Gunwalker Update: Fast and Furious Firings… Maybe…

I’ll believe it when I see it at this point.

Via HotAir, from WSJ:

The managers recommended for termination, according to people familiar with the matter, are Mark Chait, former assistant director for field operations; William McMahon, who oversaw field operations in the Western U.S.; William Newell, former chief of the ATF’s Phoenix office; and George Gillett, the No. 2 official in the ATF’s Phoenix office.

Bill “Gunwalker Bill” Newell was the guy the press and the White House went to every time they needed the 90% myth repeated.  That McMahon, Chait, and Gillett are maybe sometime in the future going to maybe lose their jobs and get their retirement is a good thing… if it ever happens.  They belong in prison.

That David “Border Patrol Agents and Sheriff’s Deputies are Eggs We Need to Scramble” Voth is still going to have a job is absurd, that director Melson will still have a job, and that Eric Holder and Barack “I’m Exercising Executive Priviledge Over Something I Claim To Know Nothing About Even Though I Knew About F&F Before Holder” Obama aren’t going to prison is pretty pathetic.

Issa, Gowdy, and Chaffetz are still on the job, but it would be nice to see some indictments and perp walks.

David Codrea at Examiner.com reports that for some reason Issa is accepting Deputy AG Grindler’s story about not telling AG Holder… which makes little sense:

“ … Grindler was appropriately faulted by his Department’s own Inspector General for keeping information about a connection between the murder of a Border Patrol Agent and a mishandled department operation away from the Attorney General and the Department of Homeland Security,” Issa asserted.

“We determined that Grindler learned on December 17, 2010, of the link between weapons found at the Terry murder scene and Operation Fast and Furious but did not inform the Attorney General about this information,” Issa quoted from the report. (Bear in mind another aide had informed Holder of the Terry murder the night it happened.)

That doesn’t make sense, since documents that would clear Grindler haven’t been released, and it’s far more likely, as Codrea notes, that Grindler did tell Holder, and that Holder and Obama were both aware (especially when Obama knew before Holder, as above).  Holder’s just been in spin mode from day one.

FOX News is reporting that the WSJ story’s supposed firings are just recommendations for hypothetical, maybe someday removals:

The move from the ATF’s review board is the first step in what could be a months-long process, including appeals.

For reference with regards to the amount of time that has passed, Brian Terry was murdered on Dec 14, 2010, by guns the ATF started smuggling in 2009.

Gunwalker Update: Part 2 of Oversight Report Released

Big news.  Oversight report can be read here, and Oversight reports’ exhibits here.

From Daily Caller:

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.”

The report is the second installment in a three-part series from Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Sen. Chuck Grassley and House oversight committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa.

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.

And from Katie Pavlich at Townhall here (also big kudos to Katie – your added attention to citations in recent weeks have been noticed!):

The most recent report contains damning information and documentation showing Attorney General Eric Holder’s Deputy Chief of Staff Monty Wilkinson and DOJ Official Patrick Cunningham discussing plans for Holder to participate a press conference announcing the “take-down” or the end of Operation Fast and Furious before Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed on December 15, 2010. Guns from the Fast and Furious program were left at Terry’s murder scene. Holder claims he didn’t know about Operation Fast and Furious until May of 2011. The email below was sent on December 14, 2010 at 12:28 pm, just 12 hours before Terry’s murder. (email pic here)

And from Breitbart (first part is quoting the report):

“He spoke about the development of a prosecution and enforcement strategy with respect to firearms trafficking, noting that the ‘administration launched a major new effort to break the backs of the cartels,’ … In particular, the attorney general said that the Justice Department was committed to adding ‘100 new ATF personnel to the Southwest Border’ and that Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) would add ‘16 new positions on the border.’ Most importantly, the attorney general noted that there must be ‘an attack in depth, on both sides of the border, that focuses on the leadership and assets of the cartel.’”

After these speeches, congressional investigators found  “a Firearms Trafficking Working Group was formed,” which was tasked with “exploring and recommending proposals to enhance law enforcement efforts to curb firearms trafficking, focusing specifically on investigation, interdiction, training, prosecution, and intelligence-sharing.”

Security Failures of Benghazi

House Oversight & Reform Committee hearing today.  Viewable live here.

Plenty of questions about what was going on, when, and how.

Gunwalker Update: Univision Investigation Prompts Congressional Inquiry

From ABC News:

On Tuesday, Congressman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) pressed the Department of Justice to provide information about 57 Fast and Furious weapons found at Mexican crime scenes, which were first exposed by a Univision News special investigation on September 30.

