Justice Department desperately fails to derail Issa's investigation of Fast and Furious

[pneutin]

Doesn't look good for the Justice Department. Pretty embarrassing if you ask me.

http://dailycaller.com/2011/06/23/issa-camp-says-washington-post-wrong-on-gunrunner-story/

A spokesman for Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican and the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told The Daily Caller that the Washington Post is the only news organization to bite on new misleading sentiments from the Justice Department.

<snip>

Issa spokesman Frederick Hill told The Daily Caller the Post is the first newspaper to run these DOJ claims, but not the first one the Justice Department went to with them.

“We have had people who have contacted us before the Washington Post,” Hill said. “They told us people in the Justice Department were trying to push this story and I think a number of publications didn’t think it was credible or, for whatever reason, decided not to run it.”

Hill said there was a briefing that Issa attended back in April 2010 on a similar subject. “There were questions at the time about the number of U.S. weapons that were ending up at Mexican crime scenes,” he said. “Basically, the efforts of the ATF to stop cartels from doing this.”

Did Project Gunrunner or Operation Fast and Furious come up at that briefing at all? Hill says “they certainly did not.”

<snip>

“They seem to be drastically shifting their stories, even if the story they’re telling now is just another lie,” Hill said. “For months, they’ve been asserting that they had no knowledge that this was ever happening. Now, it seems like they’re radically trying to change that and assert that not only were they aware of this, but that they were telling members of Congress all about this.”

<snip>

The Washington Post also ignored a major part of Hill’s statement when writing their story on the matter. “They left the parts out where we told them that a staff member from Ranking Member Cummings’s , who has been working on the Fast and Furious investigation, was also in that briefing,” Hill told TheDC.

<snip>

On top of all that, one of the two Post reporters in the story’s byline, Sari Horwitz, is a known plagiarist. She plagiarized at least two stories during her reporting on the shooting of Rep. Gabby Giffords, Arizona Democrat.

[Ian David]

1. Darrell Issa was FOR Fast & Furious before he was against it. n/t

[pneutin]

2. "Did Project Gunrunner or Operation Fast and Furious come up at that briefing at all? No." n/t

[gejohnston]

3. Carolyn Maloney was and still is FOR Fast and Furious n/t

[MicaelS]

4. Maybe he was, but

Then the ATF may have given the standard BS ass-covering statements to the effect that "they had everything under control", "monitoring the situation closely" etc, etc.

Then the ATF got some people killed, and now they have to suffer the consequences.

At least Issa has the balls to no longer support a clearly failed policy.

[X_Digger]

5. -- says anonymous sources. Riiiiight.

If the DOJ was willing to share information on the project back then, why haven't they provided the documents that have been subpoenaed now?

[SSDA]

8. Holder - busted

Holder - busted!!!!!




Attorney General Eric Holder at the Mexico/United States Arms Trafficking Conference
CUERNAVACA, MEXICO ~ Thursday, April 2, 2009

Remarks as prepared for delivery.

First, let me express my thanks to Attorney General Medina Mora and Secretary of Government Gomez Mont for making this conference possible.

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

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

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

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

 Last week, our administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels.  My department is committing 100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest border in the next 100 days to supplement our ongoing Project Gunrunner, DEA is adding 16 new positions on the border, as well as mobile enforcement teams, and the FBI is creating a new intelligence group focusing on kidnapping and extortion.  DHS is making similar commitments, as Secretary Napolitano will detail.

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

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

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

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



http://www.justice.gov/ag/speeches/2009/ag-speech-090402.html

[one-eyed fat man]

9. Busted-big time

Watch him TESTIFY he had never heard of it until a "...few weeks ago."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHkaRU9EoVM

You think he forgot about his speech?

[SSDA]

10. His goose is cooked

Holder is done.

[X_Digger]

11. Remember, guys.. F&F != Project Gunrunner

F&F is a subset of PG.

He *may* have known, but this isn't the proof.

[SSDA]

12. I think he committed perjury

Yeah, but if you read the entire speech - he clearly is saying they are taking more agressive approches in different ways. We all know that meant F&F

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Tejas]

14. So?

It changes what?

