The Joke at Justice

The Examiner
William Heuisler

“Holder” and “Justice” in the same sentence are becoming a joke.

Finally Attorney General Holder's honesty has been questioned by Congress.

According to records and testimony, over the past dozen years, Attorney General (AG) Eric Holder, has lied to Congress many times. For example. he lied about gun smuggling, a $48 million thief and FALN terrorists.

Recently, AG Holder was accused of  "lack of trustworthiness" in his May 3rdtestimony denying long-term knowledge of Fast and Furious (F&F) - the ATF gun smuggling scheme where 2,000-plus guns were “straw bought” at Arizona gun shops, and smuggled to Mexican drug cartels. F&F guns were found at Tucson District Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry's murder scene.

A letter to Congress last Tuesday added to the lies. AG Holder wrote, he had, "no recollection of knowing about 'Fast and Furious' or of hearing its name prior to the public controversy about it. Prior to early 2011, I certainly never knew about the tactics employed in the operation." (Seper, 2011)

But recently released memos show Holder received at least 5 briefing papers and reports on F&F as early as July 2010. Also, Ken Melson, ex-head of ATF, testified under oath he had received F&F instructions from US Attorneys and Holder’s Assistant AGs in 2010 and 2011.
                                             

On February 2001, House Government Reform Committee questioned Eric Holder on his role, as Clinton Deputy AG, in the pardon of financier, Marc Rich, a fugitive from US Justice for 17 years, whose former wife, Denise had recently donated $1.3 million to Democrats.

Holder testified he had not been "intimately involved or overly interested" in the US $48 million fraud case against Marc Rich, and that he "never devoted a great deal of time to this matter." He had "only a passing familiarity with the underlying facts" and had "no memory" of Rich's attorney, Jack Quinn, saying he was going to file a pardon request with President Clinton.

Where was Sheriff Dupnik?

The Examiner
William Heuisler

Last Friday, ten Arizona sheriffs, five Democrats and five Republicans representing most of Arizona's 15 counties, met in Phoenix to call Fast and Furious, the ATF/DOJ gun-walking operation, “a betrayal of state law enforcement.” The Sheriffs called Attorney General Holder to account
Sheriff Clarence Dupnik of Pima County was not there.

Since Fast and Furious crossed and re-crossed Pima County, and because Sheriff Dupnik has not been shy with opinions in the past, many in Tucson were surprised at his notable absence from the spotlight.

Perhaps the Sheriff believes Attorney General Holder.

Eric Holder has promised a full investigation of the deadly gun smuggling by his Justice Department Inspector General. Maybe Sheriff Dupnik thinks a Justice Department IG investigation will be sufficient...and impartial.  

Remember, the sheriffs were demanding President Obama appoint a special counsel to investigate Eric Holder and his possible authorization of Project Gunrunner and its Arizona offspring, Operation Fast and Furious.

Pinal County Sheriff, Babeu said, “We want to get to the bottom of this. One, to find out what truly happened, and two, to ensure this never happens again. This is not political. This is a public safety issue, this is a threat against our deputies and local officers, not only in Arizona but across the Southwest.”

Referring to the murder of Tucson District Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry with a Fast and Furious smuggled weapon, Sheriff Babeu has also said, “If somebody gives a gun to somebody knowing they’re going to commit murder, guess what we call them? … We call them accomplices.”

Attorney General, Eric Holder, answers questions about Gunrunner and Fast and Furious by telling Congress about ongoing internal Justice Department investigations. Holder does not mention the person investigating DOJ is its Acting Inspector General, Cynthia A. Schnedar, who has long, close ties to Eric Holder. In 1994, Schnedar served as assistant U.S. attorney in D.C. when Holder was U.S. attorney.

Holder was Schnedar’s boss from 1994 until 1997. Schnedar and Holder worked together on at least 14 cases and co-filed legal briefs in four of those cases. (Owens, 2011)

But Sheriff Dupnik apparently wants no part of rash public accusations.

Maybe he decided that accusing someone of causing a murder - or being an accessory to murder - without sufficient evidence, was not proper.

And the Sheriff probably just wanted to avoid controversy.

Owens, B. (2011). PajamasMedia. Gunwalker: Punch drunk Eric Holder swings back at critics, hits self. http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/gunwalker-punch-drunk-eric-holder-swings-back-at-critics-hits-self/

Holder Claims to Have Ignored at least 5 Memos on 'Fast and Furious'

Big Government

Senator Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) and Congressman Darrell Issa (R., California)today said that Attorney General Eric Holder received at least five weekly memos beginning in July 2010, including four weeks in a row, describing the ill-advised strategy known as Operation Fast and Furious. The memos were to Holder from Michael Walther, the director of the National Drug Intelligence Center.

The Attorney General told Issa during a House Judiciary Committee in May 2011 that he had just learned of Fast and Furious a few weeks before. Yet, on January 31, in a previously scheduled meeting, Grassley personally handed him two letters about Fast and Furious. Grassley and Issa said they find it very troubling that Holder actually knew of Operation Fast and Furious much earlier, and in greater detail than he ever let on.

The memos specifically said that the straw buyers were “responsible for the purchase of 1500 firearms that were then supplied to Mexican drug trafficking cartels.”

Big Government

“With the fairly detailed information that the Attorney General read, it seems the logical question for the Attorney General after reading in the memo would be “why haven’t we stopped them?” Grassley said. “And if he didn’t ask the questions, why didn’t he or somebody in his office?”

“Attorney General Holder has failed to give Congress and the American people an honest account of what he and other senior Justice Department officials knew about gunwalking and Operation Fast and Furious. The lack of candor and honesty from our nation’s chief law enforcement officials in this matter is deeply disturbing,” Issa said.

Grassley and Issa have been leading the investigation into who approved the strategy to allow guns to be purchased by known straw buyers who then often transferred the firearms to Mexican Drug Cartels.

