Note: You might want to start at the Barack
Obama Index Page, especially
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Also note: The newest information is at the bottom of the page.
Recap and Overview articles:
The Fast and Furious scandal is sometimes compared to Watergate, inasmuch as there is a general perception that something sinister is
being covered up (and lied about) by the White House staff, if not the President himself. This is especially true now that the
Attorney General is being accused of contempt of Congress. The comparison to Watergate is insufficient because Watergate did not
get hundreds of people killed, and the Fast and Furious scheme did. Now that the general public is being made aware
(by the news media) of the Fast and Furious scandal, nearly every article on the subject starts out with a recap of the story's origins.
This page is presented in roughly chronological order, so the newest material is at the bottom of the page.
Overview, recap and timeline articles:
New
data show that ATF's Operation Fast and Furious just got a lot more scandalous. [As
Nick] Penzenstadler reports, firearms that were originally sold in the U.S. have somehow made their
way south of the border to criminal factions in Mexico and the lower Americas, which is ostensibly
fueling the violence that this part of the world is known for, which is "in part" to blame for the
the "migration crisis" plaguing the U.S. today — yeah, okay — and all of this
is the fault of the small-time gun stores and American gun makers because if it weren't for their
products and store policies, then there wouldn't be so many "bodies on the streets" in Mexico and beyond.
Eric,
Merrick, and Jeff. Another Obama priority was gun control. To that end, the
Fast and Furious scheme was hatched in October 2009 by the ATF, a Justice Department agency.
The ATF, however, somehow lost track of almost 2,000 Fast and Furious gun sales, one of which was
linked to the murder of Brian Terry, a Border Patrol Agent. Fast and Furious turned out to be
an embarrassment for Obama and of questionable legality. So Holder led an effort to stymy
investigation of the scheme by ignoring Congressional subpoenas for emails and other documents,
which ultimately earned him a contempt of Congress citation. Holder then advanced the
cover-up by claiming executive privilege as the reason for withholding additional documents.
It was only years later, when documents were produced by court order, that the true purpose of Fast
and Furious was revealed: to gin up a crisis requiring a crackdown on guns in America.
Not
Just The FBI: Institutions Across The Board Have Forfeited America's Trust. In 2012,
then-Attorney General Eric Holder refused to provide information to Congress on the government's
ill-thought-out "Fast and Furious" program. He was held in contempt of Congress, and there
are indications that he may have committed perjury when he denied knowing about the program.
Lucky for him, he never received the Steve Bannon treatment.
Are
Democrats pulling an Operation Fast and Furious scam? During Obama's first term, his Attorney General, Eric
Holder, implemented Operation Fast and Furious. The ostensible purpose was for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms (ATF) to catch straw purchasers who bought guns in America and sold them in Mexico. ATF blew it and
taxpayer-funded guns vanished into Mexico. A secondary goal, though, was to try to convince Americans that guns are
bad, to drive gun control laws. When I read about Democrats flooding cities with gun crime suspects, I wonder if
they're trying the same psychological trick again.
Don't Look Away.
[Scroll down] Take Fast and Furious. Fast and Furious is the kind of bizarre, insane plot you concoct if your
understanding of the world is stuck circa elementary school [...] It went something like this: We said that most guns
in gun violence in Mexico came from the US; We were wrong; Force gun dealers to sell guns to Mexican criminals; Guns are
taken to Mexico and cause hundreds of deaths; Report those deaths back in the US with proof US guns caused the death;
?????????????????; gun banning in the US. Seriously. It was that completely and thoroughly insane, and the fact they
thought it would work means their sense of the world froze with Saturday morning cartoons. But that was barely
reported. And if you mention it to people who don't read alternative news sites, they aren't even aware it happened.
The
Top 5 Investigations Obstructed by the Obama Administration. [#3] The investigation of Fast & Furious:
What happens when you send two thousand firearms across the border, lose hundreds of them, and then a border agent is killed
with one of those guns? You lie, stonewall, and obstruct the investigation. At least, that's what the Obama
administration did. Attorney General Eric Holder falsely claimed to have no knowledge of the operation, and Obama
personally obstructed the investigation by claiming executive privilege over documents requested by Congress. The
obstruction by the Obama administration was so egregious that Attorney General Eric Holder was held in contempt of Congress,
in a bipartisan vote, for refusing to cooperate with their investigation.
Six
Times the Obama Administration Should Have Appointed Special Counsel. [#2] Fast & Furious: Two thousand
firearms sent across the border... hundreds lost... a border agent killed with one of those guns. The Obama
administration did everything in their power to stonewall the investigation. Attorney General Eric Holder even claimed
to have no knowledge of the operation (an outright lie) and Obama asserted executive privilege to withhold documents from
congressional investigators. Conflict of interest, maybe? Absolutely there should have been a special counsel
appointed. But if there's anything I know from researching Obama's scandalous administration it's that Obama picked
people to run his Department of Justice who were willing to protect him and whom he, in turn, would protect as well.
Here Are The 5
Worst Valerie Jarrett Scandals. [#1] Operation Fast and Furious: According to Department of Justice
records obtained by Judicial Watch in October 2014, Jarrett "was a key player in the effort to cover up that Attorney
General Eric Holder lied to Congress about [knowing about] the Fast and Furious scandal." The Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) infamously lost track of hundreds of weapons they secretly smuggled in Mexico,
one of which was eventually used to murder a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.
Fast and
Furious. Fast and Furious was supposed to make detection, arrest, and prosecution of drug lords easier.
It relied in part on cooperation of law enforcement agencies in Mexico even though their rampant unreliability was no
secret. At one point in the program's life, a monitoring of its results showed that approximately 700 weapons had been
recovered out of over 2,000 that had been allowed to be purchased and quickly transferred to Mexico. And no
interruption in drug trafficking occurred. Criticism of the operation rose rapidly among ATF agents and the legal U.S.
gun dealers who cooperated with U.S. authorities. The guns sold in the program were used in crimes committed on both
sides of the U.S.-Mexican border. In 2010, U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed and weapons that were made
available to criminal gangsters via Fast and Furious were found at the scene of his death. Spurred to take action after
the death of Agent Terry, the U.S. Congress and the Department of Justice began investigating this growing fiasco. When
Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder refused to cooperate with a legitimate inquiry in 2012, he became the first
sitting member of a presidential Cabinet to be formally cited for criminal contempt of Congress. Simultaneously asked
about this incredible program, President Obama invoked "executive privilege" and refused to cooperate with the congressional
probers. These high U.S. officials were obviously hiding something.
Obama
Says He's Had A Scandal-Free Administration. Here Are 11 of His Scandals. [#1] Operation Fast and
Furious. This egregious example of a reckless government endangering lives and then scrambling to cover it up has
haunted Obama for years. As Daily Wire has explained, "Operation Fast and Furious involved the Obama administration
arming drug cartels and thugs south of the border as a means to undermine the Second Amendment. The program resulted in
the death of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. One of the Islamic terrorists in the Garland, Texas, attack also
used a gun that was obtained through the Fast and Furious program." The attempt to cover up the fatal program resulted
in Obama's first AG being held in contempt of Congress.
The Biggest Scandal in U.S. History. This is what we know:
(1) Liberals thought it would be a great argument for gun control if American guns were ending up in the hands of Mexican criminals;
(2) They wanted that to be true so badly, Democrats lied about it; (3) After they were busted on their lie, the Obama
administration began dumping thousands of guns in the hands of Mexican criminals. We also know that hundreds of people were murdered
with these U.S.-government-supplied guns, including at least one American, U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
Untangling Operation Fast And Furious.
Agent Terry was part of a five-man crew, a tactical Border Patrol unit called BORTAC. A group of Mexican bandits were hunting drug smugglers for
their marijuana loads in the desert when they ran into the agents. The agents identified themselves, one shot at the bandits with a beanbag gun.
The bandits opened fire. Terry was shot in the back, once. A bandit was hit. He survived. He was arrested. The other four men
ran off into the night.
Remember Fast and Furious's Mexican
Victims. Largely overlooked is this plan's calamitous impact on Mexico, its people, and U.S.-Mexican relations. Fast and Furious has
spilled American blood. But south of the border, it has made blood gush like an oil strike.
Report of Investigation Fast & Furious: The Path to the White House :
Fast & Furous timeline.
Fast and Furious Falling Apart.
[Scroll down] For those who keep a constant wary eye on the left's never-ending war on our 2nd-Amendment right to keep and
bear arms, the increasingly fishy smell emanating from Washington led to connecting the dots back to the year-earlier revelations
in the liberal media that weapons being used in Mexican crimes were traceable back to American sources more than 90% of the time.
That false meme had spread quickly through the major liberal media, along with calls for stricter gun control laws in this country
by... guess who! How about our president, our secretary of state, our attorney general, and other notable Democrats,
for starters?
Connecting the Dots on Fast and
Furious. A very lengthy timeline of the Fast and Furious story so far.
Is Fast and Furious the Next Watergate?
Katie Pavlich has written an extraordinary expose, "Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and its Shameless Cover-Up" (Regnery
Publishing). Pavlich, a reporter with extensive contacts within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), has
meticulously documented a story that should result in contempt of Congress action against Attorney General Eric Holder and possibly Secretary
of the Department of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano as well. It is an appalling story of arrogance, stupidity, and the intimidation
of ATF agents who dared to question and expose the operation. It is a story of deception at the highest levels of our government.
This is a book review and an excellent overview of the scandal.
Katie Pavlich's 'Fast and Furious'.
As Katie Pavlich shows in her remarkable and eye-opening new book, "Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and Its Shameless Cover-Up," the
whole scheme was either absolutely harebrained or, as some have more ominously theorized, intentionally designed to manufacture "evidence" for
tightening gun control legislation.
Barack
Obama's Bloodiest Scandal. Operation Fast and Furious is the deadliest and most sinister scandal in American
history. A scandal so big, it's worse than Iran-Contra and makes Watergate look like a high school prank gone wrong.
Fast & Furious: As a
Community Organizer program it makes perfect sense. Fast and Furious, the gun-walking operation that
created an avalanche of traceable guns being shipped to Mexican drug cartels never made sense to me as a law enforcement
operation. The cover story is that the program was designed to identify the cartel leaders. That's a
ridiculous cover story. Everyone in Mexico knows who the cartel leaders are; many of the cops are already on the
payroll. The program was specifically designed to identify weapons purchased in American gun shops after they were
used to murder Mexicans. The only thing that could be learned was the identity of the shop in which the gun was
sold, and the US government already knew that because its agents authorized the sale.
Mission Implausible. Operation Fast
and Furious — the Hollywood-style code name for the aforementioned botched sting on gun runners — has
emerged as one of the Obama administration's biggest scandals. No less an establishment voice than CNN's Jack Cafferty
has asked if Fast and Furious could become "President Obama's Watergate."
Is
it complete incompetence or outright lying? There are volumes of documents that support our
belief that the people involved in Fast and Furious come from the very top levels of government and fully
intended to keep the entire operation under wraps, provide some criminals with guns, then use their possession
of those guns as an excuse to further deny law-abiding citizens in the United States the legal guns they have
or intend to acquire. They would have simply had to say, "We told you so." Unfortunately for them,
the operation was exposed when one of those guns was, in fact used to kill a law enforcement officer, which
just happened to be one of ours.
What — and Who —
Made 'Gunwalker' Tick? As early as 2009 and until recently, ATF agents were ordered to allow weapons
illegally purchased in the United States to "walk" across the southern border into the hands of drug traffickers.
The attempts of honest, competent line agents to stop the flow of guns were met with orders to ignore their duty
and threats by their supervisors who told them that the highest levels of the ATF and Department of Justice
were behind the program. Gun dealers who complained were told to cooperate and to sell large numbers of
guns to criminals. So loose were the controls that, to this day, the number of guns involved is not
precisely known, but ranges from the hundreds to the thousands.
'Gunwalker'
Much Worse Than 'Iran-Contra'. On December 14, 2010, a special unit of the U.S. Border Patrol came
across a group of heavily armed suspects near Rio Rico, Arizona. The Border Patrol team identified themselves
as law enforcement officers, at which point the armed men open fire. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was
hit in the pelvis by a single bullet and died the next morning. One of the suspects was captured, and two
AK-pattern semiautomatic rifles recovered at the scene were identified by serial number as weapons that the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) — acting in concert with and with the
blessing of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) — allowed weapons smugglers to purchase at U.S.
gun shops. The weapons were just two of more than 2,000 firearms that ATF supervisors and the highest
levels of DOJ management allowed to be "walked" across the border to narco-terrorist drug cartels in Mexico,
in a scandal that promises to be more damning and deadly than Iran-Contra.
Cartel Member Makes Startling Claim
About Fast and Furious. The more information uncovered throughout the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious, the more incriminating and
controversial it becomes. According to some recent allegations made by a high-ranking Mexican drug cartel operative in American custody, Fast and Furious
was an agreement between the U.S. government and the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel to help take down rival cartels. Likewise, the operative indicates that drugs
were permitted to be trafficked across the U.S. border from 2004 to 2009, incriminating both the Bush and Obama administrations, if proven true.
News articles about Fast and Furious, in roughly chronological order:
Allen
West: Obama Should Remove Holder Over Operation Fast and Furious. Operation Fast and Furious
started in April 2009 and was an offshoot of the Project Gunrunner program implemented under the Bush
Administration. Project Gunrunner involved the surveillance of straw purchasers buying weapons, but
those purchasers were immediately apprehended before crossing back into Mexico. Operation Fast and Furious
allowed straw purchasers working for Mexican drug cartels to purchase mass amount of weapons in the United
States and then take them back to Mexico.
Obama's Watergate:
A year ago this week, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered. He died protecting his country from
brutal Mexican gangsters. Two AK-47 assault rifles were found at his death site. We now know the
horrifying truth: Agent Terry was killed by weapons that were part of an illegal Obama administration
operation to smuggle arms to the dangerous drug cartels. He was a victim of his own government. This
is not only a major scandal; it is a high crime that potentially reaches all the way to the White House,
implicating senior officials. It is President Obama's Watergate.
How
a botched operation spawned fatal results. The central characters in the failed "Fast and Furious"
firearms investigation were 19 men and one woman, all legal residents of the U.S., accused of laying down
hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit cash at Phoenix-area gun shops to buy an arsenal of high-powered
weapons for Mexican drug smugglers. Between September 2009 and December 2010, congressional investigators
said, they purchased or aided in the purchase of more than 2,000 AK-47 assault weapons, Barrett .50-caliber
sniper rifles, FN 5.7mm semi-automatic pistols and other assorted rifles, shotguns and handguns that later
were "walked" into Mexico. About half the weapons remain unaccounted for.
Just
the facts on Fast and Furious. The facts are so clear that there isn't much the Department and
its defenders can say, other than to lash out and blame the messengers. The fact is that the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) encouraged gun dealers to sell assault rifles to known straw
purchasers illegally buying on behalf of others. The fact is that the Justice Department oversaw the
operation as ATF literally watched bad guys collect hundreds of guns — week after week —
for nearly a year.
A
Journalist's Guide to 'Project Gunwalker' - Part Seven. Part of an exhaustive timeline of the
Gunwalker scandal.
Sipsey Street Irregulars: A web site
that specializes in the Gunwalker scandal.
Editor's note:
From here down, the articles are in chronological order, so the newest material is at the bottom of the page.
ATF
Officials Implicated in Operation Fast and Furious. Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif), chairman
of the U.S. House of Representative's Oversight and Government Reform Committee, got his hearing.
Representative Issa has been trying to find out why the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and
Explosives) told gun-store owners to sell thousands of semi-automatic firearms to straw purchasers (those
who buy guns for someone who can't do so legally) — and then just watched as the guns went
across the border, into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
'Gunwalker' Under Fire.
Will the Justice Department be held to account for arming lethal Mexican cartels?
Why the Lies About Guns Going to Mexico?
The Mexican Ambassador to the United States, Auturo Sarukhan, appeared on a CBS news program recently and repeated
a lie we have heard for many months about the violence in Mexico. The ambassador says Americans are to
blame for the violence wrecked on his country by the Mexican drug cartels because "most of the guns confiscated
by Mexican police can be traced back to the United States." That is not true, but the way that claim has
been accepted by American politicians and the mainstream media raises suspicions about a hidden agenda.
The Scandal of
'Gun-Walking'. The phenomenon of "gunwalking" appears to be a standard sting-operation tactic
that in this case has gone wildly awry. The idea was that federal authorities would approve firearms
purchases that seemed suspicious, and then monitor the buyers to see where the guns ended up.
What
if Richard Nixon Had Been President During 'Operation Gun Runner'? [Scroll down] No one
was killed during Watergate, yet Nixon was openly maligned, castigated, and pursued to the point of being
forced out of office because he covered up a break-in. On the other hand, it seems that untold
hundreds have been killed as a result of "Operation Gun Runner" and one Border Patrol Agent — which
is one too many — definitely died as a result of it. It appears President Obama's Justice
Department knew about "Gun Runner," and the BATF obviously knew about it as well. But beyond these two
groups everyone else — including Obama — claims to have been blissfully ignorant of
the experiment.
ATF
Gun Runner Scandal Continues to Grow: Who's Lying? Liberals have unfairly held law abiding gun
shop owners responsible for the violence in Mexico for years, but as evidence continues to pile up against
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Justice Department, Homeland Security and President Obama over
what is now known as "Operation Gun Runner," things aren't looking so good for the Obama Administration.
The Scandal of
'Gun-Walking'. 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.
Barack Obama's 'I am not
a Crook' Moment. [Scroll down] In the Univision interview Obama revealed more than he would
have liked. At one moment he tried to claim that the American government has "too many moving parts" for
him to keep up with things like Project Gunwalker. It was a thinly veiled attempt to divert the conversation,
but it left Obama looking as if the injuries and deaths of at least 150 Mexican nationals didn't rate his attention.
However, that fact is getting a lot of attention in Mexico where the PGR, or the Mexican Attorney General's office
is seeking information on U.S. agents who might have committed crimes by facilitating the movement of arms into
Mexico.
Sen. Grassley Releases Damning Docs on Gov's
Gunrunner Program. Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) has damning evidence that US ATF officials
sanctioned or allowed the sale of assault weapons to straw purchasers. The agency was doing this on
purpose. The government encouraged this. Two of the weapons ended up at the murder scene of a
US border patrol agent in Arizona, Brian Terry. Obama later said he and Holder knew nothing about
Operation Gunrunner.
Issa
Threatens ATF Director with Contempt of Congress. The chairman of the House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform is threatening contempt proceedings against the acting director of the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) for "failing to cooperate in good faith" with
his committee's investigation. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., sent a letter to ATF acting Director
Kenneth Melson threatening the action after Issa says the agency "failed to produce any documents" in
response to a March 31st subpoena. "I am disappointed that you have failed to produce any documents
that would meet your legal obligations by the subpoena's April 13th deadline," he wrote in the letter.
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?
NRA
to Call for Holder's Resignation Over 'Project Gunrunner' Allegations. Having deflected
questions so far regarding how much he knew about a federal project suspected of allowing guns sold in the
U.S. to be illegally smuggled to Mexico, Attorney General Eric Holder is under fire again, this time from
the National Rifle Association, a conservative group with a loud voice and influence in Washington.
Is Obama A
Gunrunner? Considering how this administration has made a cause celebre out of gun control, the revelation of
a program run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), in which weapons were transferred on purpose to Mexican
drug cartels and criminals and then lost track of, is at best embarrassing and at worst an unconscionable dereliction
of duty.
Questions
Over U.S. Program Linger. Just days after lawmakers repeated calls for justice in the killing of Border
Patrol Agent Brian Terry, at least three men have now been charged in connection with the murder. The move, however,
will not end questions over whether investigative tactics employed by parts of the Justice Department played a role in Terry's
death. On Friday [5/6/2011], authorities unsealed an indictment against Manuel Osorio-Arellanes and two other Mexican
nationals, charging them with murder and weapons and conspiracy charges. Osorio-Arellanes was already in U.S. custody,
but the other two, whose names remain under seal, are still at large.
DOJ
deflects Gunrunner. President Obama's Justice Department is trying to deflect responsibility
over decisions in the Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious investigations, which are being
spearheaded by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, and Sen. Chuck
Grassley, Iowa Republican. Last Wednesday [5/4/2011], Issa released new Project Gunrunner documents,
including an approved wiretap application bearing Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer's name. Though
Breuer didn't sign it, his Deputy Assistant Attorney General (DAAG), Kenneth Blanc, did.
Obama's
ATF: Too Busy Gun Smuggling to Arrest Criminals? A new report from Syracuse University researchers
notes that the Obama administration fails to prosecute violent criminals who most likely contribute to
gun-related violence. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is supposed to
investigate and arrest those who violate federal gun laws (e.g., felons in possession, straw purchasers).
Syracuse University's Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) reports that January 2011 was "the
lowest level to which federal weapons prosecutions have fallen since January 2001, when they were 445 at the
time President George W. Bush assumed office."
Did MSNBC
Produce Project Gunrunner's Smoking Gun? Imagine a scenario in which the media outlet most
afflicted with Barack Obama Sycophancy Syndrome (BOSS) — the place Chris 'thrill up my leg'
Matthews calls home — presented a 'smoking gun' that could implicate the Obama White House in a
cover-up akin to that of Watergate but with the added scarlet letter of murder. The notion of such a
thing would be like Woodward and Bernstein ignoring Deep Throat. Impossible, right? Yes, unless it
did so unintentionally. It looks like that honor may just go to none other than...
Issa:
'We do know' decisions for Gunrunner ... were made in Washington. Rep. Darrell Issa,
California Republican and the Chairman of the powerful House Oversight Committee, expressed more confidence
in his committee's investigation into President Obama's Department of Justice policies surrounding Project
Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious, comparing it to the Iran-Contra scandal. Issa told radio host
Rick Amato that it is "not unprecedented" for government agencies, like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives (ATF), to refuse to honor Congressional subpoenas.
Issa
calls hearing on Justice Department possibly obstructing justice. California Republican Darrell
Issa has called a hearing to look at the possibility that the Department of Justice (DOJ) may be committing
obstruction of justice by ignoring a subpoena. On April 1, Issa, House Oversight Committee chairman,
subpoenaed all documents pertaining to two Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) programs,
Project Gunrunner and Operation Fast and Furious.
Will
Public Be Intentionally Distracted From Project Gunrunner Hearings? This scandal blows the one
involving [Rep. Joe] Sestak out of the water and is looking more and more like Watergate with murder. Sipsey
Street is quoting a source allegedly close to the investigation as saying he will be "surprised" if Attorney General
Eric Holder doesn't end up in "federal prison."
Guns From U.S. Probe
Surface in Mexico. An arsenal found in Mexico included at least five assault rifles that U.S.
authorities trace to a federal operation gone badly awry, according to government documents. The discovery
appears to confirm for the first time fears cited by Republican lawmakers that a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives operation called Fast and Furious failed to stop guns from ending up with drug gangs in
Mexico.
Missing The News.
"Fast and Furious" is the name given to a Department of Justice/Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms investigation
into gun running into Mexico. The Feds decided to try and tag and follow heavy weaponry into Mexico
with the idea of charting the smugglers' map. What happened to the operation is the subject of an
investigation by Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Oversight and Governmental Affairs Committee.
Federal 'gunwalking' operation called
a failure. Three federal firearms agents told lawmakers Wednesday their supervisors in Phoenix
prevented them from breaking up Mexico-bound gun purchases in Arizona so that the weapons could instead be
tracked as they moved to those higher up in the drug cartels.
Four BATFE agents tell their story.
The report includes testimony from four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) agents
offering firsthand accounts about the controversial Operation Fast and Furious that allowed suspects to walk
away with illegally purchased guns. Two of the approximately 2,000 guns that ATF let criminals walk away
with were found at the murder scene of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.
Deadly
Incompetence. Given the federal government's batting average, another failure should come as no
surprise. But sometimes the incompetence strains believability. Case in point: "Operation
Fast and Furious."
House
panel slams 'Fast and Furious' gun operation tied to border agent's death. A U.S. law enforcement
operation intended to crack down on major weapons traffickers on the Southwest border spiraled out of control as
federal agents were told by superiors to "stand down" and ignore weapons bought in Arizona headed for Mexico, a
House panel heard Wednesday [6/15/2011]. Three federal firearms investigators told the House Oversight and
Government Reform committee that they wanted to "intervene and interdict" loads of guns, but were repeatedly
ordered to step aside.
Gun Walker Hearings: ATF Agents Feared Link To
Giffords Shooting. If the news were not filled with economic collapse, horrifying displays of
cluelessness from the President, and Anthony Weiner's underwear, this would be one of the biggest stories
in the world. People died because of this unbelievably stupid program.
Obama's the Target of Mexico Gunrunning Probe.
Did the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), an agency of President Obama's Justice
Department, operate a program that deliberately allowed some 3,500 guns bought in the U.S. to be "walked"
across the Mexican border and into the waiting hands of the murderous Mexican drug cartels? At first,
President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder denied such a program existed. Four ATF agents who
worked in the program, called Operation Fast and Furious, however, answered yes this week in testimony
before the House Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.).
Operation
Fast and Furious should end Holder tenure. Watergate cliches though they are, two questions
beg to be asked about the exploding Fast and Furious scandal at the U.S. Department of Justice: What
did Attorney General Eric Holder know and when did he know it concerning the underlying concept, operational
protocols and legal status of the Operation Fast and Furious program in the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
bureau?
Two
AK-47s Were 'Fast and Furious' Guns From U.S., Sources Say. Two guns sold to a Mexican cartel
and used in the high-profile kidnapping and murder of a Mexican lawyer last year were purchased under the
U.S. Justice Department's failed anti-gun trafficking program Operation Fast and Furious, sources tell
Fox News.
Issa: DOJ
Covering Up on Mexican Gun-Running Scandal. House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman
Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.) told CNSNews.com in an interview that he believes the Justice Department is
covering up information relevant to a congressional investigation of an operation in which the department
knowingly allowed intermediaries of Mexican drug cartels to purchase guns at licensed firearms dealers in
the United States and then get away without being arrested or the guns being retrieved.
Head of ATF Is
Likely to Go. The Justice Department is expected to oust the head of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to people familiar with the matter, amid a troubled federal
antitrafficking operation that has grown into the agency's biggest scandal in nearly two decades.
Shakeup
coming at ATF in the wake of the "gunwalker" revelations? Sipsey Street is reporting that
Kenneth Melson, acting director of the ATF, is going to get the ax next week because of the revelations
about his active role in the "gunwalker" scandal. Gunwalker involved the ATF letting guns "walk"
into the hands of the Mexican drug cartel.
Acting
ATF Chief Facing Pressure to Resign Over Botched Gun Operation. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives acting Director Kenneth Melson is facing pressure to resign over a poorly run
gun-trafficking operation blamed for putting weapons in the hands of a border agent's killers.
Issa: Holder
'Absolutely' Knew About 'Fast & Furious' Earlier Than He Testified. House Oversight and
Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R.-Calif.) told CNSNews.com in an interview that he believes the
Justice Department is covering up information relevant to a congressional investigation of an operation in
which the department knowingly allowed intermediaries of Mexican drug cartels to purchase guns at licensed
firearms dealers in the United States and then get away without being arrested or the guns being retrieved.
A Drug-War Plan
Goes Awry. "Operation Fast and Furious" [was] a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms plan
that allegedly facilitated the flow of high-powered weapons into Mexico in the hope that it might lead to
the take-down of a major cartel. It did not. But it may have fueled a spike in the murder rate
and led to the death of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
The
gang that couldn't sting straight. What did Attorney General Eric Holder know — and
when did he know it? That's the question congressional investigators are asking — and rightly
so — about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which stands exposed as having
perpetrated one of the most bizarre gun-sting operations imaginable.
Issa
staffer: Gunrunner investigation points much higher than ATF director. A spokesman for House
Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa told The Daily Caller the congressman expects his investigations
into the Justice Department's gun walking programs to point to a much higher political appointee than
acting ATF director Kenneth Melson. Melson is widely expected to resign some time in the next couple
of days in the face of political pressure from Issa's investigations into Project Gunrunner and
Operation Fast Furious (sic).
Who
OK'd 'Guns To Gangs' Program, And Why? After getting caught doing the unbelievable —
arming Mexico's cartels — word is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms boss is out, and the
gun-controller the White House wanted all along is in. How far up does this go?
Was
Fast And Furious A Gun-Control Plot? Rather than a botched attempt to catch criminals, was the ATF
program actually an attempt to advance gun-control efforts by an administration that has blamed Mexican violence
on easy access to U.S. weapons?
'Gunwalker' Requires
Special Counsel Investigation. "Gunwalker" never should have happened. We've spent the better
part of a week here at Pajamas Media documenting the damning evidence of a reckless government that has conspired
to allow gun runners to smuggle an estimated 2,000 weapons across the Mexican border to violent drug cartels.
During that time, we've discovered that the president and Democratic lawmakers have lied, and continue to lie,
about the role of American guns and American small businessmen in arming drug cartels south of the border.
We've watched as they've lied, and continue to lie, blaming gun shops for the carnage that has resulted from the
depravity of Mexican narco-terrorists.
Mega-Scandal:
Was 'Gunwalker' a PR Op for Gun Control? The most damning revelations coming out of the hearings
on Operation Fast and Furious held by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform are the unmistakable
indications that the program was never designed to succeed as a law enforcement operation at all. A quartet
of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) agents and supervisors turned into whistleblowers
to bring the operation down, but only after U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was gunned down in the Arizona
desert. Two of the weapons recovered at the scene of Terry's murder were traced to the operation.
Gunwalker:
From Obama's Inauguration to Issa's Report. Major scandals don't always have the most dramatic
beginnings. Andrew Johnson was impeached for replacing the sitting secretary of war; Richard Nixon's
collapse started with a breaking and entering. Bill Clinton's infamy was guaranteed for quibbling
over the definition of a common verb. It now appears that high-ranking officials in the Obama
administration may be writing the end of their careers and risking a life behind bars by arguing about the
technical definition of "walking" firearms.
Obama
Admin's Comments on 'Gunrunner' Scandal Strain Credulity. On June 15, Rep. Darrell Issa
(R-California), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, held another hearing into
the failed "Operation Fast and Furious" program, which has also been dubbed the "Gunwalker" scandal.
"Gunwalker" allowed literally thousands of weapons to walk across the border into Mexico. The guns,
which included semi-automatic AK-47 variants and Barrett .50 caliber sniper rifles, were purchased by straw
buyers in Arizona, who then allegedly passed them on to Mexican drug cartels.
U.S.
AK-47s linked to Mexican attorney's slaying. A U.S. congressional investigation into
Operation Fast and Furious, the controversial federal gun-running surveillance operation, moves to Mexico
amid reports that two assault weapons sold in Arizona were found at the scene of a shootout with the
suspects in a Mexican attorney's slaying.
Gun Owners of America Calls for
Dissolution of ATF. The Second Amendment grassroots group Gun Owners of America today called for
the dissolution of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, citing work done by the House
Oversight Committee over the last several months to expose an ATF program that led to the killing of a
Border Patrol agent.
The Truth About Gun Walker. Earlier
this week, the Washington Post ran a hit piece on Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House
Oversight committee, designed to imply — without evidence — that Issa was aware of
"Operation Fast and Furious" all along. That would be the astonishing Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms
operation that deliberately flooded Mexico with American guns, and which Issa's committee has been investigating.
The thinking behind planting such a story is almost as appalling as the "Gun Walker" scandal itself.
"Gun Walker" Fall Guy Refuses To Fall.
The fall guy designated to short-circuit Rep. Darrell Issa's investigation of the "Gun Walker" outrage,
acting ATF director Ken Melson, has noticed the open grave yawning at his feet, and apparently doesn't feel
like jumping in. According to the L.A. Times, Melson is "strongly resisting pressure to step down,"
and is "reportedly eager to testify to Congress about the extent of his and other officials' involvement in
the operation." Wow. This is how regimes crumble: one guy refusing to fall on his sword.
The Editor says...
I'll bet he's about to sing like a canary.
ATF
Director Eager to Testify About Operation Fast and Furious. ATF Director Kenneth Melson, who
was heavily involved in Operation Fast and Furious, doesn't look like he's willing to fall on his sword for
Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama just yet. In fact, Melson is ready to testify in
front of the House Oversight Committee where Rep. Darrell Issa will ask him who above him ordered the
operation within the Justice Department. Eric Holder should be very, very worried.
Another Murder Linked to US Gunwalker
Case. CBS News has confirmed that ATF Fast and Furious "walked" guns have been linked to the
terrorist torture and murder of the brother of a Mexican state attorney general last fall. Two AK-47
variant rifles were found at the scene of a shoot-out with the murder suspects.
'Gunwalker'
Scandal and the Case for Impeaching Holder. Besides Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's murder,
"Mexican officials estimate 150 of their people have been shot by Fast and Furious guns." This
indicates at least 150 incidents of murder or attempted murder. While Holder didn't pull any
triggers, the Department of Justice was involved in Gunwalker from the beginning.
Fast
and Furious Fiasco: Time to Abolish the ATF. Voltaire observed "It's a good thing to kill an
admiral now and then to encourage the others." This observation inspires me to suggest that when an
agency carries out such a bit of idiotic malfeasance as the ATF's operation "Fast and Furious" with the
cooperation of agents at all levels of the spectrum, an operation which resulted, among other things in the
murder of a U.S. customs agent and prominent relative of a Mexican official, it's time to dissolve the
operation and dismiss all of its employees. To encourage the others.
'Project
Gunrunner' Whistleblower Says ATF Sent Him Termination Notice. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms is being accused of retaliating against an agent who helped publicize the agency's role in
allowing thousands of guns to cross the U.S. border and fall into the hands of Mexican drug gangs.
The agent, Vince Cefalu, who has spoken out about the ATF's so-called "Project Gunrunner" scandal, says he
was served with termination papers just last week, and he calls the move politically motivated.
Rep.
Cummings' Gunwalker Report Neglects To Mention ... Gunwalker. The report doesn't mention the
estimated 150 dead in Mexico, plus two U.S. agents. Just gun control. And long-debunked
statistics.
'Fast and Furious' sparks new gun control
debates. The tainted "Operation Fast and Furious" has dealt the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms its worst blow since the agency's botched 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco that left
four ATF agents dead. With federal agents testifying against their commanders, members of Congress
calling for the top man's ouster and accusations that ATF is fudging its gun smuggling numbers, the
political fallout itself has become fast and furious.
GOP
Lawmakers Accuse Justice Department of Gunrunner Coverup. The operation, Project Gunrunner, has
drawn scrutiny amid allegations that, rather than stanch the export of guns from the U.S. to Mexico, it has
instead facilitated sales to traffickers. Issa and Grassley are raising the prospect that the purported
scandal could have spread much wider and higher than the Obama administration has acknowledged.
U.S.
Officials Behind 'Fast and Furious' Gun Sales Should Be Tried in Mexico, Lawmaker Says. While
the investigation continues into the U.S. operation that helped send thousands of guns south of the border,
Mexican lawmakers say they'll press for extradition and prosecution in Mexico of American officials who
authorized and ran the operation.
The Editor asks...
If the investigation goes all the way to the top, does that proposal include President Obama?
What Did Obama Know, and When Did He Know It?
Rep. Issa has already stated that he knows with certitude that Attorney General Eric Holder knew about Fast
and Furious much earlier than Holder has admitted. This is a huge scandal with enormous implications
that could rival the Iran-Contra mess in gravity.
Could controversy kill the ATF?
The unfolding scandal over a gunrunning investigation allegedly botched by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives could do what years of criticism of the long-beleaguered agency never quite
accomplished — result in its demise.
Project Gunrunner Got Stimulus Money.
A large number of jobs for Mexican hit men were "created or saved" as a result of this expenditure.
Eric Holder Now Feigns Ignorance of Operation 'Fast and Furious'.
News about Operation "Fast and Furious" is now ubiquitous. Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson's Fourth of
July testimony to Senator Charles Grassley and Representative Darrell Issa blew the cover off what appears to be
one of the biggest political cover-ups in the last 50 years.
Fast-And-Furious-Gate.
The ATF's acting director spills the beans on a program involving multiple agencies that not only supplied guns
to Mexican gangs and drug cartels but may also have used taxpayer dollars to buy them.
Holder Lied.
New information indicates that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's actions are squarely behind the ATF (Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) operation known as "Fast and Furious", which orchestrated the delivery of
almost 2,000 weapons to Mexican drug cartels. Holder openly proclaimed his connection to the operation
in April 2009 during a publicized speech in Mexico, then told a Congressional Committee in May 2011, "I probably
heard of Fast and Furious the first time in the last few weeks."
Holder
bragged about Operation Gunrunner in 2009. On May 3, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder testified
before House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa's committee that he only learned about the
government's sale of weapons to Mexican drug cartels "in the last few weeks." But Big Government found a
2009 speech by Holder on the Department of Justice's own website that proves the attorney general was well
aware of Operation Gunrunner back in 2009.
Obama
handling of 'Fast and Furious' reminiscent of Nixon DOJ. Although it hasn't gotten much mainstream
media attention, the Operation Fast and Furious scandal could rank up there with the Nixon administration cover-up
of the Watergate break-in, according to Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume.
ATF
Tampa Division Walked Guns to Honduras and to MS13 Gang Members. Leaders of the transnational
organized criminal gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) even ordered a hit on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
(ICE) agent in New York. There are now reports that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Tampa Field Division, ran a gun-running investigation that was walking guns to Honduras using the techniques and
tactics identical to Fast and Furious. 1,000 of those guns were sold to MS13 buyers.
Allen
West: Obama must remove Eric Holder. Florida Republican Rep. Allen West is demanding that
President Barack Obama force Attorney General Eric Holder to resign. Appearing on Nashville radio
host Steve Gill's show last week, West said Obama would be "complicit" with what he sees as Justice Department
attempts to slow down and avoid a congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious and Project
Gunrunner if he didn't push his attorney general to resign.
The
Stimulation of Murder. The ATF's gun-running disaster was funded in the stimulus bill.
Think about all the criminal and drug cartel jobs saved or created. And our attorney general once
bragged to a Mexican audience about implementing it.
Obama Pal Dohrn Linked to Mexican Killer Case.
Crime reporter and blogger Tina Trent says that President Obama's intervention on behalf of an illegal alien
killer can be traced back to a 2003 conference that featured Bernardine Dohrn, Van Jones, and representatives
of the Soros-funded Open Society Institute.
Did
someone mention Bernadine Dohrn?
This is what's known as stonewalling.
White House Mum on
When Obama Became Aware of Botched Gunrunner Operation. White House Spokesman Jay Carney has
failed to follow-up on a statement he made at the June 27 White House briefing that he would get back
to a reporter with the exact date that President Barack Obama first became aware of "Operation Fast and
Furious," a botched sting operation in which U.S. officials knowingly allowed smugglers to buy guns at
licensed U.S. firearms dealers. "I'll have to get back to you," Carney said at the briefing.
Bordergate? Did Eric Holder lie to Congress? Does
Obama know? Eric Holder testified that he "probably" only learned about Gunrunner in "the last
few weeks," but took credit for it in 2009. President Obama, who provided $10 million "stimulus"
money and $11 million for 2011, says neither of them knew about it At a May 3 House Judiciary
Committee hearing, Attorney General Holder, under questioning by House Oversight and Government Reform
Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), testified that he had "probably" only learned about Operation Fast and
Furious in "the last few weeks."
New
border gun rules a distraction from Fast and Furious scandal, Issa says. The Obama administration
bolstered sales-reporting requirements Monday for gun dealers in the southern border states of Arizona, California,
New Mexico and Texas. Darrell Issa, House oversight committee chairman, has already criticized the new
requirements as nothing more than an attempt to deflect attention from the Operation Fast and Furious scandal.
American Stalin, Obama, Seizes Control of
Food and Energy Production. The previously clandestine "Fast and Furious Operation Gunwalker"
has been uncovered as an Obama/Holder-planned and supported program. ... The actual reason for the program
was to force gun shop owners to work with the ATF in providing them with the guns to sell and then betraying
them by blaming them for selling guns to the cartels. Then, Obama believed he would be able to
eliminate the 2nd Amendment under a faux "emergency."
'Gunwalker'
Whistleblower: ATF Director 'Horribly Irresponsible'. One of the original whistleblowers on
Operation Fast and Furious — which allowed thousands of guns to cross the border into Mexico —
said Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Ken Melson's testimony
before congressional investigators on July 4 was nothing but "smoke and mirrors."
DOJ
Inspector General Can't Be Trusted to Investigate Gunwalker. Such serious charges, potentially
reaching the highest levels of the Department of Justice and possibly higher, should not be undertaken by an
acting inspector general, which is typically a caretaker role until a new inspector general has been appointed.
Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) made that very observation in a March 8 letter to Kevin L. Perkins,
chair of the Integrity Committee for the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency.
Attorney
General Holder's credibility takes another hit. An email cited in Senator Charles Grassley's
testimony in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Operation Fast and Furious
indicates that knowledge of the program was spread across the highest levels of the Justice Department.
This lends even greater suspicion to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's claim that he knew nothing about the
program until well after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed.
Republicans
want records from Justice officials about botched gun operation. Republican lawmakers have
requested correspondence records, including emails and handwritten notes, from a dozen senior Justice Department
officials who may have been involved in a controversial gun-tracking operation.
Eric Holder, You've Got Mail. The
overflowing mailbox of Attorney General Eric Holder includes a few interesting letters from Congress.
One of them comes from Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), who represents the 9th Congressional District, right next
to Tampa. Bilirakis wants to know more about "Operation Castaway," the latest revelation in the Gun
Walker saga of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Did
Operation Fast and Furious have a Tampa twin, Operation Castaway? Republican lawmakers are alleging that
Operation Fast and Furious may have had a twin in Tampa: Operation Castaway. The new revelations have come
to light as Florida Republican Rep. Gus Bilrakis fired off a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and acting ATF
Director Ken Melson asking them for answers about the newly discovered program.
ATF loses track of 1,400 guns in criticized
probe. Federal agents can't account for more than 1,400 guns after a widely criticized operation
aimed at tracing the flow of weapons to Mexican drug gangs, sources with knowledge of the investigation tell
CNN. Of 2,020 guns involved in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives probe dubbed
"Operation Fast and Furious," 363 have been recovered in the United States and 227 have been recovered
in Mexico. That leaves 1,430 guns unaccounted for, the sources said.
Gunwalker Probe Points to DOJ.
Two Republican congressman investigating ATF's controversial "Fast and Furious" program said yesterday "senior
officials at the Department of Justice" were "unquestionably aware" of the operation. In a letter yesterday
[7/12/2011] to Attorney General Eric Holder, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) demanded
copies of all communications among a dozen top DOJ officials in what they called "this reckless program."
Operation
Fast and Furious: Designed to Promote Gun Control. "Internal ATF emails seem to suggest that ATF
agents were counseled to highlight a link between criminals and certain semi-automatic weapons in order to
bolster a case for a rule like the one the DOJ announced yesterday [Monday] [7/11/2011]."
Holder
must go over gun scandal, but what did Obama know? Operation Fast and Furious is a growing scandal.
Attorney General Eric Holder must go, but Congress should not stop investigating there, and ask if Democratic
operatives knew anything. Fast and Furious is the latest variation of the ATF's Operation Gunrunner (aka
Gunwalker), allowing U.S. guns into Mexico. It's a disaster involving more than 2,000 guns, many now
being used in crimes, and one used to kill a federal agent.
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 [7/11/2011] 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 access
to background information.
Too fast, too furious.
The Justice Department's effort to contain the Operation Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal is crumbling.
Members of Congress are demanding full disclosure regarding the bizarre scheme to funnel guns to Mexican
drug cartels, supposedly to help sniff out the higher-level bad guys. Attorney General Eric H.
Holder Jr. isn't helping congressional investigators understand the rationale behind this breathtakingly
dumb idea.
The
Real 'Under the Radar' Target of Operation Fast and Furious. [Scroll down] Why would ATF
leaders pursue a dangerous policy that has already caused the death of one agent and resulted in the deaths
of unknown numbers of Mexicans, all cut down by US/ATF-supplied weaponry? If the cartels are beyond
the legal reach of American authorities for the most part and the Mexican government is incapable of
following through on any supposed entrapment program, then what was the true purpose of this otherwise
senseless secret program?
Democrats
to Introduce Gun Control Legislation Tomorrow. Democrat Representatives Maloney, Cummings and
McCarthy, all members of the Minority on the House Oversight Committee chaired by Republican Congressman
Issa, plan to hold a press conference tomorrow [7/15/2011] to announce new gun control
anti-gun trafficking legislation in light of Operation Fast and Furious. The "Stop Gun Trafficking and
Strengthen Law Enforcement Act," is designed to "keep high powered firearms out of the hands of dangerous
criminals, including Mexican drug cartels."
ATF
Florida Gun Probe Earns Congressional Scrutiny. Several lawmakers are questioning the Obama
administration about whether the controversial "Fast and Furious" gunrunning probe may have had a cousin in
Florida that resulted in guns being trafficked to Central America. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., penned
a letter Tuesday [7/12/2011] to Attorney General Eric Holder and ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson inquiring
about a program known as "Operation Castaway."
The 'Fast and
Furious' gun fiasco. Mexico's presidential election, coming up a year from now, could easily have
the U.S. gun policy known as "Fast and Furious" at the center of public debate. Revelations about how the
policy was implemented and its consequences are still developing, but the bullhorn of new disclosures tends to
show it was crazy from the start.
Gun-smuggling
cartel figures possibly were paid FBI informants. Congressional investigators probing the controversial
"Fast and Furious" anti-gun-trafficking operation on the border with Mexico believe at least six Mexican drug
cartel figures involved in gun smuggling also were paid FBI informants, officials said Saturday [7/16/2011].
The investigators have asked the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration for details about the alleged informants,
as well as why agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which ran the Fast and
Furious operation, were not told about them.
Which
Was Worse: Iran/Contra or Operation 'Fast and Furious'? It's simply undeniable that Holder is
smack dab in the middle of "Gun Runner" and "Fast and Furious." It's also undeniable that as a result
of these two programs, approximately 2,500 guns were sold to "straw purchasers" who were then allowed to
smuggle the weapons illegally into Mexico with the DOJ's knowledge. It's undeniable that only 1300 of
the approximately 2500 guns have been recovered: which leaves 1200 guns in the hands of criminals
in Mexico and, according to one of the ATF's own supervisors, has to be factored into the mix when one considers
that in March 2010 alone, 958 people were killed in Mexico.