[AzWorker]

21. Umm...that does not hold water....

...our President said he had no idea about it until the story broke...

...our AG said he had no idea about it until the story broke...

...ATF Director says he had no idea what the OP entailed...

...Rep Cummings was shocked by it and yet he was on the very same Committe Issa was on when Dem Rep Edolphus Towns was the chair of the oversight committee...

We are supposed to believe Rep Issa, a MINORITY member (at the time) of the oversight committee was given all kinds of special info, and yet everone else knew nothing...?

Sorry, not buying it..... I don't care if he is a Repub, the man is seeking the truth in this matter, and I want the truth.

Is Sari Horwitz the same one that plagerized some of the Giffords stories? She is still in the 'journo' biz after that?

[rl6214]

6. K&R

[beevul]

7. Sari Horwitz...Horwitz...any relation to Josh Horwitz of CSGV...

Sari Horwitz...Horwitz...any relation to Josh Horwitz of CSGV shame?


Anyone know?

[Hoopla Phil]

13. k and r

[jpak]

15. "Rep. Darrell Issa, California Republican" more Gungeon GOP Luv

yup

:thumbsdown:

[pipoman]

18. Wow, I though by now you would have given up defending this

obvious indefensible case of government corruption and deadly incompetence. Really unbelievable.

[gejohnston]

19. would love it even more if it were a Dem, you would still hate it though. nt

[Tejas]

20. You parroting GOP talking points is better?

Reference the previous job history of the Bradys, Helmke, etc.








Sugarmann, is that you?

[spin]

24. How do you look at yourself in the mirror when you support draconian gun control ...

and defend the government when it allows 3000 firearms to reach criminal hands in Mexico, Honduras and the United States. There's a good chance that taxpayer dollars bought these weapons.

Any self respecting advocate of strict gun control should be outraged at this major screw up and should be demanding an investigation to find out the details.

All you seem to be able to do is to blame the NRA and the GOP for this fiasco. You might be half right. A thorough investigation MIGHT show that this misguided program started during the Bush Administration.

I can only ask you that if this scandal had occurred under a Republican administration would you have the same view? My bet is that you would be filling up the Gungeon with post after post on how the Republicans allowed guns to be smuggled into Mexico.

As a strong supporter of gun rights, I am infuriated when I hear that government agencies insisted that gun stores sell deadly weapons to straw purchasers with full knowledge that they would end up in criminal hands. Future gun control activities should focus on getting firearms out of criminal hands not giving firearms to criminals.

[pneutin]

25. "Sari Horwitz is a known plagiarist" more jpak support for plagiarism

yup

:thumbsdown:

[Union Scribe]

46. More jpak government-enabled-murder luv. nt

[ileus]

17. The truth shall set gun owners free...this was their agenda now they should pay.

not lawful American citizens...

[Hoopla Phil]

22. I think Issa is going to see this all the way through.

I wish more democrats would get on board with this. I'd also like to see a LOT more coverage in the main stream media!

[Tejas]

23. Given the core reason of the hearings,

I still can't comprehend why Cummings is not onboard with the spirit of things. Is it possible Schumer et al are pulling his strings, or is he just that hard-headed?

[Lurks Often]

28. Cummings has long been a member of the anti gun

element in Congress and has received money from them in the past.

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?ind=Q12&cycle=2006&recipdetail=H&mem=Y&sortorder=U

As an aside, it's interesting to see have the contributions have continued to drop over the years.

[SSDA]

49. Check this out - Obama's pick for Depty AG helped cover this up.

Deputy Attorney General James Cole Involved in 'Fast & Furious' Whistleblower Cover-up?
www.whistleblower.org ^ | 19 July, 2011 | Bea Edwards





Operation Fast and Furious (F&F) – a program run by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that allowed thousands of lethal weapons to cross the Mexican border – was apparently no secret among high-level political authorities at the Department of Justice (DOJ). Among those in the know? Newly-confirmed Deputy Attorney General James Cole.

Information is now seeping out about the political whiplash that secured a confirmation vote for Cole in exchange for the DOJ’s release of documents to Congress. In a supremely ironic twist, the documents ransomed by Cole’s confirmation strongly suggest that Cole himself was involved in the cover-up of F&F.