Note: Move to Full Screen mode to read:
ATF_10-04-11_Holder_memo_docs

Investigations Intensify for Operation "Wide Reciever", the 2006 Predecessor to "Fast and Furious"

The Examiner
Luke Witman

Southern Arizona arms dealers accused
to knowingly selling weapons to
Mexican gun smugglers.

With the dust still far from settled on the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives’ failed Mexican arms smuggling sting Operation Fast and Furious, the Justice Department is intensifying its investigation into a similar ATF-led operation that took place in Tucson in 2006. Dubbed Operation Wide Receiver, in this precursor to Fast and Furious, agents allegedly allowed guns to pass from Southern Arizona arms dealers and into the hands of Mexican criminals, in a larger attempt to get to the leaders of the drug cartels.

The Justice Department investigation into Operation Wide Receiver began in 2006, when a local resident tipped off authorities that Tucson gun dealer Michael Detty was supplying guns to Mexican criminals. However, it was not until May of 2010 that an indictment was issued against Detty and his business Mad Dawg Global Marketing. The indictment alleges that Detty sold 269 weapons to criminals in Sonora, only 47 of which were eventually seized by ATF officials. This means that at least 222 firearms potentially reached the hands of cartel members.
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In an interview with CBS’ The Early Show, Wednesday Oct. 5, Detty claims that he was working as an undercover informant for the very people who are now responsible for indicting him. He argues that, after receiving a very large order for semiautomatic rifles from a young Latino man at a Tucson gun show, he reported the suspicious transaction to the ATF, who then urged him to continue selling guns to this individual, so that U.S. officials could trace them. Detty said that he had no idea that ATF authorities were allowing the weapons to slip across the border and into the cartels, and it makes him sick to know how he was used.

Detty is not the only person involved in Operation Wide Receiver to have been indicted for his actions. Along with him, eight other Tucson residents were charged last year with supplying weapons to gun smugglers. Two have already pled guilty, while two others are expected to enter pleas next Wednesday. The remaining five have cases that are still pending.

An attorney for one of those charged, Ricardo Mendez Jr., is arguing that the case against his client should be dropped, since it has taken four years for the Justice Department to come up with his indictment. Indeed it does seem strange to many that the indictments against arms dealers involved in Wide Receiver did not come until the existence of Operation Fast and Furious came to light. With members of Congress as well as members of the public anxious for someone to take responsibility for the failures of recent gunrunning stings, it seems overly convenient to some that the dealers are being brought to justice, while nobody from the ATF has yet to take responsibility for the agency’s misdeeds.

CBS Reporter: White House Official ‘Screamed’ & ‘Cussed’ at Me for Coverage of ‘Fast and Furious’

The Blaze
Jonathon M. Seidl

CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson has been doggedly covering the ATF and DOJ scandal surrounding the gunwalking “Fast and Furious” case. And now she’s coming out with some juicy details about her attempts to get information from the DOJ and the White House regarding the case.

On Laura Ingraham’s radio show Tuesday, Attkisson said she was “screamed” and “cussed” at by the White House while trying to get information last Friday, and that a DOJ spokesperson “yelled” at her while she was trying to get clarification on the case. And she named names.
Ingraham: So they were literally screaming at you?

Attkisson: Yes. Well the DOJ woman was just yelling at me. The guy from the White House on Friday night literally screamed at me and cussed at me.

Ingraham: Who was the person? Who was the person at Justice screaming?

Attkisson: Eric Schultz Oh, the person screaming was [DOJ spokeswoman] Tracy Schmaler, she was yelling not screaming. And the person who screamed at me was Eric Schultz at the White House.
Why such the reaction from the spokespeople?

“They will tell you that I’m the only reporter–as they told me–that is not reasonable,” she told Ingraham. “They say the Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, the New York Times is reasonable, I’m the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I’m unfair and biased by pursuing it.”

You can listen to her tell the story below (the revelation initially comes at the beginning and then picks up again at the 6:00 mark):



This all comes House RepublicanS are calling for a special investigation of Attorney General Eric Holder over his handling of the scandal and after it was revealed this week that Holder was sent briefings on the program as early as June 2010. That contradicts his statement under oath in May 2011 that he first heard about the operation “over the last few weeks.” Holder’s camp has tried to explain the contradiction by saying he was referring to the details of the case and not the case itself.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) addressed the issue on Fox today and said he personally handed a letter to Holder on the issue in January of this year, which would also seem to contradict Holder’s defense:

Holder’s Hollywood manqué: About Death

The Examiner
William Heuisler

Tucson’s “Wide Receiver” is the latest government gun-smuggling code.

Hollywood could have invented cute names for ATF agents smuggling guns to criminals. Maybe even introduced a plot twist where a brave Border agent is murdered because of gun smuggling. But even Hollywood would realize Eric Holder’s Project Gunrunner - and all its foul brood - is about Death.

The American people are slowly learning about a sinister scheme, concocted in the US Government's Executive Branch, that was then enabled by Chiefs of nearly every Federal Law enforcement Agency. Gunrunner, Fast and Furious and Wide Receiver are all stylized, trivialized names for government agents who helped smuggle American guns to Mexican drug cartels.

Playful names mask deadly crimes and deep corruption too serious to invent. ATF agent whistleblowers say that ATF's Operation Fast and Furious (with Justice Department direction) enabled thousands of weapons to be smuggled into Mexico and sold to drug cartels.

The smuggling, gun-walking project called Gunrunner (proudly announced in 2009 by Attorney General, Eric Holder in Cuernavaca, Mexico) has cost the lives of Tucson Sector Border Agent, Brian Terry and ICE Agent, Jaime Zapata, along with hundreds of Mexican military and law enforcement.

We learn more about this bizarre Hollywood manqué disaster through e-mails and phone calls between ATF’s Phoenix Chief, Bill Newell, and a White House National Security Staff member, Kevin O’Reilly.