A
Watergate For Obama? A 2-year-old video shows a high Justice official saying "the president has directed
us," including the attorney general, to speed up Project Gunrunner and the offshoot that got a border agent killed.
NBC's
Investigative Unit Ignores Obama's ATF Debacle. The NBC News Investigative Unit has devoted
considerable resources to uncovering "scandals" ranging from Marcus Bachmann's health clinic to Newt
Gingrich's credit line at Tiffany to the Sarah Palin document dump, but continues to ignore a botched
Justice Department operation that contributed to the death of a U.S. border agent.
Lawmakers
want answers about ATF gun operation. Two Republican lawmakers investigating a controversial Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives weapons operation known as "Fast and Furious" have asked the FBI
and the Drug Enforcement Administration to explain what role their agents played in the investigation.
ATF
Chief Accuses Holder Aides of Stonewalling Congress. The head of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has admitted that his agency, in at least one instance, allowed sales of
high-powered weapons without intercepting them — and he accuses his superiors at the Justice
Department of stonewalling Congress to protect political appointees in the scandal over those decisions.
ATF
Director's Surprised to Learn ATF Might Have Been Selling Guns to FBI. Interviewed by congressional
investigators earlier this month, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Ken Melson
agreed that the allegations that federal agencies weren't sharing information regarding the Fast & Furious
program were "eye-popping," according to transcripts of the interview exclusively obtained by ABC News.
Obama-Contra.
As if "Project Gunrunner" and "Operation Fast and Furious" weren't bad enough, we now learn of "Operation Castaway,"
run out of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Tampa field division. It's
another operation that allowed guns to "walk" south of the border, this time to Honduras, using similar
techniques and tactics.
ATF
Whistleblower Case Triggers Retaliation Inquiry. The Justice Department's inspector general
has opened an investigation into possible retaliation against a whistle-blowing agent at the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to two people briefed on the inquiry.
ATF
sought to downplay guns scandal, emails show. As Sen. Charles Grassley and congressional investigators
looked into the Fast and Furious operation and the killing of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, ATF officials
took steps to throw them off the trail.
ATF
Whistleblower Case Triggers Retaliation Inquiry. The Justice Department's inspector general
has opened an investigation into possible retaliation against a whistle-blowing agent at the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to two people briefed on the inquiry.
Inspector General Investigates Gun Walker
Retaliation. When a rogue government agency launches a political operation that ends up
killing both foreign citizens and Americans, and a deeply corrupt Justice Department tries to cover the
whole thing up with smokescreens and retaliation against whistleblowers, the obvious solution is to give
the government more power. Representative Issa, the House Oversight dentist who has been drilling
into the Gun Walker abscess, wants the Justice Department to rinse, spit, and get ready for its next root
canal.
The Assault Weapons
Ban: How Silly Was It? (Part Two). Attempting to impose such a restrictive and prohibitionist law
is far harder today in a nation where judicial interpretations favoring individual gun rights are ascendant.
It would take a dramatic and drastic turn of events to undermine the growing gun rights movement and to generate
the sort of popular support for more national gun control laws. Such firearms would have to be used,
repeatedly and with great affect, [sic] to generate massive levels of violence and the media furor needed to
revive a flagging gun control movement. It would almost take a massive covert operation delivering
thousands of weapons to violent felons to make this even potentially viable.
Time to Fire Eric Holder. Operation
Fast and Furious was run out of Phoenix. Operation Castaway bubbled forth from the Tampa office of the
ATF. Some of the ostensible gunrunning "targets" of these operations turned out to be paid FBI informants.
The programs enjoyed funding from the Obama "stimulus" package. These factors combine to make regional ATF
supervisors, or acting ATF Director Ken Melson, unsuitable as fall guys. Ken Melson doesn't want
to be a fall guy. He's cooperating with congressional investigators, but their requests for
information have been stonewalled by Attorney General Eric Holder at every turn.
Worse
Than Gunwalker? State Dept. Allegedly Sold Guns to Zetas. It's a stunning allegation
that makes the other gunrunning scandals look like child's play.
Feds
Silent on How Convicted Felons Bought Guns in 'Fast and Furious'. In the latest chapter of the
gunrunning scandal known as Operation Fast and Furious, federal officials won't say how two suspects obtained
more than 360 weapons despite criminal records that should have prevented them from buying even one gun.
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.
Issa:
Obama admin intimidating witnesses in ATF gun probe. The Obama administration sought to intimidate
witnesses into not testifying to Congress on Tuesday about whether ATF knowingly allowed weapons, including
assault rifles, to be "walked" into Mexico, the chairman of a House committee investigating the program said
in an interview Monday [7/25/2011].
Senior
ATF, Justice Dept officials ignored Mexico-based agents' complaints. House oversight committee
chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican, will soon air a different side of Operation Fast and Furious:
what Mexico-based U.S. law enforcement officials dealt with. Senior Justice Department leadership in Washington
ignored concerns Mexico-based Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) officials raised about
the program, according to assertions made as part of the congressional investigation.
ATF
Accused in Congressional Report of 'Arming' Cartel. The failed federal anti-gunrunning program
known as Operation Fast and Furious got so out of control in November 2009, it appeared the U.S. government
was single-handedly "arming for war" the Sinaloa Cartel, documents show, even as U.S. officials kept lying
to fellow agents in Mexico about the volume of guns it helped send south of the border. Those shocking
allegations are revealed in the latest congressional report investigating the operation.
Gunrunning
sting fatally wrong. They came from all over the country, agents with the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, brought here in a bold new effort to shut down the flow
of U.S. guns to Mexican drug cartels. It was called Operation Fast and Furious, after a popular
movie about street car racing. But from the beginning, much of the fury was inside the agency
itself.
Cornyn
wants Holder to "come clean" on Fast and Furious. The Texan who once served as the Lone
Star State's top lawman says the nation's top lawman needs to "come clean" so Congress can complete its
investigation into the "Operation Fast and Furious" effort to trace U.S. weapons to Mexican drug cartels.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a former Texas attorney general and state Supreme Court judge, says Attorney
General Eric Holder is part of a "concerted effort (by the Justice Department) to try and mislead and
cover up" when the attorney general knew about the controversial scheme.
Obama
Talked About "Gun Tracing" in 2009. Yesterday [7/26/2011] during testimony on Capitol Hill, we
heard Former ATF Special Agent in Charge William Newell admit he was in contact with White House National
Security staffer Kevin O'Reilly about Operation Fast and Furious as early as September 2010.
White House
Staffer Knew About Gun Running Operation Last Fall. At least one person in the White House
knew about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives gun-running operation three months
before weapons from the botched sting were found at the murder scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
That's what a high-ranking ATF official told Congress on Tuesday [7/26/2011].
Fast and Furious: Enter the IRS and White
House. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and his House Oversight committee did not waste any time
getting down to business when their "Gun Walker" hearings resumed yesterday [7/26/2011]. Within a
matter of hours, they had Special Agent in Charge William Newell, of the Phoenix ATF office, sizzling
nicely on the Oversight hibachi, and this astonishing exchange occurred...
Is
'Fast and Furious' Just the Tip of Obama's Gun Smuggling Iceberg? [Scroll down] Only 1,300 of
the 2,500 weapons sold were recovered and what was supposed to be a sweep of the Mexican cartel
turned instead into a gift of 1,200 weapons that we failed to find. In the aftermath of these
operations, Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson has given testimony under oath indicating that Attorney
General Eric Holder pressured him not to speak openly with members of Congress about the operations,
Obama has denied knowledge of either, and the crime rate in Mexico has jumped exponentially.
Could it get any worse? Maybe so.
How
Mexican killers got US guns from 'Fast and Furious' operation. US officials thought they
would catch Mexican criminals in a bold gun-running sting called 'Fast and Furious.' Instead, they
inadvertently armed drug cartels as the operation spiraled out of control, a congressional report finds.
Holder Lied, Agents Died?
As hearings reveal the attorney general to be either a charlatan or a boob, word comes of possible FBI complicity
in letting guns "walk" into Mexico, ordered by an administration pushing gun control.
ATF:
The White House Knew. A former ATF special agent tells Congress a National Security Council staffer
was informed about Operation Fast and Furious before guns allowed into Mexico wound up at the murder scene of a U.S.
agent.
Gunwalker:
William Newell Circles the Wagons. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, the
Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Internal Revenue Service were all aware of Operation Fast and Furious,
which allowed thousands of military-style weapons to "walk" across the southern border to the Sinaloa
drug cartel and other criminals. These explosive revelations came on Tuesday, as Rep. Patrick
Meehan (R-PA) grilled the former ATF special agent who was in charge of the Gunwalker program,
William Newell.
Gunwalker:
One Step Closer to the Oval Office. This week's revelations placed knowledge of the
operation within the White House for the first time.
The
Associated Press Covers Gunwalker. Associated Press reporting on the Gunwalker ("Fast and
Furious") scandal has been sporadic but fair. However, not many newspapers around the country have
picked up the AP's stories on Gunwalker, apparently because they would rather cover up than expose scandals
that originate in the Obama administration.
Enemy of the State. Within months after
Barack Obama became President, a covert operation was launched to allow gun sales to people with ties to the Mexican
drug cartels, ostensibly in hopes that those guns would lead agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives (ATF) to cartel members in Mexico. ... The problem is that the ATF was not able to keep track of
the weapons, and to date only 1,300 of the approximate 2,500 have been recovered.
'Fast and
Furious' top agents grilled. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent in
charge of the agency's controversial Fast and Furious investigation on Tuesday [7/26/2011] defended his unit's
actions, telling lawmakers that "it was not the purpose" of ATF to permit firearms trafficking to Mexico.
ATF Manager says he shared
Fast and Furious Info with White House. At a lengthy hearing on ATF's controversial
gunwalking operation today [7/26/2011], 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. Newell said the two are longtime friends. The content of
what Newell shared with O'Reilly is unclear and wasn't fully explored at the hearing.
'Fast
and Furious' traced to White House. Did President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder
authorize the ATF's deadly Fast and Furious operation? During Tuesday's testimony on Capitol Hill,
William Newell, a former special agent in charge of the Phoenix field division of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told the House Committee on Oversight and Government Affairs he discussed
the case with a White House National Security staffer as early as September 2010.
"Fast and Furious" Goes All the Way to
the White House. By now, "Gunwalker" and "Fast and Furious" have both entered the
national lexicon. ... What most people seem not to know is who exactly was behind the Gunwalker
and Fast and Furious operations. Was it the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives)? Yes. Was it also Attorney General Eric Holder? Well, there's
no doubt he was instrumental in Gunwalker, and it's now known that his chief of staff was briefed
on Fast and Furious. So how about President Obama? What did he know?
Was
CIA behind Operation Fast and Furious? Why did the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF) let criminals buy firearms, smuggle them across the Mexican border and deliver them into
the hands of vicious drug cartels? The ATF claims it launched its now-disgraced Operation Fast and
Furious in 2009 to catch the "big fish." Fast and Furious was designed to stem the "Iron River"
flowing from American gun stores into the cartels' arsenals. The bureau says it allowed gun smuggling
so it could track the firearms and arrest the cartel members downstream. Not true.
Much More than a
Third Rate Burglary. To believe that no top administration officials were involved in Operation
Fast and Furious is not only disingenuous, it's dumb. Of course some top Obama administration officials
were involved, if for no other reason than contemporary bureaucrats simply lack the intestinal fortitude to
initiate such an ill-conceived and uncoordinated program without clearance from above.
Cornyn
demands answers on gun probe. Another senior Republican has questions about the Fast and
Furious undercover weapons investigation on the U.S.-Mexico border, demanding that Attorney General
Eric H. Holder Jr. immediately brief his office regarding the "scope and details of any past or
present ATF gun-walking programs" in Texas.
ATF's
gun surveillance program showed early signs of failure. Just a few months into Operation Fast and
Furious, an agency official called for a strategy to shut down the program aimed at following guns into the
hands of Mexican drug cartels.
Promotions
of 'Fast and Furious' officials draw Texan's wrath. A senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary
Committee on Tuesday [8/16/2011] described as "inconceivable" a Justice Department decision to promote key
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) personnel who oversaw the controversial "Fast and
Furious" weapons investigation that allowed hundreds of guns to be walked into Mexico.
ATF's 'Fast
and Furious' firearms tracked to at least 11 violent crimes. Firearms illegally trafficked under
the ATF's Fast and Furious program turned up at the scenes of at least 11 "violent crimes" in this country
in addition to being involved in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in southern Arizona last year, the
Justice Department has acknowledged to Congress.
Holder
requests Fast and Furious docs from Issa, Grassley. New details about Operation Fast and Furious
cast doubt on the ability of the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General to conduct an "independent"
and fair investigation, congressional Republican investigators say. The information comes via a letter
Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday [8/16/2011].
ATF denies
it promoted Fast and Furious supervisors. The agency says three officials involved in the guns
scandal were moved laterally to jobs in its Washington headquarters.
Fast
And Furious Promotions? As guns funneled by the ATF into Mexico continue to show up at crime scenes,
three key supervisors of an operation that resulted in the deaths of two U.S. agents get moved up instead of fired.
Obama
Smuggling Guns and Registering Yours. President Barack Obama wants you to believe that America's
Founding Fathers were in error when they gave citizens the right to bear arms. The Obama administration
and even its Mexican counterpart have manipulated public opinion to believe that the cartel drug wars are
being fueled largely by American guns. In support of that spin, they are trying to impose a new
regulation that requires licensed firearms dealers in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California to report to
the federal government whenever someone buys from them more than one semiautomatic rifle with certain
characteristics.
Gunwalker and the
Foundation of Liberty. Is there an inalienable right to self-defense? If
there is, each man has indisputable, inestimable value, value that he may rightly preserve
even if the life of another man is forfeit. ... But if there is no such inalienable right,
the entire nature of the social contract is changed.
Grassley,
Issa: Shakeup Won't Stop Probe of ATF. There might be more to come in the investigation
of the anti-gun-trafficking program that sparked the shake-up at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives, according to two lawmakers who have spearheaded the congressional probe. "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," said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).
Issa
responds to departure of ATF director. House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep.
Darrell Issa, on Tuesday responded to news that Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tabacco, Firearms and Explosives, has been reassigned in the wake of the committee's
probe into the "Fast and Furious" program.
The Gun Walker Cover Up Unravels.
The Gun Walker investigative team of Rep. Darrell Issa and Senator Charles Grassley announced yesterday
that their probe into this almost unbelievable scandal will be growing wider. They've got evidence
of a cover-up at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to pursue, as reported by CBS News —
which deserves kudos for being the mainstream news organized most determined to get to the bottom of this story.
NYT burying latest Fast and Furious stories shows paper's 'biased
approach'. House Oversight Committee officials aren't happy with The New York Times.
Committee staff are accusing the paper of burying its story on how acting ATF director Ken Melson
lost his job amid the Operation Fast and Furious scandal. Times readers would have to dig
down to page A13 of Wednesday's Gray Lady to find out that Attorney General Eric Holder
reassigned Melson to a different job inside the Justice Department.
Screw
Up, Move Up, Cover Up: The Fast and Furious Edition. On Tuesday [8/30/2011], the
Justice Department announced it was shuffling Kenneth Melson, acting director of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, out of his job. The disclosure comes amid continued
GOP investigations into the administration's fatally botched straw gun purchase racket at the border
and spreading outrage over legal obstructionism and whistleblower retaliation by DOJ brass.
The DOJ inspector general is also conducting a probe.
Serious questions remain in ATF firearms
probe. No one should think the reassignment of the head of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will quiet questions about a dangerous federal gun trafficking
investigation gone awry. ... The Obama administration must act quickly and responsibly to fully
explain how the debacle came to pass.
Did
Napolitano know about Fast and Furious? Heads seem to be rolling from the deadly
Operation Fast and Furious gun scandal that is revealing the Obama administration to be as
anti-gun as the National Rifle Association has always said. Fast and Furious is the
program initiated two years ago by officials within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives (ATF) to allow more than 2,000 firearms to be sold by U.S. gun dealers to
suppliers known to be working for Mexican drug cartels.
Evidence
Suggests Cover-Up in ATF Scandal. Just hours after the death of Border Patrol agent
Brian Terry, federal officials tried to cover up evidence that the gun that killed Terry was one
the government intentionally helped sell to the Mexican cartels in a weapons trafficking program
known as Operation Fast and Furious. The revelation comes just days after a huge shake-up
of government officials who oversaw the failed anti-gun trafficking program and Congress renewed
its demand for more answers.
Five
Gunwalker Questions the Media Won't Ask, and the Obama Administration Won't Answer. In
the months since the scandal was revealed, the Department of Justice (DOJ), BATF, Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Internal Revenue Service Criminal Division
(IRS-CD), Department of Homeland Security, and Department of State, have conspired to stonewall and
House and Senate investigations that have been launched to investigate a scandal that appears to be
worse than Iran-Contra and Watergate combined.
Fast
& Furious scandal may have its first cover-up. Evidence has emerged that
suggests a cover-up of the Fast & Furious scandal involving the Department of
Justice — specifically the recently-departed US Attorney in Phoenix. Fox News has
been almost the only major outlet following the story, but that may change given the disclosures
coming to the surface as Sen Grassley and Rep. Issa press their investigation.
Scapegoats:
ATF
chief who oversaw Operation Fast and Furious to step down. Kenneth E. Melson, who
has faced heavy criticism in connection with the controversial Fast and Furious gun-trafficking
investigation, announced Tuesday [8/30/2011] that he is stepping down as acting director of the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Also resigning is Dennis Burke, the U.S.
attorney in Phoenix whose office oversaw the Fast and Furious program, in which ATF agents purposely
allowed weapons to be illegally purchased in the hope of catching Mexican drug cartel leaders.
Issa to DOJ: We've
been Gamed. The Justice Department's recent staff reshuffling can be seen as a result of
the criticism of the botched gun tracking operation known as Fast and Furious, but it is unlikely to
get the operation out of Congress' crosshairs anytime soon.
White House
received emails about Fast and Furious. Three national security officials were given some details
about the operation. But an administration official says the emails do not prove that anyone in the White
House was aware of the covert tactics of the program.
ATF Gunwalker: Who at the White House
knew? CBS News has obtained a series of emails that show the White House had more information on
ATF's controversial Fast and Furious operation than previously disclosed. But administration officials
insists [sic] nobody at the White House knew specifically that ATF was allowing guns to "walk" into the hands
of suspected gun traffickers for Mexican drug cartels.
It's time for the administration to come clean,
under oath, and face the consequences for its actions.
Gunwalker Explodes into the
Heartland. If the reassignment of ATF officials in recent weeks and the abrupt resignation of
U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke were attempts by the Department of Justice and the Obama administration to cover up
the Gunwalker scandal, they have failed, miserably. Now they are saddled by yet another claim of retaliation
against a whistleblower and new revelations that gunwalking was far more lethal and widespread that originally
thought.
Gunwalker: Details of Coverup
Revealed. Emails reveal attempts to hide that Gunwalker guns were present at Brian Terry's
murder — within hours of Terry's death.
Three Fall Guys Won't Make Fast and Furious Go
Away. After 2,500 guns were bought with illegal intent, transferred to various criminals of one
type or another, and used to kill well over 1,100 people to date, the Department of Justice announces that they're
going to deal firmly with three people who were involved in the operation by reassigning them and/or accepting
their resignations.
Holder
Denies Prior Knowledge of 'Fast and Furious'. The head of the U.S. Justice Department launched
his strongest personal defense yet in the growing furor over Operation Fast and Furious, the controversial
sting targeting Mexican drug cartels and American gunrunners. On Wednesday [9/7/2011], Attorney
General Eric Holder said for the first time that not only he but also other higher-ups at the Justice
Department were not aware of the operation as it was being carried out.
A
White House 'Gunrunner'? Operation Gunwalker, the rogue ATF operation to arm Mexico's cartels,
extends now to three White House officials. A bell goes off with the one named Dan Restrepo.
Late last Friday [9/2/2011], CBS News and the Los Angeles Times almost buried the news that Restrepo, the
National Security Council's top man for Latin America, and two other officials, were in on ATF memos
from the Gunwalker operation called "Fast and Furious."
Third
Gun Linked to 'Fast and Furious' Identified. A third gun linked to "Operation Fast and
Furious" was found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, new documents obtained
exclusively by Fox News suggest, contradicting earlier assertions by federal agencies that police
found only two weapons tied to the federal government's now infamous gun interdiction scandal.
FBI
Hid Weapon, Tax Dollars Subsidized Murder. Fox News investigative reporter William
Lajeunesse dropped a pair of bombshells in one article Friday afternoon [9/9/2011], revealing: the
presence of a third "walked" gun at the scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's murder, an FBI cover-up
of the gun, and the news that your tax dollars funded cartel weapons purchases.
ATF
Mexico gun scandal far from over. A smoldering scandal is stalking the administration
of U.S. President Barack Obama despite it being temporary obscured by budget battles and unemployment
figures. It's called Operation Fast and Furious, a botched gun-running sting along the Mexican
border by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives that went decidedly wrong.
ATF investigation expands to
White House staffers. Today [9/9/2011], the Congressional investigation into ATF's Fast
and Furious scandal officially expanded to include White House staffers. In a letter to
President Obama's National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles
Grassley (R-Iowa) asked for records involving three current and former White House staffers.
Issa doubts Eric Holder 'didn't know' about Fast and Furious.
House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa went after Attorney General Eric Holder on national
conservative radio host Laura Ingraham's show Monday morning [9/12/2011]. Issa said even if Holder really
didn't know about Operation Fast and Furious, he should've. "We have a paper trail of so many people knowing
that the only way the attorney general didn't know is he made sure he didn't want to know," Issa said.
"But if you don't want to know something of this sort then you shouldn't have the job he has. And
ultimately one of the questions is, if he didn't know, is he that inept that he is dangerous to have as
the attorney general, and that is for the president to decide."
"Fast and Furious" Corpses Pile Up.
The New York Times had better get some more ridiculous hit pieces cooked up against House
Oversight chairman Darrell Issa, because some more dead bodies have turned up in connection with
the Obama Administration's plan to push American guns into Mexico.
Today's
Special: Rocket Launchers. Let's review: When we first learned about Fast and Furious, the
news was that a number of assault rifles had been sold to straw purchasers. Soon, we learned that the
number was approximately 2,500 and that some of those were .50 caliber sniper rifles. Then we
learned that somewhere between 1,200 and 1,300 of the weapons were unaccounted for, and that the ATF had
allowed another upstanding gentleman to walk grenade components into Mexico (I guess he ended up in Mexico:
no one knows because the ATF lost him). And finally, we're learning that just a few days ago, on our
side of the border, U.S. Border Patrol Agents found rocket and grenade launchers, assault rifles, and
C4 explosives.
Three more murders linked to Gunwalker.
Weapons linked to ATF's controversial "Fast and Furious" operation have been tied to at least eight violent
crimes in Mexico including three murders, four kidnappings and an attempted homicide. According to a
letter from U.S. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley
(R-Iowa), the disclosed incidents may be only a partial list of violent crimes linked to Fast and Furious
weapons because "ATF has not conducted a comprehensive independent investigation."
Fast and
Furious? More Like 'Dumb and Dumberer'. The idea that we would conduct a "reverse-sting"
operation and intentionally allow weapons to fall into the hands of criminals and drug cartels is mind
numbing. The one and only, guaranteed-to-happen outcome — that these weapons actually would
be used to commit crimes — to kill people — had to have been known in advance. That
fact alone is a crime.
Alcohol,
Tobacco And Murder. Weapons linked to ATF's "Fast and Furious" operation have been tied to at least
eight violent crimes in Mexico, including three murders and four kidnappings. At least Solyndra doesn't
have a body count.
Secret recordings raise new questions
in ATF 'Gunwalker' operation. CBS News has obtained secretly recorded conversations that raise
questions as to whether some evidence is being withheld in the murder of a Border Patrol agent. The
tapes were recorded approximately mid-March 2011 by the primary gun dealer cooperating with ATF in its "Fast
and Furious" operation.
Audio
Tapes Reveal More Details in 'Fast and Furious' Gunrunner Scandal. The inspector general of the
Department of Justice undermined and obstructed a congressional investigation by releasing secret tape
recordings that corroborate allegations of misconduct in "Operation Fast and Furious," according to a letter
written by Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley.
Attorney
General in Mexico: 200 Murders Result of Operation Fast and Furious. At least. In a
conference call this morning with Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa, reporters were told
the Attorney General in Mexico has confirmed at least 200 murders south of the border happened as a result
of Operation Fast and Furious. "I would be remiss if I didn't mention, as the Attorney General in Mexico
is so concerned, she's made the point that at least 200 Mexicans have been killed with these weapons and
probably countless more," Issa said.
Lawmakers
Claim Justice Inspector Obstructed Probe Into 'Fast and Furious'. The inspector general of the
Department of Justice undermined and obstructed a congressional investigation by releasing secret tape
recordings that corroborate allegations of misconduct in "Operation Fast and Furious," according to a
letter written by Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley.
ATF Gun Dealer Calls Murdered
Patrolman "Collateral Damage". ABC News published more bombshell audio recordings of
conversations between a gun dealer and an ATF agent, who were both intimately involved in the Fast
and Furious gunrunner scandal. The latest audio appears to reveal dealer Andre Howard and ATF agent
Hope McAllister discussing the murder of border patrol agent Brian Terry as "collateral damage".
Gunwalker's
Body Count Grows, Along with the Obama Administration's Cover-Up. [Scroll down] The White
House has thus far refused to divulge any of the documentation the congressional investigators have asked for,
and the administration's political appointees are stymieing all attempts to get information out of the Justice
Department, Homeland Security, and other involved agencies. Rep. Issa seemed quite aware that his goal
of resolving the congressional investigation in 2011 was going to be obstructed by an administration in full
cover-up mode.
Holder's
hell week. Hatched somewhere in the bowels of the Justice Department, that misbegotten scheme
had the Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives deliberately allowing high-powered guns to
"walk" from Arizona and elsewhere into Mexico: Our agents turned a blind eye toward the straw purchasers
who were funneling the weapons to the drug cartels.
U.S.
Government Bought and Sold Weapons During 'Fast and Furious,' Documents Show. Not only did U.S.
officials approve, allow and assist in the sale of more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa cartel — the
federal government used taxpayer money to buy semi-automatic weapons, sold them to criminals and then watched
as the guns disappeared. This disclosure, revealed in documents obtained by Fox News, could undermine the
Department of Justice's previous defense that Operation Fast and Furious was a "botched" operation where
agents simply "lost track" of weapons as they were transferred from one illegal buyer to another.
Republicans
Step Up Pressure on Holder. The new inquiry comes from Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the ranking
Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. Despite recent personnel changes at the Justice Department,
Smith told Holder in a letter Friday [9/23/2011] the department cannot "pin this scandal on a few individuals
and expect it to be forgotten."
Fast
and Furious: Using Humans as Collateral Damage. "The only thing I have ever asked is to put all
the cards on the table. Tell the truth," ATF whistleblower Vince Cefalu said. Cefalu was heavily
involved in Operation Fast and Furious and has been an ATF agent for over 20 years. He has watched
the bureau become a political entity rather than fulfilling its obligations as a law enforcement agency.
"We should not concern ourselves with any administration's agenda," Cefalu said. "It [Operation Fast and
Furious] defies logic, common sense, it defies our core beliefs, our training and our experience as ATF
agents."
Fast and Furious: Justice's
obstruction. The inherently suspect nature of the Justice Department's internal Operation Fast
and Furious probe is magnified by Justice's acting inspector general giving pertinent audio recordings to potential
witnesses. ... On the tapes, the ATF case agent and a federal firearms licensee discuss obstructing the
independent inquiry led by House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa and
Sen. Charles Grassley, senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Tucson
town hall over Fast and Furious. It was a botched operation that sent more than 2,000 guns
into the hands of Mexican cartel members. There are still many questions about the federal gun-running
investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious, but Monday night [9/26/2011] there were some answers.
The Tucson Tea Party hosted a town hall meeting at CDO High School Monday night [9/216/2011] in an attempt to
get the facts straight about the under cover operation that essentially armed the Mexican cartels.
Gunrunner: Cash For
Cartels. New documents reveal the Department of Justice lied to Congress and show how
U.S. officials bought guns with tax dollars and then made sure no one stopped their transfer to
Mexican drug cartels.
Mexican
attorney general demands explanation on Operation Fast and Furious. Mexico's attorney
general is demanding an explanation from the United States as evidence grows the Obama administration
was more deeply involved in Operation Fast and Furious than top officials admitted in previous statements.
Unanswered
Questions Haunt Family in 'Fast and Furious' Case. On December 15, 2010, Brian Terry was
murdered. Brian was a BORTAC Border Patrol Agent, considered among the most dedicated and trained.
Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) are conducting an investigation to find
out those involved, the facts behind this operation, and the cover-up that has ensued. American Thinker
interviewed Brian Terry's stepmother as well as participated in a conference call conducted by Congressman
Issa about this case.
Does Fast and
Furious Put Impeachment on The Table? [The Iran-Contra scandal pales by comparison to the
so-called Fast and Furious scandal now bubbling in Washington, D.C. In fall 2009, Eric Holder and the
Department of Justice decided on a strategy supposedly designed to combat gun trafficking on the Mexican
border. They didn't want the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to seize illegal
firearms anymore; instead, they wanted them to give firearms to members of the Mexican cartels.
"Fast
And Furious" Just Might Be President Obama's Watergate. Why a gunrunning scandal codenamed "Fast
and Furious," a program run secretly by the U.S. government that sent thousands of firearms over an international
border and directly into the hands of criminals, hasn't been pursued by an army of reporters all trying to be
the next Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein is a story in itself. But the state of modern journalism aside,
this scandal is so inflammatory few realize that official records show the current director of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), B. Todd Jones ... also has questions to answer about his
involvement in this gunrunning scandal.
New Fast and Furious docs released by
White House. Late Friday [9/30/2011], the White House turned over new documents in the Congressional
investigation into the ATF "Fast and Furious" gunwalking scandal. The documents show extensive communications
between then-ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office Bill Newell — who led Fast and Furious —
and then-White House National Security Staffer Kevin O'Reilly. Emails indicate the two also spoke on the
phone.
DOJ
Considering Elimination of ATF. Multiple sources, including sources from ATF, DOJ and Congressional
offices have said there is a white paper circulating within the Department of Justice, outlining the essential
elimination of ATF. According to sources, the paper outlines the firing of at least 450 ATF agents
in an effort to conduct damage control as Operation Fast and Furious gets uglier and as election
day 2012 gets closer.
White
House sends Hill Fast & Furious docs, but withholds some. The White House sent another
installment of documents to Congress on Friday detailing White House staffers' knowledge about the
controversial "Operation Fast & Furious" gunrunning probe run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms & Explosives. However, the chief counsel to President Barack Obama, Kathryn Ruemmler,
indicated that the White House was withholding an unspecified number of internal e-mails exchanged among
three National Security Staff aides.
More examples
of Friday night document dumps.
Documents
Suggest Holder Knew About 'Fast and Furious' Earlier Than He Claimed. For the first time,
documents appear to show Attorney General Eric Holder was made aware of the Operation Fast and Furious earlier
than he claimed — up to nine months earlier. The documents seem to contradict what Holder
told a House Judiciary Committee on May 3, when he said he could not recall the exact date, but he'd
"probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks."
Eric
Holder Briefed Nearly a Year Before Previously Admitted. [Scroll down] Remember, up to
this point, Operation Fast and Furious has been sold to the public by the Obama Justice Department as a rogue
operation carried out by a few low level ATF agents. Not the case. ... Justice Department and ATF
officials have denied deliberatly allowing guns to be trafficked back to Mexico, yet a map revealed in the
Friday night document dump from the White House proves otherwise and shows the exact path of guns going to
different destinations in Mexico.
White
House staffer was informed about gun probe. Documents detailing discussions between a Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agent and a White House National Security staffer concerning
Operation Fast and Furious have been made public by the Obama administration, but reveal no new information
about what top White House officials knew about the controversial investigation.
Fast and felonious.
The "Fast and Furious" gunrunning probe is creeping closer to the Obama White House. It appears administration
officials were willing to sign off on just about anything to accomplish their ends, and the result of this
botched operation has has been over a hundred dead. Someone needs to be held accountable.
New documents show Attorney General
Eric Holder was briefed in July 2010. New documents obtained by CBS News show Attorney General
Eric Holder was sent briefings on the controversial Fast and Furious operation as far back as July 2010.
That directly contradicts his statement to Congress. On May 3, 2011, Holder told a Judiciary
Committee hearing, "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the
first time over the last few weeks."
Doc
Dump: White House Knew. Friday's release of documents shows the extent of White House contact with
the ATF over Operation Fast and Furious. Included is a map showing where the guns went in Mexico —
enough weapons for a Marine unit.
More
about Friday night document dumps.
White
House maintains senior officials didn't know ATF was 'letting guns walk'. Late on Friday
[9/30/2011] the Obama White House disclosed a new avalanche of documents related to Operation Fast and Furious,
in response to demands from Congressional investigators. The documents show how often and how extensively
Bill Newell, the lead Fast and Furious agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
communicated with senior Obama administration National Security official Kevin O'Reilly.
Furiously
unraveling. The joke goes that anything named "Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms" ought to be a convenience
store instead of an arm of the federal government, but what's going on in Washington these days with the embattled
agency is no laughing matter.
Indict Eric Holder.
A major-league pitcher was indicted for lying to Congress about steroid use. Administration memos show
Eric Holder lied about what he knew about Fast and Furious and when he knew it. What's the difference?
GOP
Says Eric Holder is 'Either Incompetent' or 'Misleading Congress'. Twice in 2010, Attorney
General Eric Holder received memos referencing the Fast and Furious program, memos that seemingly undermine
the letter of his May 3, 2010 testimony that he heard about the Fast and Furious program over the
previous few weeks. Justice Department officials acknowledge that the memos to Holder reference
Fast and Furious as an operation — but they argue the memos do not include details about
tactics that allowed guns to cross the border.
Holder 'less than candid,' misled in Fast and Furious testimony.
Utah Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz told The Daily Caller on Tuesday [10/4/2011] that he believes
Attorney General Eric Holder misled him and the rest of the House judiciary committee during his May 3
testimony. Chaffetz questions how honest Holder has been throughout congressional inquiries into
Operation Fast and Furious. And now the House Judiciary Committee chairman has called for the
appointment of a special counsel to investigate.
House
Republicans to Request Special Counsel to Probe Holder on 'Fast and Furious'. House Republicans
are calling for a special counsel to determine whether Attorney General Eric Holder misled Congress during
his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Operation Fast and Furious, Fox News has learned.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, was sending a letter to President Obama on Tuesday
[10/4/2011] arguing that Holder cannot investigate himself, and requesting the president instruct the
Department of Justice to appoint a special counsel.
Memo:
Holder told of 'Fast and Furious' as early as July 2010. Newly obtained Justice Department memos
show that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. was told about the controversial "Fast and Furious" weapons
investigation as early as July 2010, apparently contradicting testimony he gave before a House committee in
May saying he learned of the operation just weeks earlier.
Holder
backpedals on Fast & Furious. Attorney General Eric Holder's furious backpedaling —
he is now claiming that he might have known about the Fast & Furious gun-running scandal last year, but didn't
hear any of the details — is entertaining to watch, even if the subject is deadly serious.
CBS
News Reporter Says White House Screamed, Swore at Her. The latest development centers around
whether or not Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about having knowledge of the controversial gun
trafficking operation. ... What's more, CBS News investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson — who's
been covering the scandal from the beginning — says in an interview on the Laura Ingraham Show
today that [two people at] the White House and Justice Department have taken to screaming at her for
reporting on the story.
White
House very nervous about coverage of Fast and Furious. This has become an extremely sensitive
issue at the White House and for good reason; Holder may have been caught in a lie in his testimony before
Congress. Note: Congressional perjury usually sends the transgressor to jail.
Holder's
Dubious History. House Republicans are now calling for a special counsel to investigate whether
Attorney General Eric Holder perjured himself in congressional testimony about the scandalous Fast &
Furious program. Specifically, the attorney general claimed on May 3 that he had only "over the
last few weeks" heard about the [program]. Contrary to Holder's testimony, it is now being reported
that he had actually been receiving briefings on the program since early summer 2010.
Pejury
Charges Coming for Eric Holder on Fast and Furious? Appearing on Fox & Friends on October 4,
[Rep. Darrell] Issa was asked to respond to the DOJ's contention that Holder "misunderstood" his question.
Issa said that's typically what someone claims when they have "probably perjured themselves" rather than admitting
"I lied." Undoubtedly, Congress will again summon Holder to face additional questions.
But, the bigger issue is why Barack Obama hasn't fired his Attorney General?
'Furious'
mess has Justice in full panic. [Scroll down] On top of stonewalling Rep. Darrell Issa's House
investigation of the mess, Justice has floated a series of contradictory excuses:
* There was no such program.
* Even if there weres, Holder never knew about it.
* Even if he should have known about it, he might not have read Breuer's memos.
* Even if he read Breuer's memos, he misunderstood the simple question: "When did you first know
about the program, officially, I believe, called Fast and Furious?"
This is an original
compilation, Copyright © 2024 by Andrew K. Dart
Fast and Furious: Let
It Bleed. We don't want a Special Prosecutor, operating in secret. We want a media
firestorm. ... Let it bleed — all over the front pages, PC's, Blackberries and plasma
TV's of America.
New
ATF chief reassigns top officials after Fast and Furious. The new acting director of the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Wednesday [10/5/2011] he was reassigning 11 of the
agency's top officials in a bid to rebuild ATF after Operation Fast and Furious, in which agents let U.S.-purchased
guns slip into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
White
House defends Holder amid Fast and Furious accusations. The White House defended Attorney General
Eric Holder on Wednesday [10/5/2011] in the face of a growing torrent of Republican criticism that he has not
been truthful about his knowledge of a botched gun-tracking operation. White House press secretary Jay
Carney said that Holder has been "consistent and truthful" about when he learned of the controversial tactics
used in Operation Fast and Furious, which oversaw the sale of thousands of firearms to known and suspected
straw buyers for Mexican drug cartels.
The Editor says...
In my opinion, both Eric Holder and Jay Carney should spend some quality time
with Woodrow Tripp.
Congressman:
Obama admin may be accessory to murder with 'Fast and Furious'. Republican Rep. Paul Gosar of
Arizona told The Daily Caller on Wednesday [10/5/2011] that Obama administration officials responsible for
Operation Fast and Furious might be accessories to murder. "We're talking about consequences of criminal
activity, where we actually allowed guns to walk into the hands of criminals, where our livelihoods are at risk,"
Gosar said in a phone interview. "When you facilitate that and a murder or a felony occurs, you're called
an accessory. That means that there's criminal activity."
Is
CBS News Silencing Fast and Furious Reporter? Yesterday [10/4/2011], CBS News investigative reporter
Sharyl Attkisson told radio show host Laura Ingraham that the White House yelled and swore at her over her
reporting on the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal tied to the deaths of two U.S. law enforcement agents.
Attkisson also revealed that she'd also been yelled at by the Justice Department. Today, I called CBS News
in an attempt to interview Attkisson. I was told by CBS News senior vice president of communications Sonya
McNair that Attkisson would be unavailable for interviews all week. When I asked why Attkisson would be
unavailable, McNair would not say.
Secret Fast and Furious Tapes Spring a Watergate-Sized
Leak. The recordings, which seem to have been made in March 2011, are of conversations between Andre
Howard, owner of Lone Wolf Trading Company in Glendale, Ariz., and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF) agent Hope McAllister. ... Judging from the tenor of these recordings, particularly the
consternation on the part of Howard, these excerpts may only scratch the surface of the immensity of the
crimes hidden behind the door marked Fast and Furious.
It's called stonewalling.
When Did
Obama Learn of 'Fast and Furious'? WH Isn't Saying. In the White House briefing on June 27,
CNSNews.com asked White House Press Secretary Jay Carney for the date that President Barack Obama first
learned about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' (ATF) botched gun-sting operation
known as "Fast and Furious." "I'll have to get back to you," said Carney. "I don't have an exact
date for you." CNSNews.com had initially asked Carney the question in a June 20 email, sent a week
before the briefing when Carney said he would have to "get back" with an exact date.
Darrell Issa to Eric Holder: Admit you knew.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is turning up the heat on Eric Holder, demanding the attorney general "come forward
and at least admit" he knew about Operation Fast and Furious long before he told Congress he learned about the
gun program.
Did
Obama Hope to Benefit from 'Fast and Furious'? Attorney General Eric Holder is in trouble.
The documents that strongly suggest he lied to Congress have been released to the public, and they came on the
heels of the secret Fast and Furious recordings that had already blown holes in parts of his Congressional testimony.
The
Administration's Expanding Scandals. When a presidency is experiencing a political collapse, as
is happening now, the last thing it needs is to face serious legal and ethical problems. But that is
precisely where the Obama administration finds itself with both the Solyndra story and the so-called Fast and
Furious program. It's clear that at a minimum, the Obama administration has given a misleading account of
both matters.
Did someone
mention Solyndra?
Holder
Appears To Be Fast, Furious, and Finished. News documents indicate that U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder more than likely perjured himself in congressional testimony about Operation Fast and Furious
earlier this year.
Justice
Department Accuses GOP of Playing 'Gotcha' With Fast and Furious Memos. The Justice Department
accused Republicans of playing a "political game of gotcha," after lawmakers investigating Operation Fast and
Furious said Attorney General Eric Holder received at least five memos on the gunrunning probe starting in
July 2010 in spite of testimony claiming he learned of the program this year.
Holder
received at least 5 memos on Fast & Furious. Attorney General Eric Holder received at least five
briefing memos about operation Fast and Furious, which runs contrary to what he told Congressional investigators
in sworn testimony. The memos were released today [10/6/2011] by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep.
Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
Fast becoming Furious. The
newswires are glowing white-hot with questions concerning what Eric Holder, Attorney General, knew about the
stupid and homicidal Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) program Fast and Furious. That program resulted
in U.S. law enforcement officers being killed with weapons the ATF allowed to be sold to drug cartel members.
Holder claims he knew nothing about the program. Documents show Holder was briefed on the conduct of
this idiocy and he was fully aware of its implications.
CBS's
Sharyl Attkisson fights coverup that killed Brian Terry. Fast and Furious has become a scandal
the Obama administration wishes would go away fast and furiously, and that Attorney General Eric Holder is
trying his best to sweep under the carpet. Sharyl Attkisson, an investigative journalist for CBS News,
has been digging into the "Fast and Furious scandal, following information provided to her by whistle-blowers
in January 2011. According to those at DoJ and within the Administration who wish she would just go away,
she is being unreasonable. Because she is asking questions. The wrong questions. The
questions no one wants asked.
White House Press Secretary Doesn't Think Reporters
are Tough Enough. Fox News' Ed Henry questioned White House press secretary Jay Carney about the
accusation from CBS New reporter Sharyl Attkisson that White House communications director Eric Schultz had screamed
and cussed at her on the phone as she tried to obtain answers on the Fast and Furious scandal, which she has
been investigating.
ATF
Officials Reassigned as Fast and Furious Continues to Derail. In the aftermath of the botched
gun-tracking operation along the Southwest border, called Fast and Furious, which allowed weapons from the
United States to pass into the hands of suspected gun smugglers and Mexican drug cartels, two top supervisors
at federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), headquarters have been reassigned.
Attorney General Eric Holder fires back on
Fast & Furious. Attorney General Eric Holder is denying charges that he misled Congress about
his knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious, and he's denouncing lawmakers for "political posturing" in their
strident criticism of the ill-fated gunrunning probe.
CBS
Reporter to O'Reilly: More to Come on 'Fast and Furious'. CBS's Sharyl Attkisson, the only Big Three
network reporter who's been regularly covering the "Fast and Furious" controversy, appeared on Thursday's [10/6/2011]
O'Reilly Factor, throwing cold water on an earlier report that she was "unavailable" for further interviews on
the story. Attkisson emphasized that there was a lot more to the issue than what has already reported,
but "we need to get more confirmation."
AZ Sheriffs call for independent
investigation of Gunwalking operation. Today [10/7/2011] ten Arizona Sheriffs demanded an
independent investigation of Fast and Furious, a government operation that allowed more than 2,000 guns to
cross the border into the hands of criminals in Mexico. In a news conference at the Arizona Peace
Officers Memorial in Phoenix, the sheriffs called the ATF operation "unconscionable".
Holder
Challenges 'Fast and Furious' Allegations. Attorney General Eric Holder, under new pressure from
Republicans over when he learned of "Operation Fast and Furious," has mounted his most forceful defense to date,
accusing critics of using "irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric" and insisting his statements have been "truthful
and accurate."
Fast and Furious
in a Rotten Nutshell. The Fast and Furious scandal has now become a large-scale criminal
investigation. It has enveloped several agencies, including the Justice Department; the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Drug Enforcement Administration;
the U.S. attorney's office in Arizona; and now even the White House. The fact that Eric Holder will likely
never appoint a special counsel makes it even more imperative that the office of the Justice Department
inspector general should be above reproach.
Holder Got 'At Least
Five Weekly Memos'. The thrusting and parrying between Obama administration officials, increasingly
inquisitive journalists, and congressional investigators is evolving at a dizzying pace, as the Gunwalker
conspiracy continues to unravel — to the horror of the executive branch. They have been reduced
to screaming hysterics and Chip Dilleresque appeals to "calm down" by one of the most dramatic scandals in
American political history.
Dems Abandoning Ship?
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has come under fire this week: evidence revealed he either ignored weekly
reports in the summer of 2010 that discussed Operation Fast and Furious, or he committed perjury when he
claimed he first found out about the program in early 2011. The former suggests incompetence, the later
criminality — either would be legitimate reasons to see him removed from office. Despite recent
developments, the Department of Justice is publicly pushing back in favor of their boss, even as a key source
claims career employees' morale is at an all time low and that "Stalinesque complete control" over internal
communications has been implemented to squelch leaks.
A smoking gun for 'Fast and Furious'.
