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    From GOP Rep. Darryl Issa’s office this morning. When it rains, it pours:

    Holder Received at Least Five Memos on Fast and Furious

    WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley and Congressman Darrell Issa 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.”

    “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.

    Read the docs (what’s not redacted, that is):

    http://www.scribd.com/doc/67777030/A...lder-Memo-Docs
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  3. #24
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    Issa: Holder's defense on Fast and Furious ‘has reached a new low'
    By Jordy Yager - 10/10/11 01:03 PM ET

    Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) issued a scathing reply to Attorney General Eric Holder over his role in the authorization of a botched gun-tracking operation and the Justice Department’s cooperation with a congressional investigation.

    As chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Issa said the DOJ has tried to detract his panel’s investigation into "Operation Fast and Furious" since it began, offering “a roving set of ever-changing explanations to justify its involvement in this reckless and deadly program.”

    In a letter sent to Holder on Sunday and publically released on Monday, Issa lists several instances in which the DOJ either denied the existence of the gun “walking” tactics used in Fast and Furious — the process of allowing for the sale or delivery of firearms into the hands of suspected criminals — or dragged its feet in turning over documents the committee had subpoenaed. “All of these efforts were designed to circle the wagons around DOJ and its political appointees,” wrote Issa.

    Holder has found himself at the center of Issa’s investigation, launched with cooperation from Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa.), into Fast and Furious, which might have contributed to the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. Internal Justice Department memos released last week show that Holder was notified about the existence of the operation as early as last year. Holder testified in May before the House Judiciary Committee that he did not know about the operation until recently. The White House and the DOJ said that Holder was referring to when he was made aware of the controversial and taboo tactics used in the operation.

    After enduring a week’s worth of criticism from Republicans — including calls for his resignation, accusations that he was trying to devise a cover-up, and a statement that he was an accessory to murder — Holder wrote a letter to the chairman and ranking members of three committees with jurisdiction over the DOJ, in which he said the latest fury of congressional reaction was irresponsible. "I cannot sit idly by as a Majority Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform suggests, as happened this week, that law enforcement and government employees who devote their lives to protecting our citizens be considered 'accessories to murder,' ” wrote Holder. “Such irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric must be repudiated in the strongest possible terms."

    But Issa shot back in his most recent letter, saying that instead of addressing the shortcomings of the DOJ to deliver pertinent and timely information about the operation to Congress, Holder denigrated the already contentious relationship between the Justice Department and Congress even further with his letter.

    Holder’s letter “did little but obfuscate, shift blame, berate, and attempt to change the topic away from the Department’s responsibility in the creation, implementation, and authorization” of Fast and Furious, said Issa.

    Issa, who is pushing for Holder to appear before Congress again to testify, said the letter called into question his ability to serve the American people as attorney general. “It appears your latest defense has reached a new low,” wrote Issa. “Incredibly, in your letter from Friday you now claim that you were unaware of Fast and Furious because your staff failed to inform you of information contained in memos that were specifically addressed to you. At best, this indicates negligence and incompetence in your duties as Attorney General. At worst, it places your credibility in serious doubt.”

    In his letter, Issa pointed to Gary Grindler, Holder’s chief of staff and the former acting deputy attorney general, as one example that senior DOJ officials knew about Fast and Furious and the tactics it employed as early as last year.

    In March 2010, Grindler was made aware of the operation’s gun sales to a suspected straw buyer who lived on food stamps, according to Issa’s letter. The buyer paid for more than 700 guns with cash and Grindler did nothing to stop the operation, said Issa.

    Issa said that Grindler either told Holder about the operation and its tactics, or he did not. If he did tell Holder, then the attorney general was not being truthful when he told Congress that he was only made recently aware of the operation. If Grindler did not tell Holder, then it would be considered a “dereliction of his duties.”