To recap, James Cole is no stranger to serious misconduct occurring during his alleged “watch.” Cole was the “Independent Consultant” stationed at AIG by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before, during and after the financial meltdown of 2008. Despite his oversight responsibilities, Cole looked the other way as the AIG Financial Products Division in London ran the corporation off the rails, ultimately driving the international economy off a cliff. The cost to US taxpayers of the AIG bailout was more than $150 billion.

Fast forward to January 2011. After President Obama installed Cole at DOJ as the Acting Deputy Attorney General through a recess appointment, Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-California) began asking Cole’s office for information about F&F. On January 27, Grassley wrote to ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson, requesting information. Four days later, Grassley again wrote to Melson about reports that whistleblowers on F&F were being silenced, stating “Rather than focusing on retaliating against whistleblowers, the ATF’s sole focus should be on finding and disclosing the truth as soon as possible."

There followed a chronology of false and misleading information from DOJ to Congress about F&F, and in March, Melson claims he told Cole that DOJ “<…>needed to reexamine how it was responding to the request for information from Congress.” Not long after this, Politico reported that Melson was about to ‘resign’ from ATF.

Grassley, of course, has crossed swords with Cole before. Through 2010 and into 2011, Grassley blocked Cole’s confirmation in part because Cole had failed in his oversight at AIG. In June, however, Grassley withdrew his objection to Cole in exchange for information from the DOJ about F&F (Just for now, let’s ignore the dubious practice of forcing Congress to exchange votes for information from executive agencies about wrongdoing). Cole was then confirmed on June 27, and shortly after the vote, DOJ turned over documents about F&F to the Senate.

In the documents, Grassley discovered that Cole had been informed about F&F in March by Melson and had participated in concealing the details of the operation from Congressional investigators. A July 5th Grassley/Issa letter to Attorney General Eric Holder reads:

Mr. Melson provided documents months ago supporting his concerns to the official in the ODAG responsible for document production to the Committees, but those documents have not been provided to us.

Grassley and Issa also wrote that, according to Melson:

“<…> Justice Department officials directed them not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress. The result is that Congress only got the parts of the story that the Department wanted us to hear. If his account is accurate, then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand.”

Let's recap:

1. Cole ignored or failed to recognize financial risk at AIG for years (while collecting a hefty fee). 2. Grassley blocked his confirmation as Deputy Attorney General. 3. Using a recess appointment, President Obama appointed Cole to Deputy Attorney General in December of last year, and Cole took up his position at DOJ. 4. Cole’s office at DOJ withheld information from Congress about F&F at ATF, a program that allowed thousands of firearms bought in the US to fall into the hands of criminals in Mexico. 5. In a deal with Democrats, Grassley agreed to allow a confirmation vote on Cole in exchange for access to information from DOJ about F&F. 6. Upon receiving that information, Grassley learned that a DOJ official partially responsible for withholding F&F details from Congress was … Cole himself.

Last week, on July 11, Grassley and Issa wrote again to Holder:

As our investigation into Operation Fast and Furious has progressed, we have learned that senior officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ), including Senate-confirmed political appointees, were unquestionably aware of the implementation of this reckless program <…>.

Grassley and Issa are now requesting e-mails to and from Cole, among others, as part of their investigation.

Let’s hope that they don’t have to make another deal with the devil – or with our “Justice” Department – in order to get them.

Bea Edwards is the International Reform Director at the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.




________________________ _______________

[humbled_opinion]

26. Yeah this story has got all the Teahadists

at my job all stiff in the pants. Their position is that the Fast and Furious operation was a liberal False Flag operation that was supposed to prove that the gun laws in the U.S. were so lax that cartels in Mexico were arming themselves thus requiring a crackdown with serious arms control measures implemented in the U.S....

Their talking points are that Obama and Holder both knew and endorsed this program because they both knew that they could never get Congress to endorse weapon ban legislation and tackle the NRA lobbyists unless there was a serious need for gun control.....