The other shoe has dropped in the "Fast and Furious" gun-walking scandal, and it has landed on Eric Holder's
doorstep. Members of Congress are calling for his resignation, and the chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee has called for a special prosecutor to investigate the affair. Holder's resignation would be a
good start. But if there is anyone in Washington who doubts that the White House not only knew about the
illegal ATF project but was up to its elbows in it, that person must be in an hypnotic trance deep inside the
CNN Washington bureau.
Congressman
to Holder: Drop your 'rhetoric' and resign immediately. Rep. Paul Gosar jabbed back at Attorney
General Eric Holder after he swiped at him and other congressional Operation Fast and Furious investigators
in a late Friday letter. Gosar told The Daily Caller that "In Main Street America, you'd never get away
with" dissembling about the gun-walking program, and that in different circumstances, "the people who've been
responsible would've already been in jail." Gosar also added his name to the short but growing list of
those in Congress calling for the attorney general's immediate resignation.
Fast
and Furious fallout puts Holder on collision course with Congress. The fierce battle over a
botched gun-tracking operation is intensifying and has put Attorney General Eric Holder on a collision course
with his critics in Congress. Republicans are calling for his resignation in the wake of Fast and Furious,
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives operation that may have inadvertently contributed to
the death of at least one federal agent.
Holder hits
bottom - keeps digging. AG Eric Holder sounds all powerful in his latest attempt to wriggle out
of his role in the Fast and Furious operation, but hubris catches up to everybody. A smart lawyer would
never put into writing what he can't defend, but Holder did exactly that. After a week of aggressive
reporting by CBS' Sheryl Attkisson, the Attorney General tried defending himself in a letter to Congress.
Fast and
Furious weapons were found in Mexico cartel enforcer's home. High-powered assault weapons illegally
purchased under the ATF's Fast and Furious program in Phoenix ended up in a home belonging to the purported top
Sinaloa cartel enforcer in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, whose organization was terrorizing that city with the worst
violence in the Mexican drug wars. In all, 100 assault weapons acquired under Fast and Furious were
transported 350 miles from Phoenix to El Paso, making that West Texas city a central hub for gun
traffickers.
House
Committee to Subpoena Holder in 'Fast and Furious' Probe. The House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee is planning to subpoena Attorney General Eric Holder this week to determine who in the Justice
Department knew about "Operation Fast and Furious" — the plan to let thousands of guns sold in the
U.S. get into Mexican drug cartel hands — and when they knew it. The subpoena targeting
Holder aims to get at the heart of the authorization for the program, and when the people in charge decided
the program was a problem.
Congressman
Issa Announces New Subpoenas for Holder. Last week, Attorney General Eric Holder tried to stall
the momentum building behind the Fast and Furious investigation by submitting a letter to Senate and Congressional
investigators in which he continued to plead ignorance, and in which he did his best to undercut the progress of the
investigation to this point. In the letter, Holder actually had the gall to re-affirm his feigned ignorance
of Fast and Furious.
No
justice from Justice. Two things to know about Attorney General Eric Holder: He lied to
the American people — under oath, before Congress — and thus is unfit to investigate
allegations of criminal negligence in the Justice Department. This is why House Republicans have called
for a special prosecutor to investigate Holder for apparent perjury regarding his testimony on the
administration's "Fast and Furious" gun sting...
Impeach Eric Holder. Only the
House of Representatives can impeach, which is comparable to indictment. The official is then tried by
the Senate, where a two-thirds vote is required for conviction. The Constitution doesn't say what constitutes
"high crimes and misdemeanors," but perjury surely is among them. So is obstruction of justice.
"Gunwalking" subpoena for
AG Holder imminent. CBS News has learned a congressional subpoena directed to Attorney General
Eric Holder could go out as early as Tuesday [10/11/2011], ordering him to turn over documents to lawmakers
about when he was aware of a controversial gun smuggling operation known as Fast and Furious.
Attorney
general subpoenaed in probe of botched gun operation. U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder has been
subpoenaed by the Republican chairman of a House oversight committee, an escalation of the congressional
investigation into the botched "Fast and Furious" gun-tracking operation.
Holder documents
subpoenaed in probe. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which has been
investigating the Justice Department's "Fast and Furious" weapons probe for several months, issued a sweeping
subpoena Wednesday [10/12/2011] for documents involving key department officials, including Attorney General
Eric H. Holder Jr. and more than a dozen of his top deputies.
Gunwalker
is only the tip of a scandal iceberg. On Wednesday [10/12/2011], the House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee subpoenaed the Department of Justice. "Top Justice Department officials, including Attorney
General Holder, know more about Operation Fast and Furious than they have publicly acknowledged," committee
chairman Darrell E. Issa said. "The documents this subpoena demands will provide answers to questions
that Justice officials have tried to avoid since this investigation began eight months ago. It's time we know
the whole truth."
How
Did Obama Know About Fast and Furious Before Eric Holder? In [an] interview with [Elijah] Cummings,
King shows a clip of stumbling President Obama trying to explain who knew about Fast and Furious and when.
The problem? Obama gave the interview in March 2011 and Holder testified before Congress on May 2,
2011 that he had only known about Fast and Furious for a "few weeks."
In
Holder Subpoena, Issa Also Probes White House Press Aide. House Oversight and Government Reform
Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) made headlines this week by issuing a subpoena for documents from Attorney
General Eric Holder about a botched weapons investigation, but Holder is apparently not Issa's only target.
A little-noticed provision of the subpoena targets the White House, specifically naming Eric Schultz, a
communications aide who was hired in May to respond to media inquiries on oversight matters.
Obama
Spoke About "Fast & Furious" Before Holder Claimed He Knew. CNN's John King plays Holder's testimony
to Congress on MAY 3, 2011, where he said he had only just recently heard about the Fast & Furious
gunrunning program. "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the
first time over the last few weeks," Attorney General Eric Holder said. Then CNN compares Holder's
testimony to what President Obama said in MARCH to CNN Espanol about the operation.
Sen.
Grassley to ask for resignation of highest-level person who signed off on Fast and Furious. Iowa
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley ... told TheDC he thinks the congressional investigation into Operation Fast and
Furious will carry into next year. Seeing as 2012 is a presidential election year, Fast and Furious may
become a campaign issue for President Barack Obama. At least three members of Congress have directly
called for Holder's resignation. They are Reps. Paul Gosar, Raul Labrador and Blake Farenthold.
Alibis
Falling Apart. An old news tape shows that President Obama directly contradicted Attorney General
Eric Holder's testimony to Congress about when he knew of Operation Fast and Furious. How many times will the
story change?
Fast
and Furious an attempt at more gun control. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Rep. Darrell
Issa, R-Calif., have questioned whether the program served as a means for the administration to advance
furthering gun control in the U.S., an item high on the priority list of both President Obama and Attorney
General Eric Holder. We now know that Operation Fast and Furious (OFF) enabled law abiding gun shop
owners, with the assistance of ATF agents, to allow guns to fall into the hands of Mexican nationals and
then in turn to drug cartels. Then, the government had the temerity to blame the very same gun shops
for illegal gun trafficking. Now, those shops are being punished through new Justice Department gun
control measures.
Hypocrisy
and hope, credit and blame in the Gunwalker Scandal. [Scroll down] As evidence, ladies and gentlemen
of the jury of history, I present the undisputed fact that on the evening news shows of NBC, ABC and CBS
this week not one — NOT ONE — mentioned the unprecedented subpoena by a Congressional committee
of information regarding the entire top echelon of the Justice Department in the Gunwalker Scandal.
Had this scandal involved John Ashcroft and the Bush Administration, does anyone doubt that the story
would have led the nightly half-hour "puppet theater"?
More examples
of media bias in Obama's favor.
Issa's
Gunwalker Subpoena a Virtual Non-Story. On October 9, an unbylined Associated Press story
reported that Congressmen Darrell Issa "could send subpoenas to the Obama administration as soon as this
week over weapons lost amid the Mexican drug war." On Wednesday, October 12, Issa did just
that. ... It appears that only Fox News did cover the subpoena's issuance the day it occurred.
More examples
of suppressed news.
Issa to press FBI for
"gunwalking" info. The head of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa, said he plans
to send a letter to the FBI this week to ask about apparent discrepancies in the investigation of a murder
related to "Fast and Furious," the government's controversial "gunwalking" case.
Senate
Unanimously Passes Amendment Banning Funds for Fast and Furious-Style Programs. The U.S. Senate
unanimously voted in favor of an amendment Wednesday that guarantees zero funding for programs that include the
transfer of firearms to drug cartels unless law enforcement continuously monitors the weapons "at all times."
The amendment stemmed directly from Operation Fast and Furious, the controversial botched weapons program, and was
introduced by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.
House
Republicans ask Obama for information on Fast and Furious. Two House Republicans asked President
Obama today to tell them who authorized the botched gun-trafficking operation known as Operation Fast and Furious.
Shortly after public controversy over the operation started, President Obama told an Univision interview in March
that neither he nor Attorney General Eric Holder authorized it. That interview was almost a month before the
time period Holder claimed under oath to have found out about the operation.
GOP reps directly
press Obama on Fast and Furious. Republican Reps. Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Trey Gowdy of South
Carolina fired off a letter to Barack Obama last Friday demanding to know what the president knew about Operation
Fast and Furious and when he knew it. Chaffetz and Gowdy outlined inconsistencies between Obama's public
comments about the controversial gun-walking program and Attorney General Eric Holder's May 3 testimony before
the House Judiciary Committee. At the Judiciary hearing, Holder said he had only learned of Operation Fast
and Furious a few weeks earlier.
Top
oversight Democrat mum on joining GOP effort to have Holder testify again. House oversight committee
ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings hasn't officially followed up on his public calls for Attorney General Eric
Holder to testify before the committee on Operation Fast and Furious. "I think that, John, he has to come up
[to Capitol Hill] and say what he has said in his letters, and make it clear under oath," Cummings told CNN's John
King on October 12. "But at the same time, I want to make sure we are not harming any pending cases,
we are not putting FBI informants in jeopardy."
Where is the outrage
over Fast and Furious? It seems that for the magnitude of the Fast and Furious scandal, there isn't
much outrage. Arizonans don't need me to tell them that Fast and Furious is a big story. This scandal
started in our backyard — in the ATF's Phoenix office — and was administered by a U.S.
attorney appointed by President Obama. Every step of this operation seems riddled with incompetence and
dishonesty.
ATF
Ignored Death Threats, Tried to Frame Whistleblower Agent to Cover Corruption. [William] Newell
was the brainchild of Operation Fast and Furious in the ATF Phoenix Field office. Newell is also the agent
who was in regular contact with a member of the White House national security team, Kevin O'Reilly, about the
lethal program. Newell also said he would conduct Operation Fast and Furious again, despite two Americans
and hundreds of innocent Mexicans dead as a result of the program. Newell used [Jay] Dobyns as a test run,
to see just how much he could get away with in his management position within ATF before getting reprimanded.
Considering nobody was held accountable for the mistakes made in handling death threats against Dobyns, Newell
knew he had the green light to do whatever he wanted, at the highest levels of corruption.
Congress tells FBI: clarify evidence
in Brian Terry murder. In a lengthy letter directed to FBI Director Robert Mueller, Sen. Charles
Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) pointed to inconsistencies in reports of how many weapons and
suspects were involved, as well as their current whereabouts. The letter refers to evidence indicating
there may have been five suspects in the group that shot Brian Terry, and as many as five rifles.
As
Issa Closes in on FBI Role in Gunwalker, Dems Feign Outrage. As the cover-up unravels, the
Justice Department and a Democrat congressman play "shoot the messenger."
IG Schnedar's investigation:
Gunwalker's "Little Bighorn?" In recent comments by Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano,
and repeated comments from President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, it has become apparent that
the last, perhaps only defensive card the Administration has to play is to invoke the investigation into the
gun-walking scheme being run by acting DOJ Inspector General Cynthia A. Schendar. By claiming that
they do not want to talk because of the on-going OIG investigation, the President and appointees buy themselves
both time and a plausible reason to avoid making comments that may come back to haunt them in the event of
impeachment or a criminal trial.
Holder's toast, is the media far
behind? I'm still amazed at the war of containment being fought by the mainstream media in a rearguard
action for the current Administration. Only Sharyl Attkission of CBS News, William LaJeunesse of Fox News,
and Richard Serrano of the Los Angeles Times have been covering this story diligently, while the Washington Post's
plagiarist Sari Horwitz and NY Times' disgraceful Eric Lichtblau carry out unsourced and inaccurate character
assassinations on behalf of the Administration that even the left wing bloggers wouldn't run. The various
plots that make up Gunwalker (Fast and Furious, Wide Receiver, other unnamed operations mentioned in newly
released documents) are evidence of the most explosive and deadly scandal in U.S. political history.
High Crimes. A reasonable person,
such as you or I, would probably say that involvement in acts that resulted in murder constitutes a high crime.
It would certainly become one, if the perpetrators went on to lie and cover up their involvement. It has
become quite clear that Attorney General Eric Holder, perhaps Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and highly likely,
their boss, Usurper Barak Hussein Obama-Soetoro, were involved in just such a crime and cover-up with Project
Gunrunner and Fast and Furious.
Top 10 Bad Signs for Obama: [#2]
Fast and Furious: The gunrunning saga is playing out as a classic Washington scandal that keeps getting
bigger as "who-knew-what-when" is unraveled. With pit bull Rep. Darrell Issa putting Eric Holder on the
hot seat, and possible tentacles into the White House, expect this one to heat up during the President's
reelection campaign.
Cornyn
urging wider probe of 'Fast and Furious'. Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican and a member
of the Senate Judiciary Committee, asked Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. Darrell E. Issa on Monday [10/24/2011]
to expand their formal "Fast and Furious" investigation to include accusations that similar gunrunning probes
took place in Texas. Mr. Cornyn said he asked U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in
August to address the "scope and details of any past or present ATF gun-walking programs" in his home
state, but never got a response.
Rep. Joe Walsh to Eric Holder: "Resign immediately and take
responsibility" for F&F. Illinois Republican Rep. Joe Walsh joined the small but
growing choir of members of Congress calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to resign over Operation
Fast and Furious. Walsh is the fourth member of Congress to make the call for Holder to resign.
Republican Reps. Raul Labrador of Idaho, Blake Farenthold of Texas and Paul Gosar of Arizona have each
publicly asked Holder to step aside as well. Walsh made the demand in a letter he sent Holder on
Wednesday.
Janet
Napolitano Still Giving Non-Answers on Operation Fast and Furious. Earlier today [10/26/2011]
House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa grilled Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Capitol
Hill about Operation Fast and Furious. Not surprisingly, Napolitano still gave non-answers to specific
questions asked by Issa about the lethal program, what she knew, when she knew it, if she was outraged about
the program and more.
Napolitano
queried on lack of Fast and Furious probe. Congressional Republicans are trying to expand
the scope of questions over the disastrous ATF gun-sting operation "Fast and Furious" to Homeland Security
Secretary Janet A. Napolitano, asking her why she never investigated even after suspected guns showed
up at the scene of a dead U.S. Border Patrol agent.
Napolitano
Grilled Over 'Fast and Furious,' Likens Hearing to Cross Examination. Napolitano, at one point
likening the questioning to a cross-examination, said repeatedly she only learned of "Fast and Furious" after
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in December. She emphasized the operation, conceived and run
by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, "was an ATF operation," under the auspices of the
Justice Department, not her department. ... Napolitano said she has never spoken with Attorney General Eric
Holder about "Fast and Furious," a revelation Republicans strongly criticized.
Reaching the Unreachable Man. A
key figure in the Operation Fast and Furious scandal is White House staffer Kevin O'Reilly, who was an old
friend of Phoenix ATF Special Agent in Charge Bill Newell. Newell and O'Reilly discussed Mexican gun
running in what Newell falsely characterized as an isolated exchange of emails... until one of those epic
Obama Administration Friday night document dumps revealed much more extensive communications between the two.
Will "Fast and Furious"
Topple Obama and Holder? As much as the media have tried shielding the Obama administration
from responsibility for corruption and malfeasance, the combined weight of the fallout from the Solyndra
fiasco and the Operation Fast and Furious scandal have begun taking a serious toll on the administration. ... The
usual truism is that many politicians make the mistake of not coming completely clean when allegations of
wrongdoing surface. The cover-up, it is said, is often worse than the underlying crime or ethical
violation. ... But in some cases, the crime, or lapse in judgment, is definitely worse than the cover-up.
That appears to be the case in the simmering scandal engulfing the Obama administration that the mainstream media
have tried their best to ignore for many months?the above mentioned Operation Fast and Furious.
Hillary
Clinton: 'No Evidence' DOJ Sought Required License to Send Guns to Mexico. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton testified in the House Foreign Relations Committee Thursday [10/27/2011] that there was "no
record" that the Justice Department had given the State Department a "head up" about Operation Fast and Furious,
in which guns were allowed to flow from the United States to drug traffickers in Mexico, and that the State
Department had found "no evidence" that DOJ had applied for a license or waiver to send guns to a foreign
country, which a member of the committee told her would have been required under U.S. law.
Perjury
Charges Coming for Eric Holder? The response from the Obama Justice Department is typical of the
response we've been getting since the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious started. Holder
should be dragged before Congress to "clarify" his remarks and to explain why memos about Fast and Furious
dated as far back as July 2010 were addressed directly to him. Afterall, according to Holder's own
testimony, he had only been briefed on the program just a "few weeks" prior to testimony in May.
Let the hearings begin.
Eric
Holder to testify on Fast and Furious. CBS News has learned Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed
to appear before the House Judiciary Committee regarding "Fast and Furious." The hearing will take place
Dec. 8th.
One Pivotal Week
For Fast and Furious. The heroic online journalists at sites like Sipsey Street Irregulars,
PajamasMedia, and Townhall have worked for months uncovering facts leading to the foul murders of federal
agents and Mexican citizens. During the week leading up to Halloween, certain signs appeared suggesting
that their diligent work is beginning to yield some interesting fruit.
Holder
dumps new Fast and Furious docs as 11 more congressmen call for his resignation. The Obama
administration appears to be attempting to defend Attorney General Eric Holder as the Justice Department dumped
more than 650 pages worth of Operation Fast and Furious documents on congressional investigators late Monday
[10/31/2011]. There are two reasons why the timing of this release is significant: first, 28 members
of Congress are currently calling on Holder to resign immediately. Second, Assistant Attorney General Lanny
Breuer is testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday — and this appears to be an attempt
to divert pressure for Fast and Furious away from Holder.
DOJ
official knew of ATF "gunwalking" in April 2010. There is new information about how much the Department
of Justice new about the controversial ATF tactic of letting guns "walk" into the hands of criminals. Gunwalking
is a controversial investigative tactic in which police allow suspects to traffic guns without stopping them in order
to see where they end up. Documents just released this afternoon show the head of the Justice Department's
criminal division, Lanny A. Breuer, learned about the tactic of ATF gunwalking as early as April of last year.
Top
Justice Dept. Official Admits 'Mistake' in Ignoring ATF's 'Unacceptable Tactics'. Hundreds of
documents released Monday [10/31/2011] by the Justice Department show that a high-ranking Obama administration
official not only knew about the ATF's botched "gun-walking" operation, he allowed it to continue "without
asking key questions," as Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) put it. Grassley, the ranking member of
the Senate Judiciary Committee, is among those investigating Operation Fast and Furious.
Sen.
Feinstein: Lax gun control is real 'problem' with Fast and Furious. Democratic California Sen.
Dianne Feinstein told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing that lax gun control laws, not Obama administration
malfeasance within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATF), was the real problem uncovered
by Operation Fast and Furious.
For
Sen. Feinstein, Gunwalker Still an Excuse to Push Gun Control. She uses a Gunwalker hearing
to deflect attention from federal criminal activity onto the law-abiding citizen. And she gets her
gun facts comically wrong.
Eric Holder has a
gun problem. As the chief law enforcement officer Attorney General Eric Holder came out swinging
in the first months of the Obama administration as he pushed to reinstate the assault weapons ban, pointing to
the rising levels of violence in Mexico and increased presence of U.S. guns south of the border. But
nearly two years later assault weapons can still be bought and Holder has found himself at the center of a
quagmire involving a botched gun-tracking operation that sent thousands of high-powered firearms to Mexico in
the hands of known or suspected straw buyers for drug cartels.
Holder to
face gun-walking music at Senate hearing. Attorney General Eric Holder will testify before the
Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning [11/8/2011], and he's likely to face a barrage of tough questions
from senators about Operation Fast and Furious.
Holder
to accuse investigators of playing Fast and Furious politics, call for gun control. Holder's
prepared testimony does not discuss his May 3 testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, an appearance during
which investigators say he either lied, intentionally misled Congress or exhibited outright incompetence when
answering questions about when he first learned about the failed gun-walking program.
Holder:
No apology for 'Fast and Furious' death of border patrol agent. During a Tuesday Senate hearing,
Attorney General Eric Holder refused to apologize to the family of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was
murdered last December with a gun "walked" to Mexico as part of Operation Fast and Furious. Texas Republican
Sen. John Cornyn asked Holder if he has apologized to Terry's family for what happened to him because of the DOJ's
controversial program. Holder replied that he hasn't.
Holder
concedes ATF let guns "walk" to Mexico. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder conceded this morning
[11/8/2011] that under his leadership, agents allowed guns to "walk" into Mexico, where they ended up in the
hands of drug lords, and he said that the effects of this mistake would be felt for years to come.
Tough Questions
for AG Holder on ATF/DOJ Mass Murder Catastrophe. Border patrol Agent Brian Terry's death on
December 14, 2010 is part and parcel of an ATF/DOJ mass murder catastrophe. Big media has so far chosen
to ignore the fiasco and the cover-up. ... Holder should leave the hot seat sweating like a real suspect.
Holder
'Regrets' Death Of Border Patrol Agent, Stands By Response In Aftermath. Attorney General Eric
Holder said Tuesday that he has not spoken with the family of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was killed
in December by a group of assailants using at least two weapons tied to "Operation Fast and Furious," but he
"certainly regrets" what happened.
Holder
Thumbs His Nose at Brian Terry's Family, Says We Need More Gun Control. Holder must be prosecuted.
When he appears before the House committee next month Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) should wait till the cameras
are rolling then have Holder handcuffed and frog marched out of the hearing for his ongoing contempt of the Senate,
the House, and the people of the United States.
Holder
Says 'Not Fair' to Assume Fast and Furious 'Directly' Led to Border Agent's Death. Attorney General
Eric Holder declined the chance to apologize to the family of slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was
killed in December 2010 and where, at the crime scene, at least two of the firearms recovered were traced to
the Justice Department's botched gunwalking program, Operation Fast and Furious.
CCRKBA blasts Senate anti-gunners for shifting
blame on gun walking. Today's hearing on Operation Fast and Furious before the Senate Judiciary
Committee once again provided an opportunity for two leading Senate gun prohibitionists to try spreading the
blame for botched gun trafficking, and change the debate to arguments for more gun control, the Citizens Committee
for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said.
Former Ariz. US Attorney admits leaking memo smearing Fast and Furious
whistle-blower. Former Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, who resigned in August, admitted
late Tuesday [11/8/2011] that he leaked a document aimed at smearing Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives agent John Dodson, an Operation Fast and Furious whistle-blower.
Fast and
Furious Was Not Botched. The only thing botched about Operation Fast and Furious is that the
American public found out about it. Fast and Furious was carried out exactly as planned: allow straw
purchasers to transfer guns to cartels, let those guns get trafficked back to Mexico and see where
they end up. There was no plan to trace these guns and no plan to inform the Mexican
Government of the operation, either.
Holder Lies Again. Refusing to
apologize to the family of a border patrol killed by a gun "walked" into Mexico, the attorney general hides his
prior knowledge and blames Congress for not pushing gun control. Holder must reside in a parallel universe
with an alternate and quite flexible timeline. His recollection of what he knew and when he knew it must
depend on the meaning of "knew."
Murdered Border Patrol agent's family says...
Holder 'should accept responsibility immediately' for Fast and Furious.
Border Patrol agent Brian Terry's family broke its silence on Wednesday, and is now calling on Attorney General Eric Holder
to admit he's at fault for Operation Fast and Furious. Terry was murdered with Operation Fast and Furious weapons on
December 15, 2010 — nearly a year ago — and Holder refused to apologize to his family during his
Senate Judiciary Committee appearance on Tuesday.
Remember Brian Terry. On December 14, 2010, Brian was
conducting operations as a member of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit in Nogales, Arizona. Brian and his team were
targeting a "rip crew" who seek out to rob and assault drug runners. When Brian and his team encountered the
five individuals in the "Peck Well" area near Rio Rico, Arizona shots were fired and Brian was shot in the lower
back and mortally wounded during the exchange of gunfire and [died] on December 15, 2010.
Family
of Murdered Border Agent Breaks Silence, Lashes Out at Holder. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry died
almost one year ago. Despite almost daily headlines about the ongoing scandal in the Obama administration,
his devastated parents have said nothing publicly about the U.S. program that helped provide the weapons that
killed their son. Until now.
'Furious'
excuse-making. By now it's clear that the Obama administration's "solution" to the long-simmering
Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal is as easy as one, two, three. One, scapegoating. Two, stonewalling.
Three, blaming Bush.
Former
Holder Chief of Staff Nomination to Court Imperiled Over 'Fast and Furious'. The confirmation of
a former aide to Attorney General Eric Holder to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces may be in peril
over his response to questions posed by Arizona Sen. John McCain about his knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious.
Kevin Ohlson, who worked as Holder's chief of staff from January 2009 to January 2011, faces a confirmation hearing on
Thursday [11/17/2011] for the post.
New
emails: DOJ, Eric Holder manipulated press for favorable 'Fast and Furious' coverage. Attorney
General Eric Holder's Justice Department sought to manipulate reporters' coverage of Operation Fast and Furious
during the days preceding a November 1 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, new emails obtained by The Daily
Caller indicate. Emails between senior Justice Department officials and investigators in the office of Iowa
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley show that congressional staffers leading the investigation into Operation Fast and
Furious requested information about Operation Wide Receiver — a Bush administration program — and other similar
cases, more than a full month before the DOJ leaked information to selected media outlets on October 31.
Congressmen:
Obama 'complicit' in Fast and Furious without action on Holder. Several of the 43 members
of Congress demanding Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation because of Operation Fast and Furious believe
it is President Barack Obama's responsibility to dismiss him if Holder won't step down on his own. If
Obama fails to replace his attorney general, they said, he may share in the guilt for the program's failure
and the resulting scandal.
Confirmed:
Operation Wide Receiver a Controlled Delivery, Not Gun Walking. Senator Charles Grassley's
office has done some digging on Operation Wide Receiver and has found the Bush program was a controlled
delivery of guns in cooperation with the Mexican Government. The main differences between Wide
Receiver and Fast and Furious are these: Under Wide Receiver, 300 guns were involved and the
Mexican government was fully informed about the operation. Under Fast and Furious, 2,000 guns
were involved and the Mexican government was left in the dark by the Obama Justice Department about
the program.
Gov.
Rick Perry Has Come Out Swinging Against Obama and Fast and Furious. Gov. Rick Perry took the
Republican field by storm when he announced his candidacy in August. As a matter of fact, he seemed
unbeatable. He did this by bringing in something the rest of the field was desperately lacking —
swagger. He was a gun totting cowboy who was unapologetic about his pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-Christian
roots. And when he talked, citizens in the heartland heard the voice of someone who loved America as much
as they did.
Obama
Admin Seals Records of Murdered Border Patrol Agent Implicated in Fast and Furious. And to think
that Attorney General Eric Holder is getting testy about congressional calls for his resignation. After all,
the Justice Department has nothing to hide, right?
Is the Justice Department Retaliating Against Fast and
Furious Whistleblowers? William Lajeunesse of Fox News has a big report today that suggests Holder's
Justice Department might not have taken congressional injunctions against Fast and Furious whistleblower retaliation
to heart.
'Fast
and Furious' Whistleblowers Struggle Six Months After Testifying Against ATF Program. Six months ago,
several agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stood before Congress to testify about
the details of a U.S. government program that armed Mexico's largest drug cartel with thousands of assault rifles.
The administration denied it at the time and questioned the agents' integrity. The men were nervous and
scared. They said they feared for their careers, their reputation and their families.
Breaking
News on Fast and Furious: Obama Knew in May 2010? To date Barack Obama, the dispenser of hope
and change and the presiding officer over the least transparent presidency in history, has claimed he only
learned about Fast and Furious earlier this year. However, with each new document dump Obama's timeframe
seems to be as inaccurate (or as purposely misleading) as Attorney General Eric Holder's.
Holder
calls for media silence, watchdogs scratch fleas. Established media freedom groups are ignoring
Attorney General Eric Holder's demand that The Daily Caller stop writing about congressional calls for his
resignation. The groups' silence contrasts with their vigorous defense against Republican critics of the
news media, and contrasts with the praise given to the media's aggressive coverage of decisions by officials
in George W. Bush's presidency.
Border
Agent's Murder Brings Calls For Investigation. The Justice Department has sealed court records
detailing the circumstances of a border patrol agent's murder by a Mexican drug cartel, including the fact
U.S. agents were being hunted with U.S.-supplied weapons.
Eric
Holder's 'Fast and Furious' problem is serious, warrants close scrutiny. While Republican
Senators Bob Corker of Tennessee, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia and Jim Risch of Idaho are not among the 54 members
of Congress who have demanded Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation over Operation Fast and Furious, they told
The Daily Caller that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) gun-walking scandal is a serious
issue that merits their continued attention.
MSM
Ignores Obama Admin's Fast And Furious Friday Afternoon Docu-Dump. Despite the fact the social media has eliminated
the traditional media cycle, the Obama administration still thinks Friday afternoon document dumps will curtail reporting on what the
documents entail. Our wonderful Department of Justice dumped over 1,000 pages with details on how they gave inaccurate
information.
Holder
Sweats as More Lies Uncovered by Feb. 3rd Memo. As Eric Holder's December 8th testimony before
Congress draws near, more and more lies surrounding Fast and Furious are crumbling to the ground. From
new evidence that appears to indicate that President Obama knew about the operation as early as May 2010, and
that he gave directives for action against Mexican cartels a year prior (March 2009), to even newer evidence
that the DOJ may have "deliberately misled" Congress via a Feb. 4th memo denying the ATF had "'sanctioned'
or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons."
New
York Times Spins Fast And Furious Document Dump In Favor Of DOJ. If Charlie Savage is going to
write an original story he could at least use a headline that doesn't dupe the readers? But the headline
isn't the only bad part of the article. The whole article is completely soft on the DOJ and the tone is
off, almost as if Mr. Savage is unconcerned that this operation has taken the life of Border Patrol Agent
Brian Terry and 200+ Mexican civilians.
Operation
Fast and Furious is infuriating. [Scroll down] One year later the Obama administration has
the case records sealed and now neither the public nor the press has any access to the information. This
action from the most "transparent administration ever" headed by the most transparent president ever. Where
is the main stream media and all their hot shot reporters bringing this story of government "corruption" and
wrongdoing to the public? The one reporter for a TV network that dared to bring the story forward was muzzled
within a few days. If this were a Republican administration, this story would be front page every day and
looped "ad nausea" 24 hours a day on TV. But not so for the most transparent administration ever!
Romney says Attorney
General Holder should quit. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is calling on President
Barack Obama's attorney general to resign because of the flawed law enforcement initiative aimed at dismantling
major arms trafficking networks on the Southwest border.
The Ethics of Eric Holder.
When Attorney General Eric Holder recently testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about his role in the
Fast and Furious operation, where 2,000 rifles were deliberately "walked" from the United States into Mexico, his
answers at times seemed incredible and stretched the limits of believability. A few months earlier, on May
the third, Holder had testified before the House that he had only recently learned of the deadly and disastrous
operation.
DoJ
lied about Fast and Furious in letter to Congress. The Fast and Furious Scandal gets worse for
AG Eric Holder and his Department of Justice. ... Hundreds of Mexicans have been slaughtered, and two
US sworn agents murdered. The fact that the Department of Justice has now acknowledged that it has lied
to Congress, covering up its involvement, should make this a headline-grabber of a case, dominating the news.
But because the incumbent president is a Democrat, the mainstream media is yawning and pretending that serious
crimes have not been committed by senior law enforcement officials, and that the carnage of Mexican and American
victims matters not a whit.
Issa
expands Fast and Furious probe to include alleged money laundering. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)
has requested a briefing with the Justice Department over a news report that U.S. law enforcement officials
helped Mexican drug cartels launder millions of dollars into the country. The chairman of the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee made the request in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, in
which he questioned DOJ head's ability to lead the agency.
Fast
& furious lies. It was all a lie. The angry denials, the high dudgeon, the how-dare-you
accuse-us bleating emanating from Eric Holder's Justice Department these last nine months. Operation Fast
and Furious — the "botched" gun-tracking program run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives — did, in fact, deliberately allow some 2,000 high-powered weapons to be sold to Mexican
drug cartel agents and then waltzed across the border and into the Mexican drug wars — just as Sen.
Chuck Grassley and Rep. Darrell Issa, who are leading the congressional investigations, have charged all along.
Justice Dept. Violated U.S. Laws
Beyond Those Being Investigated. As we continue to watch the general uproar over the Operation
Fast and Furious program, and specifically what Attorney General Holder knew and when he knew it, it needs
to be noted that perjury is not the only apparent violation of law to have occurred. I refer to the apparent
violation of at least one (probably two) major U.S. laws by the Holder Justice Department. A few years ago,
the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701, the follow-on to the Trading with the
Enemy Act) was expanded in order to criminalize any transactions between U.S. entities — to include
departments and agencies of the U.S. government — and all foreign drug cartels.
NY
Dems unaware of Operation Fast and Furious, confronted by reporter. New York Democratic Rep. Nydia
Velazquez admitted she did not know what Operation Fast and Furious was at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus event
on Tuesday [12/6/2011]. When The Daily Caller asked Velazquez if she thinks Fast and Furious was a scandal
that rises to the level of a call for Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation, she shrugged at first.
Then, TheDC asked if she even knew what Fast and Furious was. "No, no," Velazquez replied.
Democratic
congressman: If Holder knew of Fast and Furious, he 'should leave'. Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis
Gutierrez told The Daily Caller on Tuesday that he thinks "it's much too early" for him to call for Attorney
General Eric Holder's resignation over Operation Fast and Furious, but that he's watching the congressional
investigation closely and may do so soon.
Holder
Declared Hostile Witness Before Congress. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) declared Attorney General Eric
Holder a "hostile witness" before the House Judiciary Committee as Holder testified about the botched gun trafficking
operation called Fast and Furious run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Documents:
ATF used "Fast and Furious" to make the case for gun regulations. Documents obtained by CBS News
show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discussed using their covert operation
"Fast and Furious" to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales.
Eric Holder
debates definition of 'lying' with congressman. When Wisconsin Republican Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner
and Attorney General Eric Holder had a sharp back-and-forth on whether or not officials in the Department of
Justice lied to Congress. The questioning was during Thursday morning's [12/8/2011] House Judiciary Committee
hearing on Operation Fast and Furious.
Sensenbrenner
floats impeachment of Obama admin. officials as 'Fast and Furious' response. Wisconsin Republican
Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, a former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee where Attorney General Eric Holder
testified on Thursday, suggested that impeachment of administration officials involved with Operation Fast and
Furious may be the only way to bring the scandal to a close. In a heated exchange between Sensenbrenner
and Holder during Thursday's [12/8/2011] Judiciary Committee hearing, Sensenbrenner said impeachment is one option on the
table if Holder and the Justice Department continue to withhold information from congressional investigators.
Rep.
Sensenbrenner Says Holder Could Face Impeachment. Once the opening comments were over, and the
actual hearing began, Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) warned Holder that he was tired of not getting the
truth on Fast and Furious. ... Sensenbrenner then basically said we can do this the easy way or the hard way.
He told Holder that the A.G. could either give Congress the truth they were asking for or "impeachment" could be
pursued. That's right: Sensenbrenner said "impeachment" to Holder's face.
New
docs show Fast and Furious was going to be used to justify gun control measures. I had seen this
theory kicking around the internet for months. The Obama administration authorized Fast and Furious at
least in part to make a case for stricter gun laws. I dismissed it as just one more conspiracy theory
on the net. Now I'm not so sure. ... Fast and Furious appears to be a bottomless pit of breathtaking
stupidity and inexplicable incompetence. To use a program that the ATF knew was killing people to
gain crass political advantage in a debate over gun control is just mind boggling — until you
remember who is running the country.
Somewhat related:
Issa
Launches Probe of Alleged DEA Laundering Operation in Mexico. Rep. Darrell Issa is launching a congressional
investigation into the Drug Enforcement Administration following claims that the agency helped drug cartels launder
money — an operation the lawmaker said bears striking resemblance to the failed "Fast and Furious" anti-gunrunning
probe. Both operations were run by agencies within the Justice Department. Fast and Furious, which Issa and other
lawmakers have been investigating all year, was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Holder
Suggests Fast and Furious Guns Will Be Used in Crimes for 'Years to Come'. Attorney General Eric Holder
suggested Thursday that weapons lost during the course of the failed "Fast and Furious" gunrunning operation will
continue to show up at crime scenes in the U.S. and Mexico "for years to come."
No-confidence
motion against Holder to be introduced in House. The House resolution is a way to formalize the growing
surge in calls for Holder's immediate resignation, and it sends a message to House leadership and to the administration
that many members of Congress aren't happy with Holder's behavior throughout the congressional investigation into
Operation Fast and Furious.
Eric
Holder's New Scandal: Money Laundering For Cartels. Just as Fast and Furious was allegedly intended
to track and interdict gun-trafficking into Mexico, this operation, detailed in a New York Times article Sunday,
is said to have as its purpose to follow how criminal organizations move their money, where they keep their assets
and, most important, who their leaders are. But the question once again arises: Have the feds interrupted
or aided the flow?
A
Plot To Undermine The Right To Bear Arms. Newly obtained documents show that the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives discussed using its covert operation Fast and Furious to argue for new rules
about gun sales.
GOP
congressman: Dems playing Holder's 'defense lawyers'. Are congressional Democrats trying to
protect Eric Holder? Republican Rep. Ted Poe of Texas told The Daily Caller that his Democratic
colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee acted like defense attorneys trying to protect Attorney
General Eric Holder, rather than pushing for accountability over the deadly Operation Fast and Furious
gun-walking program.
Issa:
Holder protecting staff despite 'Fast and Furious' mistakes. In anticipation of Attorney General Eric
Holder's testimony today before the House Judiciary Committee, California GOP Rep. Darrell Issa wrote an op-ed in
USA Today accusing Holder of protecting his staff despite admissions that Operation Fast and Furious was "fundamentally
flawed." "Surprisingly" Issa wrote Thursday, "no one at Justice Department headquarters has faced any
meaningful consequences.
Congressman
attempts to transfer Fast and Furious blame onto NRA 'radicals'. Georgia Democratic Rep. Hank
Johnson accused the tea party movement and the National Rifle Association of creating an "manufactured"
controversy over Operation Fast and Furious Thursday [12/8/2011]. Johnson's comments came during an
interview with The Daily Caller outside the House Judiciary Committee hearing room. Attorney General
Eric Holder was testifying before the committee about Fast and Furious — a Justice Department program where
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents facilitated the sale of about 2,000 guns to
Mexican drug cartels.
Rep.
Issa Strikes a Blow and Rep. Sensenbrenner Says Holder Could Face Impeachment. Once Lamar Smith (R-TX)
opened the hearings with comments on Fast and Furious and then passed the baton to Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), it
seemed the hearings would be a wash. That's because it was evident from the start that Conyers was there to
carry water for Holder. For example, Conyers used his opening comments to highlight the "life and contributions"
of Holder, and to highlight the need for more gun control in the United States. He particularly supported the new
requirement for border state gun stores to file special reports on customers who make multiple long gun purchases.
Rep.
Issa Confirms Holder Is under Oath, Yet Holder Changes His Story Again. When it came time for
Attorney General Eric Holder to make his opening comments, Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) requested that the
A.G. be sworn under oath. Issa had already noted that Congress had been lied to and that in previous hearings,
Holder & Co. displayed the "unheard of" habit of redacting their letters and testimony to the Congress.
Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) said that it wasn't necessary for Holder to be sworn under oath because it was
understood that he was already under oath by virtue of the purpose for which he was appearing. Issa then
asked Smith if he was sure that Holder was bound as being under oath, and Smith verified that he was.
Impeachment
Is Not Enough, Holder Needs to Be Handcuffed. As Attorney General Eric Holder testified before Congress
yesterday, two things were reinforced. One: Holder has a problem telling the truth. Two: Congressmen
Darrell Issa (R-CA), Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), and Ted Poe (R-TX), have a problem with people who have a problem telling the
truth. And they have a point. As a matter of fact, as I watched the hearings unfold I continually thought to
myself: "If Bill Clinton had obstructed justice to this degree, even Senator Trent Lott would have manned up and
removed him from office."
'Lying,' Holder
Says, 'Has to Do With Your State of Mind'. This morning on Capitol Hill, Attorney General Eric Holder
was asked whether he lied to Congress about the Fast & Furious gun-running scandal. Rep. James
Sensenbrenner asked Holder: "Tell me what's the difference between lying and misleading Congress, in
this context?" Holder's response is a bit Clintonian.
Holder
refuses to fire aides from Fast and Furious operation. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.,
during a rancorous House committee hearing Thursday, dismissed Republican calls to fire top Justice Department
officials involved in the botched Fast and Furious weapons operation and repudiated charges that his agency
lied to Congress during the investigation.
Holder
may be holding on to private emails about Fast and Furious. A largely overlooked exchange from
Thursday's House Judiciary Committee hearing includes what appears to be an admission from Attorney General
Eric Holder that emails to and from him about Operation Fast and Furious may exist, and that he's refusing
to provide them to Congress.
Was
Fast and Furious all About Gun Control? For some time, Second Amendment advocates have suspected
that the Obama administration's gun walking program ("Fast and Furious") was intended to create a pretext for
bringing back the gun control issue. There has been a little evidence of that, but not much. Today
[12/7/2011], however, Sharyl Attkisson of CBS, who has been all over the Fast and Furious scandal and would,
in a sane world, get a Pulitzer Prize, broke another scoop...
'Furious'
twisting. One of the most incompetent (at best) and murderous operations ever undertaken in the name
of the Justice Department, and all the attorney general can do is say they've closed the barn door now that the horses
have fled, taking the guns and ammo with them. Oh, and promise to get to the bottom of things ... someday.
Fast
and Furious continues. [Scroll down] This kind of obscuring raises the credibility of the
conspiracy bunch that this was a planned attack on the Second Amendment, trying to do what could not be done
through the open congressional format of debate and transparency. The plan being that if enough of the
guns allowed to get into Mexico illegally were found at crime scenes, then there would be an outcry for
stricter gun control in the U.S. That make sense when you consider the people in the current administration
and where their sympathies lie. We know that they couldn't get their way through the Congress so they
decided to do an end run around Congress and do it by means of the disastrous "Fast and Furious" program.
Rep.
Ben Quayle on Holder: 'I call for his immediate resignation'. On Tuesday [12/13/2011], Arizona
Republican Rep. Ben Quayle became the 57th House member to demand Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation over
Operation Fast and Furious. "The fact that he hasn't fired a single person shows that Attorney General
Holder is more concerned with protecting himself and his political appointees than holding individuals accountable
for Fast and Furious," Quayle said in a statement shown to The Daily Caller on Tuesday afternoon.
Documents Show Justice's Breuer Misled On
'Furious'. Attorney General Eric Holder insists "nobody at the Justice Department has lied"
about the gun-running scandal Fast and Furious. That in itself is a lie, as his deputy's emails prove.
Copy
of ATF Email Wanting More Gun Control in Wake of Fast and Furious. For the better part of a year,
I have been saying that the end goal of Fast and Furious was more gun control. Rush Limbaugh has said this,
Sean Hannity and other Fox News personalities have said this, and the NRA and Gun Owners of America have said this,
among others. Throughout this time, I have had a copy of an email that was sent to me back in March of 2011.
It's an July 2010 email from ATF Special Agent in Charge Mark R. Chait to ATF Supervisor William Newell.
Fast
and Furious Scandal Gives Rise to Gun Regulation Debate. As a candidate, Barack Obama once endorsed
a ban on handguns and favored restrictions on the purchase and possession of firearms. So when gun owners
heard of Operation Fast and Furious, many feared the worst. Now, newly revealed emails suggest that if the
gun-running operation didn't start out with that intent, as administration officials insist, the program certainly
led to discussions on new gun regulations.
Old
Media Continues To Ignore And Bury Any Fast And Furious Developments. I am not shocked at all the
media ignored [Sharyl] Attkisson's breaking story about the ATF using Fast and Furious to enforce more gun regulations.
After all, it would be admitting all along that we were right and they were wrong. They thought we were
crazy because we knew Fast and Furious was a way to put restrictions on guns, but now they're eating their
words and I bet they're delicious! I searched the Old Media's websites and couldn't find anything on it.
Eric Holder's
continued obfuscation on Fast and Furious. As we mark one year this week since Border Patrol
Agent Brian Terry was shot to death in Arizona — with guns allowed to drift over the Mexican line
found at the scene — we certainly know much more about Operation Fast and Furious. That's the
bad-idea-executed-poorly child of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, sanctioned by your
own U.S. Justice Department. In addition to Terry's death, another federal agent may have been killed in
Mexico by a walked gun, and the case could well have ties to North Texas.
Want
Answers About Fast and Furious? You're a Racist. Holder claims he didn't know about gunwalking
techniques being used in the operation until the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, telling House Oversight
Committee Chairman Darrell Issa on May 3, 2011 he had known about Fast and Furious for "a couple of weeks."
However, five memos addressed directly to Holder, detailing Operation Fast and Furious, are dated July and August 2010,
nearly a year before Holder admitted he knew under oath. The Justice Department continues to stonewall the
investigation into the lethal operation and still hasn't given the Terry family details about their son's
murder one year later.
Obama
and Holder Should Put the Race Card back in the Deck. President Obama led us to believe that he
would be a post-racial president who would bring the races together, but it's gotten to where you can't criticize
this most leftist administration in American history without someone accusing you of racism. The most
recent example involves criticism of Attorney General Eric Holder over Fast and Furious...