In a letter obtained by Univision News and sent to Attorney General Eric Holder, Issa and Grassley inquired about the previously unreported Fast and Furious guns that were linked to violent crimes and featured in the Univision News report. The letter pays special attention to three firearms connected to an ATF gun-tracing operation that were used in a massacre of 15 teenagers in Villas de Salvarcar.

The letter from Issa and Grassley to Holder is here:

2012-10-02 DEI CEG to DOJ (Fast and Furious Recoveries)

Therefore, please answer the following questions:
1) With regard to the “57 more previously unreported firearms,” referenced in the Univision story, please provide any information the Department has gathered about these recoveries and their connection to Fast and Furious.
2) With regards to the three weapons used on January 30, 2010:
a. Were these three weapons connected to Fast and Furious?
b. Who purchased these weapons, and when?
c. When were these weapons recovered?
d. When did the Department first learn of the connection between these weapons and Fast and Furious?
e. Why did the Department fail to report these weapons to Congress along with the 28 other weapons recovered in Mexico in connection with violent crimes?

There are a few more questions, but it’s worth it to read the whole letter.

Gunwalker Update: Fast and Furious OIG Report; Full Video of DOJ OIG to Oversight and Reform

Last week, the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General released their internal report on Fast and Furious.  Obviously, having the investigating agency’s own watchdog investigate them is going to produce limited results, but as Darrell Issa noted, you have to go through the procedures and give them a chance to work.  If DOJ OIG is objective and does a good job, great.  If they don’t, it becomes one more thing in need of reform.

The testimony in front of the House Oversight and Reform Committee is here:

And Oversight & Reform’s report on the key findings of the OIG is here:

http://oversight.house.gov/release/10961/

Note that the first thing that comes out of Democrat Cummings’ mouth is “BUSH DID IT”, which has been proven over and over again to be a load of crap.

Gunwalker Update: Issa on Inspector General’s Report and Delays; IG Report Obtained by FOX

A whole lot of delays and not much actually going on waiting for slow, grinding wheels of justice… that seem somewhat stopped by the President’s invocation of executive priviledge, and how F&F is being obfuscated by DOJ.

That was on Sept 10.

-

On Sept 11, from FOX:

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.

The report and accompanying accounts cite a failure in leadership and a lack of accountability and oversight up and down the chain of command at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Justice Department itself and other offices. It says many senior executives knew the U.S. was helping traffic guns to Mexico that killed people but did nothing to stop it.

“We found no evidence in Operation Fast and Furious that the ATF or the (U.S. attorney’s office) attempted at any point during the investigation to balance the risks to the public safety against the long-term benefits of identifying trafficking networks and participants,” the draft report says.

Fast and Furious was the anti-gunrunning sting that helped send some 2,000 assault weapons to Mexico under the guise of stopping illegal trafficking. The operation ended only after the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry — two of the weapons associated with the investigation were found at his murder scene.

Nothing we don’t already know, but, as Issa states, there are legal “conclusions”.

While the report blames Newell and Voth for poor judgment, attorneys for the two say higher-ups and the entire ATF chain of command were aware of everything they did.

Both men recall a detailed briefing Voth delivered to senior ATF and DOJ staff in Washington on March 5, 2010. In a Power Point presentation, attended by at least two deputy attorneys general, Voth explained how the operation was run and how almost two-dozen largely unemployed men bought 1,026 assault weapons with $650,000 in just over four months, then smuggled the guns to Mexico while under surveillance.

“Following the briefing … Mr. Voth received accolades from his superiors. No one in ATF leadership or at Main Justice raised any concerns with Mr. Voth about the direction of the investigation. If anything, they were encouraging him,” Voth attorney Joshua Levy said.

Voth is the blunt, bloodied end of the conspiracy.  The other end of it is in DC.

Of course Voth is a worthless dirtbag, and defense lawyers are a joke of their own, but this is just confirming what we already know.  Voth was only following orders, and now he’s turning whistleblower.

Gunwalker Update: Issa Suing Holder

Via Drudge/Roll Call, The Jawa Report, and all over the internet.

House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa plans to sue Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday for refusing to provide documents related to the “Fast and Furious” gun-smuggling operation.

“The committee expects to file the civil contempt suit against the attorney general Monday,” a Republican source said. The suit will be filed in the federal district court for the District of Columbia.

The action is the latest escalation in the dispute between House Republicans and the Justice Department over the documents, which relate to a botched gun-smuggling operation.

On June 28, the House voted to hold Holder in contempt of Congress and authorized the Oversight panel to bring suit to enforce its rights.

In Fast and Furious, agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed assault guns to “walk,” which meant ending surveillance on weapons suspected to be en route to Mexican drug cartels.

They smuggled assault guns, too?  Not just rifles?