Newell email (09.03.10)(pdf)
Arizona Gunrunner Impact Team 
chart(pdf)
O'Reilly email (09.03.10)(pdf)

(Attkisson, 2011)

ATF Chief Agent (Phoenix) and National Security Staff member (White House) talked and wrote about Fast and Furious, always avoiding names. But they slipped. They carelessly mentioned a group called “OCDTF”. Newell sent O’Reilly e-mail photographs including a .50 caliber rifle that Newell says, "Was purchased in Tucson as part of an OCDTF case."

This is a significant admission. OCDTF means “Organized Crime Drug Task Force” - a joint task force that operates under the Department of Justice, and includes US Attorneys, ATF, DEA, FBI, ICE and IRS.

Newell admits OCDTF smuggled guns in Tucson as part of Fast and Furious.

And then a little plot twist: Congressional investigators Issa and Grassley asked to interview O'Reilly by September 30. But the Administration said O'Reilly is on assignment for the State Department in Iraq. (Attkisson, 2011)

Convenient. This script would be laughable if reality were not so deadly.

No matter what these cuff-linked, capitol-city heroes dream up for politics, a wide receiver plays in a game.

Holder’s schemes are not games. Gunrunner has always been about Death. Gunrunner means gun smuggler; Fast and Furious means car chases. And Americans should never forget the common denominator - the ultimate moment, the final play – is desert death, a spray of bullets, or a spike of black-tar heroin in a ruined arm.

Attkisson, C. (2011). CBS News. Investigation. New Fast and Furious Docs released by White House. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20114184-10391695.html

Secret ‘Fast & Furious’ Audio Recordings Specify Eric Holder, Other Politicians, By Name

Pat Dollard

CBS News recently got their hands on secret recordings of conversations about Fast and Furious that took place between an ATF agent and a gun store owner, both of whom were located in the Phoenix area (and both of whom were thoroughly acquainted with Fast and Furious).

The recordings captured agent Hope McAllister talking with Andre Howard, owner of Lone Wolf Trading Company, at a time when Howard was noticeably worried that Fast and Furious was going to become public knowledge or be put under the microscope of a congressional investigation. Howard especially feared that Senator Charles Grassley might push for an inquiry of some kind. Thus at least four times in the recordings he can be heard mentioning Grassley, and one of those four times it’s to say someone needs to tell Grassley “to sit [his] ass down.”

What’s also interesting about the recordings is that although they were made in mid-March 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder’s name comes up quite a bit. And his name doesn’t come up because they’re afraid he’s going to find out about Fast and Furious but because he was the one they were counting on to deflect attention from it.

In other words, he was well aware of the operation by mid-March 2011, and this is somewhat ironic because in answering questions from Congressman Darrell Issa on May 3 he said he only learned of Fast and Furious “over the last few weeks.” This means he led Issa to believe the earliest he knew anything about the operation was sometime in April. Yet on the recordings (from mid-March), it is clear Holder was the one Howard hoped would stop the investigative momentum by responding to a letter regarding Fast and Furious from the House Oversight Committee:

HOWARD: “Holder has to respond to this tomorrow.”

McALLISTER: “Yeah, he’s gonna respond.”

HOWARD: “I know he is. And I assure you the media isn’t gonna like his response, because basically it’s gonna mirror what he’s told Grassley.”

McALLISTER: “Yeah.”

HOWARD: “He can’t deviate.” (Italics added.)

As Howard continues to express concern over what Holder will say, Agent MacAllister tries to calm him by saying she believed Holder & Co. would “come out with [something a] little more um b—-y…than they [had] in the past.”

In the next portion of the recording, former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke’s name is referenced. This is where agent MacAllister admits Burke had been more tenacious in handling Fast and Furious inquiries than Holder would be:

McALLISTER: “Well if, I mean, I’ve seen a rough copy of what our U.S. attorney here has sent up. Whether or not [Holder] has the balls to actually use it or not, I doubt it. But I mean, it’s pretty aggressive. The way I see it, our local U.S. attorney is extremely aggressive. [But] when it gets to D.C. …”

HOWARD: “Who, Emory [Hurley]?”

McALLISTER: “No, the U.S. attorney.”

HOWARD: “Burke, yeah, used to work under Clinton. …Talking about [Dennis] Burke?”

McALLISTER: “Mmm hmm.”

It’s somewhat surreal to hear Holder’s name, and to come to the immediate recognition that some of his answers to Issa don’t add up.

And it strikes a strange chord within one’s psyche to hear Burke’s name thrown around as the go getter and the hard hitter on Fast and Furious, and then to remember he’s the one who denied victim of crime status to the family of U.S. Border Agent Brian Terry. (God bless the family of Brian Terry.)

Hopefully these recordings will pull back the sheets on this massive cover-up once and for all.

Agent Terry's Family Denied Crime Victim Status In Gun Walker Case

John Hayward
Salem News

(WASHINGTON D.C. Human Events) - Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder at the hands of Mexican criminals carrying at least one weapon from the ATF’s “Operation Fast and Furious” brought that awful program to a screeching halt.  The straw purchaser who secured the weapon carried by Terry’s killers, a 23-year-old Phoenix man named Jamie Avila, is now on trial for gun-trafficking offenses.

Agent Terry’s family asked to be granted status as crime victims, so they could talk with prosecutors and speak at Avila’s sentencing.  It’s a routine request… but to the surprise of many observers, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Arizona has denied them.  William LaJeunesse of Fox News reports:

U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke argues because the family was not "directly or proximately harmed" by the illegal purchase of the murder weapon, it does not meet the definition of "crime victim" in the Avila case. Burke claims the victim of the Avila's gun purchases, "is not any particular person, but society in general."

Prominent litigator and the former U.S. Attorney in Florida, Kendall Coffey disagrees.

"The government apparently is saying they're not victims, even though it was a federal crime that put the murder weapon in the hands of the killer of Brian Terry," says Coffey. "They are simply rights of respect, rights of communication and the right to be heard."