Even
Before Fast and Furious, They Had Guns on Their Minds. What Obama administration officials, including the
president, knew or didn't know about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives' 2009 Operation Fast and
Furious has little to do with what they should have known. Attorney General Holder, Secretary Clinton, President
Obama, and Secretary Napolitano each declared that he or she did not know about Fast and Furious until 2011. But
what should they have known about a federal program that eventually led to mass murder?
Congressman
trumps Holder's race card, asks if Mexican gun-walking deaths were 'racially motivated'. Arizona
Republican Rep. Paul Gosar told The Daily Caller that Attorney General Eric Holder's race-card play to attack
his critics is "absolutely horrendous." But Gosar said he thinks race may have played a role in the
Department of Justice's execution of Operation Fast and Furious -- but in a different way from how Holder is
framing it.
Obama's
Top Boners of 2011. [#5] Fast and Furious: Admittedly I haven't been a fan of Eric Holder's.
But even I'm amazed at the breathtaking cynicism shown by our top law-enforcement officer as he lied to Congress
about what he knew and when he knew it regarding Fast and Furious.
Holder's
OIG 'Gunwalker' investigation passes historic milestone today. Curiously, as of today [12/27/2011],
DOJ operative Schnedar has now taken more time than the Warren Commission did to produce its report on the Kennedy
assassination. That investigation, which took 303 days, was established on November 27, 1963
and their 888-page findings were delivered to President Johnson on September 24, 1964. Today marks
the 303rd day of the OIG being "asked to investigate" Fast and Furious. Does anyone really believe the
report they eventually get around to producing will answer all our questions?
The
Obama administration is planning a second-term attack on gun rights. With the help of his attorney
general, Eric Holder, Obama led a campaign to demonize law-abiding gun owners, claiming our Second Amendment rights
were to blame for drug violence in Mexico. And in fact, emails recently released by the Justice Department
prove that operation "Fast and Furious" was a deliberate attempt to build the case for a gun-control agenda.
AP
'Top 10' List Confirms Media Still Ignoring Fast And Furious Story. David Crary of the Associated
Press [presented] the news agency's top 10 stories for the year. Fair enough. They were huge
stories. The other stories selected were all noteworthy in their own ways as well, but there is one more
that is remarkable in its absence from inclusion: Fast and Furious.
The biggest little story of 2011:
[Scroll down] Part two began on September 20, when California Congressman and House Oversight Committee
Chairman Darrell Issa held a telephone press conference on the developing gunwalker component of the "Fast and
Furious" scandal. The substance of the call concerned a possible FBI cover-up, the appointment of a special
prosecutor and other recent developments in the Department of Justice's program, which allowed guns to fall into
the hands of Mexican drug cartels, resulting in the deaths of border patrol agent Brian Terry and hundreds of
Mexican citizens. ... In that single act, a sitting congressman took a little credibility away from established
news outlets and handed it to the blogosphere.
Eric
Holder is Obstructing Justice with Fast and Furious Defense. When the U.S. Department of Justice
released over 1,000 pages of internal documents last Friday evening [12/2/2011], a charge that seemed unlikely
to be proven just weeks before appears now all but certain to apply to Attorney General Eric Holder and his top
lieutenants: guilty of obstruction of justice.
Grassley:
New docs prove Admin knew about gun walking. New documents obtained from the Justice Department Thursday
[1/5/2011] prove that the administration knew that guns had been walked as part of Operation Wide Receiver, Senator
Charles Grassley said in a press release, and then he reiterated his call for Assistant Attorney General Lanny
Breuer to resign.
Justice Turns Over Fast And Furious Info.
The Justice Department Thursday [1/5/2011] turned over to congressional investigators 482 pages of
subpoenaed internal documents in the latest chapter of the controversial guns-to-Mexico operation known
as Fast and Furious.
Fast and Furious Defense
Strategy: Keep Them Quiet. The Justice Department may be leveraging employees to keep them from
testifying.
The
Top 5 Reasons Obama Must Be Removed as Commander-in-Chief. [#2] Fast and Furious: No matter
how many times you hear the facts they never get less sickening or bizarre. ... ATF Agent Vince Cefalu was fired
for whistleblowing about this surreal horror show. Attorney General Eric Holder perjured himself to Congress,
pretending he knew nothing about it. And newly released emails confirm that the motivation for supplying
weapons to Mexico's most violent criminals was to use the ensuing chaos to enact stricter gun control laws here.
Not content to unleash murder and mayhem, the Department of Justice also went into the money-laundering racket,
washing clean millions of dollars for Mexico's drug cartels.
Inside
President Obama's War On The Fast & Furious Whistleblowers. [Scroll down] Senator Grassley
then pointed out that the first whistleblower to come forward about Fast and Furious (ATF Agent John Dodson) had
recently been attacked by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). According to Senator Grassley, "Someone in
the Justice Department leaked a document to the press along with talking points in an attempt to smear [Dodson.]"
Fast
and Furious Stonewallings Call For Eric Holder's Impeachment. For nearly a year Holder has been
avoiding accountability for Operation Fast and Furious, a secret ATF program that allowed guns to "walk" into
Mexico and right into the arsenals of Mexican drug cartels. Nevertheless, he still looked shocked when a
congressman insinuated he might be impeached. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), a former chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee, suggested impeachment of administration officials involved with Operation Fast and
Furious just might be the only way to bring this bloody scandal to a close.
Holder's
United Front on Fast and Furious Crumbles. In an ominous development for the Obama administration,
Patrick Cunningham, chief of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona, has told the House
Oversight Committee that he will assert his privilege against self-incrimination rather than testify before the
committee next week. DOJ officials in Washington evidently have blamed Cunningham for the fact that they provided
false information to Congress in what appears to be an effort to cover up the Fast and Furious scandal.
Federal
official in Arizona to plead the fifth and not answer questions on 'furious'. The chief of the
Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona is refusing to testify before Congress regarding
Operation Fast and Furious, the federal gun-running scandal that sent U.S. weapons to Mexico. Patrick J.
Cunningham informed the House Oversight Committee late Thursday through his attorney that he will use the
Fifth Amendment protection.
Federal
prosecutor cites Fifth in 'Fast and Furious' probe. The chief of the criminal division in the U.S.
Attorney's Office in Arizona has cited his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination in refusing on Friday
[1/20/2012] to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in its ongoing investigation
into the failed "Fast and Furious" gunrunning operation.
Arizona
strikes back: State investigates feds over gun-running. Arizona's state legislature will open
its own investigation into the Obama administration's disgraced gun-running program, known as "Fast and
Furious," the speaker of the state House said Friday [1/20/2012]. Speaker Andy Tobin created the
committee, and charged it with looking at whether the program broke any state laws — raising the
possibility of state penalties against those responsible for the operation. It's a turnaround from the
rest of the immigration issue, where the federal government has sued to block the state's own set of laws.
Arizona
Moves to Prosecute Those the Feds Won't. Where the same state that brought you S.B. 1070 -- the
immigration law aimed at allowing the state to do the job the feds won't do -- is set to open their own
investigation into Fast and Furious and bring state charges against those the feds have heretofore refused
to charge. Andy Tobin, Arizona's Speaker of the House, will announce tomorrow [1/23/2012] the scope
of the investigation, and will call for state investigators to have their findings back to him no later
than March 30.
Arizona
strikes back: State investigates feds over gun-running. Arizona's state legislature will open
its own investigation into the Obama administration's disgraced gun-running program, known as "Fast and
Furious," the speaker of the state House said Friday [1/20/2012]. Speaker Andy Tobin created the
committee, and charged it with looking at whether the program broke any state laws — raising the
possibility of state penalties against those responsible for the operation. It's a turnaround from the rest
of the immigration issue, where the federal government has sued to block the state's own set of laws.
Fast and Furious stinks.
[Scroll down] In all of its bureaucratic buffoonery, the ATF lost control of the weapons. Of course it did, as there were
no electronic tracing components on the guns. Our less-than-esteemed attorney general, Eric H. Holder
Jr., to whom the ATF reports, claimed not to know a thing about this brain-dead operation. What kind of
inebriated idiot would hatch an evil scheme such as this and then believe that, somehow, the guns could be
traced to Mexican drug cartels without an electronic tracing component? This isn't some low-ranking
bureaucratic village idiot but a high-ranking government bureaucratic idiot who is paid by U.S. taxpayers.
15
Questions The Mainstream Media Would Ask Barack Obama If He Were A Republican: [#1] Numerous
Mexican citizens and an American citizen have been killed with weapons knowingly provided to criminals by our own
government during Operation Fast and Furious. If Eric Holder was aware that was going on, do you think he
should step down as Attorney General? Were you aware that was going on and if so, shouldn't you resign?
First Convictions from Fast and Furious
Gun Probe. Two men pleaded guilty to buying guns that were destined to be smuggled into Mexico, the first
convictions in the federal government's botched Operation Fast and Furious.
Issa
says Holder should apologize to Mexico. House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa told The
Daily Caller that Attorney General Eric Holder owes an apology to the Mexican government and to the families of Operation
Fast and Furious victims south of the border. "Justice has blood on their hands," Issa said Wednesday [1/25/2012]
during an exclusive interview with TheDC, referring to the U.S. Department of Justice.
US Attorney Patrick Cunningham Refuses to Give More Than his Name and Title.
It was already known that he was going to plead the fifth to avoid self incrimination. Yesterday, Patrick
Cunningham, the chief of the criminal division of the U.S. attorney's office in Arizona, was excused from a deposition
after refusing to give more than his name and title...
Arizona House Speaker to 'Put Some Light on Fast and Furious'.
Arizona's legislature has decided once more to do the job the feds won't do, and has launched its own investigation
into Fast and Furious.
Burke
of Fast and Furious had anti-gun history. The career path of former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke can be
charted through an ascending string of jobs from Arizona's Supreme Court to the U.S. Senate, White House, Department
of Homeland Security and Justice Department. It is a resume that spans more than two decades in three branches
of government. Then, suddenly, it nose-dives on Aug. 30, 2011, when Burke resigned as U.S. attorney
amid a scandal over a gun-smuggling case known as Operation Fast and Furious.
Justice
Department changes inquiry response procedures to Congress after Fast and Furious. The Justice
Department is tightening procedures for responding to information requests from Congress in the aftermath of a
troubled arms trafficking investigation.
DOJ
dodges, won't say if Holder knew 'Fast and Furious' gun killed border guard. A document the
Department of Justice sent to Congress Friday shows that Eric Holder's deputy chief of staff was made aware
on the day of U.S. border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's murder that a weapon traced back to Operation Fast and
Furious killed him. But when asked Sunday, a Justice spokesperson would not would not answer The Daily Caller's
question about whether Attorney General Eric Holder himself was informed of the connection on that day.
The Holder
Department Of Justice Takes The Fifth. Should U.S. Attorney [Patrick J.] Cunningham refuse to
cooperate with the Congress and/or appropriate law enforcement officials, or should he actually take the Fifth
while under oath, we will be at that point of decision, and Mr. Cunningham — and the nation —
will have a serious problem. Mr. Cunningham is a member of the Department of Justice, those law enforcers
charged with watching the watchers, all of the law enforcers not only on the federal, but the state and local
levels. Who will watch the watchers of the watchers? Who will investigate and prosecute those potentially
trying to scapegoat Mr. Cunningham, if that is indeed what is happening? The very people who may be trying
to frame Mr. Cunningham are likely those who would be charged with investigating and prosecuting themselves.
A
Fast & Furious fib. It's not the crime, it's the coverup, goes the old Washington cliché.
In the case of the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal, it's both. As Attorney General Eric Holder
gets ready to face more congressional grilling Thursday, something's clearly rotten at the Justice Department.
The stench goes all the way to the top — to Holder.
Holder's
fantastical claim about 'Fast and Furious'. [Eric] Holder wants Americans to believe an obvious fantasy,
namely that he didn't know about Fast and Furious until witch-hunting House Republicans made it a highly charged
partisan issue a few months ago. But after reviewing new emails made public by the Justice Department last
Friday, it seems clear that accepting Holder's claim at face value would be credulous in the extreme.
Sweeping it under the carpet:
In
new 'Fast and Furious' report, Democrats clear Justice appointees of wrongdoing. Democrats
investigating the failed gun-running probe known as "Operation Fast and Furious" are laying the blame at the
feet of officials in Arizona, saying in a new report that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have "obtained
no evidence" implicating high-level political appointees in Washington.
Eric
Holder's False Testimony Warrants Impeachment. For incompetence alone, Attorney General Eric Holder
should resign in the wake of the illegal "Fast and Furious" gunrunning scandal. But fresh news that he knew
of it and is covering it up warrants impeachment.
Are Big Media
Covering Up Fast and Furious? Not since Lenin gathered his fellow Bolsheviks together in 1912 at the
Prague conference to plan the publication of Pravda has there been such an all-out effort to quash facts that out
in the open might bring down Attorney General Eric Holder and the whole Obama administration. An amoral herd
of left-wing journalists acting like "bootlicking propagandists," as Orwell once called members of his own British
press in 1944, might find it difficult in the long run to get away with suppressing a scandal involving mass murder.
Democrats
Fully Engaged in Fast and Furious Coverup. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are officially
trying to cover for Attorney General Eric Holder just before he testifies on Thursday [2/2/2012] about Operation
Fast and Furious, with anti-Second Amendment Ranking Member Elijah Cummings leading the way. Last night,
Cummings released a 95 page waste of paper and taxpayer money report, alleging
that top Justice Department officials did not authorize the program, despite evidence showing otherwise.
The report tries to pin the blame back on a few "rogue" managers in the ATF Phoenix Field Division. This is
the same argument we've heard since the beginning of the scandal: it was a local operation, nobody important
knew anything.
[Strike-through in original.]
Family
of murdered Border Patrol agent files $25M suit against ATF. The family of murdered Border Patrol
agent Brian Terry has filed a $25 million wrongful death suit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives claiming Terry was killed with AK-47s that were knowingly sold under the Fast and Furious gunrunning
probe to a straw purchaser for drug cartels. In a 65-page complaint, filed in Arizona state court on
Wednesday [2/1/2012], attorneys for the family claim ATF "wrongdoing" in Operation Fast and Furious.
A
failed 'Fast and Furious' whitewash. "Operation Fast and Furious was the latest in a series of
fatally flawed operations run by ATF agents in Phoenix and the US Attorney's Office," say committee Democrats.
"Far from a strategy that was directed and planned by 'the highest levels' of the Department of Justice... the
committee has obtained no evidence that Operation Fast and Furious was conceived or directed by high-level
political appointees at Department of Justice headquarters." The operative words here are no evidence.
That's because Justice stubbornly refuses to provide any. Holder and his flunkies have spent more than a
year evading, prevaricating, changing stories and outright stonewalling.
Holder
Must Come Clean On 'Fast And Furious' Scandal. Issa's response was the right one, because that bungled
operation amounted to U.S. lawmen aiding and abetting sales of deadly weapons to Mexican drug cartels. It
made no sense from a legal, law-enforcement or national security point of view. It bore all the marks of
a White House political operation to sway U.S. public opinion in favor of gun control as the bodies piled up.
GOP
report: Justice officials were on top of Fast and Furious. Top Department of Justice officials
had extensive knowledge of and involvement in Operation Fast and Furious, claims a new report released Thursday [2/2/2012],
hours before Attorney General Eric Holder's scheduled testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The report released by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, top lawmakers investigating the
botched gunrunning operation, claims Justice Department officials in Washington and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives were involved in the coordination in the early stages of the operation.
Blood
Bath on Capitol Hill: Preview of Eric Holder Under Oath. Attorney General Holder will appear before
the House Oversight Committee this morning on Capitol Hill to answer questions specifically surrounding his role
in the the lethal Operation Fast and Furious program. Holder will have a ton of explaining to do including:
when he was briefed about the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, whether he was informed by his deputy
chief of staff at the time Monty Wilkinson about Fast and Furious guns being used to kill Terry the same day of
his murder, why the Justice Department has been stonewalling Congress for information and more.
Holder's
No. 2 in 2009: Gunwalking, Fast and Furious a 'terrific idea'. The head of the Department of
Justice's Criminal Division and Attorney General Eric Holder's highest-ranking deputy, Assistant Attorney General
Lanny Breuer, called Operation Fast and Furious and gun walking a "terrific idea" in emails to now-former Acting
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Director Ken Melson back in late 2009, according a report released by
Republican staff of the House Oversight Committee.
Respecting Eric Holder.
Eric Holder appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee today, and received what can
charitably be called a hostile reception. He was grilled by Republican members over everything from Fast
and Furious — the intended subject of the hearing — to the Marc Rich pardon.
Holder
Repeats Fast And Furious Lies. After a series of Friday document dumps exposed DOJ's deceit, Deputy
Attorney General James Cole, in another letter to Congress, wrote, "Facts have come to light during the course
of this investigation that indicate the Feb. 4 [2011] letter contains inaccuracies." In other words, the
Justice Department lied to Congress. It lied again Thursday [2/2/2012] in the person of the attorney general
who once again failed to provide the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Eric Holder and his department
have lied to Congress. Scooter Libby was sentenced to prison for much less. We await Holder's fate
and hope justice will prevail.
Democrats
circle wagons around Holder in hearing. Democrats defended — even apologized to — Attorney
General Eric Holder throughout today's hearing on Operation Fast and Furious, impugning the motives of Republican
investigators and absolving Holder of any scandal.
Holder
should walk the plank on 'Fast and Furious'. At yesterday's hearing, Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley,
R-Iowa, who has also been probing the Fast and Furious program, released a detailed report about their investigation,
saying new documents they obtained demonstrate Holder's department "had much greater knowledge of, and involvement
in, Fast and Furious than it has previously acknowledged."
Covering Up Fast & Furiously.
The Fast and Furious investigation in Congress is becoming even more fast and furious with Congressional Chairman
Issa threatening a contempt citation against Attorney General Eric Holder. Last week's Friday document
dump by the DoJ once again added to the widely held belief that that the AG and his minions are hiding something
from Congress and the American people, but what?
Rep. Issa lays siege to 'Fortress Holder'.
[Scroll down] During the four-and-a-half-hour hearing, not all of the 23 Republicans and
17 Democrats took the opportunity to question the attorney general. But, many of those who did
provided moments worth mention. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D.-N.Y.), came up with a new name for the
program in question: "Operation Vast and Curious."
Holder
in Fast in Furious Testimony: I Should Be 'Given Some Credit'. If you weren't able to watch today's
congressional hearings with Attorney General Eric Holder on the Fast and Furious scandal, here's a taste of what
it was like. Two American law enforcement agents are dead, and despite bearing a significant measure of
responsibility, the Justice Department has been stonewalling for months and several pieces of evidence suggest
the DOJ has not told the truth about what it knows. When members of Congress voice their frustration with
this, Holder is defensive and says he deserves "credit".
AG
Holder May Be Held in Contempt for "Fast & Furious" Cover-up. Attorney General Eric Holder faced
tough questions about the "Fast and Furious" gun-trafficking scandal from outraged members of Congress during a
Thursday hearing, but he continued to defiantly stonewall while refusing to hand over key documents subpoenaed
in the congressional investigation. Republican lawmakers responded by telling the Justice Department boss
to resign and saying that if the cover-up continues, he could be charged with contempt of Congress.
Former
Tucson DEA head: Holder either knew of gun-walking, or was willfully unaware. Former Tucson Drug
Enforcement Administration chief Tony Coulson told The Daily Caller that Attorney General Eric Holder either knew
guns were walking during Operation Fast and Furious, or should have known about the deadly practice. "[Fast
and Furious] was driven locally and it was driven from Arizona, from the ground up, I mean it was not much
oversight," Coulson said in a phone interview. "And, I mean, I can only speak to the reporting, but
people all the way up to the attorney general knew what was going on."
Fast and Furious: Three Questions Not
Asked. To date, the media has largely buried the story of the Department of Justice scheme that contributed
to the deaths of a federal agent and more than 300 Mexican citizens. Such a story would have held front-page,
top-of-the-hour focus until answers were provided and officials had been hounded out of office or imprisoned had it
occurred under a Republican administration. But Barack Obama is a Democrat, and black. Also, Eric Holder is a
Democrat, and black. It is inconceivable for the mainstream media to grill the decisions, motives, or goals of
black Democrats for fear of being "racist" according to their own definition of the term...
ABC
and NBC Anything But Fast and Furious On Gunwalking Scandal. Deaths, guns, whistle-blowers and
the highest law officer in the land stonewalling a congressional investigation are the juicy ingredients of a
story network news reporters would love to cover — if a Republican were in office. However, when
Attorney General Eric Holder testified on Thursday (February 2) before a House oversight committee
investigating Operation Fast and Furious, the news was completely ignored by NBC and ABC (there was one
full story on Friday's CBS This Morning). The virtual blackout of Holder's testimony continues an
overall trend of ABC and NBC burying one of the Obama administration's biggest scandals, despite continual
coverage by their competitors at CBS, CNN and Fox News.
Former
DEA chief says 3 other federal agencies knew about Operation Fast and Furious. Tony Coulson, the
DEA's agent in charge of Southern Arizona during Fast and Furious, says many federal field agents knew the ATF
was walking guns to Mexico, but supervisors told them to back off when they objected. "Clearly, we went
too far," Coulson said. "The question we had among rank and file law enforcement was, 'When is someone
going to call ATF on this, when is someone going to tell them to stop?'"
Holder granted extra time to turn
over 'Fast and Furious' documents. A key congressional Republican who had threatened to bring a
contempt citation against Attorney General Eric Holder if he did not comply with a demand for "Operation Fast
and Furious" documents by 5 p.m. Thursday [2/9/2012], has backed off his stated deadline.
Fast
And Furious Gun Control Plot Was Widely Known. A drug enforcement agent says other agencies knew
in 2009 about the Justice Department's gunrunning operation and even tried to interdict the weapons flow.
And, yes, it was a gun-control plot.
Media
Silent As Mexico Arrests Key Figure In Fast and Furious. I think late January and February have
been the busiest time for Operation Fast & Furious. The media still doesn't give it proper coverage,
especially this news: On February 4th, Mexico arrests a key figure in Fast & Furious. Not
only is he a key person in Fast & Furious, but he was also a top lieutenant to El Chapo.
Judicial
Watch Announces List of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" for 2011.
Fast and Furious was a DOJ/Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) "gun-running"
operation in which guns were sold to Mexican drug cartels and others, apparently in hopes that the
guns would end up at crime scenes. This reckless insanity seems to have resulted in, among other
crimes, the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, who was killed in a shootout with Mexican criminals
in December 2010. Fast and Furious guns were found at the scene of his death.
Al
Sharpton and Elijah Cummings Lie About Fast and Furious. Sharpton recently addressed Fast and Furious
on his show, Politics Nation. Needless to say it was a mess. Mr. Sharpton starts the show
with a flat out lie: Fast and Furious was just like the programs under President Bush. ... The whole
time Rep Cummings sits back and allows Mr. Sharpton to hurl out these obvious lies and accusations. Shame
on you Rep Cummings. You know all of this is false and you allow it to be said all the same.
Rep. Labrador is unafraid to speak truth to Holder.
Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), less than two years in office, quickly made a national mark by shining a bright
light on the deeply troubling case of Operation Fast and Furious, the gun-running scandal that led to the murder of
Border Agent Brian Terry in Arizona in December 2009. ... He blames media coddling of President Barack Obama.
"The mass media don't want there to be any scandals in the Obama administration," Labrador said. "If this
were a Republican administration, this would be on the top of the news every single night until there were answers
or until ... heads rolled." Labrador said that the Obama administration should never have participated in
Operation Fast and Furious, but the apparent cover-up may be a greater scandal than the actual operation.
Second
gun used in ICE agent murder linked to ATF undercover operation. The government has kept a close hold on
nearly all information surrounding Zapata's murder, denying the family's Freedom of Information requests on the
basis of an ongoing investigation.
Walked ATF guns found at Zapata crime scene. This
wasn't part of Operation Fast and Furious, which was run out of Arizona. It was another gun-walking operation,
running out of Texas. A second "walked" ATF gun was also recovered from the scene of Zapata's murder, sold by a
different group of people... who were also on the ATF radar screen.
Holder,
DOJ continue to drag out Fast & Furious probe, say lawmakers. House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) this week, in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, wrote that the
Justice Department's request for an extension for completing its document production on Operation Fast and Furious
again "demonstrates a lack of good faith" and a Department "more concerned with protecting its image through spin
control than actually cooperating with Congress."
Eric
Holder Admits To Congress: Fast And Furious Was Executed 'Extremely Poorly'. Holder admitted
[2/28/2012] that the program, which was linked to the shooting death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, had
been executed extremely poorly. "It was a bad attempt at trying to deal with a very pernicious problem,
where guns are flowing from the United States to Mexico," Holder divulged. "In its conception, in its
execution, it was fundamentally flawed," Holder said about Fast and Furious.
Eric
Holder explains why he should be fired over Operation Fast & Furious. The answer that Attorney General Eric Holder
should have given to the first question should have been "Yes, and I take responsibility for what happened." Anything
else would simply make it glaringly obvious that Holder is fundamentally unfit for his job... which is what happened here.
Another
Straw-Purchaser, Another Federal Agent Dead (and Still Holder won't Comply). Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) is
looking into the DOJ's role in Agent Zapata's murder, and believes the weapon which was used came from a program similar to
Fast and Furious. Which means that no one knows whether the gun-walking tied to Fast and Furious was ended, as Holder
said it was, only to be started again under another program (with another name), or whether the gun walking tied to Fast and
Furious simply continued longer than Holder claims it did.
Gun Walking Caused Death
of ICE Agent Zapata. Last week CBS' Sharyl Attkisson reported on a second walked gun found at the scene of Agent
Zapata's murder. Houston prosecutors and the DOJ didn't bother to tell Jaime Zapata's family their son was killed by a
weapon sold to a drug trafficker under surveillance by their own government; a weapon which eventually ended up in the hands of
the Zetas drug cartel believed to be responsible for Jaime's murder. The Zapatas didn't find out anything until after Barba
was sentenced to 100 months in prison on January 30, 2012.
Tea
Party pressures GOP leaders to rev up Fast and Furious probe. Local Tea Party activists are pressing
House Republican leaders to pursue their investigation into the Operation Fast and Furious gun-tracking effort more
aggressively. The top three House Republicans have been slow to lead the charge of the GOP's criticism of the
botched operation.
Guns
used in killing of ICE agent draw scrutiny. On Feb. 16 in Baytown, agents of the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrested Manuel Gomez Barba as part of an ongoing investigation of
straw purchasers who were buying guns for Mexican drug cartels. Now, congressional Republicans are
questioning why it took so long to arrest Barba, especially when agents knew early on about his drug convictions,
which disqualified him from buying guns, and were aware that he was obliterating serial numbers from guns —
by itself a crime.
AG
Holder Could Be Jailed for Ongoing Fast & Furious Cover-up. Tensions are rising quickly in the
investigation of the deadly federal gun-running operation "Fast and Furious" as Attorney General Eric Holder's
Department of Justice continues to unlawfully withhold subpoenaed documents. The persistent stonewalling
prompted Congress to renew its warning that contempt proceedings against top Obama administration officials
are imminent if the cover-up does not end.
Obama
apologizes for Afghan slayings, still ignores Mexican 'Fast and Furious' murders. President Barack
Obama has never apologized to Mexican President Felipe Calderon for the 300 civilians murdered with weapons
the United States provided to Mexico's drug cartels, but on Sunday [3/11/2012] he found time to place a call to
Afghan president Hamid Karzai apologizing for deaths caused by an American soldier this weekend in Afghanistan.
Friday
document dump: Holder's DOJ releases more on 'Fast and Furious'. In what has become a pattern, Attorney
General Eric Holder dumped more documents related to Operation Fast and Furious on congressional investigators late
Friday [3/16/2012]. Terry Frieden of CNN reported that Holder coughed up "hundred of pages" of documents.
Assuming that means Holder did not produce more than 1,000 documents, the Justice Department is still far from
compliance with lawful congressional subpoenas.
Gun-tracking
operation caught top suspect, then let him go. Federal agents stopped the main target of the ill-fated
Operation Fast and Furious in May 2010. After they questioned him, he disappeared back into Mexico, and the
program went on to spiral out of control.
Fast
and Furious scandal update shows whistleblower risks. The agents who blew the whistle on the now infamous Fast
and Furious scandal, in which the Obama Administration used the ATF to place guns directly into the hands of Mexican drug
cartels in order to make a case for strict gun control laws, have faced retaliatory action from supervisors within the agency.
Another F&F 'doc dump' as
interest renewed in probe. The late Friday document dump — presumably so it will get
lost in the weekend — has become a habit of Eric Holder's Justice Department in the on-going Congressional
probe of Operation Fast and Furious, so yesterday's [3/16/2012] reported delivery should be nothing new. The controversial
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives gun running sting has been under scrutiny for more than one year.
Fast and Furious: Primary Target Arrested and Released in 2010.
Operation Fast and Furious, the Obama Administration's deadly gun-running outrage that put American weapons in the hands of
Mexican cartel killers — while putting hundreds of Mexicans, plus at least two American law enforcement officers,
in the ground — was ostensibly supposed to catch some big-time drug lords by pumping U.S. guns into their
organizations, then following the trail of bullets to the big fish, who would then be nailed on firearms charges.
It never made a lot of sense, particularly given that no real effort was made to actually track the guns —
they've been recovered from corpse-littered crime scenes, with hundreds of guns still unaccounted for.
Barack's People: Is there a better
personification of Barack Obama and his disastrous, demagogic administration than Attorney General "my people" Eric Holder
and his Department of Justice? He is the only leader today more odious than Barack Obama, if only because he is
unabashedly racist, whereas Obama pretends not to be. Holder believes that his people deserve preference in all
things, and that the deaths of hundreds of Mexicans, due to the Fast and Furious program, designed by minions, are
unimportant. The death of one Democrat is a tragedy — hundreds of dead Mexicans are a statistic.
They're not his people, or our people, or anything of importance for that matter.
Deadly ATF Fast
And Furious Game Of Catch And Release. A prime suspect in the smuggling of weapons to Mexico was captured and
released on a promise of cooperation and with the instruction not to engage in criminal acts unless instructed by the U.S.
government.
DOJ
'Deeply Disturbed' by Leaked Fast and Furious Information. The Justice Department has told Republican
lawmakers it will be careful about responding to future requests for information about a botched gun-tracing operation
after sensitive law enforcement information leaked to the media.
Justice for Trayvon, No Justice for Agents Terry and Zapata.
Jaime [Zapata] died on February 15, 2011 in Mexico, many miles away from his loved ones. The guns found at the murder
scene were later traced to a federally sanctioned gun-walking program. Government higher-ups allowed guns to walk untraced
straight into the hands of killer drug cartels. So far, the Department of Justice has not held anyone accountable.
Agent Brian Terry died on December 14, 2010 in a remote area of Peck Canyon in Arizona. He was shot in the lower back
and mortally wounded. The guns found at the scene were linked to Operation Fast and Furious — to date, the
Department of Justice has held no higher-ups accountable.
Issa,
Grassley hammer White House for stonewalling on 'Fast and Furious' witness. The Obama administration is stonewalling
two lawmakers' requests to interview a former member of the National Security staff in connection with the failed Operation Fast and
Furious gun-walking program, according to a March 28 letter obtained by The Daily Caller. California Rep. Darrell Issa and
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, both Republicans, requested a response by April 4 to their letter, which asks for an interview with
Kevin O'Reilly, that former staffer. But the White House, according to the letter, is blocking access to him.
Napolitano perjured herself to Congress in Fast & Furious
testimony. In her explosive new book Fast and Furious, Katie Pavlich makes the case that Homeland
Security Secretary Janet Napolitano not only failed to stop an operation that led to the death of one of her own, Border
Agent Brian A. Terry, but she may have also lied to Congress in sworn testimony at a hearing held to find out what
really happened.
Darrell Issa: Fast and
Furious Far From Over. Entering the Edward Jones arena to an applauding audience at the NRA Annual Convention in downtown
St. Louis Friday [4/13/2012], Congressman Darrell Issa made it clear his congressional investigation into the Operation Fast and Furious
scandal isn't going away until the Obama Justice Department comes clean.
How The MSM Covered Up Fast and Furious.
In Katie Pavlich's devastating new expose of the Eric Holder Justice Department-approved Fast and Furious operation, Pavlich doesn't just expose
the Obama administration. She exposes the mainstream media for what they are: tools of the Democratic Party, and of the White House.
Did
someone mention suppressed news
and pro-Obama media bias?
Obama:
'Most transparent administration ever' meets Fast & Furious. From the White House web site:
["]My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will
work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and
collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in
Government.["] Here's an example of Obama's "unprecedented level of openness in Government."
Image courtesy of POLITICO.
No More "Mr.
Obama Is a Nice Guy". As Townhall editor Katie Pavlich makes clear in her devastating new book,
"Fast and Furious: Barack Obama's Bloodiest Scandal and Its Shameless Cover-Up," the president, his corrupt
attorney general, Eric Holder, and their minions weren't "in over their heads." They knew exactly what
they were doing and have obstructed investigations into the bloody consequences of their policies ever since.
That's not "nice." It's rotten to the core.
Fast
& Furious Suspect Arrested & Released THREE times. Yesterday [4/19/2012] Fox News revealed
that the main suspect of Operation Fast and Furious was arrested and released three times. Three times.
Two of those arrests happened in Phoenix, the origin of Fast and Furious.
Obama
Should 'Remove Eric Holder' and 'Just Come Clean' on Fast and Furious, Says Rep. Steve King. "If I were the president of
the United States, I would find a way for Eric Holder to step down, and it would be characterized as a firing," Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)
told Fox News on Thursday [4/26/2012]. King suggested it would be better for President Obama to fire Attorney General Holder rather
than let the "Fast and Furious" gun-running scandal blow up in Obama's face right before the election: "And as more of this
unfolds — and I think there is substantially more — you remember that September 19 is kind of the date
that bad things happen before elections," King said.
High-ranking
DOJ official to resign amid Fast and Furious, Virgin Islands bribery scandals. U.S. Assistant Attorney General
Ronald Weich plans to resign his position soon, as two different scandals rage on in which he has provided allegedly misleading
information to Congress. Weich, who has served as Attorney General Eric Holder's emissary in congressional communications,
will become the next dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law in July, according to the National Law Journal.
The Editor says...
One can only speculate about what this man will teach students at the University of Baltimore School of Law.
Not a Flood but a Trickle. The
number of U.S. guns recovered at Mexican crime scenes is far lower than originally claimed by the Obama administration
and spiked shortly after the conclusion of Operation Fast and Furious, according to data released by the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Firearms Thursday [4/26/2012].
Government's
answer to "Fast and Furious" records requests: Blank pages. For more than a year, CBS News
has been investigating the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms' "Fast and Furious" operation and related
cases that also employed the controversial tactic of "gunwalking." With Justice Department officials
refusing all interview requests to date, CBS News requested numerous public documents through the Freedom
of Information Act. So far, all of the requests that have been answered have been denied in part or
in full.
Obama admin. let grenades walk in Fast and
Furious, documents show. In a shocking development in the Operation Fast and Furious investigation, documents show Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives agents allowed grenade parts to walk in addition to guns. The emails also show Obama administration officials acknowledging that
they may lose track of grenades but would still be able to accomplish their original objective even if the grenades explode.
Related story?
Huge Amount of Ammunition Found in Southbound Truck. Members of a
Kingsville task force pulled over a pickup truck today heading southbound on Highway 77 driven by a man who was pretty nervous.
It turns out he had a very good reason to be. Officers used a fiber optic scope to check the gas tank and immediately found
it was full of rifle ammunition. [...] Officials believe the driver was heading to Mexico.
Sharyl Attkisson continues to cover a story that
most journalists don't want to talk about.
Republicans
prepare contempt citation against Eric Holder over Fast and Furious. House Republicans investigating the Fast and Furious
scandal plan to pursue a contempt citation against Attorney General Eric Holder, senior congressional aides told CBS News. The
resolution will accuse Holder and his Justice Department of obstructing the congressional probe into the allegations that the government
let thousands of weapons fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. The citation would attempt to force Holder to turn over tens
of thousands of pages of documents related to the probe, which has entered its second year.
10
Things That Would Be Happening Today If Obama's Policies Were Working. [#5] Mexican criminals are supposed to be in jail today because
of Operation Fast and Furious. Instead, the Obama Administration ended up putting guns that were used to kill more than two hundred Mexicans and an
American citizen in the hands of Mexican cartels while Eric Holder may be about to face contempt charges because he refuses to cooperate with the
congressional investigation.
Issa
sends out draft contempt order against Holder, says 'Furious' response 'cannot stand'. Republican Rep. Darrell Issa has
circulated a lengthy pair of documents making the case for holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over his
"refusal" to cooperate in an investigation of the ill-fated Fast and Furious operation.
Contempt
Process Begins Against Holder on Fast and Furious. Sharyl Attkisson at CBS News reports that Republicans on the House
Oversight Committee will take the first formal step toward contempt proceedings against Attorney General Eric Holder over Operation
Fast and Furious. The draft consists of a briefing paper and 48 pages that will be distributed to Democrats and Republicans.
Few actions,
minimal compliance from Holder on Fast and Furious subpoena. A draft of a "contempt of Congress" citation House
Republicans released on Thursday [5/3/2012] shows that Attorney General Eric Holder is still far from complying with a
congressional subpoena over Operation Fast and Furious. And even within the categories of the subpoena where his
Department of Justice has taken some action, Holder's document production has been minimal.
Justice Department Disputes Fast and
Furious Contempt Charge. House Republicans are inching closer to issuing a contempt citation against disgraced Attorney General Eric Holder for
scandals surrounding the Obama administration's deadly weapons-trafficking operation "Fast and Furious." But in recent days, the Department of Justice
implausibly insisted that it cooperated with the congressional investigation. Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and other Representatives,
however, disagree, saying the executive branch has been engaged in a cover-up from the start.
Filmmaker Mike McNulty on Giving Voters the Fast and Furious
Facts. The filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated documentary "Waco: The Rules of Engagement" is gearing up to shed light on Operation: Fast and Furious.
Colorado-based Michael McNulty has been watching the media give scant attention to the scandal, one which involves U.S. letting arms cross into Mexico as part of an
anti-gunning running probe and has GOP officials scrambling to get Attorney General Eric Holder to reveal all the information behind the matter. Now, McNulty
has had enough.
Obama
threatens to veto DOJ budget because it blocks Fast and Furious gun control law. President Barack Obama has threatened to veto
a Department of Justice appropriations bill House Republicans passed because, among other things, it includes a provision that blocks a gun
control rule passed in the wake of Operation Fast and Furious. The Obama administration's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives wrote, and began implementing, a new rule that would require gun dealers in the four U.S. states that border Mexico to report
sales of multiple semi-automatic rifles to the ATF.
Gowdy:
Obama will fire Holder if Fast and Furious threatens his re-election. South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy, one of
the most outspoken Congressional critics of the Operation Fast and Furious scandal, said Thursday [5/10/2012] that he thinks President
Barack Obama may end up firing Attorney General Eric Holder before the election. [...] "I think that if he [Obama] believes that the
Attorney General has become something of an albatross, and is impacting his ability to carry some swing states, Eric Holder will be
in the private practice of law quicker than you say Marc Rich," Gowdy said.
Documentary on Fast and Furious Scandal
in Production Phase. An Emmy award-winning filmmaker has decided he cannot stay silent in the face of a massive cover-up by the media complex and
the Obama administration. The magnitude of the government's involvement in Operation Fast and Furious has roused documentarian Michael J. McNulty to
stand up and call out the bad guys. Attorney General Eric Holder will figure prominently in McNulty's feature length documentary, "Blood On Their Hands."
Boehner pushes Obama to make
Holder comply with Fast and Furious subpoena. [Scroll down] Holder has failed to comply with House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep.
Darrell Issa's Oct. 12, 2011, subpoena of him on Fast and Furious. Holder has thus far failed to comply with all 22 categories of the
subpoena that requires him to provide Congress with documents relating to Fast and Furious. On 13 of the categories, Holder has provided no
documents. On the other nine subpoena categories, Holder is still far from compliant.
Film Exposing Fast and Furious Gun
Scandal in the Works. Tired of the media's lack of serious interest in addressing the explosive nature of the scandal, award-winning
documentary maker Michael McNulty decided it was time to take action. "The people that are charged in our society with finding the truth are the
media, and they have failed miserably," he said in a recent video seeking support, offering to do the job that the press has so far largely refused
to do. The Colorado-based producer is hoping to raise almost $400,000 from supporters for the film to ensure that the truth about the U.S.
government's blood-drenched operation is known to the world.
GOP freshmen press for contempt vote on
Holder. House conservatives, fearing that Republican leaders may try to avoid an election-year confrontation with the Obama administration, are
insisting that House Speaker John Boehner press ahead with contempt of Congress charges against Attorney General Eric Holder over the Fast and Furious
gun-running operation. Five House Republican freshmen wrote to Boehner, R-Ohio, demanding that he schedule a vote on the contempt charges, something
Boehner has so far resisted.
Holder
refuses Fast and Furious interview request. Attorney General Eric Holder has refused The Daily Caller's request
for a sit-down interview on Operation Fast and Furious, the latest stonewalling effort by the Department of Justice over the scandal.
Because DOJ spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler has not answered TheDC's questions about Fast and Furious for months, TheDC asked her if Holder
would do an interview on the subject. "I'm going to decline your request," Schmaler said in response.
Attendees
of Eric Holder event think Operation Fast and Furious is a movie. Attorney General Eric Holder gave the keynote address at
a meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Conference of National Black Churches on Wednesday morning. Following the
speech, The Daily Caller asked attendees what they thought of Operation Fast and Furious...
Another
congressman joins Fast and Furious charge against Holder as contempt proceedings loom on horizon. California
Republican Rep. Tom McClintock has joined scores of his House colleagues in pushing for Attorney General Eric Holder to be
held accountable for his role in Operation Fast and Furious. McClintock's signature on Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar's official
House resolution of "no confidence" in Holder over Fast and Furious makes him the 129th House member to demand Holder's
resignation, sign the resolution or both. Presumptive GOP presidential nominee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt
Romney, three U.S. senators and two sitting governors join those members in demanding Holder's removal from the Department
of Justice because of Fast and Furious.
Fast and
Furious wiretap information obtained by Congress. The lead House Republican investigating Operation Fast and Furious, Rep.
Darrell Issa (R-CA), today [6/5/2012] said senior Justice Department officials had specific information that their federal agents were using
controversial "gunwalking" tactics. Justice Department officials have consistently denied that was the case. But today
in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Issa revealed that he has reviewed sealed wiretap applications in the case, which were
signed off on the authority of Holder's Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer.
Issa:
Wiretaps show 'immense detail' about questionable Fast & Furious tactics. A House investigative committee said
Tuesday [6/5/2012] it has obtained new information from wiretaps related to the Obama administration's Operation Fast and
Furious that suggests high-ranking officials know more than they are telling Congress about the flawed weapons sting.
Holder
ducks questions on who highest-ranking official with Fast and Furious knowledge was. Attorney General Eric Holder again
today would not answer who the highest-ranking Obama administration official was that had knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious and
the gunwalking tactics it employed before Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered. Instead, when House Judiciary Committee
Chairman Rep. Lamar Smith pressed him directly during a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday [6/7/2012], Holder dodged giving a
response.
Justice Dept. tries
to cut Fast and Furious deal with Congress. The Department of Justice told Republican House leadership in a Tuesday
[6/5/2012] letter that it hopes to reach an agreement with congressional overseers on how much information about Operation Fast and
Furious it is required to hand over. Congressional Republicans have threatened to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt
of Congress for not fully complying with a 22-part subpoena served last October.
Fast and
Furious: House Oversight has a 'mole' in the Justice Department. Attorney General Eric Holder has always maintained
that knowledge of these tactics did not reach the upper echelons of his department. The revelation of documents shredding
Holder's claims stirred some in the Republican leadership to begin taking the idea of filing contempt of Congress charges against
the Attorney General more seriously.
Fast &
Furious amnesia hits Attorney General Eric Holder during House testimony. Attorney General Eric Holder frustrated his
most fierce Capitol Hill accuser and other GOP lawmakers Thursday [6/7/2012] when asked about the Justice Department's Fast and
Furious weapons sting and which high-ranking Obama administration officials knew about the botched operation. Holder
sidestepped questions by GOP Rep. Darrell Issa about whether he or other Justice Department officials had even started to pull
together Fast and Furious documents requested in an October 2011 subpoena Issa sent the agency.
Ahead of Fast
and Furious hearing, Issa tells Holder 'lead or resign'. On Tuesday [6/5/2012], [Congressman Darrell] Issa announced
that his committee had obtained evidence proving that senior Department of Justice officials approved the tactics used in Fast and
Furious. In a letter to Holder, Issa specifically said his committee has "obtained copies of six wiretap applications in
support of seven wire intercepts utilized during Fast and Furious." Those documents, he said, "show that immense detail about
questionable investigative tactics was available to the senior officials who reviewed and authorized them." Issa explained
that the documents prove that Holder and other Justice Department officials in the Obama administration provided false statements
to Congress.
Fast and
Furious: Eric Holder's bizarre House Judiciary testimony. The Attorney General still maintains he and his top
deputies didn't know anything, can't remember anything, and have no intention of complying with lawful subpoenas from Congress.
Holder acknowledges that he's only turned over 7,600 of the 140,000 Fast and Furious documents he's sitting on, and that's about
as good as it's going to get. This did not sit well with the clearly exasperated Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), who is chairman
of the House Oversight Committee, and the lead House investigator into Operatin Fast and Furious.
Fast and Furious stonewall is
working. Yesterday [6/7/2012], AG Eric Holder evaded questions and continued his stonewall on the House Judiciary
Committee subpoena for thousands of documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal, which has claimed the lives of two sworn
federal agents and hundreds of Mexicans. If he were a Republican AG, the news would dominate all media, with ABCNBCCBSCNNNYT all
demanding to know what did the AG know, and when did he know it? But because he is the first black Attorney General, and a
Democrat, there is barely a peep beyond Fox News and the conservative media.
Holder
admits Axelrod, White House helped Justice Dept craft Fast and Furious public relations strategy. Attorney General
Eric Holder admitted on Thursday [6/7/2012] that President Barack Obama's chief campaign strategist David Axelrod and the White
House are helping the Department of Justice craft its messaging about Operation Fast and Furious. "We [Holder, Axelrod and
the White House] have certainly talked about ways in which we could deal with the interaction between the Justice Department
and Congress — about ways in which we would," Holder said in questioning before the House Judiciary Committee.