Sometimes I wonder if reporters have to work to be ignorant, or if it’s a natural talent.

Gunwalker Update: Highlights From Holder Hearings, Issa on DOJ’s “Serious Wrongdoing”

Gunwalker Update: White House Knew, Congress Threatening Holder With Contempt, Boehner Won’t Act, Water Is Wet

From HotAir:

Issa and the GOP leadership have lately been putting the pressure on Attorney General Eric Holder and the wider Justice Department to comply more thoroughly with a 22-part subpoena from last October, even threatening to find Holder in contempt of Congress for dragging his feet. The DOJ has insisted that they’re doing everything they possibly can to comply with the subpoena while protecting the security and integrity (cough cough, gasp, sorry, I choked on my own word there for a second) of their department. But, the back and forth continues, and now Issa says he has acquired still more evidence that senior DOJ officials were well acquainted with the gunwalking going on as part of Operation Fast & Furious.

Except, via Sipsey Street:

Deputy Attorney General James Cole said in a letter on Tuesday to Mr. Boehner and other House Republican leaders that their staffs in recent weeks “have had a number of constructive conversations” that held out the prospect of a “mutually acceptable resolution of these issues.” He said those conversations “stand in contrast” with the tone Mr. Issa had adopted, including in a letter of his own on Tuesday.

From Oversight And Reform’s channel:

We’ve known all of this for a while.  DOJ and the White House both knew and were involved, Boehner is a flip-flopping coward who won’t stand for anything, Issa is pushing the issue (or at the very least playing the role of pushing the issue), and the Republican congress doesn’t have the guts to move forward against a clear-cut criminal conspiracy that goes to the highest levels.

Gunwalker Update: Waiting For Godot, Working Around Boehner

Via Sipsey Street, from CBS News:

(CBS News) Rep. Darrell Issa, the chair of the House oversight committee, is accusing the Department of Justice (DOJ) of failing to fully cooperate in the ongoing investigation of the for the so-called “Fast and Furious” gunwalking operation by likening the situation to the Samuel Beckett play “Waiting for Godot” — in which, famously, nothing happens.

“For those of us on the Committee, waiting for the Department to move off its misguided position and produce the documents we seek has been like waiting for Godot,” Issa wrote in a Thursday letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, who is at the center of the investigation. “Like Vladimir and Estragon, we held out hope despite mounting evidence that nothing is going to show up. We cannot wait any longer.”

“Waiting for Godot” is about two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, who spend the entire play waiting in vain for the character Godot to show up.

The DOJ has provided more than 7,600 pages worth of documentation to the House committee, but Issa argued that a number of documents were withheld and that many of those that were provided have been “heavily redacted, to the point that the redactions were laughable.”

Note that’s from last year.

A spokesperson for the DOJ referred to a May 3 letter disputing the accusations.

“The Department strongly disputes the contention that we have failed to cooperate with the Committee’s review of Operation Fast and Furious,” the letter, addressed to Issa from Deputy Attorney General James Cole, reads.

“Stonewall stonewall stonewall, suck it, Issa, stonewall stonewall, stonewall, FOAD, stonewall,” said Deputy Attorney General Lying-Sack-Of-Crap.

“Fortunately for us, the Department of Justice is not the arbiter of what the Committee’s legitimate oversight interests are,” Issa wrote in his letter. “There is a mechanism for resolving cases that challenge the limits of the congressional prerogative. The contempt process is part of that mechanism. The Department’s unwillingness to recognize that an investigation into Fast and Furious is in fact a legitimate oversight interest signals we have reached an impasse and that contempt proceedings are necessary.”

House Speaker John Boehner yesterday said he would not take a contempt resolution off the table, and said he would support the committee’s pursuit of “a lot of unanswered question.”

Except apparently those contempt proceedings are going nowhere, since Johnny “Crybaby” Boehner doesn’t want to upset the delicate political balance of the criminals in charge… because he’s one of those institutionalized Washingtonian politicians.

Via David Codrea at Examiner:

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., addressed apparent stonewalling by the Republican leadership in pursuing a contempt of Congress citation against Attorney General Eric Holder on last night’s “On the Record” with Greta Van Susteren.  Although  Holder has not produced subpoenaed documents and information demanded by the committee, Van Susteren asked Issa about rumors that House Speaker John Boehner “isn’t wild about this,” prompting the chairman to  detail his strategy for building Congressional consensus, including  reaching across the aisle to concerned Democrats for support.

Good to know Boehner “isn’t wild about this”.  All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing, extremism in defence of liberty is no vice, moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue, etc., etc.  Boehner’s useless.  Understood.  Good to see Issa’s going to bypass him, then.