Gosh, it’s a shame Agent Terry was caught in the crossfire when those invaders started shooting at society.

Why would U.S. Attorney Burke issue this unusual decision?  Take a wild guess:

Coffey and others wonder if Burke has a conflict. It was his office that led Operation Fast and Furious. The operation, while executed by agents for the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, was managed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley. Hurley drafted the response to the family's motion. It was signed by Burke.

Congressional investigators are expected to subpoena both to appear before the House Government and Oversight Committee next month to answer questions about the flawed operation that put some 2,000 weapons in the hands of the Sinaloa cartel.

LaJeunesse goes on to speculate that Avila might have cut a deal with prosecutors that would keep him out of jail, a development that would go over especially poorly if Terry’s family was seated in the courtroom, armed with official crime victim status.  

The family may also be considering a wrongful death suit against the federal government, which would involve Burke.  Victim status would pump a lot of energy into that case.

Meanwhile, the expanding Gun Walker case has involved agencies beyond the ATF and U.S. Attorney’s Office, including the IRS, FBI, DEA, and CIA.  Robert Farago and Ralph Dixon of the Washington Times offer the provocative theory that the CIA was actually the driving force behind Operation Fast and Furious.

The CIA​ is concerned that the Los Zetas drug cartel has a real shot at overthrowing the Mexican government.  They control huge amounts of territory, they’ve got military training, and they control a terrifying arsenal.  Their major rival is the Sinaloa cartel, which is the caffeine-free Diet Coke version of Los Zetas.  They also happen to be the major recipients of Fast and Furious guns:

Operation Fast and Furious may not have been the only way the CIA helped put lethal weapons into the hands of the Sinaloa cartel and its allies, but it certainly was an effective strategy. If drug thugs hadn’t murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry with an ATF- provided weapon, who knows how many thousands more guns would have crossed the U.S. border?

To be sure, Operation Fast and Furious suited the ATF’s needs. It was all too willing to let guns walk to increase its power, prestige and budget in Washington. It actively recruited so-called straw purchasers and happily used American gun dealers as pawns. And it was only one agency in a mosaic of federal agencies helping the CIA actualize its covert plans.

The fact that Operation Fast and Furious was part of the CIA’s black-bag job in Mexico does not excuse the ATF for violating the very federal laws it was created to enforce; for contributing to the deaths of hundreds of innocent citizens, including a Border Patrol agent trying to live up to his oath; or for being unrepentant, uncooperative and unresponsive to the wishes of the American people for honesty, integrity and loyalty to the U.S. Constitution.

There has never been a more dangerously misguided, dishonest, and covered-up program than the Gun Walker project.  Whatever you think of scandals like Watergate or Iran-Contra, they were balsa wood scale models of this monstrosity.  It’s increasingly clear that the stated purpose of the operation – 

 following the guns to their cartel buyers – was never realistic.  The L.A. Times reports today that even a few months into the project, it was clear that its dogs were not hunting:

Five months into the surveillance effort — dubbed Operation Fast and Furious — no indictments had been announced and no charges were immediately expected. Worse, the weapons had turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and the ATF official was worried that someone in the United States could be hurt next.

Acting Deputy Director William Hoover called an emergency meeting and said he wanted an "exit strategy" to shut down the program. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for decades had dedicated itself to stopping illegal gun-trafficking of any kind. Now it was allowing illegal gun purchases on the Southwest border and letting weapons "walk" unchecked into Mexico.

But those at the meeting, which included a Justice Department official, did not want to stop the illegal gun sales until they had something to show for their efforts. Hoover suggested a "30-day, 60-day or 90-day" exit plan that would shut Fast and Furious down for good — just as soon as there were some indictments.

In the end, it took a year and a half to get any indictments… and they came after Agent Terry was killed.  Was it really an attempt to pump up gun-crime statistics for the benefit of American liberal politicians, a CIA operation that shredded U.S. law in a desperate attempt to support the government of Mexico, or both?  It’s a story that gets worse every day.  Today the family of the courageous Border Patrol agent killed by this insane program was told by a U.S. Attorney that they’re not officially victims of the crime that armed his murderers.

Court documents say U.S. knew about coke

UPI

Vicente Zambada-Niebla

EL PASO, Texas, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. officials let the Sinaloa drug cartel smuggle tons of cocaine into the United States in exchange for intelligence about rival cartels, court documents say.

The claim was made by attorneys in defense of Mexico's Vicente Zambada-Niebla, who was extradited to the United States to face drug-trafficking charges in Chicago, the El Paso (Texas) Times reported.

If the claim is true, it could prove to be as damaging to federal investigators as the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm's "Operation Fast and Furious," that let U.S. weapons get into Mexico, the report said.
 
Documents filed in U.S. federal court said the Sinaloa cartel was allowed to bring tons of cocaine into the United States in exchange for information about rival cartels, The Houston Chronicle reported.

The documents also said Zambada-Niebla worked as an informant for the U.S. government while he was a known fugitive.

Zambada-Niebla's legal team wants a U.S. judge to drop charges against their client because his alleged agreement with the government reportedly promised him immunity from prosecution.
Federal prosecutors and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency declined to comment on the case.

Zambada's lawyers said as recently as 2008 his client and a top cartel lawyer allegedly met at a Mexico City hotel with two DEA agents, where he was reportedly promised immunity.

In "Fast and Furious," the ATF botched a sting to catch weapons traffickers by allowing a load of illegally purchased guns slip into Mexico. The shipment was lost and some of the guns turned up at crime scenes, including one where a U.S. Border Patrol agent was killed.

Cover up alleged in Fast and Furious

KPHO

Congressional investigators have told CBS News they found evidence of a cover up in their investigation of the ATF's controversial Operation Fast and Furious.

Fast and Furious was an operation intended to lead federal agents to the leaders of gun and drug smuggling organizations, but agents within the ATF complained that the agency was allowing hundreds of guns to disappear. Since then, weapons from the operation have shown up at least 12 crime scenes.