    Issa concludes that Grindler must have told Holder because he was not fired for “dereliction” and was instead given his current job as Holder’s chief of staff.

    http://thehill.com/homenews/administ...ched-a-new-low

    comments

    The International Herald Tribune..is reporting today that 10,000 Mexicans were killed last year by drug violence. Some of them…at least 200 were killed by guns sold to the Simolea Cartel with DOJ approval. The Investigation has proven that much.(seial numbers traced)
    BUT ALMOST ALL OF THE VIOLENCE IS ON OR NEAR THE USA BORDER. MOST OF MEXICO..HAS LESS CRIME THAN THE USA.
    This same DOJ…was the culprit in Ruby Ridge and Waca.One Firearms guy went to jail for a year…for shooting the little boy and his dog..they were going to get the mail for his mother..then they shot his Mother..with his baby sister in her arms.WACO…I will see those plumes of smoke and fire climbing to the sky forever. Babies were burned alive in that inferno.

    IF DARRYL ISSA…HAD BEEN ON THE JOB BACK THEN…WE WOULD KNOW WHAT HAPPENED,Holder worked for the DOJ back then too.

    ...

    This scandal gets worse every day. It's bigger than Iran Contra and Watergate combined.

    Is the media going to do its jobs and drill into this??

    No more protecting the most corrupt administration in history!

    ...

    Wouldn't the reaction be different if this were a GOP administration ??

    ...

    The President suggests that all Americans frustrated with the lack of jobs call their Congressman. In the spirit of democracy does anyone think it is a good idea for everyone sickened to their stomach regarding the FAST AND FURIOUS coverup to call the White House? Better yet send a fax, send an e-mail, fly a plane with a banner. Do whatever it takes to make America's top cop honor his oath and respect not only the law, but also the people he swore an oath to protect.

    ...

    Let's be clear: this is MUCH more than just Eric Holder.

    What and when did Obama know about this??

    ...

    The entire administration has always been about attacking the messenger, not promoting their own message. They have to throw all the weight behind discrediting those that point out how crappy everything this Administration does works out for the American citizens. It would be a lot easier to just show they are right, but then again, they would have to be right and not lying fools.
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    Fast and Furious update: I’d walk a grenade for you, yeah, yeah, yeah
    By Michelle Malkin • October 14, 2011 02:42 PM


    We first mentioned blog reports on a Project GrenadeWalker scandal last month. (See here http://michellemalkin.com/2011/09/06...grenadewalker/ ).

    F&F vanguard blogger David Codrea has another investigative scoop with extensive documents on how ATF/FBI directed Indiana crime gun sales to U.S. street gangs. http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-i...rime-gun-sales


    CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson is out with a new report on grenades crossing the border to Mexico. Government officials shrugged at the breaches because they deemed grenades “novelty items.” Details: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/...20120395.shtml

    CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson, who has reported on this story from the beginning, said on “The Early Show” that the investigation into the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)’s so-called “Fast and Furious” operation branches out to a case involving grenades. Sources tell her a suspect was left to traffic and manufacture them for Mexican drug cartels.

    Police say Jean Baptiste Kingery, a U.S. citizen, was a veritable grenade machine. He’s accused of smuggling parts for as many as 2,000 grenades into Mexico for killer drug cartels — sometimes under the direct watch of U.S. law enforcement.

    Law enforcement sources say Kingery could have been prosecuted in the U.S. twice for violating export control laws, but that, each time, prosecutors in Arizona refused to make a case.

    Grenades are weapons-of-choice for the cartels. An attack on Aug. 25 in a Monterrey, Mexico casino killed 53 people.

    Sources tell CBS News that, in January 2010, ATF had Kingery under surveillance after he bought about 50 grenade bodies and headed to Mexico. But they say prosecutors wouldn’t agree to make a case. So, as ATF agents looked on, Kingery and the grenade parts crossed the border — and simply disappeared.

    Six months later, Kingery allegedly got caught leaving the U.S. for Mexico with 114 disassembled grenades in a tire. One ATF agent told investigators he literally begged prosecutors to keep Kingery in custody this time, fearing he was supplying narco-terrorists, but was again ordered to let Kingery go.