Holder
Claims Emails Using Words 'Fast and Furious Don't Refer to Operation Fast and Furious. 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.
Whose side is Eric Holder on?
We should've known the country would be in for a rough ride with Holder at the helm of the Justice Department. Even before he
was attorney general, he argued in front of the Supreme Court that one of our most cherished rights — the right to keep and
bear arms granted in the Second Amendment — did not apply to individual Americans, only to organized militias. Tragically,
his trepidation over possessing firearms seems to stop at the border, as his Justice Department signed off on arming drug cartels as
part of the botched Fast and Furious scheme. Holder contorted the Second Amendment to fit with his political views on gun
possession, while turning a blind eye to the dangers of arming foreign criminals.
Issa,
Boehner decline 'Fast and Furious' meeting with Holder until DOJ satisfies document subpoena. Attorney General Eric Holder
publicly asked House Speaker John Boehner, House oversight committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Sen. Chuck Grassley during a Tuesday
morning [6/12/2012] hearing to meet with him one-on-one about Operation Fast and Furious. But the leading congressional
investigators said a House subpoena from October 2011 is still pending and the ball is in Holder's court.
Cornyn berates Holder in
hearing, calls for his resignation. Sen. John Cornyn lambasted Attorney General Eric Holder and called for his resignation
Tuesday morning during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Holder appeared before the committee to address questions about
Operation Fast and Furious and alleged politically-motivated national security intelligence leaks. Cornyn called for Holder
to resign over the attorney general's handling of Fast and Furious, making him now the fourth U.S. senator to do so.
Eric Holder Shows
Nothing But Contempt For The Truth In Fast And Furious Scandal. A House committee has announced a June 20 vote on
whether Attorney General Eric Holder is in contempt of Congress for withholding documents in the "Fast and Furious" scandal.
It can't happen soon enough.
Tricky 'Fast and
Furious' probe is slow and furious. [Attorney General Eric] Holder has been extremely vigilant attempting to stop states
from doing things like enforcing laws against illegal immigrants and cleaning non-citizens and non-breathing people from voter registration
lists. But Holder's surprising defense as the chief law enforcement officer in the United States of America in charge of the entire
Justice Department has been 'Gee, I really didn't know about Fast and Furious.'
House moving to hold Holder in contempt.
House Republicans said Monday [6/11/2012] that they will move to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress,
escalating a separation-of-powers battle over Fast and Furious, the Obama administration's botched gun-walking operation.
Grassley wants 'somebody's scalp'
over Fast and Furious. Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking GOP Member Chuck Grassley said Tuesday evening that he wants
"somebody's scalp" over Operation Fast and Furious — and he stopped just short of joining his congressional colleagues
demanding Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation. "The only thing I want out of this is somebody's scalp that approved this,"
Grassley told Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren in a Tuesday evening [6/12/2012] interview.
AG wants to deal after call for contempt
vote. A day after House Republicans scheduled a vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, the
nation's top law-enforcement officer told lawmakers he wants to work out a deal over releasing documents related to the "Fast and
Furious" probe. A newly conciliatory Holder testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday [6/12/2012] that he is
willing to compromise on some of the records the House Government and Oversight Committee has been demanding.
Eric Holder's Corrupt Agenda. On Tuesday, [6/12/2012] the
U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it was filing a lawsuit against Florida over the state's push to clean its voter roles of dead
and foreign voters. The move comes on the heels of Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), the chairman of the House Oversight Committee,
scheduling a vote by his panel on June 20th aimed at holding U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for refusing
to turn over documents in the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal. While the corrupt practices of Holder's DOJ may finally be getting
the attention they deserve, it is also becoming apparent that the department is not just degrading the principles of law and order to
advance a radical leftist agenda — but to enhance president's Obama's re-election chances by any means necessary.
Eric Holder and Operation Stonewall. In
recent testimony before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, a combative Attorney General Eric Holder strongly denied the
Justice Department is engaged in a cover-up over its involvement in "Operation Fast and Furious," the failed gun-buying probe which led to
the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and over 300 hundred Mexican citizens. Instead, Holder said the 14-month congressional
probe into the failings of Fast and Furious had devolved into nothing but a "political" effort intended to embarrass the Obama administration.
Holder agrees
to give Issa internal emails on Fast and Furious, offers to meet. Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday agreed to make
what he called "an extraordinary accommodation" to Republicans investigating the botched "Operation Fast and Furious" by turning over
department emails he has long insisted deal with internal deliberations and should be protected. Holder is trying to head off a
push by House Republicans to hold him in contempt of Congress for allegedly "stonewalling" their investigation.
Holder aide who erred on
Fast and Furious leaves Justice Department. The senior Justice Department official who sent a letter to a Republican senator
falsely claiming that the department did not allow guns to be "walked" to drug smugglers in Mexico during the Fast and Furious investigation
left the department Wednesday [6/13/2012] to become dean of the Baltimore School of Law.
NBC
Nightly News Devotes Mere Seconds to First-Ever Mention of Fast and Furious. In the eighteen months since the Operation
Fast & Furious investigation began, Brian Williams and NBC Nightly News have never mentioned the Department of Justice's gunwalking
controversy. Every single time Mr. Holder has testified or a major development happened, NBC Nightly News ignored it.
Tonight [6/12/2012], in their first mention of the scandal — ever — NBC Nightly News and Brian Williams distorted
Attorney General Eric Holder's testimony.
Senator
calls for Holder's resignation amid challenges over leak probe, Fast and Furious. Lawmakers' frustration with Attorney General Eric
Holder over an ongoing security leak probe and the botched Fast and Furious gunrunning operation boiled over Tuesday, with a top Republican lawmaker
calling on Holder to resign. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, made the call for Holder's resignation during a Senate hearing late Tuesday
morning [6/12/2012].
Fast and Furious Breeds Contempt. Will
Attorney General Eric Holder be held in contempt [of] Congress? It's a question that could be answered this week as lawmakers consider
what would be just the fourth contempt action against a member of the executive branch in the last thirty years. Janet Reno was the last
attorney general to hold such a dubious distinction.
Border Patrol group calls for Holder's
resignation. The National Border Patrol Council, which represents all 17,000 of the agency's nonsupervisory agents, called Monday for
the resignation of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. for his role in the botched "Fast and Furious" gunrunning operation that resulted
in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Council President George E. McCubbin III, a 25-year Border Patrol veteran, described Mr. Holder's
actions in the case as "a slap in the face to all Border Patrol agents who serve this country," adding that the attorney general showed "an utter
failure of leadership at the highest levels of government."
'Fast and Furious'
whistleblower says he's 'disappointed' one year later. More than a year after ATF Special Agent John Dodson first blew the
whistle on the scandal known as Operation Fast and Furious, Dodson says he is "disheartened and disappointed" by the congressional
investigation and Attorney General Eric Holder's handling of the botched gunrunning probe.
Is this the end of
Eric Holder's games? Bait-and-switch? Or breath-taking chutzpah? Either way, Eric Holder is in big trouble. The
embattled attorney general destroyed what little is left of his credibility yesterday afternoon when he failed to turn over 1,300 subpoenaed and
unredacted documents in the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal to House investigators led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).
Issa Gives Holder One Last
Deadline Before Contempt Hearing. Darrell Issa is going go ahead with holding Eric Holder in contempt of Congress on Wednesday, after
the two sides couldn't come to a deal during a last minute meeting Tuesday evening [6/19/2012], unless he gets documents relating to the
Fast & Furious program by 10 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Last-minute deal fizzles, Holder
contempt vote still on tap. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. faces a contempt of Congress hearing Wednesday after refusing a
last-minute compromise offer to turn over subpoenaed documents to a House committee investigating the botched Fast and Furious gunrunning operation.
Holder shows
up empty-handed to Issa meeting, chooses path toward contempt of Congress. House oversight committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa said
Tuesday evening that his committee plans to move forward with contempt of Congress proceedings against Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday
if he fails to produce promised documents before a scheduled 10 a.m. vote.
Contempt
coming? It appears at this point the scheduled Wednesday morning [6/20/2012] contempt of Congress vote for Attorney General
Eric Holder is still on as the Department of Justice has not released promised Operation Fast and Furious documents by its deadline.
Senator Grassley: "How can the President exert executive privilege over documents he's supposedly never seen?"
Eric Holder held in contempt of Congress. Attorney General
Eric Holder has been held in contempt of Congress by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The vote, 23 to 17
along party lines, was expected after an eleventh hour meeting between Holder and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) Tuesday evening failed to produce
documents relating to the controversial gun-walking operation, known as Fast and Furious.
Obama asserts executive privilege over
'Fast and Furious' documents. President Obama on Wednesday asserted executive privilege over documents sought by a House committee in
its investigation of the botched "Fast and Furious" operation. The last-minute move came just before the start of a scheduled hearing by the
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on a contempt of Congress citation against Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., who has refused
since October to honor a committee subpoena seeking the documents.
Obama grants Holder request on
'Furious' documents as contempt vote looms. Rep. Darrell Issa pressed ahead with a committee vote Wednesday to hold Attorney General
Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, despite an eleventh-hour move by President Obama to assert executive privilege over the Fast and Furious
documents at the heart of the dispute. The announcement touched off a caustic debate on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that
lasted well into the afternoon, as Democrats accused Issa of prosecuting a "political witch hunt" and Republicans stepped up their criticism of
Holder's "stonewalling" over the Fast and Furious probe. Even for Washington, the tone at the hearing was decidedly bitter and accusatory.
White
House grants executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents. The showdown between the White House and key congressional
Republicans over the administration's response to a controversial program that allowed guns into the hands of Mexican drug cartels kicked
into high gear Wednesday. President Obama granted Attorney General Eric Holder executive privilege on the matter, while the head of
the House panel overseeing government conduct moved forward with proceedings to hold the nation's top law enforcement official in contempt
of Congress.
White House withholds Fast and Furious files. President Obama has taken
the rare step of asserting executive privilege to withhold documents sought by lawmakers probing a botched US sting operation. The attorney
general is facing moves to hold him in contempt of Congress over the issue. Justice officials said the privilege applied to files on how they
learned of problems with Fast and Furious.
Sheila Jackson Lee blames Bush for Fast
and Furious. "This Fast and Furious debacle started under the Bush administration," Jackson Lee declared. "And it is been
evidenced by various reports that it started under the ATL office in Arizona unbeknownst to leadership in Washington DC, at least leadership that came
in under the Obama administration in this instance, Eric Holder." Attempts by Democrats to pin the Fast and Furious operation on Bush, however,
don't stand.
Romney Campaign Says Obama Fast And Furious
Decision "Another Broken Promise". Romney Press Secretary Andrea Saul attacked President Barack Obama's decision to invoke executive
privilege on documents pertaining to the Fast and Furious scandal requested by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
"President Obama's pledge to run the most open and transparent administration in history has turned out to be just another broken promise," she
said in a statement to BuzzFeed.
Executive Privilege Kicks Off Regular Season.
This new phase of the Fast and Furious scandal begins with Americans who had paid no attention to the scandal hearing the news today and asking, "what
are they trying to hide?" The new phase might possibly include members of the old media asking why the Most Transparent Administration in
History, isn't. Or, it might see them going all out to defend their president.
Rep.
Gowdy Raises Voice in 6-Minute Diatribe Blasting Holder, Obama. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) blasted U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and
his department in an impassioned speech during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee where lawmakers were discussing whether or not to
charge the attorney general with contempt. Gowdy — who raised his voice several times — argued the documents that have been
made available indicate that senior level officials at the Department of Justice in Washington were aware about Fast and Furious before
the death of Border Agent Brian Terry.
Issa: 'Our Purpose Has Never Been to Hold
the Attorney General in Contempt'. In a last-minute maneuver before a House panel voted on a contempt of Congress charge against
embattled Attorney General Eric Holder, the Justice Department notified the House that President Barack Obama was invoking executive privilege
to shield documents pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.)
made the announcement in his opening remarks to the committee on Wednesday morning [6/20/2012].
Pollster Scott
Rasmussen: Fast and Furious outcome depends on the media coverage. Pollster Scott Rasmussen told The Daily Caller he thinks coverage in
the mainstream media will ultimately be one of, if not the, single biggest factors in how the congressional investigation into Operation Fast and
Furious moves forward, and whether Attorney General Holder keeps his job. A new poll Rasmussen's polling firm released last week shows
40 percent — a plurality — of likely-to-vote Americans want Holder to resign.
Obama's Claim of
Executive Privilege: It's Frivolous. Holder's letter is a remarkable document. Viewed from a strictly technical
standpoint, it is a terrible piece of legal work. Its arguments are weak at best; in some cases, they are so frivolous as to
invite the imposition of sanctions if they were asserted in court.
Holder's "Extraordinary" Contempt.
And so we now know exactly what Eric Holder meant when he stated that he was ready to make "An extraordinary accommodation" to avoid a
contempt of Congress vote in the house. In an "extraordinary" meeting, at 5 pm EST yesterday, Holder arrived empty
handed. Congressman Issa, Chairman of the House Oversight Committee had instructed Holder to produce some 1,300 documents,
emails and memos pertaining to subpoenaed documents related to the cover up of the Fast and Furious scandal.
Hiding Behind Executive Privilege.
President Barack Obama has long tried to distance himself from the "Fast and Furious" scandal at the Justice Department, which stems
from a program under which Mexican drug cartels were allowed to acquire U.S. firearms that were later used against U.S. law-enforcement
personnel. By invoking executive privilege to stymie congressional investigation of the case, the president has placed himself
squarely in the center of it.
Those Fast and Furious
documents must be dynamite. Even with his fawning press, [Presdient Obama] will pay a price for this one. He knows
this, meaning that the documents now to be withheld must be dynamite. They have to show either that Holder knew what was going
on with Fast and Furious and approved it, or that he directly committed perjury in his Congressional testimony, or both.
Obama's
Executive Privilege Has The Stench Of Cover-Up. The president illegally asserts executive privilege to protect an
attorney general who's either a clueless political hack, malevolent or both, withholding answers of who is responsible for a
Border Patrol agent's death.
Holder Will Lose Executive Privilege
Fight. President Obama's assertion of executive privilege to prevent Attorney General Eric Holder from complying with
congressional subpoenas on the Operation Fast and Furious fiasco will blow up in the White House's face. But not for the
reasons you've heard on the first day of this legal fight.
Murdered Border Agent's Family Says President Obama 'Compounding This Tragedy'.
Terry family attorney Pat McGroder on Wednesday [6/20/2012] released the following statement from [Brian] Terry's parents Josephine
Terry and Kent Terry Sr.: "Attorney General Eric Holder's refusal to fully disclose the documents associated with Operation Fast
and Furious and President Obama's assertion of executive privilege serves to compound this tragedy. It denies the Terry family
and the American people the truth."
Obama raises legal
eyebrows with executive privilege claim. President Obama could be on shaky legal ground with his assertion of executive
privilege in a congressional investigation that has been going on for a year, according to scholars who study the limits of presidential
power. Louis Fisher, a former specialist on the separation of powers at the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, said he
found the administration's arguments "extremely unpersuasive."
Agents call for Holder's
resignation. An organization representing Border Patrol agents has called for the resignation of U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder due to "Operation Fast and Furious."
Can Obama rewrite federal law?
Here we go again. Is the Constitution merely a guideline to be consulted by those it purports to regulate, or is it really the
supreme law of the land? [...] There is no intellectually honest argument to be made that the president can pick and choose which laws
to enforce based on his personal preferences. And it is a profound violation of the Constitution for the president to engage in
rewriting the laws. That's what he has done here — he has rewritten federal law.
The
Fast and Furious scandal is turning into President Obama's Watergate. Fast and furious hasn't been discussed a lot in the mainstream
media, which is why the facts can seem so preposterous when you read them for the first time. But the story is slowly unraveling and the
public is catching up with the madness. On Wednesday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted to hold Attorney General
Eric Holder in contempt over his decision to withhold documents related to the "gun walking" operation — documents that President
Obama tried to keep secret by invoking executive privilege. The question of why the Prez intervened in this way will surely hang over the
investigation and the White House for many months to come.
Grassley: Obama's Actions Suggest Involvement in
Fast and Furious Cover-Up. Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley charged in an exclusive interview with Newsmax.TV Wednesday that President
Barack Obama's decision to invoke executive privilege in the bungled "Operation Fast and Furious" gun-running scheme could indicate that the
president is involved.
Fast and Furious Goes Nuclear. The Fast and Furious
gunwalking scandal, largely downplayed by the mainstream media for months, can no long be contained. President Barack Obama granted an
eleventh hour written request by his embattled Attorney General Eric Holder and invoked executive privilege, withholding documents and
communications by administration officials that occurred after Feb. 4, 2011. Those communications have been subpoenaed by House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA), who had warned Mr. Holder that he would be held in contempt of
Congress for refusing to turn them over. On Wednesday [6/20/2012], Issa made good on his promise.
What's Bam hiding? Obama
asserted executive privilege Wednesday regarding House subpoenas for documents that might provide some clarity — subpoenas at which
Holder & Co. have been thumbing their institutional noses for months. Indeed, the privilege assertion comes 15 months after
Obama claimed that neither he nor Holder knew about, to say nothing of authorized, the gun operation. Holder himself testified in May 2011
that he'd only heard about the operation "in the last few weeks" — though memos later came to light that undermine that claim.
Eric Holder must surrender Fast and
Furious documents. [Scroll down] Further raising eyebrows, in May 2011 Holder told the committee that he had first heard of
the operation "over the last few weeks." Later, the committee obtained Justice Department memos about Fast and Furious addressed to Holder
dating from September 2010. Issa is targeting why Holder didn't provide the straight goods sooner. The question is a fair one and
takes precedence over Obama's claim that DOJ deliberations over dealing with the committee probe are off-limits to Congress.
An Arrogant and Lawless Cover-Up.
Few principles are more important to our constitutional scheme than the separation of powers, which is precisely why President Obama's bogus
assertion of executive privilege to thwart Congress' investigation into Fast and Furious is so inexcusable.
Grassley:
WH must provide Congress with a 'privilege log' for Fast and Furious documents Obama's hiding. On Thursday [6/21/2012], Iowa
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley ripped President Barack Obama for his assertion of the executive privilege to keep hiding Operation Fast and
Furious documents from Congress. Grassley said the White House must provide a "privilege log" detailing what documents Obama is exercising
his power over, and what his legal argument for doing so is.
No kidding.
House committee suspects 'Fast
and Furious' cover-up. The House committee investigating Fast and Furious has received more than 7,600 documents from the Justice
Department, but Republican lawmakers say none addresses who approved the gunrunning probe, who failed to stop it before a U.S. Border Patrol
agent was killed and why department officials initially lied to Congress about it. Now the panel has its sights set on an additional
1,300 pages of documents it believes will answer those questions and also expose a political cover-up at Justice.
Welcome to the Mainstream, Mr. Furious. The Obama
administration gun-running plot known as Operation Fast and Furious exploded into the mainstream this week with a dramatic series of motions that
caught many Americans (those not familiar with the scandal) by surprise. [...] The movement may seem stunning to the American people if they have
not followed the scandal closely, as the mainstream media has continued to refer to Operation Fast and Furious as a "botched law enforcement
operation" for 18 months. Evidence suggests, however, that the gun-running plot worked precisely as designed.
Furiouser and furiouser.
[Scroll down] Full public disclosure on F&F would have been the best way to defuse this crisis long ago: Whose idea was it?
How did it go so spectacularly awry? Instead, the administration slow-walked document disclosures and invited more questions about who
knew what and when. Remember what then-acting ATF director Kenneth Melson told congressional investigators last year? He said
Justice was scrambling to protect its political appointees from taking the blame in the rapidly spreading scandal.
Fast and Furious front and center.
The two most important words in the current Obama administration scandal aren't "Fast" or "Furious." They are "Brian Terry."
America needs to get furious ... fast.
Attorney General Eric Holder's continued refusal to turn over "Fast and Furious" documents to House investigators — even in
the face of being held in contempt by Congress — is another symptom of the disease of lawlessness that has been rotting our
republic ever since President Barack Obama took office. Moreover, Obama's decision to invoke "executive privilege" to hide these
documents from the American people is a tacit admission that what the National Rifle Association has been saying since day one is true.
Namely, that the inconceivable crimes committed under operation "Fast and Furious" were designed to support the Obama administration's
gun-control agenda.
Does Obama Know Who Brian Terry Is? Well,
this is what happens your son doesn't look like President Obama. Now imagine the fury that would have followed if one of George W.
Bush's press secretaries couldn't remember the name of a soldier who had died in Iraq. Then again it is probably just as well that
it was Carney who said "the family that you referred to". If it was President Obama, he'd have probably called Terry a "corpseman".
Come to think of it, does President Obama even know who Brian Terry is? Or for that matter Jaime Zapata?
A comparison of the media coverage of Cindy Sheehan's
son vs. coverage of Brian Terry:
The Media, the Terrys, and Cindy Sheehan.
Without Sean Hannity and Fox News and a lone radio show in Philadelphia, the news of Brian Terry's parents and the death of their
son — not to mention the Obama administration scandal that caused it — would have long ago vanished into the usual
black hole of liberal disinformation and no information.
Fast And Furious Did Not
Begin Under President Bush. The president's spokesman confuses a "controlled delivery" operation known as Wide Receiver with the
quite different Fast and Furious and couldn't even remember the name of the Border Patrol agent killed by it.
Time For Super PACs to Tell the Truth
About Fast & Furious. Forget about the media. No amount of shaming will ever convince those moral illiterates to tell the
full and complete story of Fast and Furious. If you think Brian Williams and those who staff every other newsroom in this country went
to journalism school to hold power accountable and inform the public, think again. They entered media for one purpose and one purpose only:
to defeat the right and to further the leftist cause.
Fast and Furious: Follow the Ideology.
At PJTV, Bill Whittle makes the case that Fast and Furious was driven by Barack Obama's and Eric Holder's anti-gun ideology. The case is, I
think, a persuasive one, as no one has offered an alternative explanation of why the administration would deliberately facilitate the shipment of
thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels, with no effort to track them unless and until they were involved in the commission of crimes. If
the administration didn't intend that Mexicans be murdered with Fast and Furious weapons, then what was the point?
Obama and the Kingdom of the Concrete Skull.
If this account is true, we have an Administration which ran an illegal operation designed to further regulate and therefore diminish American
citizens' constitutional right to bear arms; when the scheme resulted in the death of 200 Mexicans and at least one and possibly two U.S.
agents, it lied repeatedly under oath about it; and the White House was involved in the efforts illegally to cover it up.
Hume on Fast and Furious: 'The
scent of a cover-up is pretty strong'. On this weekend's broadcast of "Fox News Sunday," Fox News senior political analyst Brit
Hume made the case that there could indeed be evidence that the Department of Justice is involved in a cover-up of operation-turned-scandal
Fast and Furious. Hume questioned the Obama administration's use of executive privilege to withhold documents pertaining to the program.
"I think the scent of a cover-up is pretty strong," Hume said.
Issa: 'Clearly a Cover-Up' on
Fast and Furious. U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa said the Justice Department's refusal
to turn over documents related to a failed gun-smuggling operation was "clearly a cover-up" by Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama
administration. "It was deny, delay and recuse," Issa, a California Republican, said on ABC's "This Week" of his panel's clash with the
administration.
Voters Disapprove of Obama Blocking Release of
Fast & Furious Docs. Though the 2-to-1 margin is higher than I expected, there was little doubt President Obama's decision to
invoke executive privilege to prevent the release of documents that might shed some light in the Fast and Furious scandal was a bad political
move. This is what makes the President's decision so troubling. What's in those documents that makes paying the political
price worth it?
Rep. Allen West:
'You Don't Invoke Executive Privilege Unless You Had Some Involvement in This Operation'. Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) believes President
Barack Obama's attempt to withhold executive branch documents from Congress by declaring executive privilege indicates that the Fast and Furious
scandal may go beyond the Justice Department. CNSNews.com asked West, "So you think this has been a cover up at the very highest level based
on the president's interjection in this?" West answered, "Well, absolutely."
Obama's Watergate. By asserting executive privilege, Obama has
blocked criminal consequences for Attorney General Eric Holder from any contempt of Congress resolution that may be passed. More importantly
(at least to him), Obama has successfully blocked the disclosure of the documents at least until the November election. It is barely within
the realm of possibilities that the courts will resolve the executive privilege claim to the F&F papers before then.
Lying liars and the 'furious' lies they
tell. Thus begins the fast and furious descent of President Obama. Almost exactly 40 years to the day after burglars slipped
into the Watergate complex, setting off a coverup that toppled a president, Mr. Obama on Thursday [6/21/2012] invoked executive privilege to shield
documents about his administration's shockingly inept "gunwalking" program known as Fast and Furious. That same day, the lies poured forth in
the White House briefing room, delivered by the president's chief spokesman.
Washington's
"Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" for 2011. The Fast and Furious operation by itself should have resulted in Holder's
resignation, but it is the cover-up that has prompted serious calls for Holder's ouster. On May 3, 2011, in a House Judiciary
Committee hearing chaired by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Holder testified: "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about
Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks." Newly released documents show he was receiving weekly briefings on Fast
and Furious as far back as July 5, 2010. It appears Holder lied to Congress. Unfortunately, when it comes to Holder
corruption and abuse of office, Fast and Furious is just the tip of the iceberg.
ATF
leader's email could be Fast and Furious smoking gun and Holder admitted Obama can't shield it. A single internal Department
of Justice email could be the smoking-gun document in the Operation Fast and Furious scandal — if it turns out to contain what
congressional investigators have said it does. The document would establish that wiretap application documents show senior DOJ officials
knew about and approved the gunwalking tactic in Fast and Furious. This is the opposite of what Attorney General Eric Holder and House
oversight committee ranking Democratic member Rep. Elijah Cummings have claimed.
32 Grieving Parents with
Absolute Moral Authority over Obama. [Scroll down] Which brings us to Mary and Amador Zapata, the parents of slain ICE
agent Jaime Zapata. Last week, the Zapatas filed a $25-million wrongful death claim against the government. Jaime Zapata was
ambushed in a roadside attack in Mexico in February 2011, while working for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Highly
informed sources say that Zapata was investigating Fast and Furious at the time of his murder.
Issa
to Obama: Either you're involved in Fast and Furious or your executive privilege claim is unjustified. In a letter obtained by The
Daily Caller, House oversight committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa pressed President Barack Obama directly on his assertion of executive privilege
over documents related to Operation Fast and Furious. "[Y]our privilege assertion means one of two things," Issa wrote to the president in a
letter dated June 25. "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."
Issa escalates: Accuses Obama of involvement
in Fast and Furious. Rep. Darrell Issa threw down the gauntlet to President Obama in a letter to the president that accuses him of being involved in the Fast
and Furious operation. [...] The February 4 letter is the key, of course. It contains the statement by DoJ that they did everything in their power to prevent
gunwalking, despite that being demonstrably untrue.
Obama, Story-Teller. Last week, the president invoked
executive privilege to prevent the release of administration documents related to the Fast and Furious operation. All presidents on occasion use that tactic, but
rarely after they have put themselves on record, as did Senator Obama just five years ago, damning the practice as a de facto admission of wrongdoing. Does
President Obama remember his earlier denunciation — or why he thought a special prosecutor was necessary to look into the Scooter Libby case, but not the far greater
mess surrounding Eric Holder?
Issa's Right: Tougher Gun Laws [were the] Fast And Furious
Goal. The head of the House oversight panel suggests the real reason for the administration's invoking executive privilege in the Fast and Furious case is
to hide proof that the operation was part of a push for gun control.
Fox News poll: More see
cover-up than witch hunt in Fast & Furious fight. A Fox News poll released Wednesday [6/27/2012] shows that 38 percent of voters think
the fight over "Fast and Furious" is better described as a "cover up by the White House," while 32 percent say it is a "witch hunt by Congressional
Republicans." Twelve percent say it's both and 18 percent don't have an opinion either way.
Fortune
Magazine Tries to Tell The "Truth" About Fast and Furious, Fails Miserably. [Scroll down] The guns sold during Fast and Furious
didn't "eventually fall into criminal hands," they were put there intentionally as soon as ATF approved the sale of those guns to guys they knew
were straw purchasers before they even walked through the door of the gun dealerships. Not to mention, weapons were never seized until they were
found at violent crime scenes; 1400 remain missing.
Boehner: The Administration Covered Up 'Lies That
They Gave To The Congress'. Asked if the upcoming House vote to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress is distracting
from the focus on jobs, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said there are other things congress must deal with. Including why the administration
"covered up the lies that they gave to the congress."
Holder Deserves Contempt Slap For Fast
And Furious. The House vote to hold the attorney general in contempt is well-deserved for someone with a track record of incompetence and
lying to Congress. He serves and protects a president just as unworthy.
House holds Holder in contempt over
'Fast and Furious' documents. The House on Thursday cited Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. for contempt of Congress in a historic
vote weighted with political significance — though it does little to break the stalemate over his decision to withhold documents regarding the
Justice Department's actions in a botched gunwalking operation. The House voted 255-67 to hold Mr. Holder in criminal contempt in a vote that
amounted to a political spanking for the attorney general and President Obama, underscored by the 17 Democrats who joined Republicans.
Obama Contributor, Who Helped
Enact Assault-Weapons Ban, Ran 'Fast and Furious'. Dennis K. Burke, who as a lawyer for the Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee
in the 1990s was a key player behind the enactment of the 1994 assault-weapons ban, and who then went on to become Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano's chief
of staff, and a contributor to Barack Obama's 2008 presidential primary campaign, and then a member of Obama's transition team focusing on border-enforcement
issues, ended up in the Obama administration as the U.S. attorney in Arizona responsible for overseeing Operation Fast and Furious.
Justice Department Won't Prosecute Holder
for Contempt. After Congress found the nation's top law enforcement officer in contempt Thursday [6/28/2012], the Department of Justice
quickly wrote a letter to House Speaker John Boehner informing him that it will not prosecute U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder for withholding documents
in a congressional investigation of the Fast and Furious gun walking operation.
Lew won't confirm or deny whether President Barack Obama involved in Fast and Furious cover up.
White House chief of staff Jack Lew on Sunday [7/1/2012] would neither confirm nor deny whether President Barack Obama himself is involved in the
Operation Fast and Furious cover-up. Appearing on CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley, Lew refused to answer when asked if Fast and Furious
documents now protected by Obama's executive order detail consultations with the president himself.
Boehner:
GOP ready to take Holder to court over Fast and Furious documents. House Speaker John Boehner said the GOP would likely take the "Fast and
Furious" case to federal court in the next several weeks, on the heels of the House voting to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.
"It needs to happen," Boehner (R-Ohio) said on CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday [7/1/2012]. "The American people have a right to know what happened here."
Blood Money: Obama Contributor Ran Fast and
Furious. A campaign contributor who was an architect of the 1994 assault weapons ban was the mastermind behind the Fast and Furious
operation that let guns walk into Mexico, including those that killed two U.S. agents.
Fast and Furious Noose Tightens Around Justice
Department. [Scroll down] Indeed, in a letter to the Committee in March 2011 (about three months after Agent Terry's murder),
the Justice Department falsely denied that gunwalking had even been used. Holder subsequently "retracted" that falsehood. Moreover, as the
public began to be educated about the federal law's requirements for wiretapping applications, the Justice Department changed its story on that, too.
It began claiming that, while it is true the wiretap applications were reviewed by DOJ's office of enforcement operations, the Department's top political
appointees only perused "summaries" of the applications — which, it was implied, did not allude to gunwalking. Having worked on and
supervised numerous wiretapping investigations in eighteen years as a federal prosecutor in New York, I found these claims implausible.
Grassley releases another document
showing possible Fast and Furious cover-up. In a letter Tuesday [7/3/2012], Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley pressed Attorney
General Eric Holder for details about a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives memorandum that indicates his Department of Justice
may have tried to cover up the gunwalking tactics that were at the heart of Operation Fast and Furious.
Issa, Grassley release
details about Fast and Furious whistleblower retaliation, cover-up. House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa and Iowa Republican Sen.
Chuck Grassley are asking the Department of Justice's internal investigator to hold accountable anyone who retaliated against or threatened to retaliate against
Operation Fast and Furious whistleblowers.
Justice unseals indictment charging 5 in
Brian Terry's death. The Justice Department unsealed an indictment Monday [7/9/2012] charging five people in connection with Border Patrol agent
Brian Terry's death — a move that drew praise as well as skepticism from lawmakers laser-focused on the case. The department, in unsealing the
document, also announced a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to the arrest of four suspects who are still at large.
69% Want Obama to Come Clean on 'Fast & Furious'.
Among adults, not registered voters or likely voters, 53 percent approve of the U.S. House of Representatives holding "Attorney General Eric Holder
in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over documents related to a program called Operation Fast and Furious." Only 33 percent disapprove.
The CNN survey also found that only 34 percent thought House Republicans had "real ethical concerns," while 61 percent thought House Republicans
did it to "gain political advantage." (What political advantage is that? Just how different is the level of "advantage" the House GOP has today
compared to two weeks ago?)
DOJ charges
five with Brian Terry's murder, FBI offers $1M reward for arrests. Justice Department (DOJ) officials indicted five individuals for
the death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry — who was murdered by drug traffickers armed through Operation Fast and
Furious — and a $1 million reward for information leading to their arrest.
'Fast And
Furious' Shows GOP's Big Weakness. Until someone can tell us otherwise, there is only one explanation for why President
Obama's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives gave thousands of guns to Mexican drug dealers: It put guns in
their hands to strengthen liberals' argument for gun control. Precisely because this is such a jaw-dropping
accusation — criminality at the highest level of government to score a political point — Republicans
refuse to make it.
RNC: Obama hasn't
answered for Fast and Furious 'scandal'. The Republican National Committee (RNC) hit Obama Friday for not taking more
responsibility for the problems in his administration, saying that he's unfairly attacking GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's
record as a chief executive of a private equity firm when he has "scandals" of his own. "Obama says he is responsible for what
happens under his watch, but won't answer for the scandals that have plagued his administration," said the RNC in an e-mail blast.
Taking
Down the Second Amendment: The Connection between Fast and Furious and the Trayvon Martin Case. [Scroll down] "The
number of guns that are used by the drug cartels against the police and the military — 90 percent of them come from
America," Hillary Clinton declared later the same day [3/26/2009]. The number was too good to be true. The report
actually states that of about 30,000 firearms seized from criminals in 2008, the Mexican government submitted only 7,200 (25%) to
the ATF. The authorities knew or suspected that the rest came from their own military or police, or overseas suppliers.
Of the 7,200 weapons, only about 4,000 could be traced, and of these 4,000 about 3,480 (87%) originated in the U.S. The real
figure for guns seized from criminals in Mexico that could be traced to the U.S. is thus about 11.6%. There is no other
reasonable explanation for Fast and Furious except to improve on this dismal number.
Top Ten Things Obama Has Not
Released. [#1] Fast and Furious documents. After months of stonewalling Congress, Attorney General Eric
Holder asked President Obama to use executive privilege to conceal thousands of documents related to the deadly scandal — and
Obama did just that.
Romney rips Obama over Fast and
Furious 'hypocrisy'. Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney lashed out Tuesday [7/17/2012] at President Obama for a
lack of "transparency" in invoking executive privilege to withhold Operation Fast and Furious documents. In a release headlined
"Transparent Hypocrisy: Obama's Fast and Furious Broken Promises," Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said: "President Obama's
pledge to be transparent has turned out to be just another broken promise."
Napolitano Doesn't Know if Any
'Fast and Furious' Guns Were Apprehended. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said her department has increased the seizure
of weapons along the border, but she did not know if any of those weapons were seized from Operation Fast and Furious, the botched Justice Department
program that allowed guns to flow to Mexican drug trafficking organizations. When Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said his understanding is that
not a single Fast and Furious gun was apprehended, Napolitano responded, "I just can't answer that. I don't know." The exchange occurred
during a July 19 hearing of the House Judiciary Committee.
The Reason We Care About the Fast and
Furious Scandal. The reason we care is very simple and straightforward. Brian Terry was murdered. The weapon used to murder
him was made available by our Department of Justice. To date no one has been held responsible. The real question is not about why
conservatives care so much about the situation. The real questions is why do liberal media figures not? Why do they act as if this
isn't a big deal and it's just a political witch hunt? What about Brian Terry? What about his family? The man was
murdered!
Fast and
Furious report: Gunwalking idea came from top Holder deputies in 2009. A new congressional report explores how gunwalking,
as it occurred in Operation Fast and Furious, appears to have had its "genesis" in the offices of Attorney General Eric Holder's top
deputies. The report also lays blame for Fast and Furious at the feet of five senior Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF) officials. Gunwalking describes a law enforcement operation in which law enforcement agents choose not to
interdict or seize firearms they know were illegally bought by straw purchasers — in the case of Fast and Furious,
representatives of Mexican drug cartels — with the goal of allowing them to penetrate further into a criminal
conspiracy chain.
Deputy Director William Hoover resigns from ATF in
wake of critical report. ATF Deputy Director William Hoover has resigned, just days after a congressional report on
Operation Fast and Furious sharply criticized him and four other ATF officials for the botched gun-trafficking operation. Hoover
officially retired from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Tuesday [7/31/2012], according to two senior ATF
officials.
ATF
official resigns after Issa, Grassley nail him in congressional Fast and Furious report. The man who served as the deputy
director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives during Operation Fast and Furious resigned on Tuesday, an agency
spokesman told The Associated Press on Thursday. William Hoover was one of the five ATF officials House oversight committee
chairman Darrell Issa and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley singled out as responsible for Operation Fast and Furious.
The Hysteria In Mexico Caused By Fast & Furious.
[Scroll down] La Familia used Fast & Furious guns to take down a police helicopter. The cartel shot down the helicopter, injuring two officers.
A raid by the Federal Police on La Familia left 11 dead and arrested 36 others. They found massive artillery, including several guns from
Fast & Furious. The Oversight Committee's July 26, 2011 report gives at least 48 separate recoveries involving Fast & Furious weapons.
A letter from the DOJ to Chairman Darrell Issa and Senator Charles Grassley on September 9, 2011 gives in depth details on a few of those recoveries.
Why Obama Thought Going
Toxic Was a No-Lose Strategy. Obama may be enamored of false flag operations. In Fast and Furious, the Obama
administration allowed Mexican cartel members to buy automatic weapons. The objective was to make it appear, as Hillary
Clinton had previously said, that the violence in Mexico was the result of liberal gun policies in America, thereby providing
a rationale for restricting the rights of American gun owners. In the latest case, a PAC supporting Obama has run a
horrendously evil ad. Obama had every reason to believe that his connection to the ad would be hidden by the media
because the media has refused to report on what really happened in Fast and Furious.
Report:
Drug cartel used Fast and Furious weapon in failed assassination plot. This new information comes on the heels of the
release of a lengthy congressional report into Fast and Furious from House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen.
Chuck Grassley. That report — the first of three — named five Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives officials Grassley and Issa believe are ultimately responsible for Fast and Furious. On the same day of the report's
public release, one of those officials — former deputy ATF director William Hoover — resigned his position.
Looming report to hit at
peak political time. The Justice Department's lead internal investigator is finalizing his much-anticipated report on Operation Fast and Furious,
which lawmakers and whistleblowers alike hope will bring final answers and accountability over the botched gun-running probe. And while whistleblowers who
spoke to Fox News predict an "all-encompassing" and "accurate and fair" account in the report, some believe Inspector General Michael Horowitz's account may
ultimately become political Play-Doh, with each side shaping it to their liking or pounding it as unreliable.
'Fast and Furious' Fallout at Your Local Gun
Shop? Have you bought a gun at a licensed federal firearms dealer in the past week or two? If you have, you probably got as hitched
up by the paperwork as I did today, as I bought a Weatherby Vanguard Series 2 in .243 for my 11-year-old son. You may have noticed a change on
Form 4473, the requirement of our federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms before you can legally buy a gun from a licensed dealer.
GOP sues to force Obama compliance on Fast and
Furious. A civil lawsuit filed Monday [8/13/2012] by House Republicans asks a federal court to enforce a congressional subpoena of Attorney
General Eric H. Holder Jr. in his refusal to turn over documents sought in an investigation by a House committee into the failed Fast and Furious
gunrunning operation.
House Oversight Committee files contempt
suit against Holder. Republican lawmakers leading a congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious have filed a lawsuit in federal
court urging a judge to compel the Justice Department to turn over documents related to the botched gun-running probe. In the lawsuit, lawyers representing
House Republicans said Attorney General Eric Holder's "intransigency" and "contumacious refusal" to comply with a House subpoena have prevented congressional
investigators from determining whether the Justice Department intentionally tried to obstruct their investigation.
House Oversight
Committee to file contempt suit against AG Eric Holder. CBS News has learned that the House Oversight Committee expects to file a civil
contempt suit against Attorney General Eric Holder Monday [8/13/2012]. The lawsuit is to try to force Holder to release documents from the Fast
and Furious gunwalking operation.
Barack Obama — A Transparent Fraud.
The Obama Administration's lack of transparency is easily seen in its handling of Fast and Furious. Finding out who knew what and when has been the
objective of the questions from Darrell Issa, the Chairman of the House Oversight Committee. But the Obama Administration, including the Attorney General
and the president have stalled and equivocated, refusing to provide congress with the complete documents requested, preferring a contempt of congress charge
rather than reveal their role in an ill thought, incompetently executed scheme that provided almost 2,000 guns to drug cartels in Mexico.
Pelosi:
Civil Contempt Lawsuit Against Holder About Vote Suppression. Fast & Furious was a gun walking scheme set in place by the government.
It caused numerous guns to walk into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, resulting in the deaths of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and 300+ Mexicans.
There are still 1,000+ guns missing. They're also linked to numerous other crimes in Mexico. It has nothing to do with anyone's right
to vote.
Turn over Fast & Furious papers. Mr. Holder and President
Barack Obama contend the documents are protected by executive privilege. That position, however, doesn't make sense, John Eastman told us; he's a professor
at Chapman University's law school. The House is asking for Justice Department communications. "But the White House is adamant it had no involvement
in those communications," he said. "Which makes claiming executive privilege odd. They're claiming executive privilege for something they weren't
involved in." Mr. Eastman added that the matter could be decided quickly "because this is purely a legal issue that would not require extensive legal
arguments."
'Fast and Furious' ATF
Official Granted Paid Leave to Take 6-Figure Job at JP Morgan. The long-awaited inspector general's report on the Justice Department's
botched gun-running scheme is finished, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said on Wednesday [8/22/2012]. But along with that news comes more
questions: Issa and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are demanding to know why a top ATF official involved in Operation Fast and Furious
remains on paid leave from ATF — while simultaneously drawing a six-figure salary from J.P. Morgan, a major investment bank.
Exclusive:
Fast and Furious IG report slams ATF Phoenix personnel. The Inspector General (IG) draft report on Fast and Furious heaps blame on
the Phoenix-based staff of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) according to those familiar with the document. [...] Those familiar
with the contents say ATF Phoenix officials shoulder much blame, including then-Special Agent in Charge Bill Newell, the lead Fast and Furious
case agent Hope MacAllister, and group supervisor David Voth.
Grassley:
Federal judge should overturn Obama's Fast and Furious executive privilege claim. Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley
told The Daily Caller that if a federal judge doesn't overturn President Barack Obama's assertion of executive privilege over Operation
Fast and Furious documents, it'd be the worst abuse of the presidential secrecy power in its history. "Well, if he [a federal
judge] doesn't [overturn Obama's executive privilege assertion], it's going to be the most sweeping abuse of executive privilege in the
history of executive privilege," Grassley said in an interview Tuesday [8/28/2012] at the Republican National Convention.
Fast and Furious: Prosecutions Coming? House
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa indicated on August 23 that the five Department of Justice
officials the committee held responsible for Operation Fast and Furious may face criminal charges. Speaking with Greta Van
Susteren of Fox News, Issa discussed allegations that Deputy Assistant ATF Director William McMahon was "double-dipping," drawing
both a full-time salary from the ATF and a second full-time, six-figure salary from J.P. Morgan. The arrangement is
suspicious, considering the controversy over McMahon's role in Fast and Furious and the ATF's persecution of whistleblowers who
sought similar arrangements.
Mexico arrests suspect in Fast and Furious killing. Mexican federal police announced
Friday [9/7/2012] that they have arrested a suspect in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, the slaying at the center of the scandal over the botched
U.S. gun-smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious.
Mexico arrests suspect in Fast and Furious
killing of Brian Terry. Mexican federal police announced Friday [9/7/2012] that they have arrested a suspect in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol
agent Brian Terry, the slaying at the center of the scandal over the botched U.S. gun-smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious. Jesus Leonel
Sanchez Meza is one of the five men charged with killing Terry in December 2010 during a shootout in Arizona near the Mexico border.
Long-awaited
'Furious' report places blame on ATF, Justice. Dozens of senior-level U.S. government officials turned a blind eye to public
safety as they pursued an ill-conceived and poorly managed investigation into gun trafficking in Mexico, according to a long-awaited
inspector general's report on Operation Fast and Furious. Portions of the Justice Department IG report, which has not been made
public, were obtained exclusively by Fox News Channel.
Expect Nothing from the DOJ
IG Report on Fast and Furious. It has been amusing watching all the anticipation about the release of the Department of
Justice Inspector General's report on Fast and Furious. Some folks in Washington actually think that it will be the key that
unlocks the door to the scandal. Balderdash. I've watched defective report after defective report come from the Justice
Department internal affairs units. In the end, they always protect the institution, unless of course conservatives are in the
cross hairs. If you think that the Inspector General's report on Fast and Furious will awaken the nation when it is released
next week, you better hit the snooze bar and sleep in.
Fast & Furious Guns Found in Colombia.
Authorities have found guns from Operation Fast and Furious in Columbia in August. They were confiscated in a raid on "Oficina
de Envigado" leader Ericson Vargas, known as "Sebastian." "Two rifles that were seized in February with 'Frank', the brother of
Sebastian also are part of the tracking operations of the ATF, the same as 14 Five-seven guns we have found in several raids," an
anonymous high-ranking source within Colombia's National Police said.