According to letters, interviews and emails obtained and conducted by CBS News, the ATF and US Attorney's Office in Arizona tried to hide the fact that weapons connected to Fast and Furious were found at the fatal shooting of a US Border Patrol agent.

Agent Brian Terry was shot and killed by suspected drug smugglers in the desert west of Nogales in December. Two AK-47 assault rifles found at the scene were traced to the ATF operation.

Letters obtained by CBS News indicate former US Attorney Dennis Burke denied any connections between the two cases in court, but then readily admitted the connection during an interview with Congressional investigators.

Burke stepped down as US Attorney for the District of Arizona on Tuesday.

AG Holder swaps a rat with a mouse

The Examiner
William Heuisler

Ken Melson

Tuesday Eric Holder replaced “lab rat”, Ken Melson with house mouse, Todd Jones.

Whistleblower-Agent Vince Cefalu says Melson is a “lab rat” that should never have been put in charge of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). Agent Cefalu says there is a “cover your ass” attitude by Attorney General (AG) Holder. (Richardson, 2011)

So Todd Jones fits right in.

Cefalu was one of the first ATF agents to report weapons smuggling to Mexican drug cartels by Holder’s Project Gunrunner (Fast and Furious in Arizona) that resulted in the murder of Tucson District Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry.

Cefalu said, “I think everything we said all along has been proven to be true. It’s no secret that they’re cleaning house.” Cefalu added that AG Holder almost certainly asked ATF Director Ken Melson what job he wanted in return for his silence. “You don’t think they gave him that for his stellar performance at ATF, do you?” (Richardson, 2011)

But new ATF Director, Jones, was as deeply involved in Fast and Furious as Melson. Nothing has changed in ATF leadership but the names.

Todd Jones has been involved in Gunrunner and Fast and Furious since October of 2009.
According to Senator Charles Grassley’s June 15, 2011 congressional testimony, Todd Jones was a member of the Southwest Border Strategy Group that met on October 27, 2009 to discuss Gunrunner, Fast and Furious, and smuggling guns into Mexico. Present were, Assistant AG Lanny Breuer, Kenneth Melson, Director, ATF, William Hoover, Deputy Director, ATF, Michele Leonhart, DEA, Robert Mueller, Director FBI, Justice Department Directors of Organized Crime, Drug Enforcement Task Force, Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Marshals, the US Attorneys of four Border States and …Chairman of the AG’s Advisory Committee, Todd Jones. (Owens, 2011) (Grassley, 2011)
Advisory Committee? Todd Jones was Eric Holder’s in-house flunky for years - an in-house mouse, so to speak.

Further reference: Examiner articles 7/8/2011 http://www.examiner.com/crime-prevention-in-tucson/attorney-general-on-a-razor-s-edge and 8/30/2011 http://www.examiner.com/crime-prevention-in-tucson/the-first-fast-and-furious-fall-guy

Also promoted for smuggling murder-guns was Phoenix, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley, who oversaw Fast and Furious on a day-to-day basis. He was reassigned from the criminal to civil division. Three other ATF supervisors responsible for the illegal Fast and Furious were promoted: William G. McMahon, a former Deputy Director of Operations, took over the Office of Professional Responsibility. Field supervisors William D. Newell and David Voth were also promoted by the AG to higher pay grades.

But grunt-level ATF whistleblowers have been scattered so they cannot further expose AG Holder’s Mexican smuggling schemes. Four conscientious agents who would not abide smuggling and murder were reassigned (but not promoted) to Florida and South Carolina.

Attorney General Holder only promotes his in-house rodents.

Grassley, C. (2011). US Gov. pdf. Statement on Fast and Furious to the US House of Representatives. http://www.nraila.org/pdfs/CGrassley.pdf

Owens, B. (2011). Pajamas Media. Email confirms “Gunwalker” known throughout Justice Department. http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/email-confirms-gunwalker-known-throughout-justice-department/?singlepage=true

Richardson, P. (2011). Pajamas Media. Gunwalker cover-up accelerates: Ken Melson reassigned. http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/gunwalker-cover-up-accelerates-ken-melson-reassigned/

The first Fast and Furious fall guy

The Examiner
William Heuisler

Today Attorney General Eric Holder began the cover up for the Fast and Furious gun smuggling scheme that was the proximate cause of the murder of Tucson District Border Agent, Brian Terry.

Acting director Kenneth Melson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) was demoted to a senior adviser in Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Legal Policy. Supposedly, he will be advising the Attorney General (AG) on legal matters. Note: Melson was transferred, not fired and released from DOJ aegis.

Minnesota U.S. Attorney, Todd Jones will take over as acting ATF director.

Melson has become the first Obama Administration sacrifice to Congress’s investigation of ATF’s disastrous gun-walking scheme - born as Operation Gunrunner - called Fast and Furious in Arizona. ATF’s Fast and Furious initiated and carried out sales of thousands of firearms to straw purchasers who transferred them to Mexican drug cartels.

The Fast and Furious investigation began after ATF whistleblowers advised Congress they had been ordered to monitor sales of thousands of guns in Arizona and trace them to Mexican drug cartels. But agents said the weapons were just allowed to disappear. Last December, two of these Gunrunner/Fast and Furious weapons were found at the Arizona murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry

Today Attorney General Eric Holder began the cover up for the Fast and Furious gun smuggling scheme that was the proximate cause of the murder of Tucson District Border Agent, Brian Terry.

Acting director Kenneth Melson of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) was demoted to a senior adviser in Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Legal Policy. Supposedly, he will be advising the Attorney General (AG) on legal matters. Note: Melson was transferred, not fired and released from DOJ aegis.

Minnesota U.S. Attorney, Todd Jones will take over as acting ATF director.