They are calling for a Special Prosecutor and are of course asking why the media has not once asked Obama if he would call for a Special investigator to look into this, they quickly refer to how Bush held his administration accountable in the Valerie Plame scandal by calling for a special prosecutor.

[Hoopla Phil]

27. Considering the evidence so far accumulated and seriousness of the matter. A special

prosecutor is not unreasonable. If the U.S. does not get out in front of this it has the potential of becoming a serious international matter.

[humbled_opinion]

29. You do realize that Obama's political

opposition is going to be targeting him ala what did Obama know and when did he know it....

[AzWorker]

30. "You do realize that......."

"......Obama's political opposition is going to be targeting him ala what did Obama know and when did he know it....


While that would be unfortunate, getting the truth is more important then partisan politics IMO.

He should request to have an independant investigator get to the bottom of it.

[Hoopla Phil]

36. Are you saying that politics should trump justice? This is a serious

international issue. We are talking about violation of U.S. laws, Mexican laws, and international laws. It also looks as if this goes all the way up to Holder. Only a special prosecutor will be able to get to the truth of the matter. President Obama should get out in front of this and not be on the defense.

[Katya Mullethov]

31. What a bunch of nutburgers you work with !

Everybody knows they were going to take down a cartel .


Everybody knows this . Everybody .

[Hoopla Phil]

37. yup. They were going to use the crystal ball to watch where the guns

went to after they crossed the border.

[DissedByBush]

32. Sadly, it sounds plausible

They lied to inflate the numbers of guns going to Mexico, and when that didn't work they simply allowed more guns in.

It makes complete sense.

It wouldn't make sense at all if both Obama and Holder were true proponents of 2nd Amendment rights.

[Katya Mullethov]

33. Bullshit

They were going to take down a cartel .


Everybody knows this .

Everybody !

[DissedByBush]

35. What was the mechanism supposed to be?

1. Allow straw purchases of guns

2. Allow those guns to go into Mexico

3. Completely lose track of those guns and the straw buyers

4. *magic*

5. We take down a cartel

What's in #4?

[Katya Mullethov]

40. It isnt magic

It's called apathy .

[DissedByBush]

42. So apathy turns a bunch of guns we lost track of

Into taking down cartels?

[Katya Mullethov]

44. No , of course not .

But if few care , just any old line will do .

[gejohnston]

34. You need to listen to Mike Papantionio more

Erick Holder and liberal is an oxymoron. Obama is to the right of me, so........ It is entirely possible that it could be a False Flag. My guess it most likely only goes as far as BATFE, but if Holder is part of it, then he should go. He should have went when he did nothing about Bush crimes or BP or any other of the corporate criminals Holder coddles.

[humbled_opinion]

38. Its a bad situation all around

You would figure whoever thought of an operation like this that involved selling weapons to people of another country would have to understand the repercussions of an international incident. I mean before these government officials start these types of operations they get input from the Lawyers. The fallout is terrible anyway you look at it, because it could be stated why didn't Obama/Holder know about this operation and are there other potentially expolsive operations ongoing in our government that top officials know nothing about?

I guess I will become even more cynical and untrusting of government now, just what the teabaggers want, I guess.

[Katya Mullethov]

39. It's those little things

that happen along the way that make use who we are .

[gejohnston]

41. the teabaggers already have it

Dick Armey exploits it.

[tortoise1956]

45. While I understand your frustration,

What has come out so far is very troubling. I personally don't think that the President was involved in this, but he needs to get out in front of it NOW. If Holder was involved, kick him to the curb immediately with no hesitation. The longer he waits, the faster the spin will be.

As for BATFE and DOJ, it sounds like we may be able to cut government spending by firing a whole bunch of idiots...

[Tejas]

47. That's nice, now how about YOUR SIDE OF THE STORY? hmmmmmm?

[SteveM]

43. WaPo is agitprop for gun banners. Wapo silent about on-line school abuses.

[SSDA]

48. Obama's pick for Depty. Atty. General helped in cover up.

Deputy Attorney General James Cole Involved in 'Fast & Furious' Whistleblower Cover-up?
www.whistleblower.org ^ | 19 July, 2011 | Bea Edwards





Operation Fast and Furious (F&F) – a program run by the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that allowed thousands of lethal weapons to cross the Mexican border – was apparently no secret among high-level political authorities at the Department of Justice (DOJ). Among those in the know? Newly-confirmed Deputy Attorney General James Cole.