Trashing the Constitution.
Constitution Day is Monday, Sept. 17, so I compiled a non-exhaustive list of the ways Barack Obama has violated the Constitution. [...] [For
example,] Stonewalling on Fast and Furious. The Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives "walked" more
than 2,000 firearms to drug gangs across the border to Mexico. U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed, along with
at least 100 Mexicans. The administration has shown contempt for Congress, and Mr. Holder denied knowing about the debacle
despite evidence indicating otherwise. This is not "faithfully" executing the law or defending America's sovereign borders.
What Does It Take to Get Fired In the Obama
Administration? The Department of Justice released its long-awaited report on Fast and Furious Wednesday [9/19/2012]. That report
acknowledge that Fast and Furious was a monumentally idiotic operation, but it let Attorney General Eric Holder off the hook. It singled out three
of his closest lieutenants, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, acting ATF chief Ken Melson and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein.
According to the report, none of those three informed Holder that the operation was happening, even after it had been implicated in the murder of Border
Patrol agent Brian Terry. None of those three, or any of the other 11 officers implicated, have been fired.
Grassley on Gun-Walking
Report: 'Still Don't Know the Full Extent of White House Involvement'. At first glance, the Justice Department Inspector-General's report
on Operation Fast and Furious "reaffirms virtually everything" that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) have already reported,
Grassley said on Wednesday [9/19/2012]. But, the senator added, "We still don't know the full extent of any White House involvement because they
refused to be transparent and provide documents requested by the Inspector General."
Eric Holder's exoneration by Fast and Furious
report strains credibility. The initial headlines shouted that the IG report had exonerated Holder. That's one interpretation. But
the portrait the report paints of Holder's management is deeply disturbing. Time and again, information and warnings about the operation's enormous
risks flow from Arizona to Washington ... and suddenly, mysteriously, stop just short of Holder.
Fast and Furious: Justice
Department report faults 14 officials. Fourteen federal law enforcement officials — from field agents in Arizona to top managers
in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Justice Department in Washington — created a "significant danger to public
safety" under Operation Fast and Furious, an investigative report found.
Quayle on Fast and Furious
report: Holder 'lied to my face' during House testimony. Arizona Republican Rep. Ben Quayle told The Daily Caller that Attorney General Eric
Holder gave him false testimony under oath about Operation Fast and Furious wiretap application documents during a June 7 House Judiciary Committee
hearing. Quayle said the Department of Justice's inspector general report proves that Holder lied to him while under oath during the hearing.
Management failures cited in 'Fast and
Furious' report. The long-anticipated 471-page report cites "errors in judgment and management failures" on the part of officials at the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives headquarters in Washington and in the Phoenix field office, and says "questionable judgments" by
Justice Department officials in Washington marred the department's response to Capitol Hill inquiries.
One scapegoat will not suffice.
Key Holder deputy resigns as
inspector general releases Fast and Furious report. The Department of Justice's inspector general released its internal investigation into
Operation Fast and Furious on Wednesday afternoon [9/19/2012], and senior DOJ official Jason Weinstein resigned as it was released. The 512-page
report grills Attorney General Eric Holder and his inner circle at DOJ, and excoriates the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for Fast
and Furious.
Parents of slain border agent slam DOJ
report. The parents of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent killed with a gun sold in the government's botched "Fast and Furious" gunrunning
investigation aren't happy with a Justice Department Inspector General's report. Agent Brian Terry's father calls the report a cover-up to
keep Attorney General Eric Holder from being blamed.
Fast And Furious Whitewash:
Holder Exonerated. The report our attorney general used to justify withholding evidence of who was responsible for the administration
program that led to the deaths of two U.S. agents is out. It delivers more scapegoats than answers.
Obama
slammed on Fast and Furious in Spanish-language TV interview. Interviewers on the Spanish-language television network Univision grilled
President Barack Obama about the Operation Fast and Furious scandal plaguing his administration in an interview Thursday [9/20/2012]. [...] "I think that
up to 100 Mexicans might have died and also American agent Brian Terry. There's a report that 14 agents were responsible for the operation
but shouldn't the attorney general, Eric Holder, he should have known about that and if he didn't, should you fire him?" Obama responded with
similar talking points his administration has used time and again.
Obama: Holder 'has my
complete confidence'. President Obama said today an inspector general's report exonerated Attorney General Eric Holder of involvement in
the "Fast and Furious" fiasco[.] "I will tell you that Eric Holder has my complete confidence because he has shown himself to be willing to hold
accountable those who took these actions," Obama said during an Hispanic issues forum in Coral Gables, Fla.
Holder's
not in the 'Furious' clear. Even if we put the best possible face on the Inspector General's report about the "Fast and Furious" gunwalking
scandal — and assume that embattled Attorney General Eric Holder knew nothing, nothing about a cockamamie operation that funneled
thousands of American guns to murderous Mexican drug cartels until very late in the game — we're still left with one stunning conclusion:
Why [...] not? He certainly should have known, and it's still possible that he did.
President
Obama Falsely Claims Fast and Furious Program "Begun Under the Previous Administration". In actuality, the Fast and Furious program was
started in October 2009, nine months into the Obama presidency. Previous programs involving ATF agents allowing guns to "walk" across the border
so as to trace them were run during the Bush presidency, but not this particular "field-initiated program."
'Fast
and Furious' Whitewash by Justice Department. [Scroll down] There may be deeper motives for allowing
these guns to walk into Mexico that remain unaccounted for. Is it possible that allowing an infusion of firearms to go
into Mexico was intended to provoke an explosion of gun violence, thus prompting domestic politicians to call for sweeping
new restrictions on our rights? The report is silent on this count.
The Untold Story Behind The "Fast and Furious"
Scandal. A person familiar with the recent congressional hearings called Univision's findings "the holy grail" that Congress had been
searching for.
Univision: The untold
story of what 'Fast and Furious' wrought in Mexico . When a journalist for Univision asked President Obama last week why he hasn't fired
Attorney General Eric Holder over the "Fast and Furious" gun walking fiasco, the reporter, it turns out, had an inside scoop that added urgency to the
question.
The Untold Story Behind the "Fast and Furious"
Scandal. Often lost amid the rancor in Washington are the stories of dozens of people killed by guns that flowed south as part of the
undercover operation, and later slipped out of view from U.S. officials. Univision's Investigative Unit (Univision Investiga) has identified
massacres committed using guns from the ATF operation, including the killing of 16 young people attending a party in a residential area of
Ciudad Juárez in January of 2010.
Univision To Air Fast & Furious Special.
[Scroll down] The most well known Mexican victim is Mario Gonzalez Rodriguez, a prominent Chihuahua City lawyer. His sister was Patricia
Gonzalez Rodriguez, who at the time was the Attorney General of Chihuahua. His body was found in a shallow grave on November 5, 2010.
A few days later, the police had a shoot out with cartel members and seized sixteen weapons. Two of the AK-47s were linked to Fast & Furious.
Univision Breaks New
Details of Obama Admin's Fast and Furious Cover-Up. On Sunday night, Spanish-language station Univision —
one of the only networks to provide critical coverage of President Obama's failures in office instead of cream-puff
interviews — broke open the Fast and Furious investigation, revealing new evidence of weapons smuggling and displaying
shocking new images of the bloody aftermath of the government-supported gun-smuggling program. The Univision report undermines
the integrity of the recently released DOJ inspector general report on Operation Fast and Furious, already heavily criticized as an
attempt to whitewash criminal activity within the Obama administration.
National
Pro-Immigrant Group Demands Obama Fire Eric Holder. National pro-immigrant group Cafe Con Leche Republicans
today reacted to Univision's bombshell news report about 'Fast and Furious' which aired Sunday night. Bob Quasius, President,
stated: "President Obama promised the most transparent administration in history. We've watched with dismay as the 'fast
and furious' scandal unfolded. With last night's bombshell revelations by Univision of dozens of murders in Mexico, it is obvious
this scandal is unparalleled in American history. Worst of all is the cover-up by Eric Holder, far worse than Watergate.
Obama,
supporters lying to us. [Scroll down] We can then move on to Fast & Furious, which the administration has been
stonewalling for two years. Hundreds of guns were allowed to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels and the result
has been the slaughter of hundreds, possibly thousands, of innocent Mexicans, including the death of Border Patrol Officer Brian
Terry. Once again, the spin doctors have been trying to sell the version that the program was started under the previous
administration, like everything else the present administration has failed at. However, the program they point to was ended
two years before President Obama's administration came to power.
A
Guide to the Obama Administration's Five Major Scandals for Mainstream Media Dummies. Scandal 1: Fast and
Furious. [...] Beyond the body count, there lingers the question: Just what did the administration hope to accomplish by
letting guns get into the hands of drug cartel operators without tracking those guns adequately? The intrepid reporter can
surely run down all kinds of angles and avenues just by seriously asking that single question. Instead of asking that question,
though, the mainstream media has picked up its shovels and helped Obama and Eric Holder bury all those Fast and Furious casualties
in a hole quite a bit deeper than six feet, known as the Memory Hole.
57 Previously
Undiscovered Fast and Furious Guns Used in Mexican Crimes. Fifty seven previously unidentified firearms linked to Operation Fast and
Furious were recovered in sites associated with murders, kidnappings, and at least two gruesome massacres. Univision News obtained the list of
Fast and Furious weapons and a list containing almost 60,000 recovered firearms compiled by Mexico's Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional
(SEDENA).
Univision Exposes Fast and
Furious' Rising Body Count. A Univision special documents how weapons provided by the administration to Mexican drug cartels repeatedly
have taken a deadly toll as families on both sides of the border wait for true answers and accountability.
Mark Levin: Media Racist For Not
Reporting Fast & Furious. "It's my contention right now that these white, liberal media outlets are racist based on the priorities of what
they cover and what they don't cover." So said conservative talk radio host Mark Levin in Monday's opening monologue about the media's refusal to
cover Mexican homicides associated with the Obama administration's failed "Fast and Furious" program as well as countless black murders in Chicago.
WH Aide
Involved in Fast and Furious Was 'Suddenly' Transferred to Iraq; Issa Threatens Subpoena. Kevin O'Reilly, a member of the White
House National Security Staff who regularly communicated about Operation Fast and Furious with the Arizona-based ATF agent responsible for
running the operation that allowed guns to flow to Mexican drug cartels, was suddenly transferred out of the White House and into Iraq in
July 2011. The transfer took place shortly after the ATF agent had testified in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee
and the White House had provided the committee with a series of emails that O'Reilly and the agent had exchanged while Fast and Furious was
underway.
Mexican
Teenagers Killed with Fast and Furious Weapons. Confirmed: Weapons from Fast and Furious were used to gun down teenagers at a birthday
party in Mexico in January 2010. As news breaks that 57 more Fast and Furious weapons have been found in Mexico, it is also being confirmed
that some of those weapons were used to slaughter 14 Mexican teenagers and wound 12 more near Ciudad Juarez.
Mexican Officials:
3 Weapons Used in 2010 Massacre Are Connected to Fast and Furious. The Mexican Attorney General's Office (PGR) has confirmed that three
guns linked to Operation Fast and Furious were used in the massacre of 15 teenagers in Villas de Salvarcar, Ciudad Juarez, on January 30,
2010, according to the Mexican newspaper Reforma. Citing unnamed officials, Reforma, one of Mexico's most influential newspapers, reports that
several government agencies are currently investigating the massacre and other violent crimes connected to Operation Fast and Furious.
I am furious over this.
Where is the American media that have failed in their responsibility to be the watch dog of irresponsible and illegal government activities? They
are missing in action and thereby have failed in their responsibility not only to the people of America but also to the Republic that entrusted them with
watching over it. Credit surely must be given to Univision for its in-depth and comprehensive reporting on a disastrous, ill-conceived and probably
illegal program.
Fast and Furious: The
whistleblower gets canned. Fox News reports that "Fast and Furious" whistleblower Vince Cefalu has been
fired from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms after 25 years of service. He said he was "served his
termination papers Tuesday in a Denny's parking lot in South Lake Tahoe, California." This development doesn't
really come as a surprise to Cefalu, although it probably raised eyebrows among the staff at Denny's.
Justice seeks dismissal of Fast & Furious suit.
The Justice Department is seeking dismissal of a lawsuit by the Republican-led House demanding that Attorney General Eric Holder produce records about the
botched law enforcement probe of gun-trafficking called Operation Fast and Furious.
Mexico
Atty Gen Marisela Morales: Obama Involved in Fast and Furious. Mexico's Attorney General Marisela Morales said
Operation Fast and Furious was "an attack on Mexicans' security." I'd like to tell her that her Mexican nationals here
illegally are an attack on America's security, but that's another story. She also allegedly said Obama is more involved
in Fast and Furious than top officials admitted in their sworn statement.
Accomplice Media, Three Years Later.
Fast and Furious should have been enough. The Accomplice Media managed to keep details of this deadly political plan under the radar for a very long
time, and when they were forced to discuss the matter, they managed to change the conversation from, "this was a cynical political ploy to bolster anti-Second
Amendment support" to, "this was a covert operation that didn't work as intended". [...] The Accomplice Media was successful in their insertion of the word,
"botched". The general American public ate it from their spoon without comprehending that the only thing that was botched was the fact that the Obama
administration got caught red-handed.
Report:
Fast and Furious a product of DOJ 'deliberate strategy' laid out by Eric Holder, other senior Obama officials. The latest congressional report on
Operation Fast and Furious found that the gunwalking-program-turned-scandal was the result of a "deliberate strategy created at the highest levels of the Justice
Department aimed at identifying the leaders of a major gun trafficking ring." [...] That "deliberate strategy," congressional investigators argue, sprang from "a
series of speeches about combating violence along the Southwest border" that Attorney General Eric Holder delivered shortly after taking office.
Report:
Operation Fast and Furious Part of DOJ 'Deliberate Strategy'. The latest congressional report on Operation Fast and Furious
revealed that the highest levels of Eric Holder's Justice Department were involved in creating a "deliberate strategy" to take down
leaders of Mexican drug cartels.
Report: Mexican Cartel Bought Guns From U.S. Border Patrol.
The testimony of a Mexican hitman turned government witness has revealed some astonishing details of life inside Mexico's criminal
underworld. Most astonishing of all: claims that cartel assassins obtained guns from the U.S. Border Patrol.
ATF
Takes Action Against Agents Involved In Fast and Furious. Top ATF officials involved in Operation Fast and Furious had
their government security clearances revoked and others were fired, demoted, or transferred.
Fast and Furious guns found in New Mexico.
So far (and as far as we know), more than 300 Mexicans and two US federal officers have been killed by these weapons. And now they're
showing up in New Mexico. [...] Keep something in mind: Richard Nixon lost the presidency because of the Watergate scandal, but at
least President Nixon did not have blood on his hands.
Holder's
Chief of Staff to Resign After Critical Fast and Furious Report. Attorney General Eric Holder's chief of staff, Gary
Grindler, plans to resign his post at the Department of Justice on Wednesday [12/5/2012]. Grindler was directly involved in the
Operation Fast and Furious scandal.
Fast & Furious firings coming: WSJ.
Very quietly, the efforts to find accountability on Operation Fast and Furious have begun to produce at least some low-level results.
The Wall Street Journal reported last night that an internal review has recommended firings and demotions for several figures in the
Department of Justice involved in the program that sent thousands of weapons over the southern border and into the hands of drug
cartels, resulting in hundreds of murders.
Firings Set Over 'Fast and
Furious'. Four senior managers who oversaw the ill-fated federal gun-trafficking probe called "Fast and Furious" will be
fired if recommendations from a disciplinary panel are accepted.
A "Fast and
Furious" culprit resigns from Justice Department. Gary Grindler, Attorney General Eric Holder's chief of staff, has resigned
from the Justice Department effective tomorrow [12/5/2012]. Grindler leaves after less than two years in that position. Grindler oversaw
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which led "Fast and Furious," the failed and criminally stupid "gun-walking"
operation that allowed Mexican cartels to obtain hundreds of illegally purchased weapons.
ATF
Fires Managers over Fast and Furious, Obama and Holder Get Off Scot-Free. On Tuesday [12/4/2012], the Wall Street Journal
reported that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Professional Review Board recommended the firing of four senior officials
involved in the Obama administration's gun-walking program. Fast and Furious commenced in 2009 and eventually led to the deaths of
agents Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata and hundreds of Mexican citizens. In addition to the high-level managers, two ATF employees
were also cited for disciplinary actions.
Progress
visible on Fast and Furious. Two years after bandits killed U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, visible progress has finally occurred in
the criminal cases and internal investigations that exploded afterward. This week, the straw purchaser of two AK-47-style rifles found at the scene
of Terry's death, west of Rio Rico, was sentenced to almost five years in prison. Jaime Avila Jr. was one of seven defendants from the original
Operation Fast and Furious sentenced this week.
While Obama Lectures Us On Responsibility Regarding Guns...
Brian Terry family sues ATF officials in Fast and Furious. [...] How about we start this "responsible gun ownership" stuff at the top?
CBS News: 'Fast and Furious'
Gun Found At Site Where Mexican Beauty Queen Killed. A gun found at the scene of a shootout between a Mexican drug cartel and soldiers where a beauty
queen died was part of the botched "Fast and Furious" operation, CBS News reports. Authorities had said that Maria Susana Flores Gamez was likely used as a
human shield and that an automatic rifle had been found near her body after the Nov. 23 shootout. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, tells CBS News that the
Justice Department did not notify Congress that a Fast and Furious firearm was found at the scene in Sinaloa.
'Before banning our guns, recover the ones your BATF sent to Mexico'.
"Before asking Congress to ban our firearms, President Obama should order his Justice Department to get back all the guns his administration allowed to be
walked into Mexico under Operation Fast and Furious," the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
House Dems call for dismissal of contempt lawsuit
against Holder over Fast and Furious. The ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform filed an amicus brief Wednesday [12/19/2012]
asking for dismissal of the contempt lawsuit brought by House Republicans against Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in the botched "Fast and Furious" gunrunning
investigation.
Special provisions
allow 'Fast and Furious' gunrunning lawsuit to continue. Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican and chairman
of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, praised on Friday [12/28/2012] the inclusion of special provisions in the
proposed 113th Congress rules package that will keep in place legal obligations on Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.
and others at the Justice Department as a result of "Fast and Furious" subpoenas issued in the 112th Congress.
Was Fast and
Furious Really About U.S. Supporting A Drug Cartel? Does America have it all wrong on Fast and Furious? Are we
looking at it all the wrong way?
Soros: 13 New Gun Laws Needed Now.
[Scroll down] And it's funny that we need to treat gun-trafficking "as a serious crime," when the highest ranking law enforcement official
in our nation — AG Eric Holder — sat over a gun trafficking scheme that eventually meant 2,500 firearms were smuggled out
of the U.S. and into Mexico. I do not remember Soros calling for Holder's prosecution over that.
Obama is coming for your guns.
The president said that he would go around Congress by taking 23 executive actions. He signed a handful as soon as the news
conference ended, and one of the upcoming proclamations will order Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. "to review categories of
individuals prohibited from having a gun" to determine if those categories need to be expanded. Mr. Holder's agency is hardly
the model for gun safety, considering it came up with the Operation Fast and Furious program to run guns to Mexican drug cartels.
Photo-op president
shooting blanks. [Scroll down] But all these are tepid, marginal stuff. And others are outright
posturing — such as issuing a presidential memorandum "directing the Centers for Disease Control to research the
causes and prevention of gun violence" — or simply risible — such as the order to nominate a new director
for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Um, what's stopping you, Mr. President? (Of course,
senators may well want to ask the ATF nominee about the Fast and Furious debacle.)
Man Claims To
Have Shot U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. A Mexican national claims to be the man who shot and killed U.S. Border
Patrol Agent Brian Terry, whose death is tied to the "Fast and Furious" gun-walking scandal. Gustavo Cruz-Lozano, who says he killed
Terry, turned himself in on Wednesday on charges related to a separate incident: threatening to kill Hidalgo County, Texas Sheriff
Lupe Treviño.
Holder Begs Court to Stop Document Release on Fast and Furious. Attorney General
Eric Holder and his Department of Justice have asked a federal court to indefinitely delay a lawsuit brought by watchdog group Judicial
Watch. The lawsuit seeks the enforcement of open records requests relating to Operation Fast and Furious, as required by law. [...] Judicial
Watch President Tom Fitton said that Holder's and Obama's desire to continually hide these Fast and Furious documents is "ironic" now that
they're so gung-ho on gun control.
Obama Now King of the Gun Grabbers.
In just one afternoon, the man who is suspected of okaying the smuggling of guns into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels — known
as Fast and Furious — has 'outed' himself as the king of the gun grabbers.
Obama's
ATF Nominee on DOJ's Fast and Furious Design Team. As part of President Barack Obama's 23-point gun control plan, he
nominated Minnesota U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones — who currently doubles right now as the acting director of the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — to be the ATF director. Jones was personally a part of the
high-ranking Department of Justice unit that first met on October 26, 2009, to create the new DOJ policy that was used to
justify "gunwalking" in Operation Fast and Furious.
Obama Moves Fast And
Furious On To Hide Gun Hypocrisy. The president seeks a review of groups barred from gun ownership, while his attorney
general asks the courts to keep hidden documents on running guns to drug lords sealed by executive privilege.
DOJ
Hopes to Stall Lawsuit Seeking Access to Fast and Furious Records. The Obama administration is pushing gun control in the
wake of the Sandy Hook, Connecticut, shootings. President Obama is using the murders as a pretext to undermine the Second Amendment
and collect data on lawful gun owners. But this administration won't come clean on its own gunrunning operation, Operation Fast and
Furious, which led to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and countless Mexican citizens.
Top 'Fast and
Furious' official to resign. Republicans expressed satisfaction Thursday at news Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer,
the top Justice Department figure who had knowledge of the botched "Fast and Furious" gun-walking operation, is resigning. "He
knew about reckless tactics, failed to take seriously allegations that they were continuing, and only owned up to his failures once
they were publicly exposed," said House oversight committee Chairman Darrell E. Issa, who led a months-long investigation into the
botched operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Benghazi/Fast and
Furious: The Real Scandals Underlying Both. Very oddly, the ATF encouraged arms sales to criminals in the hope that the guns
would reach Mexico in order to essentially strengthen cases against Mexican drug cartels. The sales would also help the ATF identify
cartel leaders and gun acquisition techniques. The guns eventually did find their way into Mexico, and one was used to kill a U.S.
border agent. Today's scandal is the inability of lawmakers to get Attorney General Eric Holder and others in the Obama administration
to explain what they were thinking. [...] Yes, it's certainly scandalous that guns walked across the border by the ATF have been turned on
Americans, and it's scandalous that Holder isn't disclosing all that he presumably knows, but the bigger scandal in this writer's eyes is a
less than worthless drug war.
Yes, he is a
tyrant, just like the Founders warned us against. This is the same Obama government that ran 2,500 firearms to Mexican
cocaine cartels in Operation Fast and Furious, perhaps in order to carry out his promise to Sarah Brady to push for gun control, "under
the radar" and above the law. Obama's Attorney General is in criminal contempt of Congress. The U.S Attorney for
Washington DC, an Obama loyalist, refuses to duty his duty and file charges.
The Democratic Disgrace. [Scroll down] A decade later, the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee held Attorney General Holder in contempt for his cover-up of the Fast and Furious gun-running operation that led to hundreds
of deaths. That made Holder the first sitting cabinet member to be held in criminal contempt of Congress and in another administration that might have led to his
dismissal. During the Bush Administration, cabinet members had resigned for much less, but the Democrats had given up even maintaining the pretense of being a
law-abiding party.
Jaimie Zapata's survivors sue over Fast and Furious.
Zapata was the ICE agent who was murdered in Mexico by cartel killers using Fast & Furious guns.
Columbine survivor to
Obama: Start gun talks with Fast and Furious. A survivor of the Columbine High School shootings has penned a letter to
President Obama in opposition to a federal crackdown on guns, arguing that those responsible for the botched Fast and Furious
gun-running operation should be the most scrutinized.
5 Reasons Barack
Obama is a Creep. [#2] What he says is completely unrelated to what he does: Barack Obama is like an alcoholic
who pledges to quit drinking and then gets hammered every night. [...] This is how Barack Obama can demand a sequester and then turn
around and run against it or yammer on incessantly about transparency while he stonewalls on Fast and Furious. We're talking
about a man who's worth nearly 10 million dollars, who has campaign events with celebrities and millionaires on a regular basis,
and who just seems to squeeze in a little bit of work in between lavish vacations and golf outings with Tiger Woods; yet he spent
most of last year campaigning against rich people.
Holder Defiant on
Fast and Furious, Says White House Had No Role in Scandal. Attorney General Eric Holder told senators on Wednesday that he
did not respect the House members who voted to hold him in contempt for not cooperating in the Fast and Furious investigation, and that
"the president, the White House was not involved in the operational component of Fast and Furious."
House
panel tells judge: Justice's offer in Fast & Furious settlement a 'grave disappointment'. The Justice Department and a
congressional committee disagree on the pace of their talks to settle a lawsuit over congressional efforts to get records related to
Operation Fast and Furious, a bungled gun-tracking operation.
Obama
court appointee likely to decide contempt battle between Issa, Holder. A fight over President Obama's use of executive
privilege on the documents that led to Attorney General Eric Holder's contempt charges is increasingly likely to be decided in court.
The way the court decides could drastically limit congressional subpoena powers — or curb the extent to which the president
can claim executive privilege.
New 'Fast and Furious'
report finds DHS warning signs ignored. Even as they lost scores of illegal firearms in their Fast and Furious operation,
federal ATF agents asked their Border Patrol counterparts not to pursue criminal leads or track gun smuggling in southern Arizona so they
could follow the firearms themselves, and senior Homeland Security agents "complied and the leads were not investigated," according to a
new Department of Homeland Security inspector general's report.
DHS Fast and
Furious OIG report fed to Los Angeles Times, not to public. The Department of Homeland Security's long-awaited Office
of Inspector General report on Operation Fast and Furious "gunwalking" has been obtained by The Los Angeles Times, Richard Serrano
reported Thursday [3/21/2013]. "ATF agents asked their Border Patrol counterparts not to pursue criminal leads or track gun
smuggling in southern Arizona so they could follow the firearms themselves, and senior Homeland Security agents 'complied and the
leads were not investigated,'" Serrano writes.
Obama's 'Fast and Furious'
Body Count Continues Rising in Mexico. The ongoing drug war in Mexico continues to rage on, as bodies continue to pile up on
the Mexican side of the southern U.S. border. With Mexico's military continuing to demonstrate that it is ill-prepared, or unwilling
to tackle the violence head on, expect the violence to continue to escalate. The Associate Press has reported that seven men were
executed and propped up on plastic chairs and lined up along the side of the road in the Mexican state of Michoacan.
Too Fast, Too Furious. Several congressmen sent another letter
to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Wednesday, months after first requesting information about a failed
undercover operation with similarities to Operation Fast and Furious. "Not only have you yet to provide us with any information or
documents about this operation, but, months after ATF shut down the operation, you have refused to respond at all," the letter states.
The Top 50 Liberal Media Bias Examples. [#25] Fast And Furious:
To this day the media has not spent much time covering Obama's murderous program of supplying guns to Mexican Narco-Terrorists, a program that has killed hundreds of
Mexican citizens and several U.S. law enforcement agents. To its credit, the L.A. Times has been very good on this story and so has CBS' Sharyl Attkisson,
but months went by before the rest of the media began to begrudgingly cover the story.
Judge skeptical of Obama
in executive privilege fight. A federal judge gave a skeptical reception Wednesday to the Obama administration's arguments
that the courts should stay out of the dispute over the Justice Department's refusal to turn over some Operation Fast and Furious-related
documents to a House committee. Last June, the fight led President Barack Obama to assert executive privilege over the records of the
controversial gun trafficking investigation, and to House votes finding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for defying a
subpoena from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
'Fast And
Furious' Just Might Be President Obama's Watergate. [Scroll down] A Jan. 8, 2010 briefing paper from the ATF
Phoenix Field Division Group VII says: "This investigation has currently identified more than 20 individual connected straw
purchasers.... To date (September 2009-present) this group has purchased in excess of 650 firearms (mainly AK-47 variants)
for which they have paid cash totaling more than $350,000." This is an important fact because the U.S. Justice Department hasn't
made it clear to tell congressional investigators when the Fast and Furious operation began and who authorized it; as a result, this
ATF briefing paper's mention of September 2009 is thus far the earliest we can trace the operation.
Obama
Blames U.S. For Gun Smuggling In Mexico; No Mention Of Fast and Furious. President Barack Obama told the Mexican people
today [5/3/2013] that the United States is partly to blame for Mexico's drug violence because of illegal drugs and gun smuggling.
However, he did not mention the gun smuggling undertaken by his own administration under the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Operation
Fast and Furious.
Obama Spins Furiously On Guns.
Barack Obama's comments about guns in Mexico today [5/3/2013] demonstrated a curious lack of self-awareness. "[M]ost of the guns used to
commit violence here in Mexico come from the United States." So the violence perpetrated by Mexican drug cartels is our fault?
That seemed to be the implication. But obviously, if there were not a single firearm in the U.S., the drug cartels would be just as well
armed as they are today.
Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico. An Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms senior agent assigned to the Phoenix office in 2010, Dodson's job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered
to sit by and watch it happen. Investigators call the tactic letting guns "walk." In this case, walking into the hands of criminals who would use
them in Mexico and the United States.
Obama Blames U.S., Repeats 90% Gun Lie In
Mexico. Once again blaming his own country for Mexico's gun violence without mentioning Fast and Furious, the gun runner in chief pledges to find and
jail gun smugglers. Perhaps he should start with his own administration.
The Bloody Hands of Barack Obama.
Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder, conducted a secret gun-running operation that supplied thousands of assault weapons to drug cartels in
Mexico. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ICE Agent Jaime Zapata were both murdered with Fast and Furious guns. Their families
have filed wrongful death lawsuits against the federal government.
Obama's Secret to Corruption: Never Appoint a Special Counsel.
Did you scratch your head when not a single Justice Department or ATF official went to jail for sending hundreds of guns over the border
to Mexican drug lords with the expressed purpose of fomenting violent crime? Do you really think high ranking government officials
are going to be held accountable for the now blazing IRS and Benghazi scandals?
Report
faults former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke for Fast and Furious leak. Former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke violated
Justice Department policies by releasing a memo written by an Operation Fast & Furious whistleblower to the media, Justice's Inspector
General found in a report issued Monday [5/20/2013]. The report called Burke's actions "wholly unbefitting a U.S. Attorney."
He resigned after acknowledging the disclosure in 2011, so no discipline by the department is possible.
Outside the Gates. Our genius Attorney General sold
guns to drug cartels in the asinine Fast and Furious debacle. He's yet to be held accountable for the death of a Border Patrol
agent as an entirely foreseeable result of such folly.
Report: DOJ Leaked Docs To Smear Fast & Furious Whistleblower, Says IG. The Department of
Justice (DOJ) Inspector General published a new report Monday that confirms former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke leaked a document intended
to smear Operation Fast and Furious scandal whistleblower John Dodson. The DOJ IG said it found "Burke's conduct in disclosing the Dodson
memorandum to be inappropriate for a Department employee and wholly unbefitting a U.S. Attorney."
CBS'
Attkisson Reports She's Been Shut Out by White House. Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News has been one of the few reporters
attempting to dig deep into controversial stories. But after her work on Fast and Furious and Benghazi, she is now reporting
that she's been shut out of the information loop by the White House.
IG
Report Confirms: DOJ Official Smeared Fast and Furious Whistleblower John Dodson. Monday the Department of Justice
Inspector General [IG] confirmed what Townhall and other media outlets have been reporting for more than a year now:
DOJ officials smeared Fast and Furious whistleblower and ATF Agent John Dodson. As a reminder, Dodson was the first whistleblower
to expose Operation Fast and Furious. He revealed the operation's connection to the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry on
to CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson on March 3, 2011.
DOJ IG: Justice Leaked Documents to Smear Whistleblower. The Department of
Justice (DOJ) Inspector General published a new report Monday that confirms former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke leaked a
document intended to smear Operation Fast and Furious scandal whistleblower John Dodson.
Justice
Department IG issues report accusing officials of smearing Fast and Furious whistleblower. For a "failed scandal," Fast and
Furious sure brought out the heavy hitters at the Department of Justice to deal with a whistleblower. The department's inspector
general has released a report accusing one US attorney, Dennis Burke, of leaking a document that smeared John Dodson, a key witness in the
Fast and Furious scandal, and accusing other officials in the department of coming up with a strategy to discredit him.
The Obama enemies list. The
Obama administration has an enemies list, and John Dodson was on it. The special agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives (ATF) infuriated his superiors by alerting Congress and everyone else about the government's gunrunning
scheme called Fast and Furious. He had to pay for his act of good citizenship. The Justice Department's inspector general
concluded Monday [5/20/2013] that a high-ranking political appointee destroyed Mr. Dodson's credibility and ruined a career.
Uncle Sam Wants You... Under His Thumb!
The administration, under the non-leadership of Attorney General Eric Holder, shipped about 2,000 weapons into Mexico and straight into the hands
of the narco-terrorist cartels effectively in a state of armed rebellion against an allied nation. When asked about this situation, Eric Holder
repeatedly said that he knew nothing about it. Apparently, the government would have us believe that junior bureaucrats, acting on their own,
decided to create their very own foreign policy. This new, extralegal program resulted in the deaths of at least two Americans and at least
one hundred times that many Mexican citizens.
Eric Holder.
Remember him? Or is your memory as bad as his? You may remember "Fast and Furious," that outrageous and, by the way, illegal gun-running
operation by his department that sent weapons to drug cartels in Mexico? Nope, he never heard of it. Oh, well, wait. Those
words do ring a bell. Yes, yes he had heard of it after all. But can't quite remember when he heard of it. Or when he
ordered it stopped. If he did. There's a lot of bad memory going around this Obama administration.
Eric Holder's Long
History Of Lying To Congress. Before he lied to Congress while under oath about what he knew about targeting reporters,
he lied about Fast and Furious. As early as the New Black Panthers case, Eric Holder had a problem with the truth.
'What did he know, and when
did he know it?' While each day brings us new scandals, earlier ones have not gone away. Remember, Fast and
Furious, in which the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — in a stunning display of bad
judgment — allowed weapons to be sold to drug cartel purchasers in Mexico. Field agents objected, but to no
avail. Later, one of these guns killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Mr. Obama invoked executive privilege, so we
still do not know the full story.
Barack Obama: 'We'll Hold
Somebody Accountable!'. In the "Fast and Furious" gun-walking debacle, three ATF supervisors were transferred to new
management positions at ATF headquarters in Washington. They should have been fired. Acting ATF Director Melson was
reassigned to the Justice Department in Washington D.C. He should have been fired. According to the Los Angeles Times,
these bureaucrats received promotions in the wake of one of the most disastrously botched operations in recent history, resulting
in the death of hundreds of innocent Mexican citizens and Border Patrol officer Brian Terry.
Police chief killed with
rifle lost in ATF gun-tracking program. A high-powered rifle lost in the ATF's Fast and Furious controversy was used to kill
a Mexican police chief in the state of Jalisco earlier this year, according to internal Department of Justice records, suggesting that
weapons from the failed gun-tracking operation have now made it into the hands of violent drug cartels deep inside Mexico.
The next victim of Fast and Furious.
Remember the good ole' days when Fast and Furious was one of the only major, breaking scandals you needed to keep track of? [...] But even
though the press has largely moved on to fresher fare, the gunwalker scandal is still with us, and apparently still claiming victims.
Mexican Police Chief Killed with Fast and
Furious Gun. Fast and Furious is the Scandal that wont go away. Even though Attorney General Eric Holder refuses to release
the documents which may prove that he lied about the scandal, we do learn a little more about this scandal every day. The latest revelation
is that one of those guns the ATF allowed to be sold to the Mexican Drug Cartels was used to kill a Mexican Police Chef.
White House's Fast And
Furious Claims Another Victim. The administration's gun-running fiasco claims the life of a Mexican police chief, revealing that
the weapons have made it into the hands of drug cartels deep inside Mexico.
What Happened to Congress' 'Fast and Furious' Fury?
Last week it was revealed that a high-powered rifle employed in the unsuccessful gun-tracking program was used to kill a police chief and his bodyguard
in the Mexican state of Jalisco, signaling that some of the weapons used in the enterprise are now in the possession of members of drug
cartels — the same people Fast and Furious was supposed to entrap as a result of the operation.
Is Obama 'Insuring' Softball Questions?
Of course, there is the ever-popular "phony" Fast and Furious scandal, with the DoJ playing a central role once again, but apparently co-starring the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Coincidentally, both the DoJ and DHS report directly to the president. The deaths of four brave
Americans during the embarrassing fiasco in Benghazi have the fingerprints of the Department of State, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the
Department of Defense. It is apparently kismet that all three of these government agencies report directly to the president.
More Fast and Furious guns surface at
crimes in Mexico. Three more weapons from Fast and Furious have turned up at crime scenes in Mexico, CBS News has learned, as the toll from
the controversial federal operation grows. According to Justice Department tracing documents obtained by CBS News, all three guns are WASR-10
762-caliber Romanian rifles. Two were purchased by Fast and Furious suspect Uriel Patino in May and July of 2010.
More
Fast and Furious Weapons Show Up at Violent Crime Scenes in Mexico. During the course of Operation Fast and Furious from 2009-2010, 2500
weapons were purchased by illegal straw buyers under ATF surveillance in the United States and trafficked into Mexico. At least 1400 of those
weapons are still missing. The only way ATF can recover these weapons is when they are left at crime scenes.
The Carnage Continues: Three more Fast & Furious guns
recovered in Mexico. Missing from this CBS News story by the unflappable Sharyl Attkission is whether the most recent three guns traced to the Operation
Fast & Furious gun-smuggling plot have added to a body count that is at least 304, and counting.
More Real Guns Found In Phony Fast And Furious
Scandal. The media have had a field day with a single, supposedly racist rodeo clown. But somehow, with few exceptions, mainstream media ignore
the far-more-dangerous clowns in the Obama administration — those whose incompetence in the Fast and Furious scandal has led to human tragedy and deaths.
One exception is the relentless Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News, who reported Wednesday that three more weapons from Fast and Furious, the administration gift that keeps
on killing, have turned up at violent crime scenes in Mexico.
The president thinks you're stupid.
But just so you know, Mr. President, Americans are not stupid. They see through your ham-handed attempt to politicize war (he clearly hoped to use a Republican
rejection in the 2014 mid-term campaigns: "Look, the GOP wouldn't even support me to stop the killing of children!"). And Americans know they aren't getting
the truth on U.S. surveillance, IRS targeting of conservatives, Fast and Furious — and especially Benghazi.
Judicial Watch Sues for Records on Holder and Fast and
Furious. Judicial Watch, a legal nonprofit organization, announced Tuesday it has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit to obtain
records from the Justice Department regarding the contempt citation issued to Holder last year over his alleged role in the Fast and Furious scandal.
"Eric Holder is using his legal battle with Congress to keep the American people from knowing the full truth about the Obama administration's Fast and Furious
killings and lies," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "And yet, Eric Holder has been dragging out the 'settlement' talks to the point where
Congress has called them a 'waste of everyone's time.'
More Fast & Furious Guns Found At Mexican Crime Scenes.
More than three years after they were purchased by two different people at the same Arizona gun shop, three rifles that were part of the disastrous Operation
Fast and Furious have been recovered at Mexican crime scenes. CBS News first broke the story, noting that two of the rifles were bought in May and July
of 2010 by gun running suspect Uriel Patino, who purchased hundreds of guns during the ill-fated gun running sting operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Expected ruling in weeks on
Holder's 'Fast and Furious' contempt suit. The wheels of justice are turning painfully slow for the family of murdered Border Patrol agent Brian
Terry, whose 2010 death exposed the disastrous ATF gun-walking operation called Fast and Furious. On Thursday [9/12/2013], Mexican authorities captured
a third suspect wanted by the FBI in connection with Terry's murder, leaving two suspects still at large.
Fresh DOJ loss in 'Fast and Furious' docs fight.
A federal judge has rejected Attorney General Eric Holder's attempt to keep the courts from wading into the "Fast and Furious" documents dispute that led to him
being held in contempt by the House last year. In a ruling Monday night [9/30/2013], U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson turned down the Justice
Department's request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee after President Barack Obama asserted executive
privilege to prevent some records about the administration's response to the "Operation Fast and Furious" gunrunning scandal from being turned over to
Congress.
Federal
judge to DOJ: No, you may not dismiss this Fast & Furious case just because you feel like it. The last time we checked in on Operation Fast
and Furious, the bloody and not-"botched" gunrunning scandal in which the ATF pressed American gun dealers into funneling at least 2,000 weapons to cartels
across the Mexican border with no serious efforts to trace them, more of the trafficked weapons were still showing up at crime scenes as recently as this
past August.
Court Says Holder Can't Stop Fast And
Furious Truth Search. The most transparent administration in history suffered a defeat Monday, when U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson
turned down the Justice Department's request to dismiss a lawsuit seeking "Fast and Furious" documents hidden by Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice
Department after President Obama invoked executive privilege. The lawsuit was brought by Rep. Darrell Issa's House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee after the president asserted executive privilege to prevent records about the administration's response to the "Operation Fast and Furious"
gun-running scandal from being turned over to Congress.
Judge delivers blow to Eric Holder's Fast and Furious
scandal. A federal judge delivered a blow to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder' Monday night [9/30/2013] when she denied the Justice
Department's motion to dismiss the lawsuit brought against it in the Fast and Furious investigation.
Two D.C. Attacks and a Series of Unfortunate "Coincidences".
No one would have ever believed beforehand that the President might conspire with his Department of Justice and other agencies to funnel weapons to
Mexican drug lords in order to precipitate a panic over America's rampant "gun culture" — but indeed, this occurred. Nor would
Americans have thought that the President would clandestinely provide arms to the same Muslim fanatics who attacked us in 2001, then order an
attack on the compound facilitating such action when it became a liability. No one would have believed that Obama would allow American
personnel to perish at that compound in order to preserve his power. [...] If that is not definitive of a tyrant — and one who would
employ any means necessary in order to attain his objectives — then what is?
ATF tries to block Fast and
Furious whistle-blower from publishing book. The ATF agent who blew the whistle on Operation Fast and Furious has been denied permission to write
a book on the botched anti-gun trafficking sting "because it would have a negative impact on morale," according to the very agency responsible for the scandal.
After first trying to stop the operation internally, ATF Agent John Dodson went to Congress and eventually the media following the death of Border Patrol Agent
Brian Terry in December 2010.
ATF tries to block whistleblowing agent's
'Fast and Furious' book. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is blocking the main whistleblower in the Fast and Furious case
from publishing a book, claiming his retelling of the Mexico "gun-walking" scandal will hurt morale inside the embattled law enforcement agency, according to
documents obtained by The Washington Times. ATF's dispute with Special Agent John Dodson is setting up a First Amendment showdown that is poised to bring
together liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and conservatives in Congress who have championed Mr. Dodson's protection as a whistleblower.
Holder's ATF Blocks Fast And Furious Whistleblower Book.
[ATF Special Agent John] Dodson has put his intimate Fast and Furious knowledge into a book titled "The Unarmed Truth." It provides the first inside account of
how the Obama administration permitted and helped sell some 2,000 guns to Mexican drug cartels, guns used in the murder of two federal agents and hundreds of Mexican
citizens. Just as Attorney General Eric "I didn't read the memo" Holder has stonewalled on providing information and documents to Congress and the American people,
hiding under President Obama's invocation of executive privilege, the Department of Justice has denied Dodson permission to publish the book.
CNN Interviews 'Fast and
Furious' Whistleblower; Will Networks Follow Suit? CNN scored an exclusive interview with a "Fast and Furious" whistleblower on Tuesday morning [10/8/2013],
and New Day co-host Chris Cuomo was intent on letting his guest tell his story that the Obama administration did not want him to tell. The guest, ATF agent
John Dodson, wrote a book on the operation "Fast and Furious" but the government is blocking its publication.
Fast and Furious whistleblower shunned by border
patrol he tried to help. The federal agent who blew the whistle on the Fast and Furious scandal is suddenly unwelcome at the very Border Patrol
agency he sought to protect. For months, John Dodson, a special agent at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, has been his agency's
liaison to U.S. Customs and Border Protection in a local office in Arizona. He also had been widely saluted by border agents and their families for first
revealing that weapons that ATF knowingly allowed to cross into Mexico were showing up at murder scenes on both sides of the border.
ATF allows whistle-blower's book to
go forward. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has allowed an employee to go ahead with the publication of his
book about the agency's failed "Fast and Furious" gun-walking campaign. According to The Associated Press, John Dodson would be able to publish
the book with a few parts redacted. Dodson initially alerted congressional investigators to the campaign, which started in 2009.
ATF's prescription for leaking secrets:
A firing squad? After months of anguished debate over mass shootings, gun control and Second Amendment rights, the Justice Department finds
itself on the defensive after a training manual surfaced that suggests federal agents could face a firing squad for leaking government secrets.
A photo in the online manual for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — complete with a photo of a turn-of-the-century
firing squad — was obtained by The Washington Times from a concerned federal law enforcement official, and it immediately drew protests
from watchdogs who said it showed a lack of sensitivity to gun violence and the continuing hostile environment toward whistleblowers.
Grenades ATF
Allowed to 'Walk' Into Mexico Used to Kill Police. ATF's gunwalking and grenade walking tactics have come back to haunt them... again.
Deadly
drug cartel shootout with Mexico police linked to "grenade-walking" scandal. CBS News has learned of a shocking link between a deadly drug
cartel shootout with Mexican police last week and a controversial case in the U.S. The link is one of the grenades used in the violent fight, which
killed three policemen and four cartel members and was captured on video by residents in the area.
Rep. Joe Wilson Vindicated. [A]s we look back on
5 years of Barack Obama, we see that Obama and his Administration do lie. And they lie a lot. Both Eric Holder and Barack Obama stated
that "Fast and Furious was a program begun in the Bush Administration". That was a lie. The Bush Administration had, in fact, shut down any
efforts to track illegal shipments of guns to Mexico because it was a dangerous and untenable undertaking.