Melson has become the first Obama Administration sacrifice to Congress’s investigation of ATF’s disastrous gun-walking scheme - born as Operation Gunrunner - called Fast and Furious in Arizona. ATF’s Fast and Furious initiated and carried out sales of thousands of firearms to straw purchasers who transferred them to Mexican drug cartels.

The Fast and Furious investigation began after ATF whistleblowers advised Congress they had been ordered to monitor sales of thousands of guns in Arizona and trace them to Mexican drug cartels. But agents said the weapons were just allowed to disappear. Last December, two of these Gunrunner/Fast and Furious weapons were found at the Arizona murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

DOJ obstructs murder investigation

The Examiner
William Heuisler

Agent Brian Terry's Funeral

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has deliberately undercut investigations into the murder of Tucson District Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry. Apparently DOJ will do anything to avoid blame for the effects of their Gunrunner/ Fast and Furious gun-smuggling operations.

Two days after the former Marine and Border Agent was killed, on December 14th, 2010, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Phoenix supervisors confirmed AK47 rifles from the Terry murder scene were from Operation Gunrunner’s “Fast and Furious” smuggling scheme to deliver nearly 2000 combat weapons to Mexican drug cartels. (Serrano, 2011)

Emails sent by ATF supervisors two days after Terry's killing openly discuss Fast and Furious guns found at the murder scene. George Gillett, acting special agent in charge, sent his boss, William Newell, a "narrative of incident/activity" about the Border Agent’s death. The email narrative said Jaime Avila bought three AK-47s a year earlier from a Phoenix-area store and two "were recovered in the area" of Agent Terry's killing. "In summary," the email said, "Avila admitted to ATF agents that he straw purchased these firearms for an unidentified Hispanic male." (ATF emails 2011)

Two months later, the United States Department of Justice clumsily tried to obstruct the Terry murder investigation.

In response to Senator Grassley’s question about the Terry murder gun, DOJ emailed, "these allegations are not true", and made no acknowledgement the guns were even there. Then DOJ reversed themselves and made a specious distinction between guns “found” at the murder scene and guns "used" in the killing. (Serrano, 2011)

More obstruction in a February 3rd email to ATF supervisors: "You are in no way obligated to respond to congressional contacts or requests for information...not authorized to disclose non-public information about law enforcement matters outside of ATF or the Department of Justice to anyone, including congressional staff." (ATF emails, 2011)

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In emails to William Hoover, ATF acting deputy director, bureau officials even discussed what steps to take to throw Grassley and congressional investigators off the murder trail. An email to Hoover actually proposed obstruction: a "watered-down" account of what was found at the site of the Terry killing. (Serrano, 2011) (ATF emails, 2011)

Lastly, in a cynical parody of reality on July 19th, spokeswoman for Attorney General, Holder, Tracy Schmaler, said to Senate investigators, “Fighting criminal activity along the southwest border - including the illegal trafficking of guns to Mexico - has been a priority of this administration and this Department of Justice.” (Seper, 2011)

Faced with lying to Congress, suborning perjury, and poisoning a murder investigation, what should Americans do when their Justice Department obstructs justice?


ATF emails (2011). Los Angeles Times data desk. ATF emails in Agent’s shooting death. http://documents.latimes.com/atf-emails-agent-shooting/

Serrano, R. (2011). Latimes.com. ATF sought to downplay guns scandal emails show. http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-0722-fast-furious-emails,0,2978238,print.story

Seper, J. (2011). The Washington Times. House to question ATF officials on guns to Mexico. Meddling by Justice a key issue. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/20/house-to-question-atf-officials-on-guns-to-mexico/

Non-lethal nonsense kills

The Examiner
William Heuisler

Brian Terry

Agent Terry’s family wants to know why their son was outgunned in the desert.

According to the Associated Press, today Tucson District Border Partol Agent Brian Terry's parents have requested U.S. District Judge James Teilborg to allow them to be a party in the case against Jaime Avila and 19 gun and drug smugglers connected with their son’s murder on December 14 th, 2010.

They want to know why Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) supplies Mexican smugglers with AK 47s and Barrett 50 caliber rifles, but Tucson District Border Patrol supplies half the members of its elite interdiction Tactical Teams with beanbag guns. They apparently wonder why politically correct American policies would rather use “non-lethal” force against criminals - no matter the risk to Agents.

On March 4th Senator Grassley on the Judiciary Committee asked Alan Bersin, Commissioner of the ATF:

“As you know, I am investigating the connection between the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) operation “Fast and Furious” and the firefight on December 14, 2010 that claimed the life of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC) Agent Brian Terry. Terry’s attackers were apparently armed with assault rifles originally purchased as part of ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious. The BORTAC unit used thermal binoculars to identify the rifles and demanded that the suspected aliens drop their weapons. Yet, according to an affidavit filed by FBI Agent, Scott Hunter (US District Court, 2011) even after the aliens refused to disarm themselves, the BORTAC unit was under standing orders to first use non-lethal bean bag rounds. The aliens responded with gunfire, and Agent Terry was killed in the ensuing exchange.” (US Senate 2011)

According to the Judiciary Committee record, Agent Brian Terry’s brother, Kent Terry, has said that of the four individuals in the BORTAC unit, only two were armed with standard firearms at all. Two carried only beanbag guns. These agents did not even have the means to defend themselves.
After the World Trade Center attacks in 2001 Departments of Customs and of Border Patrol were placed under overall supervision of The Department of Homeland Security.

Was Secretary of Homeland Security (Arizona’s former Governor) Janet Napolitano, aware some agents were patrolling the dangerous Arizona desert virtually unarmed?

Shut down ATF before more Americans die

Examiner
William Heuisler

Thirty years ago the US Senate called Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) enforcement tactics “constitutionally, legally and practically reprehensible.” (US Senate, 1982)

And, for nearly forty years, ATF has been harrassing and killing non-criminal Americans.