    The prosecutors — already the target of controversy for overseeing “Fast and Furious,” wouldn’t comment on the grenades case. U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke recently resigned and his assistant, Emory Hurley, has been transferred. Sources say Hurley is the one who let Kingery go, saying grenade parts are “novelty items” and the case “lacked jury appeal.”
    http://michellemalkin.com/2011/10/14...eah-yeah-yeah/

    Police say Jean Baptiste Kingery, a U.S. citizen, was a veritable grenade machine. He’s accused of smuggling parts for as many as 2,000 grenades into Mexico for killer drug cartels — sometimes under the direct watch of U.S. law enforcement.
    Government officials shrugged at the breaches because they deemed grenades “novelty items.”
    ????????????????????????????????????????????

    .....

    You can make a case for why guns with individual serial numbers and that leave unique ballistics patterns could be used to track the flow of firearms but grenades? I want to hear THAT explanation.

    ....

    So……we’re cutting our defense funding, but giving away free arms to Mexico, is that right?

    ....

    So we’re supposed to swallow amnesty for illegals crossing the border for a better life while we supply arms to criminal drug cartels. Is the plan to sink the standard of living so low that we have to absorb more illegals, who could then be defined as war refugees or was this administration too stupid to understand what they were doing? What was the final outcome for all this chaos? What else is on the cartel gift list? Planes? Are they on the bho donor lists? There is always that “dinner with bho” for 3 bucks.

    ...

    I just want to know when Fast and Furious, Eric Holder, and the BATF are going to be mentioned in a Republican debate. They don’t talk about this, or Solyndra, or Obama’s ties to the New Black Panthers, or Holder refusing to prosecute anyone that is black…what the hell! And don’t tell me that they can’t because the moderators don’t ask…they manage to fit every other useless fact into the debate! They mention their wives, their kids, the hobbies! I don’t care about any of that, go after this corrupt Obama administration! Mention everything you can, as often as you can, to as many people as you can!

    ...

    A scandal much bigger than Watergate is happening under our noses and all the average person can think about is watching “reality” TV. That makes me sick!

    ....oohhhh... who's got voted off of "Dancing With the Stars" ???[/i]
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    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

  7. #28
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    White House denies reports Obama knew of ‘Fast and Furious’ in 2010
    By Matthew Boyle - The Daily Caller | The Daily Caller – 5 hrs ago


    A White House spokesman pointed Friday to an account published by the left-wing advocacy group Media Matters for America in its denial of three online claims that President Barack Obama was briefed about the failed “Operation Fast and Furious” gun-walking program in 2010.

    According to recently released White House visitor logs, then-Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler was admitted to the White House four times in 2010 between May 7 and May 19.

    The Los Angeles Times has reported that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program was at its peak during May 2010. Grindler was briefed in depth about Fast and Furious on March 12, 2010.

    At least three different investigators on the political right have suggested that those visitor logs indicate Obama met with Grindler personally, since the president was identified as Grindler’s “visitee” on the visitor logs. But on the dates in question, the logs specifically referred to formal arrivals and receptions related to a State Dinner for Mexican president Felipe Calderón. It’s unclear whether the three writers noticed this feature of the visitor logs, since the spreadsheets’ columns related to the purpose for the visits is hidden from view and only become visible when readers scroll a considerable distance to one side.

    In response to questions from The Daily Caller on Friday, Obama spokesman Eric Schultz pointed to a Media Matters attack on the same three writers. That Media Matters report also identified an event, related to the announcement of a Supreme Court nominee, which the group said Grindler attended. “The three May 19 listings indicate that Grindler was one of President Obama’s many guests for the widely attended events related to Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s state visit, not any sort of briefing,” according to the Media Matters report to which Schultz pointed TheDC. “Grindler is listed as an attendee of the Mexico State Dinner in a report by NBC Chicago.”

    “The 3rd visit on May 10, 2010, is listed in the visitor logs as a ‘Large Event With POTUS and Community Leaders’ that took place in the East Room. A large event to discuss Operation Fast and Furious? No, Grindler attended President Obama’s announcement of Elena Kagan’s nomination to the Supreme Court.”

    Schultz added that Obama has repeatedly denied involvement in, and knowledge of, Fast and Furious. “The President has made clear that he did not know about or authorize this operation,” Schultz said. “As a general matter, the President does not authorize criminal investigations nor does the White House manage them in any way.”

