Issa, Grassley: DOJ Obstructed Mexican Guns Probe

[bearpaw]

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/gunrunnerprobe-doj-charlesgrassley-darrylissa/2011/07/06/id/402689?s=al&promo_code=C914-1

Issa, Grassley: DOJ Obstructed Mexican Guns Probe
Wednesday, 06 Jul 2011 01:20 PM

By Martin Gould and Abigail Walls

The top man in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) has turned sensationally against his Department of Justice bosses saying they were trying to stymie an investigation into the Operation Fast and Furious scandal.

Kenneth Melson told Congress in a secret deposition that the Justice Department falsely leaked stories to the press that he was about to resign over Fast and Furious, Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley say.
 
Kenneth Melson, acting director of the ATF, gave a secret deposition to Congress on July 4, it was revealed today. He took his own lawyer instead of relying on one from the ATF.

The stunning move will increase pressure on Attorney General Eric Holder to resign over the operation that saw some 2,000 guns sold to straw buyers who then sold them to Mexican drug cartel leaders.

But Fast and Furious and its sister plan, Project Gunrunner, went disastrously wrong, and 80 percent of the weapons went missing. Two were found at the Arizona site where Border Agent Brian Terry was killed in December.

Republicans leading the investigation in both the House and Senate wrote a stinging letter to Holder yesterday informing him of Melson’s move, calling it “extremely helpful to our investigation.”

Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Charles Grassley wrote, “He was candid in admitting mistakes that his agency made and described various ways he says that he tried to remedy the problems.”

Issa and Grassley said Melson claimed that ATF’s senior leadership would have preferred to be more cooperative with the congressional probe.

“However, he said that 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,” they wrote.

“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.”

Issa and Grassley also said that Melson claimed that the Justice Department falsely leaked stories to the press that he was about to resign over Fast and Furious. They warned Holder against firing him now. “It would be inappropriate for the Justice Department to take action against him that could have the effect of intimidating others who might want to provide additional information to the Committees.

“Knowing what we know so far, we believe it would be inappropriate to make Mr. Melson the fall guy in an attempt to prevent further congressional oversight,” they concluded.

Just last week, Iowa Sen. Grassley told Newsmax.TV that he did not want to see Melson quit because one resignation would make it seem like the matter was over. “There are too many people involved in it for me to be satisfied with one resignation,” he said at the time.

In their letter Grassley and California’s Issa said Melson had been scheduled to give evidence on July 13 but brought the date forward when he realized he could take his own lawyer, Richard Cullen.

“We are disappointed that no one had previously informed him of that provision of the agreement,” the two GOP members wrote.

“Instead, Justice Department officials sought to limit and control his communications with Congress. This is yet another example of why direct communications with Congress are so important and are protected by law.”

The release of the letter came on the same day that Mexican officials said that any officer accused of supplying guns to the cartels should be tried in Mexico.

“I feel my country's sovereignty was violated," Sen. Rene Arce Islas, the chairman of Mexico's Commission for National Security, told Fox News. "They should be tried in the United States, and the Mexican government should also demand that they also be tried in Mexico since the incidents took place here. There should be trials in both places."

Operation Fast and Furious came to a head on Dec. 14, when Terry was killed in a scuffle along a smuggling route close to the Mexican border, and assault rifles found at the murder scene were traced back to Jaime Avila, who had bought them from a Phoenix gun shop.

Avila had been allowed to buy the assault weapons even though the ATF suspected he would sell them to the drug cartels. The plan was to trace the guns, with the hope of leading ATF agents to the drug kingpins.

Even before Terry’s murder, ATF agents and senior managers had expressed fierce opposition to the policy. One agent called the strategy "insane."

Another said, "We were fully aware the guns would probably be moved across the border to drug cartels where they could be used to kill."

For months, ATF agents followed 50-caliber Barrett rifles and other guns believed headed for the Mexican border but were ordered to let these highly dangerous weapons go.

CBS reports that one distraught agent often was overheard on ATF radios begging and pleading to be allowed to intercept transports. The answer: "Negative. Stand down."

The Department of Justice, which oversees the ATF, claimed in a letter that the agency never knowingly permitted the sale of assault weapons to suspected gunrunners.

[Bean Counter]

Thanks Bearpaw.

More really needs to be said and written about the actions taken by the gunshops. Here we have an administration for whom it goes without saying that gun shows/shops are too stupid and irresponsible regarding who they will sell guns to. In the course of the investigation of this investigation, the opposite has been proven. There are several documented calls made by prudent gun shop proprietors who, before completing these sales, telephone ATF from the back of their shop and tried to help the po-po... Definitely says something about trusting in individuals vs. trusting in governments. Are you f*tard liberals listening??