AG Holder asks for
appeal in Fast and Furious case holding him in contempt. Attorney General Eric Holder wants to appeal a recent judge's ruling that allows
the House to continue with its contempt case, related to Holder's refusal to turn over documents concerning the Justice Department's failed Operation
Fast and Furious gun-tracking program. Holder made the request Friday night [11/15/2013] to U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, asking
that the Justice Department be allowed to put the case in front of a federal appeals court before Jackson makes any final decisions.
Judge dismisses
lawsuit by family of slain border agent. A wrongful death lawsuit brought by the family of slain Border
Patrol agent Brian Terry has been dismissed by a federal judge on the grounds that a court settlement would interfere with
the powers of the U.S. government, which has a compensation scheme of its own.
Agency
That Lost 2500 Guns in Mexico Pushing New Federal Regulations For Lost Guns. The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the agency
whose agents purposely lost 2500 guns in Mexico during Operation Fast and Furious after sanctioning illegal gun sales from law abiding gun
dealerships, is eying new federal regulations for lost guns in the United States.
How the US gave guns to Mexican
cartels. [Scroll down] What was happening did at times almost seem like a spoof. Letting guns "walk" was a tactic
that I had never before seen or even contemplated. It simply wasn't done. I couldn't understand how anyone could argue that
allowing guns that ought to have been in law-enforcement custody to go to known or suspected criminals — people who shouldn't
have been near a gun, people who almost certainly would be passing them on to Mexico's most brutal drug cartels — wasn't madness.
How the ATF Manufactures Crime.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) is probably best known these days for the failure of its disastrous Fast and
Furious scheme — a botched initiative that aimed to give American guns to Mexican cartels first and to ask questions later. Under
pressure, the administration was quick to imply that the mistake was an aberration. But a watchdog report, published last week by the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel, suggests that the caprice, carelessness, and downright incompetence that marked the disaster was no accident.
In fact, that it is endemic in the ATF.
Federal
Court: Obama's Partnership With Mexican Drug Cartels Goes Far Beyond Guns. Last Friday [12/13/2013], an opinion by Texas federal judge
Andrew Hanen opened a window onto the sheer lawlessness of the Obama administration — in particular, the Department of Homeland Security.
The case was United States of America v. Mirtha Veronica Nava-Martinez.
Agent: FBI key in
border agent Terry slaying. A federal agent who exposed the Justice Department's flawed gun-trafficking investigation
known as Operation Fast and Furious says the FBI played a key role in events leading to the 2010 murder near Nogales, Ariz., of U.S.
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. John Dodson, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,
contends that the bandits who killed Terry were working for FBI operatives and were sent to the border to do a drug rip-off using
intelligence from the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
ATF
Agent Sends Shockwaves Across Internet With Explosive Fast and Furious Allegations. John Dodson, the federal agent who blew
the lid off the Justice Department's "Fast and Furious" gun-walking scandal, claims the FBI had ties to the men who killed U.S. Border
Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010 near Nogales, Ariz. In fact, Dodson says the Mexican bandits who gunned down Terry were working
for FBI operatives and had been sent to the border to do a "drug rip-off" using intelligence gathered by the DEA. Dodson, a special
agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said he doesn't think the FBI was part of the rip-off crew, but the
agency was "directing the rip crew." The explosive claims were made in an interview with The Arizona Republic this week and are
already creating some waves across the Internet.
Another Fast and Furious
gun turns up at a Mexican shootout. CNN reports on the latest grisly fruit of the disastrous "Fast and Furious" gun-walking
operation, in which Attorney General Eric Holder's Justice Department released a small number of carefully-tracked firearms across the
Mexican border in a bid to take down drug kingpins, but forgot the "small," "carefully-tracked," and "take down drug kingpins" parts of
the operation.
Fast and Furious gun turns up after Mexican resort
shootout. A U.S. official said Tuesday [12/31/2013] that investigators have traced at least one firearm recovered at a December 18
gunfight in Puerto Peñasco, across from the Arizona border, to Operation Fast and Furious.
Yet another
Fast & Furious gun turns up at a crime scene in Mexico. Lest anyone forget that the Obama administration has yet to
fully come clean on the travesty that was Operation Fast and Furious — the not-"botched" but certainly crooked gunrunning
scandal in which federal officials pressed American gun dealers into selling more than 2,000 weapons to known cartel smugglers,
and then allowed those criminals to funnel the weapons back across the Mexican border with no way of actively tracing them — the
results of the administration's egregiously deficient enterprise are still popping up in the aftermath of deadly violence.
Whoa: Fast & Furious Was
Part of a US-Drug Cartel Alliance? Business Insider reported a bombshell this afternoon. It reports, by
translating Spanish-language reporting from El Universal, that the US government has had a relationship with Mexico's Sinaloa
drug cartel since the Clinton administration. That relationship/alliance was used to damage Mexico's other drug cartels,
but at a great price: Sinaloa alone imports about 80% of the illegal drugs that make their way to Chicago. The
alleged deal allowed the cartel to import drugs virtually without fear of capture or punishment by the US government.
Drugs R Us. In Fast & Furious, the object of the operation seems to have been
to increase illicit Mexico-U.S. drug running and border crime, protecting the worst criminals from prosecution and then blaming lawful licensed gun dealers for the
perfectly predictable results of the government's secret, bizarre machinations by which they were forced to sell these weapons to middlemen who carried out the
cross-border weapons transfers. This week we learned from Business Insider that for some years (predating this administration, that is, from 2000
to 2012) the U.S. government has been working with the dreaded Sinaloa drug cartel. In exchange for helping them damage their rivals' operations and import
their drugs into the U.S. without consequence, they provided us with information about those rivals.
Stop Giving Obama
Radicals the Benefit of the Doubt. The Obama administration policies, ranging from Fast and Furious, to the New Black Panther
dismissal, to the debacle of Obamacare, are not incompetent follies. They are instead representative of ideological desires deliberately
implemented through the mechanisms of power available to this administration. Fast and Furious emerged because of hostility to the
constitutional right to bear arms. The New Black Panther dismissal happened because the civil rights industry today doesn't think
civil rights laws should be used against "people of color." Every nutty and seemingly dumb Obama policy has a genesis in ideological
radicalism. These and other seemingly dumb Obama administration decisions are features; they are not glitches. Stop treating
them like glitches.
New court
documents reveal final moments of border agent Brian Terry's life. Three years after the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian
Terry — a tragedy which exposed and ultimately ended Operation Fast and Furious — the public is finally getting a
glimpse into Terry's final moments. Federal court records released Tuesday [2/4/2014] provide the first official account of the
firefight along the Arizona-Mexico border that killed Terry in December 2010.
As first
defendant in Brian Terry murder is sentenced, Fast and Furious questions linger. A Mexican man will be sentenced in federal
court Monday [2/10/2014] in the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent whose death revealed a botched law enforcement sting in which
agents lost track of hundreds of guns sold to criminals.
Mexican man gets 30 years in killing of
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. A Mexican man was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday for Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry's
slaying, which led to the unraveling of the failed federal gun-tracking operation known as Fast and Furious. Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, 37,
who pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in October 2012 in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, apologized in court.
Fast and Furious fallout: Man
sentenced to 30 years in border agent's death. A man convicted in the shooting death of a federal Border Patrol agent during a firefight
that revealed the government's botched gun-smuggling investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious was sentenced Monday [2/10/2014] to 30 years
in prison.
Echoes
of Edward R. Murrow in Sharyl Atkisson's departure from CBS News. CBS News has lost its strongest claim to be a fair and
non-partisan news source with the departure of Sharly Atkisson from the network. The award-winning reporter has been squeezed-out
because of her reporting on investigative themes inconvenient to the Obama administration, including Fast and Furious and the
Benghazi Scandal — two incidents in which United States government officials lost their lives.
Congress,
watchdogs stonewalled in probes of administration. The Obama administration has made it increasingly difficult
for Congress and inspectors general to uncover government misdeeds and access information in various agencies, according
to recent congressional testimony and reports. On Thursday, Justice Department Inspector General Michael E.
Horowitz testified before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing that Attorney General Eric Holder stonewalled
his investigation of the "Operation Fast and Furious" gunwalking scandal. Mr. Horowitz also said his office has
been stymied in other investigations of the Justice Department because of the Obama administration's interpretation of
access laws, which essentially requires investigators to ask department heads for permission to investigate them.
Issa to ATF Head: Why Are Major Fast and Furious Players Still Working
at the Agency? Late yesterday afternoon [3/31/2014], Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell
Issa and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley sent a letter to ATF Chief B. Todd
Jones asking why major players in Operation Fast and Furious are still working at the agency, especially considering
Jones said they were no longer employed. Although many agents and supervisors involved in the deadly operation
have retired or resigned since 2010 when Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed with a gun trafficked to Mexican
cartels during the program, not a single person has been fired.
Dennis Burke Should Be Further Sanctioned, Not Celebrated.
Between 2009 and 2011 when Operation Fast and Furious was active, Dennis Burke and his Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory
Hurley refused to prosecute nearly every straw purchaser case handed to them citing "no probable cause." One
of those straw purchasers was Jaime Avila, a man who purchased hundreds of AK-47s on behalf of Mexican drug cartels
under ATF surveillance for an entire year. Burke never bothered to stop him.
Sharyl
Attkisson Claims CBS Moved On From 'Fast and Furious' as She'd 'Barely Begun to Scratch the Surface'. Appearing on
Thursday's O'Reilly Factor, former CBS investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson claimed that CBS "had barely begun to scratch
the surface" of the "Fast and Furious" scandal before the network moved on from the story. She noted that the network showed
similar reluctance for its coverage of Benghazi and the ObamaCare rollout. Before her resignation last month, Attkisson
covered Obama administration controversies like "Fast and Furious" and Benghazi and her reporting helped the CBS Evening News
win the Edward R. Murrow award in 2012. Yet she told O'Reilly that higher-ups at the network moved on from the "Fast
and Furious"scandal "due to lack of interest, well before we found answers to a lot of questions."
Obama's thug administration. Having
been caught in a government-run scam that was a thinly veiled attempt to create reasons to impose gun control on
Americans, the administration has been stonewalling 'Fast and Furious' files for over 5 years. Initially
they attempted to blame the Bush administration for the program that ended up putting thousands of military grade
weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartels and was ultimately responsible for the killing of at least one
American border service agent. But as the truth about their mendacity emerged, the President blithely
covered all the program's records under the aegis of executive privilege.
The Fast
and Furious Red Herring. The disappearing act known as the congressional Fast and
Furious investigation made a brief return to the stage recently when U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holder became unhinged during questioning by Representative Louis Gohmert (R). The trigger for his
defiance was the mention by Rep. Gohmert of possible contempt charges over the Fast and Furious
scandal. The AG's admonition of "Don't go there buddy," started discussion as to why Holder reacted
in such a strong manner. Sure, he's hiding something, or someone, but are the White House, ATF, and
the AG the only players?
Judge
seeks middle ground in Fast and Furious lawsuit. During a two-hour hearing, U.S.
District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson said she was poised to reject the most extreme arguments
put forward by lawyers for the House and for the Obama administration. The judge also appeared to
harbor some hope that hinting at her likely ruling might press the two sides to work out a
settlement in the long-running document dispute that led to Attorney General Eric Holder being held
in contempt of Congress by the House in 2012.
Man
accused in border agent killing is extradited. One of the five men accused in the killing of a U.S. Border
Patrol agent whose death exposed a botched federal gun sting has been extradited to the United States.
Extradition
in Fast and Furious case. One of the five men accused in the killing of a U.S. Border
Patrol agent whose death exposed a botched federal gun sting has been extradited to the United States.
Media
Bias and the Obama Scandals. We live in a strange time. Historically, reporters and
editors have believed that their job is to disseminate news. That is no longer true. [...] Consider
Fast and Furious. The Obama administration deliberately encouraged guns to be sold illegally and
transferred to Mexican drug lords, for reasons that have never been explained. Hundreds of Mexicans
and least one or two Americans died as a result. Was that a news story? In Mexico, yes; here
in the U.S., it was generally greeted with yawns.
The Age of Mafia Government:
People Wind Up Mysteriously Dead. Fast and Furious and the Benghazi massacre are the
two most obvious examples. It's been years, in both cases, and it's still an utter mystery as to
why Americans died in foreign lands, where all those guns went, who used what money, where it all
came from, and why. That may have something to do with the Justice Department's utter lack of
curiosity about massive crimes being committed on its watch, but remember: where there are mafia,
there are corrupt police, district attorneys, and courts. The mystery isn't who did it, but
proving it. Part of the reason it's impossible to find evidence to prove what everyone knows is
that no one will talk.
Obama: treacherous
or incompetent? The ATF "Fast and Furious" scheme, likely designed to erode Second Amendment
rights, allowed weapons from the U.S. to "walk" across the border into the hands of Mexican drug dealers.
The ATF lost track of hundreds of firearms, many of which were used in crimes, including the December 2010
killing of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Judge:
DOJ Must Provide Information on 'Fast and Furious' Docs Withheld from Congress. On
July 18 the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Department of Justice
must "provide a detailed listing of all [Fast and Furious] documents that it has withheld from
Congress." The ruling was handed down by U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates and was the
result of a September 2012 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by Judicial Watch. The
ruling was announced by Judicial Watch on July 31. According to the announcement, Bates went
against the DOJ's claims that releasing information to Judicial Watch "would interfere with the [DOJ's]
continuing litigation with House Oversight Committee."
In
Blow to Obama, Court Orders Release of Fast and Furious Info. In response to a lawsuit
filed by government watchdog Judicial Watch, a federal court rejected legal arguments by the Obama
administration and ordered the Justice Department to release certain information about "Fast and
Furious" documents it is withholding from Congress and the public. Analysts and lawmakers have long
argued that Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, the latter of whom is still in criminal contempt
of Congress, are trying to cover-up details in the deadly "Fast and Furious" scandal, which saw the
Obama administration put thousands of weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. The latest
order could finally shed some light on what the executive branch is trying to hide.
The last comic standing.
"Operation Fast & Furious" was the Obama Administration's gun-running scheme that put thousands of
American-made semi-automatic weapons in the hands of Mexican drug cartels and resulted in the death
of at least one U.S. Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry. Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder lied to
Congress and the public, claiming he didn't know about his Justice Department's Fast & Furious
operation. Congress has now held Mr. Holder in contempt for defying congressional subpoenas and
refusing to turn over thousands of Justice Department documents on Fast & Furious.
Holder running out the clock on
Fast & Furious? One of the first major scandals of the Obama administration may not get resolved until after Barack
Obama leaves office — at least, if Eric Holder has anything to say about it. Politico's Josh Gerstein reported last
night [9/16/2014] on an effort by the Attorney General to keep the issue of executive privilege and Congressional subpoenas from resolution,
even after a federal judge ordered Holder and the Department of Justice to submit documents to the House Oversight Committee.
Obama DOJ Refuses to Release Fast and Furious
Docs. The "most transparent administration in history" is once again revealing the rank hypocrisy of President
Obama's assessment. In a motion filed Monday night [9/15/2014], lawyers from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ)
asked U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson to delay the transfer of documents related to the Fast and Furious gun-running
scandal to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, until after her rulings requiring that transfer can be appealed to
the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. If their bid is successful, it could push the appeals process past the Obama
administration's time in office. In short, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is trying to run out the clock.
Eric
Holder's Fast and Furious Fiasco Was Media Scandal, Too. Thanks to his stonewalling of
the House of Representatives investigation into the Fast and Furious scandal, in 2012 Eric Holder
became the first Attorney General held in contempt by Congress. Maybe his resignation on
Thursday will revive the story for the three broadcast network evening newscasts, but don't count on
it. With Sharyl Attkisson no longer working at CBS News, there is no broadcast journalist who has
shown any interest in pursuing this disgraceful story.
Border
Patrol Agent Brian Terry's Sister on Timing of Holder Resignation: "Not a Coincidence". In light
of a federal judge denying a request from the Department of Justice to delay the release of a long-sought after
Fast and Furious document list, the sister of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, Kelly Terry-Willis, doesn't find
the timing of Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation to be a coincidence. "I do not find it a
coincidence that Eric Holder chose now to resign after Judge Bates denied the request from the DOJ to delay
the release of the Fast and Furious documents. I personally think Eric Holder was really hoping that the
documents would never be made public to my family and the American people," Terry-Willis tells Townhall.
Federal
Court Denies DOJ Motion for Delay Orders Release of Fast and Furious Documents List to Judicial
Watch by October 22. Judicial Watch announced today [9/25/2014] that on September 23,
2014, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that by October 22, the Department
of Justice (DOJ) must submit a "Vaughn index" listing Fast and Furious materials Judicial Watch sought in
its June 2012 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and subsequent September 2012 FOIA lawsuit (Judicial
Watch v. Department of Justice (No. 1:12-cv-01510)). A Vaughn index must: (1) identify
each document withheld; (2) state the statutory exemption claimed; and (3) explain how
disclosure would damage the interests protected by the claimed exemption.
Eric Holder Runs from a Ticking Time
Bomb. The surprise resignation of Eric Holder, the first Attorney General ever to be held in contempt of Congress,
exploded in the news today. Holder has been under unrelenting assault for the most egregious politicization and abuse of
power in the Department of Justice in history — exceeding that of John Mitchell and Alberto Gonzalez. He has
made the Department of Obstructing Justice notorious. Federal judges are stepping in to end his stone walling of Congressional
and other investigations on several fronts, and now he's on the run. Why now? What is about to blow up?
Judge: DOJ Must Produce
List of Fast & Furious Docs by Oct. 22. Two days before Attorney General Eric Holder announced his resignation, a federal
court ordered the Justice Department to produce, by October 22, a detailed list of Fast and Furious documents sought by a conservative
watchdog group. Judicial Watch requested the documents in a June 2012 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Three months
later, in September 2012, Judicial Watch filed a FOIA lawsuit, seeking all of the documents the Obama White House was withholding from
Congress under a claim of executive privilege. This week, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the Justice
Department must submit a "Vaughn Index" of the requested documents by October 22 — a three-week extension of the earlier
Oct. 1 deadline set by the court.
Judicial
Watch: Holder Went Down as We Forced DOJ's Hand on Fast and Furious in Court. Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton
said in a statement on Thursday that Attorney General Eric Holder is resigning as his group is close to nailing the Department of
Justice on Operation Fast and Furious. Judicial Watch just won a key battle in federal court against the administration on the
Fast and Furious documents President Barack Obama asserted executive privilege over to hide them from the American people and Congress.
Brian Terry's Sister:
Holder Quitting No Accident. The attorney general who oversaw the administration's Fast and Furious gun-walking operation into
Mexico resigns right after a federal court denies a DOJ request to delay releasing Fast And Furious documents.
Eric Holder's 7
Worst Actions as Attorney General. [#1] Operation Fast and Furious, probably the most
reckless law enforcement operation ever carried out by the Justice Department. This gun-running
scandal led directly to the death of an American border agent and many Mexican citizens. Holder was
held in contempt because of his refusal to turn over information and documentation about this operation
gone wrong that he basically claimed he knew nothing about.
Judicial
Watch President: Holder Resigned Over Judge's Fast & Furious Ruling. Judicial Watch
president Tom Fitton says he has "no doubt" that a Sept. 23 federal court order requiring the
Department of Justice (DOJ) to turn over an index of documents relating to the Fast and Furious
scandal by October 22 prompted the resignation of Attorney General Eric Holder two days later.
"There's no doubt the writing was on the wall between Fast and Furious and the IRS scandal circling
around the Justice Department. He did not want to be a person of interest in Washington discussions
when more information about Fast and Furious came out," Fitton told CNSNews.com. "And the
Washington way is that [when] bad things happen, get out of Dodge and hope everyone forgets."
Here's
Info Justice Dept. Won't Give Congress in Fast & Furious. Uriel Patino is a chief firearms trafficking
suspect whom ATF secretly advised U.S. gun shops to sell weapons to. According to trace documents, guns that
Patino trafficked are associated with 128 firearms traces to date, including 15 cases in 2014. A trace
indicates a firearm likely turned up at a crime scene. Among the Patino traces in 2014 are 11 incidents in
Mexico and four in the U.S.
19
Times the Government Withheld Documents It Didn't Want You to See. [#13] In 2012, Attorney General Eric Holder
withheld emails regarding the "Fast and Furious" scandal. President Obama invoked executive privilege to prevent some
emails from being turned over to Congress under subpoena.
Obama
Administration's Privilege Claims Are Even More Frivolous Than We Knew. Most people
have concluded that the Obama administration is incompetent, but we must admit that it is supremely
talented at one thing: stonewalling. Time after time, the administration has managed to run out the
clock on scandals through sheer chutzpah. Fast and Furious, as the longest-running Obama scandal, is
farthest along in this respect. Judicial Watch made a Freedom of Information Act request for a
very limited number of documents relating to Fast and Furious, and got stiffed.
Judicial
Watch Obtains List of Fast and Furious Documents Held Under Obama's Executive Privilege. [Scroll
down] Keep in mind the White House has denied any involvement with Operation Fast and Furious when it was
active between 2009 and 2010. The documents described in this list indicate otherwise. Further, former
White House National Security Advisor Kevin O'Reilly was in contact with former ATF Special Agent in Charge of the
Phoenix Field Division William Newell about the details of the operation. Previous reporting shows at least
three White House officials were aware of or involved in the operation despite denials after Congressional inquiries
about the scandal.
President
Obama Exerts Executive Privilege Over Letters Between Eric Holder and His Wife.
[Scroll down] Judge Bates issued his smack down on September 23. Attorney General Eric
Holder announced his resignation two days later. With only 3 hours and 26 minutes left to comply
with the court order the Department of Justice finally released the 1,307 page "Vaughn index" which is being used
to hide 15,662 pages of Fast and Furious documents — the revelations are mind blowing[.]
Obama
Asserts Fast and Furious Executive Privilege Claim for Holder's Wife. Based on a
preliminary review of the massive document, Judicial Watch can disclose that the Vaughn index
reveals: • Numerous emails that detail Attorney General Holder's direct
involvement in crafting talking points, the timing of public disclosures, and handling Congressional
inquiries in the Fast and Furious matter. • President Obama has asserted
executive privilege over nearly 20 email communications between Holder and his spouse Sharon Malone.
The administration also claims that the records are also subject to withholding under the
"deliberative process" exemption. This exemption ordinarily exempts from public disclosure records
that could chill internal government deliberations. • Numerous entries detail
DOJ's communications (including those of Eric Holder) concerning the White House about Fast and
Furious. • The scandal required the attention of virtually every top
official of the DOJ and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). Communications to and
from the United States Ambassador to Mexico about the Fast and Furious matter are also described.
Obama
Claims Executive Privilege Over 15,000 Fast and Furious Docs. The 1,307-page Vaughn
index lists 15,662 documents related to Operation Fast and Furious that the Obama administration is
asserting executive privilege over — the first time that full list and description of the
records has been released. According to Judicial Watch, the withheld documents include
communications between top officials at the Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms (ATF), as well as with the United States Ambassador to Mexico. The Obama
administration is also asserting executive privilege over nearly 20 emails between Holder
and his wife Sharon Malone.
Justice
Dept. List of Withheld Fast & Furious Docs is 1,323 Pages Long. For the first time,
the Department of Justice has provided a detailed description of 15,662 Fast and Furious-related documents
it is withholding from Congress, the public and the press under executive privilege exerted by President Obama.
The description comes in the form of a so-called Vaughn index ordered by a federal court in a lawsuit filed against
the Justice Department by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch. The Justice Department waited to
provide the index, due yesterday, until 8:34 p.m. The number of withheld documents is so extensive,
that the list describing them is 1,323 pages long.
[Italics in original.]
Fast
& Furious cover-up enters new and absurd stage. Judicial Watch has been tenacious in
pursuing the truth behind the outrageous operation known as Fast & Furious, by which the United
States government provided weapons illegally to Mexican drug cartels, resulting in hundreds of
deaths in Mexico, and the death of at least one US law enforcement officer. The response of the
Obama administration has been to stonewall at every step, indicating that there is something to
hide, possibly criminal behavior.
Valerie
Jarrett Key Player in Fast and Furious Cover-up after Holder Lied to Congress.
President Obama's trusted senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, was a key player in the effort to cover
up that Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about the Fast and Furious scandal, according
to public records obtained by Judicial Watch. [...] Practically lost in the 1,000-plus pages of
records is an index that shows Jarrett was brought in to manage the fact that Holder lied to
Congress after the story about the disastrous gun-running operation broke in the media.
Fast and Furious:
Enter Valerie Jarrett. The index does not contain the actual text of the documents
themselves, so many Fast and Furious secrets remain safely buried, but there is a brief description
of what the document supposedly contains, and why it was deemed valid for the President to conceal
it with executive privilege. Right out of the gate, Judicial Watch noticed a few oddities, such as
"nearly 20 email communications between Holder and his spouse Sharon Malone." Dr. Sharon Malone
is a gynecologist, so it's not clear what contribution she would make to a massive gun-running scandal
that would warrant secrecy through executive privilege.
New
Evidence in Fast and Furious Scandal Reveals Why Eric Holder and Valerie Jarrett Should Both be in
Jail. New evidence obtained by government watchdog group, Judicial Watch, reveal that
Obama's most trusted and loyal adviser, Valerie Jarrett, was managing Eric Holder's lies told to
Congress in the Obama-Holder illegal Fast and Furious gun-running scandal, in which the regime was
funneling American-made weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
Valerie
Jarrett Helped Manage Fallout Over Eric Holder's Changing Fast and Furious Testimony to Congress. For
years the White House has argued it had nothing to do with Operation Fast and Furious while it was active and certainly
wasn't involved the fallout and cover-up that followed after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in 2010 by Mexican
bandits carrying guns from the lethal program. Now years later, a Vaughn Index describing Fast and Furious documents
being held from the American people and Congress under President Obama's assertion of executive privilege shows White House
Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett played a key role in Attorney General Eric Holder's changing testimony to Congress.
Obama
Caught Covering Up Emails In Fast And Furious Scandal For Eric Holder And His Family.
A government watchdog group announced Thursday [10/23/2014], after receiving information about the Fast and
Furious operation, that President Obama asserted executive privilege to block emails sent between
Attorney General Eric Holder and family members. Early during President Obama's tenure, the Bureau
of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) launched "Operation Fast and Furious," allowing thousands of
firearms to be illegally sold in the hopes of tracking Mexican drug cartels. United States Border
Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed with one of those firearms in December of 2010.
The
Fast and Furious Cover-up, Hiding in Plain Sight. The House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee has been trying to investigate the Fast and Furious scandal for years, but has been
stymied by the Obama administration's stonewalling. The House committee was willing to narrow its
request for Department of Justice documents to an extraordinary degree; ultimately, the committee
asked only that the Obama administration produce documents after February 4, 2011, relating to the
false letter to Congress that bore that date, and the process by which Eric Holder's DOJ decided to
withdraw that letter. Notwithstanding this narrow scope, the Obama administration has stiffed the
House committee for three years, asserting executive privilege over virtually all of the documents
encompassed by the committee's request.
Valerie Jarrett And Obama
Could Be Implicated In The Fast And Furious Scandal. Today [10/24/2014], Judicial
Watch put out a report saying that Obama used executive privilege to shield Eric Holder's emails to
his family, which obviously held incriminating evidence that Holder lied to Congress about when he
first found out about Operation Fast and Furious. JW had attempted to obtain the information
through the Freedom of Information Act; however, the Department of Justice refused. JW then sued,
and a federal judge ordered DOJ to provide the information.
The
Fast & Furious cover-up starting to be uncovered. Doctors are granted confidentiality
in discussing their medical patients' problems, but the Obama administration is asserting that
spin-doctors also enjoy a similar immunity from mandatory disclosure of their clients' problems.
That assertion is at the heart of a ferocious battle over the breathtaking claim of executive
privilege made by the Obama administration over documents related to the Fast & Furious scandal that
were subpoenaed by a House committee, and sued for by Judicial Watch under the Freedom of
Information Act. The legal battle over whether the discussions over how to handle Congress and
the public's desire to know why the Obama administration issued and then withdrew a February 4, 2011
letter from Attorney General Eric Holder that made false assertions to Congress about when he
first knew of the program is sure to occupy the courts, probably beyond the time President Obama
leaves office.
20
Examples of the Violent Legacy of Fast and Furious. Since 2011, the Justice Department
has refused repeated requests from Congress and the news media to fully disclose details of
incidents involving guns that had been illegally trafficked to Mexican drug cartels under the watch
of U.S. agents in Operation Fast and Furious. The partial list [in this article] was compiled
using available information.
'Election
Eve Dump:' Eric Holder Releases Fast and Furious Documents That Got Him Cited for
Contempt. Justice Department officials provided House investigators with thousands of
documents related to Operation Fast and Furious that President Obama had previously claimed were
exempt from congressional review. In an "election eve dump," as House Oversight and Government
Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.) put it, DOJ handed over 64,280 pages of
documents, a release that is still only a partial fulfillment of the committee's request. "This
production is nonetheless a victory for the legislative branch, a victory for transparency, and a
victory for efforts to check Executive Branch power," Issa said of the release.
DOJ
Turns Over 64,000 Fast and Furious Documents Held Under Obama's Executive Privilege.
[Scroll down] "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," Chairman Darrell Issa said in a statement.
Matt
Bracken Opens Up a Can on the Washington Post. On the night of the elections, the most
transparent administration ever dumped more than 64,000 pages of documents related to Operation Fast
and Furious, the ill-fated Obama gun-running operation. The Washington Post — in its
usual effort to spin the news in favor of the administration — failed to note that the
documents were turned over only after years of litigation, pursuant to a federal judge's ruling
against the Holder Justice Department for its patently bogus claim of "Executive Privilege".
Author Matt Bracken, commenting at WaPo's site, torched the Obama press release distribution outlet,
and provided an excellent synopsis of the true motivation behind the eminently diabolical plot to
eradicate the Second Amendment.
Does Impeachment Loom For
Obama Over Fast & Furious? Buried quite intentionally in the wall-to-wall media
coverage of the Republican "wave" election of 2014 was a "document dump" of more than 64,000
documents that the Obama Administration hid for years regarding the Department of Justice's
gun-running plot to Mexican narco-terrorists known as Operation Fast and Furious.
DOJ's
Fast and Furious Prequel: Failed Grenade-Running Operation. The Obama Justice Department endangered
public safety by allowing a renowned weapons smuggler to continue working for Mexican drug cartels even after the
agency had more than enough evidence to indict him, according to a federal audit made public this week.
As if this weren't bad enough, the case is all the more outrageous because it involves the same preposterous
strategy the administration used in the disastrous gun-running operation known as Fast and Furious.
Judicial
Watch Statement on Release of Enormous Trove of DOJ Fast and Furious Documents.
Judicial Watch announced today that it received from the Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) on
November 18, 2014, a large production of documents pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious.
The documents were forced out of the Obama administration through a June 2012 Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) request and subsequent September 2012 FOIA lawsuit (Judicial Watch v. Department of Justice
(No. 1:12-cv-01510)). A total of 10,112 documents, comprised of approximately 42,000 pages,
were disclosed to Judicial Watch in the new production.
Oops!
Obama Realizes Exec. Privilege not Legal to Hide Fast, Furious Docs. After using executive privilege
to withhold Fast and Furious records for two years, the Obama administration has quietly stopped exerting the power
to hide information about the disastrous gun-running operation. Judicial Watch attorneys discovered the
extraordinary about-face in recent exchanges with Department of Justice (DOJ). JW has been a leader in
exposing the Fast and Furious scandal and has filed several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits against
the federal agencies involved in the once-secret operation.
When
Guns Walked: Sharyl Attkisson and John Dodson on Fast and Furious. In her book
Stonewalled, Sharyl Attkisson reminds readers of the Fast and Furious debacle: the issue of
corruption, coverups, and government misdeeds. Early in the Obama Administration, ATF officials came
up with a plan to secretly enlist the help of licensed gun dealers in Arizona and encouraged them to
sell firearms to suspected traffickers for the Mexican drug cartels. Part of the plan was to allow
these guns to be used in crimes that would lead to the arrest of major drug cartel figures.
American Thinker interviewed journalist Sharyl Attkisson and John Dodson, the Fast and
Furious whistleblower who helped to make this outrageous scheme public.
Family
of Border Agent Brian Terry Marks Four Years Since His Murder. The family of Border
Patrol Agent Brian Terry, who was killed in Arizona's Peck Canyon by Mexican bandits carrying
weapons provided to them through Operation Fast and Furious, marked the four year anniversary of his
murder yesterday. Photos posted on Facebook with a link to the Brian Terry Foundation page show
Agent Terry's sister, Kelly Terry-Willis, visiting the very spot where he died on the night of
December 14, 2010.
How
Eric Holder spun the 'Fast and Furious' scandal to a lapdog media. The general news
media met the recent release of 42,000 pages of government documents, withheld for more than two
years under President Obama's one and only invocation of executive privilege, with a
predictable-yet-inexcusable yawn. The documents relate to the Justice Department case "Fast and
Furious" in which federal agents secretly facilitated delivery of thousands of weapons to Mexican
drug cartels. The story was so significant that independent judges awarded it top investigative
reporting honors two years straight. Yet many in the popular news media had declared it a
political scandal of little consequence.
Warning: gruesome photos in this article.
Graphic
crime scene photos show aftermath of shooting involving 'Operation Fast and Furious' weapon.
The gun used in a 2013 gang-style shooting in Phoenix, Arizona has been traced to an ill-fated Obama administration
program that tried in vain to track firearms across the Mexican border to drug kingpins, and grisly pictures released
Thursday [12/18/2014] show the aftermath. Carlos Rocha-Lopez and Jobani Flores were shot and left for dead by a
criminal assailant who got his AK-47 rifle along with 39 other guns on a single day from a single store because the
federal government instructed a gun dealer to sell them to him.
Belatedly
Released and Revealing Fast & Furious Docs. The Department of Justice improperly withheld
public documents related to Fast and Furious after the first Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for
them several years ago. The agency was recently forced to produce some of the materials to the
conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch, which filed a FOI lawsuit to obtain the information.
(To date, the Justice Department still has not complied with FOI law in providing the same public
documents to me as a FOI requestor.) Fortunately, Judicial Watch has posted the documents
for public review.
Sharyl
Attkisson: Docs indicate ATF was using Fast and Furious to justify new gun regs. Just
as Second Amendment civil rights activists feared, federal government bureaucrats were supplying
illegal firearms to Mexican drug cartels in the expectation that it would led to pressure for more
regulation.
Foundation
Honoring Murdered BP Agent Brian Terry to Host Fundraiser in Texas. The Brian Terry
Foundation will host a fundraising golf tournament in North Texas in April at the Tour 18 golf
course in Flower Mound. The Brian Terry foundation was established by the family of murdered U.S.
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry who was killed in the line of duty in southern Arizona in December,
2010 by Mexican bandits. The foundation was established to assist the family members of other
Border Patrol agents who lose their lives in the line of duty.
Fast
and Furious Cover-up Rewarded in Appointment of New ATF Director. On Friday, March 20,
2015, B. Todd Jones, the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF,)
announced his resignation. [...] The announced new Acting Director is the current Deputy Director, Thomas
Brandon, a man with an apparently secret history at the ATF. In news dispatches of March 20th,
Mr. Brandon is described blandly by the AP, CNN and ABC as a 26-year veteran at the agency who was appointed
Deputy Director in 2011. This gives the impression of an earnest, knowledgeable, hard working civil
servant, does it not? Perhaps all of the professional reporters are too pressed for time these days
to perform a basic Google search. Or, perhaps not a single so-called journalist has the brain capacity
to remember a shameful, deadly national disaster called Fast and Furious.
Chuck
Grassley: FBI obstructing Fast and Furious, other probes. The chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee accused the FBI on Monday [4/20/2015] of not cooperating with the Department
of Justice's top watchdog in the investigation of the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal, among
others, endangering Congress's ability to be a check on the administration's actions. "One
of the tools we have created to help the government identify and correct its mistakes is being
obstructed. I refer to the vital work of Inspectors General," said Sen. Chuck Grassley,
Iowa Republican, in a speech on the Senate floor Monday. "We must stay vigilant and insist
that all government agencies, including the FBI, work with Inspectors General — not
against them."
The
Obama Era of Unresolved Scandals and Outrages. Remember Fast & Furious? The first of
many embarrassing scandals, one that put American guns in the hands of drug cartels, used to kill a
U.S. Border Patrol agent and numerous innocent people — 211 deaths and injuries in
Mexico. Was there ever any sign that anyone in the administration or our government as a whole
learned anything, or went about their jobs any differently, from that?
The
Obama Presidency — A Cacophony of Corruption. [Scroll down] The Operation Fast and Furious gun-running
operation — Eric Holder was found in contempt of Congress, and President Obama made a remarkable assertion of
executive privilege in order to protect his attorney general from prosecution and to thwart Congress' efforts to ferret out
the truth about his deadly scandal. Rather than enforce the contempt charge, the Obama Justice Department ignored it.
Only after Judicial Watch secured key court victories separately against the Justice Department did Congress, after two years of
getting nowhere, get many of the documents it had been seeking. The Fast and Furious guns are being used in crimes to
this day.
Assailant
in Garland, Texas, attack bought gun in 2010 under Fast and Furious operation. Five
years before he was shot to death in the failed terrorist attack in Garland, Texas, Nadir Soofi
walked into a suburban Phoenix gun shop to buy a 9-millimeter pistol. At the time, Lone Wolf
Trading Co. was known among gun smugglers for selling illegal firearms. And with Soofi's history
of misdemeanor drug and assault charges, there was a chance his purchase might raise red flags in the
federal screening process. Inside the store, he fudged some facts on the form required of
would-be gun buyers.
Gun
used in Garland, TX terror attack connected to Fast and Furious. A 9MM handgun used by
Nadir Soofi, one of the terrorists who attacked the Garland, TX Mohammed cartoon festival, has been
traced to the Fast and Furious program, according to the Chicago Tribune. [...] How many other
weapons ended up in the hands of potential terrorists? How many other Americans have been murdered
by these guns? Unfortunately, by the time more curious eyes are brought to bear on this and other
administration scandals, most of the evidence will be "Lernered" — destroyed by those who would end
up in jail if the truth ever came out.
Outrage:
Ringleader in Murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry Gets Away with Slap on Wrist. The ringleader of the rip
crew that murdered U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010 received a slap on the wrist thanks to federal prosecutors in
Arizona. The prosecutors asked that he only receive a 30 year prison sentence instead of a possible life term in
prison or a possible death sentence.
Obama's
Betrayals: Illegality and Malfeasance in Office. President Barack Obama is guilty of multiple counts of illegality
and malfeasance in office. He has both willfully abused his executive powers and willfully neglected to perform his executive
duties under the Constitution to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed." [...] Obama asserted a spurious claim of executive
privilege to withhold information from Congress on efforts within the Justice Department to hide the truth about the Fast and Furious
gun-running operation. President Obama was protecting his crony Eric Holder and trying to keep embarrassing facts from the
public. He thereby facilitated an obstruction of justice. The parents of Brian Terry, the border patrol agent who was
killed by members of a Mexican drug cartel armed with weapons from the failed Justice Department gun trafficking operation, said
"it is very disappointing that we are now faced with an administration that seems more concerned with protecting themselves rather
than revealing the truth behind Operation Fast and Furious."
Justice
Has Been Slow for Family of Slain Border Patrol Agent. The trial of the two men accused of murdering U.S.
Border Patrol Brian Terry has been a long time coming. During the nearly five years since his murder, Terry's family has been
forced to endure unimaginable frustration, pain and other indignities from the federal government he swore an oath to serve
and protect.
Seeking
justice for Brian Terry. At long last, the first trial based on the events surrounding the violent 2010 murder
of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry by Mexican drug smugglers wielding firearms supplied by the U.S. government began last
week in a Tucson, Arizona, courtroom. A political firestorm erupted when it was revealed that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives (ATF), as part of a program dubbed "Operation Fast and Furious," had provided Brian Terry's murderers
with the weapons used to take his life.
2
convicted in in killing of Border Patrol agent. Two men were convicted of murder charges Thursday [10/1/2015] in the killing of a Border Patrol
agent whose death brought to light the bungled federal gun-tracking operation known as Fast and Furious. The jury found Jesus Leonel Sanchez-Meza, also
known as Lionel Portillo-Meza, and Ivan Soto-Barraza, guilty of all counts. They face a sentence of life in prison.
Citizen
Asks ATF: Do I Need a Federal Firearms License to Sell Thousands of Guns to Mexican Cartels? The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms has posted a link to their Facebook page clarifying requirements for people selling guns to obtain a Federal Firearms
License. The link was posted after President Obama released new executive actions on gun control this week.
Judge
rejects Obama's executive privilege claim over Fast and Furious records. A federal judge has rejected President Barack Obama's assertion
of executive privilege to deny Congress access to records pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious, a gunrunning probe that allegedly allowed thousands
of weapons to flow across the border into Mexico. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ruled Tuesday [1/19/2016] that the Justice Department's
public disclosures about its response to the so-called "gun walking" controversy undercut Obama's executive privilege claim.
Rifle
capable of taking down helicopter found at 'El Chapo' hideout purchased through Fast and Furious program. A .50-caliber rifle found at Joaquin
"El Chapo" Guzman's hideout in Mexico was funneled through the gun-smuggling investigation known as Fast and Furious, sources confirmed Tuesday [1/19/2016]
to Fox News. A .50-caliber is a massive rifle that can stop a car, or as it was intended, take down a helicopter. After the raid on Jan. 8
in the city of Los Mochis that killed five of his men and wounded one Mexican marine, officials found a number of weapons inside the house Guzman was staying,
including the rifle, officials said.
Federal
Judge Obama Appointed Strikes Down His Fast and Furious Executive Privilege Claim. After significant deliberation U.S. District Judge
Amy Berman has struck down Obama's assertion of executive privilege over documents pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious, the Department of Justice
program that allowed the sale and trafficking of thousands of weapons to violent Mexican drug cartels. Berman was appointed to the Court by
President Obama in 2011.
Obama's
'Fast and Furious' Scandal Comes Back To Life. For those who don't remember, Fast and Furious was a Justice
Dept. program that allowed illegal gun sales in the U.S. to Mexican criminals, allegedly as a way to track them. But internal
documents later revealed that the plan was to use Fast and Furious as a pretext to impose stricter rules on gun sales.
Whatever their intentions, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents almost immediately lost track of most of the 2,000
or so guns sold through the program. That is, until they start showing up at murder scenes on both sides of the border,
including one that claimed the life of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. If was only after Terry's tragic death that
this woefully misbegotten program came to light.
Media Ignore Yet Another Fast and Furious
Outrage. The liberal media avoid reporting on President Obama's many scandals at any cost, and Fast and Furious is no exception.
Despite the media's studied avoidance of these scandals, their impact continues. When Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents
discovered that a weapon from Fast and Furious was found in Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's Mexican hideout, there was virtual silence from the
mainstream media.
No "Major Scandal" in Obama Administration? The Obama Justice
Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) encouraged gunwalking across the Mexican border of thousands of weapons, resulting ultimately in
the murder of border agent Brian Terry. An ATF whistleblower, John Dodson, spoke out in 2011 about the problems with the ATF's decision to let guns go to
Mexico. As I wrote about in 2011, Fast and Furious was a scandal that no longer could be denied, but the media continued to do so. Sharyl Attkisson
recounts in Stonewalled, "But as outrageous and remarkable as the allegations are, most of the media don't pick up on the story. They're steering clear."
As I wrote, the scandal "involves some 1,500 guns, about 1,000 of which ended up in Mexico, and a Border agent ... who was murdered with weapons found near
the scene of the crime in Arizona. The weapons were among 57 linked to Fast and Furious which have been tied to at least 11 violent crimes in the U.S., including
the Terry murder." Like Benghazi, Fast and Furious resulted in real deaths -- but the media continue to ignore or downplay this scandal.
The Ultimate Timeline: The Diabolical "Fast and Furious"
Scandal. [This article comprises] a painstakingly detailed timeline surrounding the events and the people involved in the gun-walking program
which leaves this author with absolutely no doubt that the purpose of the Operation was to justify a so-called "assault weapons ban." In the wake
of the revelation that Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman was in possession of a .50-caliber rifle (that can "take down a helicopter"), a reminder is in order about
the true nature of Operation Fast and Furious.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and Operation
Fast & Furious. Operation Fast and Furious was a BATF led operation that sold guns to the drug lords in Mexico
through intermediaries in a supposed attempt to track the guns and the channels feeding the drug lords. Trouble is, the
program actually put over 2000 high powered rifles, including 50 caliber sniper rifles, into the hands of the Drug Lords
never intended to track them. The GPS tracking devices were intentionally left off. Over 1500 of these weapons are
still "missing." Ultimately, the Gun Stores involved and the agents themselves became whistleblowers because of their
concerns that our own government was, in effect, recklessly and illegally arming the Mexican Drug Cartels. As a result,
several Americans have been killed by these weapons, including US Law Enforcement officers, and over 200 Mexican citizens have
been killed. It is patently illegal to do what the BATF did, and the operation was supported and directed by the Department
of Justice, over which Eric Holder, President Obama's Attorney General presides.
Court
reverses order keeping Fast and Furious docs secret. A federal appeals court has ordered that a case involving the release of some
Fast and Furious documents should be returned to a lower court for "clarification." The order gives investigators into the gun-walking scandal
another opportunity to view documents that the Justice Department claims were under "non-disclosure rules." [...] By the time this issue is decided
in the courts, it is likely that the Obama administration will be long gone. But whatever is in those documents will still be relevant as
investigators continue to try to unravel what went on with Fast and Furious.
Appeals
Court Restores Fast and Furious Document Lawsuit. Judicial Watch announced today [2/18/2016] that it scored a victory in the United States
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit regarding a September 5, 2013, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for all records of
communications between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on settlement discussions in the
Committee's 2012 contempt of Congress lawsuit against former Attorney General Eric Holder. The contempt citation stemmed from Holder's refusal to
turn over documents to Congress related to the Operation Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal.
The Age of Mafia Government.