Information is now seeping out about the political whiplash that secured a confirmation vote for Cole in exchange for the DOJ’s release of documents to Congress. In a supremely ironic twist, the documents ransomed by Cole’s confirmation strongly suggest that Cole himself was involved in the cover-up of F&F.

To recap, James Cole is no stranger to serious misconduct occurring during his alleged “watch.” Cole was the “Independent Consultant” stationed at AIG by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) before, during and after the financial meltdown of 2008. Despite his oversight responsibilities, Cole looked the other way as the AIG Financial Products Division in London ran the corporation off the rails, ultimately driving the international economy off a cliff. The cost to US taxpayers of the AIG bailout was more than $150 billion.

Fast forward to January 2011. After President Obama installed Cole at DOJ as the Acting Deputy Attorney General through a recess appointment, Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and House Oversight & Government Reform Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-California) began asking Cole’s office for information about F&F. On January 27, Grassley wrote to ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson, requesting information. Four days later, Grassley again wrote to Melson about reports that whistleblowers on F&F were being silenced, stating “Rather than focusing on retaliating against whistleblowers, the ATF’s sole focus should be on finding and disclosing the truth as soon as possible."

There followed a chronology of false and misleading information from DOJ to Congress about F&F, and in March, Melson claims he told Cole that DOJ “<…>needed to reexamine how it was responding to the request for information from Congress.” Not long after this, Politico reported that Melson was about to ‘resign’ from ATF.

Grassley, of course, has crossed swords with Cole before. Through 2010 and into 2011, Grassley blocked Cole’s confirmation in part because Cole had failed in his oversight at AIG. In June, however, Grassley withdrew his objection to Cole in exchange for information from the DOJ about F&F (Just for now, let’s ignore the dubious practice of forcing Congress to exchange votes for information from executive agencies about wrongdoing). Cole was then confirmed on June 27, and shortly after the vote, DOJ turned over documents about F&F to the Senate.

In the documents, Grassley discovered that Cole had been informed about F&F in March by Melson and had participated in concealing the details of the operation from Congressional investigators. A July 5th Grassley/Issa letter to Attorney General Eric Holder reads:

Mr. Melson provided documents months ago supporting his concerns to the official in the ODAG responsible for document production to the Committees, but those documents have not been provided to us.

Grassley and Issa also wrote that, according to Melson:

“<…> Justice Department officials directed them not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress. The result is that Congress only got the parts of the story that the Department wanted us to hear. If his account is accurate, then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand.”

Let's recap:

1. Cole ignored or failed to recognize financial risk at AIG for years (while collecting a hefty fee). 2. Grassley blocked his confirmation as Deputy Attorney General. 3. Using a recess appointment, President Obama appointed Cole to Deputy Attorney General in December of last year, and Cole took up his position at DOJ. 4. Cole’s office at DOJ withheld information from Congress about F&F at ATF, a program that allowed thousands of firearms bought in the US to fall into the hands of criminals in Mexico. 5. In a deal with Democrats, Grassley agreed to allow a confirmation vote on Cole in exchange for access to information from DOJ about F&F. 6. Upon receiving that information, Grassley learned that a DOJ official partially responsible for withholding F&F details from Congress was … Cole himself.

Last week, on July 11, Grassley and Issa wrote again to Holder:

As our investigation into Operation Fast and Furious has progressed, we have learned that senior officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ), including Senate-confirmed political appointees, were unquestionably aware of the implementation of this reckless program <…>.

Grassley and Issa are now requesting e-mails to and from Cole, among others, as part of their investigation.

Let’s hope that they don’t have to make another deal with the devil – or with our “Justice” Department – in order to get them.

Bea Edwards is the International Reform Director at the Government Accountability Project, the nation's leading whistleblower protection and advocacy organization.




________________________ _______________

How can anyone possibly defend this admn any more?