 

[Dave Workman]

Here's how I covered it in my Gun Rights Examiner column:

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/melson-s-explosive-f-f-allegations-taxpayer-dollars-may-have-been-used


http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/sources-melson-met-secretly-with-investigators-so-doj-wouldn-t-know-about-it

[bearpaw]

As usual, good writeups Dave... 

[Dave Workman]

Here's a follow-up. The noose tightens



BREAKING: Issa, Grassley ask for communications between 12 DoJ officials

 The Congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious continued to grow Tuesday as Congressman Darrell Issa and Senator Charles Grassley asked Attorney General Eric Holder for records and communications involving a dozen current and former Justice Department officials.


http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/breaking-issa-grassley-ask-for-communications-between-12-doj-officials

[bearpaw]

  very well put together...

[Dave Workman]

Momentum builds, web expands on Fast and Furious investigation


Momentum is building and the web appears to be expanding dramatically in the Congressional investigation of Operation Fast and Furious, which is now seeking communications involving senior personnel at both the FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency; developments that are being closely watched by Northwest gun rights activists


http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/momentum-builds-web-expands-on-fast-and-furious-investigation

[bearpaw]

Is this video referring to the same program?

Obama Orders Launched Fast and Furious

[Dave Workman]

Bearpaw:

Yes, it appears to be referring to the same program.

[Dave Workman]

Grassley to Fox News: ‘Melson gave documents to DOJ, but we didn’t get them’
   
With a third hearing on Operation Fast and Furious looming next Tuesday before Darrell Issa’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) has told Fox News that the acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives delivered requested documents to the Justice Department, but that congressional investigators never got them.

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/grassley-to-fox-news-melson-gave-documents-to-doj-but-we-didn-t-get-them

[bearpaw]

I look forward to hearing about next weeks hearing.

[OlympicElkJunkie]

Darell Issa is doing an amazing job as the chairman of the house committee on oversight and government. kudos to rep. Issa!

[Elkaholic daWg]

NRA-ILA GRASSROOTS ALERT
Vol. 18, No. 30      07/22/11

 

Next Hearing on BATFE's “Operation Fast and Furious” Announced

Click here to vote in this week's poll.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has announced that on Tuesday, July 26, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will convene another hearing as part of the ongoing investigation into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ “Operation Fast and Furious.”  The committee called the program “a tragically flawed effort that is connected to deaths on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border.”

The hearing, “Operation Fast and Furious: The Other Side of the Border,” will feature the testimony of U.S. law enforcement officials who witnessed a different side of the controversial operation. These agents allegedly saw the steady stream of “Fast and Furious” guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico and were given orders from superiors not to alert Mexican authorities.

This latest hearing comes amidst new allegations that the Justice Department sought to shift blame for “Fast and Furious” away from its political appointees.

A July 20 Washington Times article quoted the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), as saying, “Examining the accounts of witnesses who did not participate in Operation Fast and Furious, but were nonetheless disturbed as they watched it unfold is critical to understanding the scope of this flawed program.  This testimony is especially important in light of the Justice Department’s willful efforts to withhold key evidence from investigators about what occurred, who knew and who authorized this reckless operation.”

The hearing will be streamed live at http://oversight.house.gov.

Outrage of the Week:  This week’s outrage comes to us from Baltimore, Maryland, where mayoral candidate Otis Rolley is proposing a $1.00 per bullet tax be levied on all ammunition purchases in the city of Baltimore as part of his “crime plan.”

U.S. Senate Stands With NRA in Strongly Opposing U.N. Gun Control Efforts:  For nearly 20 years, the NRA has worked tirelessly to oppose any United Nations effort to undermine the constitutional rights of law-abiding American gun owners.  The latest attempt by the U.N. and global gun banners to eliminate our Second Amendment freedoms is to include civilian arms in the current Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), which will be finalized next year.

NRA Supports Suit Against DCHA:  Current District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) rules forbid law-abiding residents from owning a firearm for any lawful purpose. NRA is supporting and financing a lawsuit to challenge this policy. The case is Scott v. District of Columbia Housing Authority.

NRA-ILA Gathering Information on BATFE Demand Letters:  We reported last week on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives plan to take the first step toward national gun sales registration.  In response to the BATFE plan--which will force the reporting of semi-automatic rifle sales by Federal Firearm Licensees in Southwest border states including Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas--NRA-ILA is looking to gather as much information as possible about the BATFE demand letters