When black-helmeted men circle your home, break down your door, throw your children from their sleeping beds onto the dew-ridden lawn, and
shoot you 22 times because some meathead mistook your house for a drug dealer's, it's clear government has gone from protecting you from
threats to becoming a threat itself. More directly, however, thanks to "The Godfather" and "The Sopranos," everyone knows that the mafia's
presence means frequent, mysterious deaths. That's also a hallmark of this administration. Fast and Furious and the Benghazi massacre
are the two most obvious examples. It's been years, in both cases, and it's still an utter mystery as to why Americans died in foreign lands,
where all those guns went, who used what money, where it all came from, and why. That may have something to do with the Justice Department's
utter lack of curiosity about massive crimes being committed on its watch, but remember: where there are mafia, there are corrupt police,
district attorneys, and courts. The mystery isn't who did it, but proving it. Part of the reason it's impossible to find evidence to
prove what everyone knows is that no one will talk.
Rifle
found at El Chapo hideout tied to Fast and Furious. One of the guns that Mexican officials say was found at the
hideout of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera has been found to be associated with Fast and Furious, a failed "gun-walking"
operation, according to the Justice Department. The department said in a letter to members of Congress that a .50-caliber
rifle that Mexican officials sent for tracing after Guzman's arrest in January has been connected to Fast and Furious.
What Does Hillary
Know About The Hundreds Murdered With Fast And Furious Guns? Fox News is reporting that guns smuggled into
Mexico by the Obama Administration during a gun smuggling plot called Operation Fast and Furious are still taking lives and
turning up at crime scenes. [...] Of course, the reality is that the ATF hasn't accepted any responsibility whatsoever for
the smuggling of more than 2,000 guns to narco-terrorists in this gun-walking plot. Not a single ATF agent has be
criminally charged for their role in the operation, nor have any been fired, or even demoted. Most were in fact laterally
transferred to favorable assignments that were functional promotions. Other Department of Justice, State Department, and
White House officials that must have played a role in authorizing the gun-walking plot have also never been held to account.
Justice
Department releases Operation Fast and Furious documents after White House lifts 4-year 'executive privilege' claim. The U.S.
Justice Department says it has turned over to Congress a cache of additional documents related to the botched gun-smuggling operation known as
Operation Fast and Furious. The Obama administration had for the last four years refused to provide the documents to House Republicans,
invoking a claim of executive privilege. But a federal judge on January 19 turned aside that argument, saying the agency had already
disclosed through other channels much of the information it was seeking to withhold.
Justice
Dept. gives Congress documents on Fast and Furious. The Obama administration had for the last four years
refused to provide the records to House Republicans, invoking a claim of executive privilege. But a federal judge in
January turned aside that argument, saying a blanket assertion of executive privilege was inappropriate since the Justice
Department had already disclosed through other channels much of the information it had sought to withhold.
Obama
relents on Fast & Furious executive privilege, turns records over to Congress. The Obama administration caved to a judge's
order Friday [4/8/2016] and sent documents from the botched Fast & Furious gun-running operation to Congress, complying with a subpoena
the House Oversight Committee issued years ago. President Obama had claimed executive privilege in trying to shield the documents
from Congress, but a federal judge rejected that, insisting lawmakers had a right to see the information in order to complete their
investigation into an operation that saw thousands of guns trafficked into Mexico, with the administration's knowledge. With just
hours to go before the judge's 60-day deadline, the administration complied Friday [4/8/2016].
Don't Be Fooled: The
White House Is Still Stonewalling Fast & Furious. There has long been speculation that Operation Fast and Furious, one
of up to ten gun-walking operations in states along the southern border, was an attempt to add material support to the Obama
Administration's so called "90-percent lie." Soon after taking office, President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, and
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed the blatant falsehood that 90-percent of the guns recovered from crime scenes in Mexico came
from gun dealers in the United States. The reality was that only 8-percent were traced to American gun dealers.
Issa,
Grassley say Fast and Furious document releases a 'fraction' fails to meet subpoena. Republicans lawmakers who
led probes into the Obama administration's botched Operation Fast and Furious gun-trafficking operation are criticizing the
court-ordered release Friday [4/8/2016] of related documents, saying they are only a "fraction" of those requested in subpoenas.
"What we need from the president is an explanation of why he felt these documents couldn't have been seen by the American people
and why there has been no real accountability for the officials involved," said Rep. Darrell Issa, who as chairman of the
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform led congressional investigations.
Holder
tried to stonewall, spin 'Fast and Furious' probe, panel says. Former Attorney General Eric Holder, President
Barack Obama's pick to run the Justice Department, played a crucial role in an effort to cover up the government's "Fast and
Furious" Mexican gun trafficking scandal, a congressional investigative panel said Thursday [4/14/2016]. "Senior Justice
Department official — including Attorney General Eric Holder — intensely followed and managed an effort
to carefully limit and obstruct the information produced to Congress," the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform said in a report about a trove of thousands of documents finally turned over by the
administration after about five years of delays.
Documents
confirm Eric Holder's role in Fast and Furious cover-up. "Fast and Furious" is back in the news. The
reason? In January, Judge Amy Berman, an Obama appointee, ordered the Department of Justice to produce documents
relating to the "gun walking" scandal that Congress had been seeking for four years. DOJ finally produced them, some
20,000 pages worth, this month. [...] Having reviewed these documents, Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform, has released a memo summarizing what they show. [...] Holder and his subordinates:
1. Presumed that allegations about gunwalking in Arizona were false and refused to adjust when documents and
evidence showed otherwise. 2. Politicized decisions about how and whether to comply with the congressional
investigation. 3. Devised strategies to redact or otherwise withhold relevant information from Congress and
the public. 4. Isolated the fallout from the Fast and Furious scandal to ATF leadership and the U.S.
Attorney's Office in Arizona. 5. Created a culture of animosity towards congressional oversight.
Obama busted in "Fast and Furious" cover-up.
It's one of the most outrageous examples of contempt for U.S. law ever seen — and it came straight from President
Barack Obama's administration. Newly revealed documents released only after years of legal battles and a federal court
order show that Obama's Justice Department waged a campaign of disinformation, deliberately obstructing Congress as it attempted
to investigate the "Fast and Furious" scandal. That's when federal agents allowed some 2,000 guns to be sold to
Mexican drug cartels, hoping to track the weapons to drug lords — and then lost track of them. Instead,
the weapons were used in a string of horrific crimes in Mexico — and here in the United States, two of the
firearms were found at the scene were U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered by drug traffickers. One
"Fast and Furious" weapon was even found in the hideout of El Chapo, the notorious Mexican drug kingpin.
The
scandal in Washington no one is talking about. The deadly-but-forgotten government gun-running scandal known as
"Fast and Furious" has lain dormant for years, thanks to White House stonewalling and media compliance. But newly
uncovered e-mails have reopened the case, exposing the anatomy of a coverup by an administration that promised to be the most
transparent in history. A federal judge has forced the release of more than 20,000 pages of emails and memos previously
locked up under President Obama's phony executive-privilege claim. A preliminary review shows top Obama officials
deliberately obstructing congressional probes into the border gun-running operation.
Justice
Department Documents Reveal Widespread Use of Fast and Furious Weapons by Major Mexican Drug Cartels. Judicial
Watch [...] today [5/25/2016] released Justice Department documents showing that weapons sent from the U.S. into Mexico as
part of the Obama administration's Operation Fast and Furious gunrunning program have been widely used by major Mexican drug
cartels. According to the new records, over the past three years, a total of 94 Fast and Furious firearms have been
recovered in Mexico City and 12 Mexican states, with the majority being seized in Sonora, Chihuahua and Sinaloa. Of the
weapons recovered, 82 were rifles and 12 were pistols identified as having been part of the Fast and Furious
program. Reports suggest the Fast and Furious guns are tied to at least 69 killings.
Documents:
Mexican Cartels Used Fast and Furious Guns For Mass Killings. New documents obtained by the government watchdog
Judicial Watch prove, again, that guns sold through the Obama Justice Department's Fast and Furious Operation have been used
by Mexican cartels for mass murder south of the border. "According to the new records, over the past three years, a
total of 94 Fast and Furious firearms have been recovered in Mexico City and 12 Mexican states, with the majority being
seized in Sonora, Chihuahua and Sinaloa. Of the weapons recovered, 82 were rifles and 12 were pistols identified as
having been part of the Fast and Furious program. Reports suggest the Fast and Furious guns are tied to at least
69 killings," Judicial Watch reports. "The documents show 94 Fast and Furious firearms were seized, 20 were
identified as being involved in 'violent recoveries.' The 'violent recoveries' involved several mass killings."
Fast
& Furious guns still involved in Mexican mayhem: Judicial Watch. Operation Fast and Furious is like the
"gift that keeps on giving," according to a report from Judicial Watch. Recently-released Justice Department documents
revealed that more guns from the Operation Fast and Furious fiasco have been found at Mexican crime scenes. They are
still involved in homicides in that country, Judicial Watch reported. According to the watchdog organization, 94 guns
linked to Fast and Furious have been recovered over the past three years. However, that still leaves hundreds of guns
that were allowed to "walk" by agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the mismanaged sting
operation. The recovered guns include 82 rifles and 12 handguns, the report said.
Justice
Department Documents Reveal Widespread Use of Fast and Furious Weapons by Major Mexican Drug Cartels. Judicial
Watch [...] today [5/25/2016] released Justice Department documents showing that weapons sent from the U.S. into Mexico as
part of the Obama administration's Operation Fast and Furious gunrunning program have been widely used by major Mexican drug
cartels. According to the new records, over the past three years, a total of 94 Fast and Furious firearms have been
recovered in Mexico City and 12 Mexican states, with the majority being seized in Sonora, Chihuahua and Sinaloa. Of the
weapons recovered, 82 were rifles and 12 were pistols identified as having been part of the Fast and Furious program.
Reports suggest the Fast and Furious guns are tied to at least 69 killings. Fast and Furious was a Department of
Justice Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) "gunrunning" operation in which the Obama administration
allowed guns to be sold to Mexican drug cartels in the hope the weapons would be recovered at crime scenes. Fast and
Furious weapons have been implicated in the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and hundreds of other innocents in
Mexico. Prior reports tie Fast and Furious weapons to at least 200 deaths in Mexico alone.
Seven
Giant Scandals That Barack Obama Just Couldn't Keep Undercover! [#1] Fast & Furious: The very first on
the list, and for good reason. This was the botched border gunrunning operation that the Obama administration tried to
do in order to track the weapons back to Cartel leaders. It didn't work. Not only that, but it was the first
major scandal of his Presidency, and ultimately lead to the death of a U.S. Border Patrol Agent by the very weapons they put
into circulation.
Flashback:
Remember When Democrats Helped Cover Up Obama's Fast and Furious Gunrunning Scheme? As the House Democrats
extend their temper tantrum into a fundraiser, it's worth pointing out their rank hypocrisy when it comes to guns.
Law
Enforcement Sources: Gun Used in Paris Terrorist Attacks Came from Phoenix. One of the guns used in the
November 13, 2015 Paris terrorist attacks came from Phoenix, Arizona where the Obama administration allowed criminals to buy
thousands of weapons illegally in a deadly and futile "gun-walking" operation known as "Fast and Furious." A Report of
Investigation (ROI) filed by a case agent in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tracked the gun
used in the Paris attacks to a Phoenix gun owner who sold it illegally, "off book," Judicial Watch's law enforcement sources
confirm. Federal agents tracing the firearm also found the Phoenix gun owner to be in possession of an unregistered
fully automatic weapon, according to law enforcement officials with firsthand knowledge of the investigation.
Law
Enforcement Sources: Gun Used in Paris Terrorist Attacks Came from Phoenix. One of the guns used in the
November 13, 2015 Paris terrorist attacks came from Phoenix, Arizona where the Obama administration allowed criminals to buy
thousands of weapons illegally in a deadly and futile "gun-walking" operation known as "Fast and Furious." A Report of
Investigation (ROI) filed by a case agent in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) tracked the gun
used in the Paris attacks to a Phoenix gun owner who sold it illegally, "off book," Judicial Watch's law enforcement sources
confirm. Federal agents tracing the firearm also found the Phoenix gun owner to be in possession of an unregistered
fully automatic weapon, according to law enforcement officials with firsthand knowledge of the investigation.
'Fast
& Furious' link: Gun used in Paris terror attack may blow up Obama's 'gun control' narrative. A gun used
in the November Paris terrorist attack has reportedly been traced back to Phoenix where the Obama administration's
gun-running experiment Fast and Furious allowed criminals to buy thousands of weapons illegally. The Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco Firearms and Explosives tracked one of the guns used in the November 13, 2015 attacks to a Phoenix gun owner who
sold it illegally, according to Judicial Watch. The gun owner also had an unregistered fully automatic weapon, according
to law enforcement officials with firsthand knowledge of the investigation. Tracking the weapon following a paper trail,
it was found that the Phoenix gun owner had at least two federal firearms violations, for selling one weapon illegally and for
possessing an unregistered automatic, according to Judicial Watch. But no action was taken against the gun owner whose
identity was "kept quiet," law enforcement sources said.
First
Night at GOP Convention Reminds America of Obama Administration's Deadliest Scandals. The family of Border
Patrol Agent Brian Terry delivered a message to the convention via video live from the U.S. southern border. They
reminded America about Operation Fast and Furious, a secret 2009-2010 Obama Justice Department program that involved ATF
agents illegally trafficking thousands of guns to Mexican drug cartels. On December 15, 2010, Terry was killed by
illegal Mexican bandits and two guns from the Operation were left at the crime scene. In the summer of 2012, Attorney
General Eric Holder was voted in contempt of Congress by Democrats and Republicans for stonewalling the investigation into
the scandal.
Fast and
Furious blogger Vanderboegh passes away. It seems fitting to stop and recognize [Mike] Vanderboegh upon his
passing. If it weren't for him, it's entirely possible that the government's scheme that put thousands of weapons into
the hands of Mexican drug cartels would still be going on today. Vanderboegh and fellow blogger David Codrea were
originally contacted by ATF insiders via CleanUpATF.org. The insiders were outraged by the secret government operation
"Fast and Furious" that eventually resulted in an unknown number of deaths on both sides of the border including Border
Patrol agent Brian Terry. Terry was murdered by illegal immigrants armed with the government's Fast and Furious guns.
Family
of Slain Border Patrol Agent Looks Forward to Trump. The family of slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry is looking forward
to getting answers about the murder of their family member as President-Elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. Agent Terry was
murdered by a group of Mexican bandits on December 15, 2010. Weapons supplied through the Obama Administration's Fast and
Furious gunrunning program were found at the scene of his murder.
'Legacy':
10 Ways Barack Obama Broke the American System. [#2] Fast and Furious. The Obama administration smuggled guns
across the Mexican border, ostensibly to trace them to drug cartels. Unlike the Bush administration's Wide Receiver, Obama's
Operation Fast and Furious happened without the Mexican government's knowledge. The likely goal was to create a pretext for
reducing gun ownership in the U.S. It led to the murders of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and hundreds of Mexicans.
Afterwards, Obama used "executive privilege" to cover it up.
FBI Files Document Communism in Valerie
Jarrett's Family. [Judicial Watch] has exposed Valerie Jarrett's many transgressions over the years, including her role in covering
up a scandalous gun-running operation carried out by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Last fall JW obtained public records that show Jarrett
was a key player in the effort to cover up that Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about the Fast and Furious, a disastrous experiment
in which the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) allowed guns from the U.S. to be smuggled into Mexico so they could
eventually be traced to drug cartels. Instead, federal law enforcement officers lost track of hundreds of weapons which have been used in an
unknown number of crimes, including the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.
Fast
and Furious scandal: Suspected triggerman in border agent's murder arrested. The cartel member suspected
of shooting and killing Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in 2010 with a gun supplied by the U.S. government was arrested in
Mexico Wednesday, senior law enforcement, Border Patrol, and congressional sources told Fox News. The suspect, Heraclio
Osorio-Arellanes, was apprehended by a joint U.S.-Mexico law enforcement task force that included the Drug Enforcement
Administration, U.S. Marshals and the Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC). A $250,000 reward had been sought for
information leading to the arrest of Osorio-Arellanes, who was captured at a ranch on the border of the Mexican states of
Sinaloa and Chihuahua. U.S. authorities have said they will seek his extradition.
Border
Agent Brian Terry's Suspected Killer Arrested In Mexico. The man who allegedly killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent
Brian Terry in 2010 using a gun purchased through an Obama Administration gun running program has been arrested in
Mexico. Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, a member of a Mexican cartel, was arrested by Mexican officials following a joint
U.S.-Mexico police task force including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Marshals and the U.S. Border Patrol,
according to an exclusive report by Fox News.
Republicans Go to Jail,
Democrats Run Free. Loretta Lynch's predecessor, Attorney General Eric Holder, lied repeatedly about the Fast
and Furious gun-running scandal in which southwestern gun stores sold some 2,000 weapons to dodgy buyers, supposedly so they
could be tracked back to Mexican drug lords and other hoodlums. Alas, only about 700 were recovered. Some of the
1,300 firearms that went astray subsequently were used to murder hundreds of Mexican citizens and two American Border Patrol
agents. No one at Obama's ATF ever paid for this fatal mayhem. Holder was held in contempt of Congress for
refusing to deliver relevant documents to Congressional investigators. So what? Holder finished his service in
peace and now thrives afresh as a private attorney.
Oversight
Committee to Revisit Operation Fast and Furious. On Wednesday [6/7/2017] the House Oversight Committee, chaired
by outgoing Congressman Jason Chaffetz, will hold a hearing re-examining Operation Fast and Furious and the Obama
administration's handling of the scandal. The goals of the hearing are to "identify what the new officials at the
Department of Justice can learn from the mistakes made by their predecessors in responding to Congress's inquiry" and "to
understand the effect of the Justice Department's obstruction on these witnesses."
Fast
and Furious report slams Holder, DOJ for deception in gun-running scandal. Members of a congressional committee
at a public hearing Wednesday blasted former President Barack Obama and his attorney general for allegedly covering up an
investigation into the death of a Border Patrol agent killed as a result of a botched government gun-running project known as
Operation Fast and Furious. The House Oversight Committee also Wednesday released a scathing, nearly 300-page report
that found Holder's Justice Department tried to hide the facts from the loved ones of slain Border Patrol Brian Terry —
seeing his family as more of a "nuisance" than one deserving straight answers — and slamming Obama's assertion of
executive privilege to deny Congress access to records pertaining to Fast and Furious.
Nets
Ignore Oversight Report Showing Holder Impeded Fast and Furious Investigation. While the Big Three Networks
(ABC, CBS, and NBC) spent Wednesday [6/7/2017] focusing on a Senate hearing they were hoping would implicate President Trump in
obstruction of justice, they ignored a House Oversight Committee report that showed President Obama's administration did just
that. "An absolutely blistering report tonight out saying the Obama administration in general and former Attorney
General Eric Holder in particular repeatedly lied to the family of a slain Border Patrol officer about the weapons used in
his death, and stonewalled efforts to get at the truth," announced Fox News' Bret Baier on Special Report.
New
Fast and Furious secrets from government emails. Six years late, we have new insight into the government's
secretive Fast and Furious operation in which federal agents purposely let thousands of assault rifles and other weapons be
trafficked from the U.S. to Mexican drug cartels, where they were used in many murders and other crimes. A new House
Oversight Committee report contains Department of Justice emails that the government improperly withheld from Congress and
reporters. The report was released Wednesday [6/7/2017] as the Oversight Committee held a little publicized hearing
on still unanswered questions six years after the investigations began.
Obama
and Holder Lied — Brian Terry Died. A few years ago, President Obama called the scandals swirling
around his administration "phony scandals". [...] Phony scandals are those that do not have a smidgeon of evidence of a
crime, like alleged Trump collusion with the Russians or obstruction of an investigation that was never stopped or even
slowed down. Phony scandals do not produce body bags as the Obama administration produced in Benghazi and during
Operation Fast and Furious — the Obama administration's gun-running operation in which it armed Mexican drug lords
and cartels with heavy weapons for which the U.S. Border Patrol had no match or protection. That gun-running operation
led to the murder of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. [...] The extent of the coverup and the obstruction of justice in
Fast and Furious is mindboggling. The statute of limitations has not run out and perhaps it is time to appoint a
special prosecutor to investigate those, President Obama and Eric Holder, who are arguably guilty of criminal negligence in
the death of agent Brian Terry and hundreds of Mexican nationals.
Helpful
Reminder: What a Real Presidential Scandal Looks Like. Final justice will happen when Eric Holder and
Barack accountable for their lies on Fast and Furious, the withholding of documents under the guise of "executive privilege',
something even extended to Holder's wife, and the entire cover-up on why Brian Terry had to die. Eric Holder has never
been prosecuted for his contempt of Congress citation in this matter.
Fast and Furious Redux.
It's been seven years since I first interviewed special agent John Dodson as he blew the whistle on the secret Justice
Department "gunwalking" program that helped arm Mexican cartels with thousands of assault rifles and other weapons from U.S.
gun shops.
Congress
Rips Obama on Cover-up of Fast and Furious Gun Running. Despite leaving office without facing justice, Obama
and his top administration officials are still not out of the woods yet on the "Fast and Furious" scheme to arm Mexican drug
cartels under the guise of conducting an "investigation." This month, the House Oversight Committee and the Senate Judiciary
Committee released a damning report blasting the former administration for the scandal and the subsequent ham-handed attempt
to cover it up, including obstruction of Congress and shady dealings with the press and victims' families. Many key
documents are still being withheld. Unsurprisingly, the establishment media has completely ignored the latest
developments in the explosive story. But with more facts coming out, activists and victims' families hope former
officials involved in the deadly gun-running program may still be brought to justice for a wide range of crimes.
Last
'Fast And Furious' Suspect Arrested For Murder Of Border Patrol Agent. On Monday [10/16/2017], Jesus Rosario
Favela-Astorga, the last Mexican "rip crew" fugitive entangled in the Obama Administration's Operation Fast and Furious, was
charged with first-degree murder of border patrol agent Brian Terry, who was on killed December 14, 2010. "The arrest of
Favela Astorga resulted from the unwavering commitment of the United States and our law enforcement partners in Mexico to
bring to justice those responsible for the murder of Agent Brian Terry, who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving his
country," read a statement from acting U.S. Attorney Alana Robinson.
The
Nuclear Option: Amid Anti-Trump Hysteria, Obama Treason Exposed. The first major wormhole moment came
after a U.S. Border Patrol agent was murdered in 2010 and guns at the crime scene were linked to the U.S. government.
Conspiracy nuts started talking about how the ATF had violated the very federal gun laws the bureau is charged with enforcing
by knowingly allowing "straw purchasers" to obtain weapons that they would later sell to Mexican drug cartels. We are
talking tinfoil-hat crazy conspiracy stuff. Many good people dismissed the claims as preposterous, the daffy product of
overactive imaginations and overstimulated partisanship. Like monsters underneath a child's bed. Then we learned
every bit of it was [the] truth. Under the Obama administration, our federal government was arming some of our most
savage and destructive enemies — purportedly in the name of "tracking" the bad guys. Since that startling
revelation, similarly appalling betrayals and conspiracies have become almost routine. The root causes of each scandal
range from alarmingly reckless incompetence to treasonous betrayals of the American people.
Justice
Department to turn over 'Fast and Furious' documents to House panel. The Department of Justice announced it has
reached a settlement with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to turn over documents related to its
investigation into the botched Fast and Furious gun-running operation. In June 2012, the House of Representatives voted
to hold then-Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt for refusing to turn over certain documents related to the botched
sting, which he dismissed as "politically motivated." The House also approved a civil measure against the attorney
general, which allowed the House Oversight Committee to eventually file a lawsuit against Holder over his failure to produce
the subpoenaed documents. That lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington in August 2012.
DOJ
to Release 'Fast & Furious' Documents Withheld by Eric Holder. Last week, Obama had the audacity to claim,
again, that his administration was scandal-free. Yeah. No. And maybe now we can finally get the details of
the Obama Administration's obscene 'Fast and Furious' scheme.
DOJ
to give Oversight panel more 'Fast and Furious' documents. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Wednesday
that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will provide documents to Congress on the Obama-era program dubbed "Fast and Furious"
that allowed criminals to purchase guns in Phoenix-based gun shops in order to track them into Mexico. The Justice
Department, then run by Eric Holder, declined to provide documents on the program to Congress in 2012 and was held in contempt
of Congress. Today's decision ends six years of litigation with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Exposing
Eric Holder's Obstruction of Justice. Have they no shame? Just days before it was announced that documents
regarding the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal were to be released after being hidden for six years under executive privilege,
there was former Obama attorney general Eric Holder responding to a question on Bill Maher's show: [...]
Eric
Holder In Hiding as DOJ to Release "Fast and Furious" Documents. Holder's obstruction of justice and lying to
Congress were crimes that went unpunished. As Rep. Darrell Issa, who headed the House Oversight Committee during
the Fast and Furious investigation, has noted. But as with the current scandals involving Hillary Clinton and Uranium
One, pay-for-play at the Clinton Foundation, and the corruption of the FISA court process by the FBI and DOJ to aid one
party's attempt to collude with the Russians to overturn a sitting president, Holder was not counting on a Trump election to
expose his corruption.
Here are 1,366 well
sourced examples of Barack Obama's lies, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, hypocrisy, waste, etc.. [#20]
In Operation Fast and Furious, the Obama administration ordered gun storeowners to illegally sell thousands of guns to
criminals. U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered with one of these guns. [...] [#125] In September
2012, Obama said that Fast and Furious had "begun under the previous administration." In reality, Fast and
Furious began in October 2009. [#316] In October 2013, the ACLU announced that it would be defending John Dodson's first
amendment right to free speech, against the Obama administration, which was trying to prevent Dodson from publishing a
book about Obama's "Fast and Furious" scandal.
Obama's Guilty Contentment.
There is neither time or space enough to analyze all the Obama scandals in one column, so let's concentrate on the ones in
which he was personally involved. The first was the "Fast and Furious" gun-walking plan which allowed straw purchasers
of firearms in the United States from 2009-2011. Under that strategy, about two thousand firearms, worth about $1.5 million,
were bought illegally and many taken over the Mexican border to arm drug cartels and gangs. You can read about it in the
report of the Department of Justice Inspector General. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered with one of the
illegally bought weapons that ended up in the hands of Mexican gangs. His was the first death attributable to Obama's
actions. The purpose of the plan was to show the need for greater government control of gun purchases in the United
States. When congressional investigators demanded documents and information about Fast and Furious, Obama's attorney
general, Eric Holder, stonewalled.
The
Death of ICE Agent Jaime Zapata. When Barack Obama and Eric Holder ran guns to deadly Mexican cartels, anti-gun
activists were shockingly silent. Moreover, there was nary an objection when Fast and Furious guns were thought to be
used in an ambush that resulted in the death of federal ICE agent Jaime Zapata, whose agency is being targeted by the
left. Jaime died on February 15th, 2011 on Federal Highway 57, a busy four-lane Mexican road 200 miles north of Mexico
City, while sitting in a State Department-issued SUV. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents, Victor Avila
and his partner Jaime J. Zapata had just finished eating when henchmen from the violent Mexican drug cartel, Los Zetas attacked
them. The agents were shot with AK-47, and AR-15 semiautomatic rifles probably provided compliments of Barack Obama and
Eric Holder's failed gun running scheme.
The Top 50 Liberal
Media Bias Examples. [#25] Fast And Furious: To this day the media has not spent much time covering
Obama's murderous program of supplying guns to Mexican Narco-Terrorists, a program that has killed hundreds of Mexican
citizens and several U.S. law enforcement agents. To its credit, the L.A. Times has been very good on this story
and so has CBS' Sharyl Attkisson, but months went by before the rest of the media began to begrudgingly cover the story.
Mexican
Accused of Murdering Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry Extradited to Face Justice in U.S.. The Mexican national
accused in the murder of U.S Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry is now reported to be in U.S. custody in Arizona. The
accused killer has been fighting extradition since his arrest in April 2017. "The Terry family had to wait seven years
for this moment," Agent Terry's brother, Kent Terry, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday evening. "Finally, justice will
be served and hopefully a little piece of mind."
Mexico
extradites suspect in Border Patrol agent's slaying. The U.S. Department of Justice says a man accused of
participating in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry has been extradited to the U.S. to face murder charges.
8
years ago, US Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was murdered. His suspected murderer is finally going on trial. The
Mexican gang member accused of killing U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in 2010, an event that led to the unearthing of the Obama-era
Fast and Furious scandal, has pleaded not guilty on the charge of first-degree murder and eight other charges, a Justice Department official
confirmed to the Washington Examiner late Wednesday [8/1/2018]. Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes appeared in federal court in Tucson, Ariz.,
Wednesday [8/1/2018] following his extradition from Mexico Monday. U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona Judge Eric
Markovich ordered Osorio-Arellanes to jail and set the trial start date on Sept. 11.
Cartel Member
Wanted for Murder Lands in Texas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers processed a cartel member, here,
July 31, who is wanted in the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry. The suspect, who was in the custody
of FBI agents, was traveling through Houston to face charges in a federal court in Arizona. Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes is
the lone remaining member to face charges related to the December 14, 2010 killing of Terry.
Eric Holder
as President? Eric Holder has decided to run for president to complete the work of converting America to an
openly recognized communist country. [...] Eric Holder was held in contempt for refusing to release documents that implicated
him, Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel in the Fast and Furious scandal, allowing Barack Obama to later claim that there had been
no scandals on his watch.
Sharyl
Attkisson, Veteran Journalist and Government-Fighter, Opens Up. Stonewalled is the title of
investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson's first book — and stonewalling is what the Department of Justice is doing
to her now. Determined to receive justice, she has a landmark lawsuit against the DOJ for electronically surveilling
her computers. Multiple forensics exams have revealed the government-related remote efforts to monitor her.
Government agents most likely did it because she had the "audacity" to dig into facts regarding wasteful green energy
spending, as well as the Fast and Furious and Benghazi scandals. Besides hitting a brick wall with those in the
government who want to see the lawsuit eliminated, Attkisson also has to battle the enormous cost in terms of time and money.
Department
Of Justice Continues To Run Interference For The Obama Administration. [Scroll down] There are lots of
"cooperating witnesses" an boodles of physical evidence but the fly in the ointment is that El Chapo has a history of being a
customer of Eric Holder's Justice Department. Under Holder, the only Attorney General to ever be cited for criminal contempt
by the Houses of Representatives, El Chapo was allowed to buy a massive amount of firepower from gun stores in the United States
using straw-buyers and using gun stores who were cooperating with the federal government under what was known as Operation Fast
and Furious. Several of those weapons were recovered from El Chapo's headquarters when he was arrested. Federal
prosecutors don't want the jury of rubes to hear about it. I say rubes because that is plainly how the federal prosecutors
see the jury.
Fast
and Furious conviction: victim's family makes case for "The Wall". A conviction in the murder of a US Border
Patrol agent is focusing additional attention on the debate over a border wall. On Tuesday [2/12/2019], Heracio Osorio
Arellanes was convicted in federal court in Tucson, Arizona of first degree murder for the 2010 shooting of Border Patrol
Agent Brian Terry. Terry was ambushed and killed by Mexican drug cartel members who crossed the border illegally into
Arizona. They were armed with guns trafficked in the US government's ill-fated "Operation Fast and Furious." [...] As
I uncovered in my reporting, Fast and Furious and numerous federal cases like it secretly put thousands of assault rifles and
other weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. After the conviction, the Terry family issued a statement saying
if the border had been properly secured in 2010, Terry would probably still be alive.
Why
are so many Democrats so reprehensible in exactly the same way? [Eric] Holder actually was in contempt of Congress for
authentic scandals involving deaths of Americans, such as Operation Fast and Furious. Barr is not. Unlike Holder, Barr is
the smartest lawyer in the room. He knows, as does any sentient legal scholar, that to give the House Judiciary Committee what they are
asking for — names of intelligence assets, legally protected grand jury testimony — would be breaking the law. The Democrats with
their handmaidens in the media are manufacturing a "constitutional crisis" simply to hound the president and prolong the collusion hoax as
long as possible.
Nadler
cries 'constitutional crisis' but let's look at what Dems said about Fast and Furious. I remember. Seven
years ago Democrats had the opportunity to right the very wrongs they so sincerely decried in a House Judiciary Committee
hearing this week. Not only did they fail to defend our Congressional subpoena power, they vociferously argued that
doing so was inappropriate. I kid you not. Back then, Obama administration Attorney General Eric Holder had
refused to comply with a Congressional subpoena for documents in the Fast and Furious investigation. Republicans argued
at the time that Democrats should stand with us in defending our Congressional subpoena power. They refused. With
a Republican president, now they're willing to fight this battle. But the precedent they themselves set, combined with
the weakness of their case against Attorney General William Barr, is a recipe for failure.
Democratic
smears of Bill Barr would be more accurately applied to Obama's AGs. William Barr has been confirmed by the
U.S. Senate four times, has served two U.S. presidents, and has proven himself to be a consummate professional who deeply
respects the great responsibilities and boundaries of the office of the attorney general. Considering the turbulent
tenures of President Obama's two attorneys general, Democrats' partisan attacks on Barr's honesty and transparency should
fall on deaf ears. To refresh your memory, Obama's first attorney general, Eric Holder, became embroiled in a scandal
when guns illegally sold to Mexican drug cartels by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) were found
at the scene of the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
Hey
Joe Biden, Here Are Some Scandals You Forgot. [Scroll down] How many Americans knew, for instance, that
"Operation Fast and Furious" put around 2,000 weapons into the hands of narco-traffickers (and an Islamic terrorist), leading
to the murder of hundreds of Mexican citizens, and at least one American, a border agent named Brian Terry? Not
enough. There must have been at least a sniff of scandal, by the way, because even after a federal judge rejected
Obama's assertion of executive privilege in efforts to deny Congress files relating to the operation, the administration
wouldn't budge. Obama's attorney general, Eric Holder, refused to cooperate in the investigation, becoming the first
sitting attorney general in American history to be held in contempt of Congress — a vote that included 17
Democrats. That's odd, because today asserting executive privilege is exactly like Watergate. And ignoring
courts? Well, Obama did that all the time.
Lyin'
Biden: Not a 'hint of a scandal' during Obama administration? Please! Also known as the "ATF
gunwalking scandal," Operation Fast and Furious involved the Arizona Field Office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms allowing licensed firearms dealers in the U.S. to sell weapons to illegal buyers. The brilliant plan was for
those buyers to sell the weapons to Mexican drug cartel leaders, and U.S. officials would then track the guns and arrest the
bad guys. Some 2,000 weapons were sold; just more than 700 were ever recovered — and no high-level cartel
figures were ever arrested. Instead, some of the weapons were used in crimes on both sides of the border, including
when U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in December 2010. In the end, Attorney General Eric Holder became
the first sitting member of the U.S. Cabinet ever to be held in contempt of Congress.
Fast
and Furious victims speak out for first time in decade, demand justice. A lingering scandal from the Obama-era
has resurfaced regarding the sale of guns to Mexican cartels. [Video clip]
Newly-released
Fast and Furious documents (still keeping government secrets). Today [8/22/2019], I received several pages of
documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal where the Obama Administration secretly facilitated the delivery of assault
rifles and other weapons to Mexican drug cartels. I requested the documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI)
back in 2013. This response took almost six years, even though — under FOI law — it was due in 30 days.
Obviously, the way the federal government complies with FOI law (or, more accurately, fails to comply), it becomes impossible for
journalists to receive publicly-owned documents to use in relevant news stories.
Another Obama 'Fast
and Furious' gun found. Investigators linked the weapons sent to violent Mexican cartels by the Obama
administration's Fast and Furious gun-running program to dozens of deaths. The sting operation was supposed to follow
the weapons to their destinations, but authorities quickly lost sight of most of them. Judicial Watch found the weapons
were linked to 69 deaths, including a massacre in which 22 died.
Another
ATF "Fast and Furious" weapon recovered in Mexico a decade after U.S. government allowed gun sales to cartels.
The violent legacy of a secret government operation lives on. Another weapon from Operation Fast and Furious has been
found in the hands of violent armed groups in Mexico. The newest recovery happened on June 20 in Chihuahua,
Mexico. Mexican police and military arrested nine people and confiscated ten weapons after a gunfight between two
groups. According to arrest documents, one of the weapons, a semi-automatic rifle, traces back to Fast and Furious.
Squeaky clean, huh? Obama forgot about
these 25 scandals. [#8] Operation Fast & Furious: In June 2012, the Obama administration invoked
executive privilege to stop disclosure of documentation to Congress following Operation Fast and Furious, a gun-walking
scheme that resulted in the deaths of as many as 100 people, including U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. During the
botched operation, the Justice Department's subdivision of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms lost approximately 2,000 weapons,
allowing many of them to flow freely across the U.S.-Mexico border and into the hands of members of Mexican drug cartels.
Man
Sentenced to Life in Prison for Killing Border Patrol Agent. A federal judge on Wednesday [1/8/2020] sentenced
a man convicted in the 2010 killing of a United States Border Patrol agent to life in prison, closing another chapter in a
case that revealed the botched gun-smuggling investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious. Judge David C. Bury
of United States District Court in Arizona sentenced the man, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, to a life term in the killing of the
agent, Brian A. Terry, who was fatally shot during a firefight with an armed crew who was attempting to rob drug smugglers
in rural Arizona on Dec. 14, 2010. Last year, a federal jury found that Mr. Osorio-Arellanes, 41, was part of
the armed crew of bandits who murdered Agent Terry and convicted him of nine counts, including first-degree murder.
Man
Convicted in 'Fast and Furious' Murder of U.S. Border Agent Sentenced to Life. The man convicted of murder as
the "triggerman" for the fatal 2010 shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in a case that exposed the ill-fated federal
gun-running sting operation dubbed "Fast and Furious" was sentenced to life in prison on Jan. 8. Heraclio
Osorio-Arellanes, 41, a Mexican national, was found guilty in February of slaying Brian Terry, 40, during a gunfight near
Nogales, Arizona, between border agents and armed bandits suspected of robbing drug smugglers along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Prosecutors cast Osorio-Arellanes, the sixth of seven defendants in the case to be convicted and sentenced to date, as the
gang member who actually shot Terry to death. Another gang member was wounded in the Dec. 14, 2010, confrontation.
Justice
Long Delayed: Sentencing in Brian Terry's Murder. On December 14, 2010, Brian Terry was murdered.
Barack Obama and his willing accomplice Attorney General Eric Holder put the gun in the killer's hand. They did so for
the real purpose of subverting the Second Amendment, creating such ugly facts on the ground in Mexico that they could jam
through federal gun bans. The facts on the ground ended up boomeranging in the Arizona desert, and the cover-up was
on. Wednesday, 8 January 2020, in a courtroom in Arizona, the sixth man was sentenced in the murder of Brian Terry.
Where
are the Prosecutions for Fast and Furious? It's been about 10 years since the public discovered Fast and
Furious, the gun walking operation conducted by the ATF under the Obama administration. The ATF arranged for straw
buyers to purchase guns from American gun stores and transfer them to arms traffickers who would give them to drug cartels in
Mexico. Ostensibly, the ATF would then track down the cartels. But they lost track of the guns, and some were
used to kill Americans. Yet where are the prosecutions of the Obama officials who ran it? The victims and their
families have never received justice. But they're looking into it and speaking up.
Heightening
the Contradictions. How often does the Left come up with ideas that, on the face of it, appear absurd,
irrational, or utterly insane? The answer, is, of course, all the time. [...] The list is effectively endless. To
go from general to particular, consider the Obama/Holder "Fast and Furious" program. In this puzzling scheme, powerful
firearms were deliberately sold to border drug cartels on the promise that they would be "tracked," even though there was no
means of doing so. But puzzlement vanishes once we apply the "contradictions" paradigm. Clearly, the intent was
to increase border violence, inflict terror on the public, and utilize that to curtail Second Amendment rights. The
same is true of any other "senseless" or "irrational" leftist program.
5
Times Barack Obama Protected His Allies from Justice and Democrats Didn't Care. [#4] Attorney General Eric
Holder: Attorney General Eric Holder took part in a scandalous, incompetent gun-running project known as "Fast and
Furious" from 2009 to 2011, and did everything in his power to protect his boss, Barack Obama, during that investigation.
In return for his steadfast loyalty, Obama protected Holder, who was aggressively stonewalling the House Oversight and
Government Affairs Committee investigation into Fast and Furious. Obama's asserting of executive privilege was
not only to protect himself but also to protect Holder ahead of the Oversight Committee's vote to declare Holder in
contempt of Congress for withholding documents from the committee. Ultimately it didn't save Holder from being held
in contempt of Congress by a bipartisan vote.
New Impeachment
Rules Would Snare Obama. Remember, his administration ran some 2,000 guns to Mexican cartels in some
hare-brained scheme to monitor violence spilling into the United States. Under the new customs, he should have been
impeached for instructing Attorney General Eric Holder to refuse to testify to Congress about Fast and Furious, or at least
for not handing over subpoenaed documents. Imagine a Trump gun-walking scheme in Mexico.
Mexico's
President Wants Answers On Operation Fast & Furious. Something tells me the Trump administration may be far
more eager to help Mexico president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador get to the bottom of the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal
than the Obama administration ever was. The administration that implemented the program that sent thousands of guns
across the border under the direction of the BATFE and the Justice Department headed by then-Attorney General Eric Holder
never said much about how much information they gave Mexico about the fact that the American government was arming Mexican
drug cartels. Lopez Obrador said during a press conference on Friday that he wants to get to the bottom of who, if
anyone, in the Mexican government was informed of the operation before it was revealed after the death of border patrol agent
Brian Terry in December of 2010 by a member of a Mexican drug cartel using a firearm that the BATFE had allowed to enter into
Mexico in the hands of a gunrunner.
Mexican
president calls for apology, investigation of Obama-era 'Fast & Furious' gun-running operation. With former
President Barack Obama's name beginning to creep up more and more when it comes to co-conspirators at the highest levels of
his administration trying to take out President Donald Trump, what could be a bad month may get worse. With the stroke
of a pen, Obama may have thought he stymied any real digging into the gun-running operation known as "Fast and Furious," but
not so fast. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador not only wants an apology from the United States, he's also
looking for answers to a lot of questions about the Obama-era operation.
Mexico
sheds light on note requesting answers over Obama era gun-running sting. The foreign minister of Mexico
announced on Monday that he sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. requesting answers related to a gun-running sting that caused
tension during the Obama administration, according to a report. In a video posted on Twitter, Foreign Minister Marcelo
Ebrard quoted Eric Holder, the former U.S. Attorney General, as saying Mexican authorities knew about the ill-fated 2009-2011
scheme known as "Fast and Furious." "The [Mexican] government requests that it be provided with all the information
available regarding the 'Fast and Furious' operation," Ebrard said, according to Reuters.
Unable
to Run Its Own Agencies, Washington Dictates to America's Police. The FISA court recently found federal
intelligence agencies guilty of an "institutional lack of candor" in dealing with the tribunal. That conclusion has
only been bolstered by Justice Department reports outlining stunning abuses of power by the FBI, serial lying and leaking by
top officials, fabrication of evidence, and investigations launched on a dearth of predication and furthered by entrapment
tactics and perjury traps. We never did get to the bottom of the Justice Department's "Fast and Furious" scandal, in
which the ATF allowed illegal firearms transfers into Mexico — evidently hoping to fuel a political narrative
against the Second Amendment but succeeding only in fueling violent Mexican gang crime that claimed the life of a
border-patrol agent.
Liberals
Still Think Obama Was the 'Best President Ever,' Here Are 14 Reasons Why That's Ridiculous. [#6] He gave guns
to drug cartels. The Obama administration sent two thousand firearms across the border to trace them to drug cartels
and lost hundreds of them. That's pretty darn bad. But it got a whole lot worse when a border agent was killed
with one of those guns. In response to this revelation, the Obama administration stonewalled and obstructed the
investigation into what happened. Attorney General Eric Holder falsely claimed to not know about the operation, and
Obama personally obstructed the investigation by claiming executive privilege over documents requested by Congress.
Attorney General Eric Holder was also held in contempt of Congress in a bipartisan vote for obstructing the investigation.
The
FBI's Campaign Against Some Rightwing Groups Looks Exactly Like J. Edgar Hoover's COINTELPRO Scandal. The use
of government agents and informants to instigate criminal acts to create the pretense for a crackdown is hardly new, and it
is not exclusively the province of overtly totalitarian regimes. [...] Under the Obama regime, we literally saw the US
government set up an operation that sold weapons to illegal purchasers with the purpose of getting those weapons into the
hands of Mexican drug cartels. It was anticipated, and correctly so, that those weapons would be used to run up the
body count in Mexico, and that fact would be used as justification for restricting the sale of "long guns" in the United
States. If you look at the lead-up to Vicki and Samuel Weaver's state-sanctioned executions at Ruby Ridge, the inciting
incident was a federal informant getting a down-on-his-luck Randy Weaver to shorten two shotguns to flip him into an informant.
Whistleblower's
'Fast & Furious' Memoir a Disturbing Must-Read. Retired ATF Deputy Assistant Director
Peter Forcelli helped to blow the whistle on Operation Fast & Furious, and his new memoir of his
time in the Phoenix field office where the gunwalking scandal took place offers an infuriating and
troubling first-hand account of dysfunction and inexplicable decisions made by ATF officials and
prosecutors with the U.S. Attorneys Office. [...] One of the biggest questions involving Fast &
Furious that has never been answered to my satisfaction is "why"? Why did anyone approve an
operation that allowed hundreds of guns to cross the border into Mexico? The assertion from
ATF and DOJ higher-ups that the guns were going to be tracked, allowing cartel members to be
arrested in Mexico, never made much sense. There was no tracking involved, and as Forcelli
notes, the DEA had a much bigger footprint in Mexico than ATF did at the time, so the agency never
had the resources or personnel in place to follow the guns once they crossed the border.
New
data show that ATF's Operation Fast and Furious just got a lot more scandalous. [As
Nick] Penzenstadler reports, firearms that were originally sold in the U.S. have somehow made their
way south of the border to criminal factions in Mexico and the lower Americas, which is ostensibly
fueling the violence that this part of the world is known for, which is "in part" to blame for the
the "migration crisis" plaguing the U.S. today — yeah, okay — and all of this
is the fault of the small-time gun stores and American gun makers because if it weren't for their
products and store policies, then there wouldn't be so many "bodies on the streets" in Mexico and beyond.
"If
you engage in an unethical practice, if you cover up a serious problem, you should be fired. Period.
It shouldn't be that difficult."
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