)





Election Eve Dump: Justice Department Turns Over 64,280 pages of Claimed ‘Executive Privilege’ Operation Fast and Furious Documents
Last night, in response to an Order from a Federal judge, the Department of Justice turned over 64,280 pages of documents that were withheld from Congress after President Obama asserted Executive Privilege on the eve of a contempt citation for Attorney General Eric Holder in June 2012.  The sheer volume of last night’s document production—which consists entirely of documents that the Justice Department itself acknowledges are not covered by Executive Privilege—shows that the President and the Attorney General attempted to extend the scope of the Executive Privilege well beyond its historical boundaries to avoid disclosing documents that embarrass or otherwise implicate senior Obama Administration officials.

In effect, last night’s production is an admission that the Justice Department never had legitimate grounds to withhold these documents in the first place.  Approximately two-thirds of the universe of documents that the Justice Department withheld from Congress has now been shown to be well outside the scope of Executive Privilege.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., today made the following statement on the Department of Justice’s document production related to the agency’s cover-up of Operation Fast and Furious:

“When Eric Holder wants to know why he was the first Attorney General held in criminal contempt of Congress, he can read the judge’s order that compelled the production of 64,280 pages that he and President Obama illegitimately and illegally withheld from Congress.  Since these pages still do not represent the entire universe of the documents the House of Representatives is seeking related to the Justice Department’s cover-up of the botched gun-walking scandal that contributed to the death of a Border Patrol agent, our court case will continue.  I am deeply concerned that some redactions to these documents may still be inappropriate and contrary to the judge’s order in the case. This production is nonetheless a victory for the legislative branch, a victory for transparency, and a victory for efforts to check Executive Branch power.  As the production is extensive and may contain sensitive information, our investigative staff will be carefully examining the documents turned over last night.”




Click here for the cover letter that accompanied the document dump. (http://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Cover-Letter.pdf)
Title: Re: BATFE Fast and Furious Scandal - 11/4/2014 DOJ Releases 64,280 Pages of Docs
Post by: masfonos on April 08, 2016, 08:03:52 PM
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/obama-relents-in-fight-over-fast-and-furious-documents-221741

Obama relents in fight over Fast and Furious documents
By JOSH GERSTEIN 04/08/16 04:59 PM EDT Updated 04/08/16 05:24 PM EDT

Four years after asserting executive privilege to block Congress from obtaining documents relating to a controversial federal gun trafficking investigation, President Barack Obama relented Friday, turning over to lawmakers thousands of pages of records that led to unusual House votes holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt in 2012.

In January, a federal district court judge rejected Obama's executive privilege claim over records detailing the Justice Department and White House's response to Operation Fast and Furious, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigation that may have allowed as many as 2,000 firearms to pass into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

In her ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson did not turn down Obama's privilege assertion on the merits. Instead, she said authorized public disclosures about the operation in a Justice Department inspector general report essentially mooted the administration's drive to keep the records secret.

Both sides had until midnight Friday to file an appeal. Instead, the Obama administration turned over a set of documents to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

More at http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/obama-relents-in-fight-over-fast-and-furious-documents-221741