In 1982 the Senate Subcommittee on the Constitution “received correspondence from two members of the Illinois Judiciary, dated in 1980, indicating that they had been totally unable to persuade BATF (ATF) to accept cases against felons who were in possession of firearms including sawed-off shotguns.” (US Senate, 1982)

The 1982 Subcommittee also reported, “The Bureau's own figures demonstrate that in recent years the percentage of its arrests devoted to felons in possession, and persons knowingly selling to them, have dropped from 14 percent down to 10 percent of their firearms cases.” (US Senate, 1982)

“The Subcommittee received evidence that BATF has primarily devoted its firearms enforcement efforts to the apprehension, upon technical malum prohibitum charges, of individuals who lack all criminal intent and knowledge. Agents anxious to generate an impressive arrest and gun confiscation quota have repeatedly enticed gun collectors into making a small number of sales--often as few asfour--from their personal collections. Although each of the sales was completely legal under state and federal law, the agents then charged the collector with having "engaged in the business" of dealing in guns without the required license.” (US Senate, 1982) Sound familiar?

At Ruby Ridge in 1992 ATF killed a 13 year old boy and a woman with a baby.

At Waco in 1993 ATF triggered an unnecessary siege that killed 82 Americans.

Now we have Operation Gunrunner (Fast and Furious) killing Federal Agents.

Leaders of ATF have admitted allowing nearly 2000 combat weapons to be smuggled to Mexican criminals. Those criminals used some of those smuggled weapons to murder ICE Agent, Jaime Zapata and Tucson District Border Patrol Agent, Brian Terry - not to mention hundreds of Mexican law enforcement and military...

Carlos Canino, ATF Attaché to Mexico, testified before the House Oversight Committee last month,“It infuriates me, that people – including my law enforcement, diplomatic and military colleagues – may be killed or injured with these weapons.” He added, “Sinaloa cartel may have received as many guns as needed to arm the (US Army’s 75thRanger) regiment. Out of these 2,000 weapons, 34 were .50 caliber sniper rifles…approximately the number of sniper rifles a Marine infantry regiment takes into battle.” (Klein 2011)

What has ATF really accomplished since it separated from the IRS in 1972? Do we need a $1.12 billion Federal Agency to regulate our smoking, drinking and guns?

Congress should defund - and shut down - ATF before more guiltless Americans die.


Klein, P. (2011). The Examiner. Beltway Confidential. ATF Official in Mexico “infuriated” by Operation Fast and Furious. http://www.sfexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/07/atf-official-mexico-infuriated-operation-fast-and-furious

US Senate (1982). US Government Printing Office.  Report of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee of the Judiciary. 97thCongress. http://www.atfabuse.com/senate1982.html

Eric Holder for the defense?

Examiner

Murdered Border Agent Brian Terry

William Heuisler

1) Why was murdered Border Agent, Brian Terry, outgunned in December of  2010?
   
2) Was "Operation Gunrunner" * an enterprise planned and promoted by the US DOJ?       
                             
3) Will Criminal Liability re: Arizona Revised Statute 13-303, or Conspiracy 13-1003, or Facilitation 13-1004, be charged against Directors of the Departments of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, ATF or Justice, DOJ?

4) When will Defense Attorneys be calling Attorney General, Eric Holder as a witness?

Each question is reasonable. In Holder’s 2009 Cuernevaca speech he bragged of his “Operation Gunrunner” *. (Holder, 2009) Gunrunner has smuggled over 1,700 firearms to Mexico’s drug cartels.

Two of those firearms were recovered from the scene of Agent Brian Terry’s murder by drug smugglers 40 miles south of Tucson in December of 2010.

On March 16th, 2011, Senator Grassley (Judiciary Committee) asked Chief of Customs Border Patrol, Bersin (CBP) to explain information that, “according to several Agents”: 

“CBP officials allegedly stopped Jaime Avila near the border in the spring or summer of 2010. He allegedly had the two WASR-10 rifles in his possession that were later found at the scene of Agent Brian Terry’s murder… CBP officials contacted ATF, or an Assistant US Attorney, who allegedly instructed CBP to allow Avila to proceed without seizing the weapons.” (Grassley, 2011)
The CBP Chief has not explained why a US Attorney would authorize Avila’s release.

Imagine a Defense Attorney representing a suspect who was abetted by a U.S. Agency in  an accused crime. That attorney will certainly demand discovery of Agency records and Agents involved with his client’s alleged crime. The prosecutor will be forced by a Judge to name relevant policies and people in ATF or DOJ to satisfy that discovery.

Operation Fast and Furious: DOJ Protecting Political Appointees

TownHall
Katie Pavlich

According to Senator Charles Grassley and Representative Darrell Issa, both who have been at the front of the investigation into the Obama Justice Department's Operation Fast and Furious, it appears DOJ is withholding vital information about the lethal operation to protect political appointees. Today, Grassley and Issa asked Attorney General Eric Holder why documentation requested by the Oversight Committee has not been provided, specifically a "smoking gun" report ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson mentioned during closed testimony over two weeks ago.

“It was very frustrating to all of us, and it appears thoroughly to us that the Department is really trying to figure out a way to push the information away from their political appointees at the Department,” ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson said of his frustration with the Justice Department’s response to the investigation in a transcribed interview.

“The Department should not be withholding what Mr. Melson described as the ‘smoking gun’ report of investigation or Mr. Melson’s emails regarding the wiretap applications,” wrote Issa and Grassley. “Mr. Melson said he reviewed the affidavits in support of the wiretap applications for the first time after the controversy became public and immediately contacted the Deputy Attorney General’s office to raise concerns about information in them that was inconsistent with the Department’s public denials. The Department should also address the serious questions raised by Mr. Melson’s testimony regarding potential informants for other agencies.”

Issa and Grassley have sent a letter to Drug Enforcement Administrator Michele Leonhart requesting information about DEA's involvement with Operation Fast and Furious. A similar request for information was made on March 15, 2011 but was ignored.   Grassley and Issa have also requested memos, emails, briefing papers and handwritten notes from the FBI  to be provided to the Oversight Committee after reports showed bureau officials may have paid informants to help the FBI, DEA, ATF and DOJ with the operation.

