The investigation was launched by the DOJ’s Inspector General’s office, which recommended that the Justice Department consider disciplining the 14 agents named. Holder said today that the report would be reviewed with “consideration of potential personnel actions.”
What’s more notable? The fact that the House of House of Representatives will initiate contempt proceedings against Eric Holder over Fast and Furious documents? Or the fact that a news outlet finally provided the correct pronunciation of John Boehner’s name? You be the judge. (Photo credit: AP). source
During an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” host Chris Wallace asked Issa whether he had “any evidence” that the White House had been involved with the matter.
“No, we don’t,” Issa said.
The Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms apparently allowed some gun sales in Arizona to known Mexican criminals. Two of the guns involved were found at the scene of a firefight in which U.S. Customs Agent Brian Terry was killed.
In February 2011, DOJ sent a letter to Congress denying such sales, but retracted that claim in December. It is not clear if either Attorney General Eric Holder or President Barack Obama were aware of the program, and Issa acknowledged Sunday that he has not found evidence Holder was involved.
“I did not say that Eric Holder always knew,” Issa said.
Issa previously suggested at a National Rifle Association conference that the Obama administration attempted to stir up controversy with Fast and Furious in an effort to push an assault rifle ban. This is despite the fact that the Bush administration, which opposed gun control, used similar programs.
U.S. guns have been widely used by Mexican drug cartels. While U.S. gun dealers aren’t supposed to sell weapons to the cartels, a lot of dealers have been selling guns to straw purchasers who smuggle the guns to the cartels. The ATF could arrest and prosecute some individual gun smuggler, but…
In case you needed a quick explainer of F&F, Squashed has you covered.
» SFB says: To suggest that Fast and Furious — specifically in regards to the executive privilege portion of the case, not the part involving the guns — is a bigger deal than the Sandusky case is a major downplaying of the seriousness of the Sandusky case. Also, liveblogging is a different beast than individual posts — we did a pretty decently detailed post on the Eric Holder saga on Thursday. So, we disagree. Also, we don’t have anonymous messaging turned on, so no clue how you managed to send us this. — Ernie @ SFB
Eric Holder facing contempt resolution: With the ongoing “Fast and Furious” gun-trafficking saga reaching a head in Congress, Holder will likely face a contempt resolution from the the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform — the one led by Rep. Darrell Issa, one of the harshest “Fast and Furious” critics. Holder knows what’s coming — he sent a letter to Obama asking the president to claim executive privilege on the documents in the case, which the president granted (though the committee hasn’t received). Problem is, the committee is still moving forward — in particular, Issa won’t back down. Sweat, meet brow. (photo by Ryan J. Reilly) source
In describing the results of the Justice Department’s refusal to cooperate — including the hardships the family of a fallen Border Patrol agent have faced in seeking the truth, and retaliation against agents who blew the whistle on gun-walking — this briefing paper provides the facts, on which decisions will be made.
A sample from the briefing paper Issa’s office released: “‘Operation Fast and Furious’ outrageous tactics, the Justice Department’s refusal to fully cooperate with the investigation, and efforts to smear and retaliate against whistleblowers have tainted the institutional integrity of the Justice Department.” Issa has been harping on this issue for months.
Rick Perry was challenged by Megyn Kelly over his call to Eric Holder to resign or be fired over the “Fast and Furious” gun-running operation. Kelly said there was no direct evidence Holder knew about the program, and that he claims he’d halted it when he learned of it. Perry’s responded that if, as President, he found his attorney general didn’t know of such a program, that would be reason enough to fire him.
Clearly, he knew when he said he didn’t know. Now the question is what did he know and how is he going to explain why he gave that answer.Rep. Darrell Issa • Asking on “Fox News Sunday” why Attorney General Eric Holder gave Issa, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman, a seemingly false answer on his knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious, a failed gun-tracking program. The program has since been tied to numerous murders in the U.S. and Mexico — and the results of which are still showing up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Issa wants answers. ”People at the top of (the) Justice (Department) were well briefed, knew about it and seemed to be the command and control and funding for this program,” he claimed. Holder told him during a May Judiciary Committee hearing that he had only known about the program for a few weeks — an answer which doesn’t please Issa, and may lead to him issuing subpoenas to the Justice Department later this week. source (via • follow)
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