Justice Department trying to shield officials in guns scandal, ATF chief says

Los Angeles Times

Kenneth Melson, the ATF's acting director, claims Justice Department officials refuse to release a telling internal report on the Fast and Furious operation.

The Justice Department is trying to protect its political appointees from the Fast and Furious scandal by concealing an internal "smoking gun" report and other documents that acknowledge the role top officials played in the program that allowed firearms to flow illegally into Mexico, according to the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Kenneth E. Melson, the ATF's acting director, also told congressional investigators this month that the affidavits prepared to obtain wiretaps used in the ill-fated operation were inconsistent with Justice Department officials' public statements about the program. Justice Department officials advised him not to raise his concerns with Congress about "institutional problems" with the Fast and Furious operation, Melson said.

"It was very frustrating to all of us," Melson told congressional investigators in a private meeting over the Fourth of July holiday, "and it appears thoroughly to us that the department is really trying to figure out a way to push the information away from their political appointees at the department."

Not only was the department slow to react, Melson said, but Justice Department officials indicated they did not want him to cooperate with Congress.

A transcript of his comments was released Monday by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Melson said he wasn't attempting to shield his agency from its share of the blame. He acknowledged an instance in which his agents failed to intercept high-powered weapons when they could have.

"The deputy attorney general's office wasn't very happy with us" at the ATF, Melson said, "because they thought this was an admission that there were mistakes made. Well, there were some mistakes made."

Justice Department officials denied they were stonewalling the congressional investigation. They said they were cooperating and had been providing thousands of pages of documents and other material to investigators.

"Any notion that the department has failed to cooperate with the investigation is simply not based in fact," said Tracy Schmaler, a Justice Department spokeswoman. She added that the department's inspector general's office was reviewing the Fast and Furious operation.

"The department, like the committee, is interested in determining whether Operation Fast and Furious was appropriately handled," Schmaler said.

The intent of Fast and Furious was to allow illegal straw purchasers to buy guns so ATF agents could follow the weapons and ferret out gun-smuggling routes into Mexico. But many of the approximately 1,700 weapons eluded tracing — some even before they were shipped over the border.

Nearly 200 of the weapons were later found at crime scenes in Mexico, and two were recovered at the scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent's slaying in Arizona in December.

Melson said the Justice Department repeatedly thwarted his attempts to tell investigators about the failures of Fast and Furious, which was run out of the ATF's Phoenix field office. When the ATF reassigned managers in Phoenix, he said, "the department resisted" his offer to tell Congress about the changes. Melson said he was told not to issue any news releases about Fast and Furious and was instructed not to brief rank-and-file ATF agents about the growing scandal.

When Grassley sought to meet with Melson this year, the Justice Department blocked that interview too, Melson said. "This is really just poking [Grassley] in the eye," Melson said he told Justice Department officials. "He's going to get it through the back door anyway, so why are we aggravating this situation?"

Former mayor pleads guilty to gun smuggling

Santa Fe New Mexican
Jeri Clausing

ALBUQUERQUE — The former mayor of a small New Mexico border town has pleaded guilty to charges that he participated in a gun smuggling ring that federal prosecutors said sent hundreds of guns into Mexico, authorities said Wednesday.

Eddie Espinoza faces 65 years in prison. The 51-year-old was arrested in March along with two other Columbus town officials — police chief Angelo Vega and former trustee Blas Gutierrez. The three were among a dozen people charged in the federal sting.

United States Attorney John E. Murphy of West Texas announced Wednesday afternoon that Espinoza pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, three counts of making false statements in the acquisition of firearms and three counts of smuggling firearms from the United States during a hearing Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge William P. Lynch in Las Cruces.

"I am glad to hear about it," said Rosemary Zamora, who lost her job as a town police officer earlier this week because of the town's dire financial condition, which current officials blame on the indicted men.

"It's affected the whole community. We can't even get any grants because the government doesn't trust Columbus anymore," she said.

Earlier this week, the town's board of trustees shut down Columbus's three-member police department and reduced other employees' hours in an attempt by new Mayor Nicole Lawson to stabilize the budget.

The village will rely on the Luna County Sheriff's Office for law enforcement. Sheriff Raymond Cobos said deputies have always patrolled the area anyway and he'll shift resources to cover the village.

Columbus sits just north of Palomas, Mexico, a town that has seen increasing violence as drug cartels wage war against one another, the Mexican Army and police.

Former Mayor Martha Skinner said she was surprised anyone would plead guilty, and she speculated that Espinoza did so because he has kidney problems and is on dialysis. Skinner said she anticipates it will take the town five to 10 years to recover financially.

Evidence of perjury?

Examiner
William Heuisler

Attorney General Eric Holder gave a false sworn statement before the House Judiciary Committee in May of 2011…carelessly forgetting a speech he gave in April of 2009.

 At the May 3rd Judiciary Committee hearing, Congressman Darrell Issa asked Eric Holder, “When did you first know about the program officially, I believe, called Fast and Furious? To the best of your knowledge, what date?”

Holder responded: “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.” (Hollingsworth, 2011)

According to CBS News investigative correspondent, Sharyl Attkisson, about Operation Fast and Furious - widely known as Operation Gunrunner, "Holder's office at first vehemently denied ATF has ever knowingly allowed weapons to get into the hands of suspected gunrunners for Mexico's drug cartels." (Attkisson, 2011)

Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s mother has demanded to know who authorized the ATF weapon smuggling that caused the death of her son in the desert south of Tucson.

She will find her answer in a two-year-old speech of Attorney General Eric Holder.

In a speech recorded in the Justice News, (Justice Department’s site of record) the Attorney General himself announced Operation Gunrunner back in 2009:

In Cuernavaca, Mexico, on April 2, 2009, Eric Holder said: "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.