    Schultz, however, has refused to answer questions related to Obama’s thoughts about the surge in congressional demands for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation.

    When TheDC asked Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office about the Grindler meetings, his spokeswoman Beth Levine said has not drawn any conclusions. “Senator Grassley’s investigation will go wherever the evidence takes him,” Levine said. “Just like with the Attorney General, up to this point there has been no evidence that the President was involved in the decision making on Fast and Furious. Senator Grassley is continuing to move forward in a deliberate manner as the documents come in and the interviews take place to ensure that all of these questions are answered.”

    Issa’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

    http://news.yahoo.com/white-house-de...142542490.html

    comments

    Haven't heard from David Axelrod lately. Talk to us, Mr. Integrity.

    ...

    Wait a sec . . didn't Holder ALSO claim the HE had no knowledge of "Operation Fast and Furious"? And weren't there a chain of e-mails and other evidence that proved OTHERWISE?

    Oh, but I'm SURE they are telling the truth THIS time .

    ....

    There is no doubt that Obama knew. Holder doesn't do anything without his views.

    ...

    The buck stops with the president. Either he knew about it, or he was asleep at the wheel. Bad either way.

    ...

    Do liberals realize that they are a dying breed and that it's directly related to the fact that every time there's wrong doing in the Obama administration, they scream "it started on Bush's watch"? Grow up liberals. Obama said before the election that we should hold him (Obama) responsible for any and all things that happen under his watch..........."The buck stops here". His words, not mine, and certainly true, even if now it makes your Messiah look like a liar and a corrupt scam artist. You liberals ought to prepare yourselves for the backlash you'll receive when Obama is no longer president. You're actions give everyone else permission to blame Obama for the next presidents mistakes by saying "It started on Obama's watch!" Immature indeed. Finger pointing and blame is so 3rd grade.

    ...

    K, we believe you. But why are you blocking records and refusing to cooperate, then?

    ...

    The thing called common decency is missing from this administration

    ...

    O'Blamer is attempting to seal all the records for Fast & Furious, Solyndra and Fiskar the company he gave 500 million to so they could build energy efficient cars in Finland. He was successful at sealing his college transcripts and records pertaining to Michelle losing her law license, maybe he'll be successful again.

    ...

    If he didn'tt know he is not doing his job! Did he fire the people that didn't tell him??

    ...

    The only time you can believe Obama is when he thinks the microphone is off

    ....

    memo to barack hussein obama - when it comes to fast & furious, LightSquare, Solyndra, and $ 4 Billion MORE in solar / donor loans -
    obama did not just STEP in IT hes UP to his NECK in it.great talking points for the 2012 campaign !

    ....

    IMPEACH

    ...

    There are only two reasons Obama wouldn't know! Either he is lying or he is incompetent. Neither excuse is acceptable for a US president
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

  8. #29
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    Tea Party Leader Arrested
    by Conservative Action Alerts on January 3, 2012

    Last week, Mark Meckler, co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, was arrested at New York City’s LaGuardia Airport on a gun charge! He currently faces 15 years in prison. Yet, he had in his possession a concealed-carry permit. He has been released following his arraignment, charged with a felony, with a court date set for January 12th in New York City.

    Many pro-gun activists have said that he was possibly “singled out” by the Obama administration because of him being who he is. Tea Party Patriots is one of the largest tea-party organizations. He actually showed police his pistol permit and explained – and had paperwork to prove it – that the weapon is registered in California.

    Due to his high-visibility position, Meckler has had several threats against his life. Brian Stapleton, Meckler’s lawyer, gave a brief statement to the media: “Mark Meckler, an attorney and national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots, who holds a concealed-carry permit from the state of California, today was charged with a firearm violation at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. While in temporary transit through the state of New York in possession of an unloaded, lawful firearm that was locked in a (Transportation Security Administration)-approved safe, he legally declared his possession of the firearm in his checked baggage at the ticket counter as required by law and in a manner approved by TSA and the airline, yet was arrested by port authority for said possession.”

    He was not hiding the weapon as he declared it. He is licensed to carry the gun in his home state of California. However, New York has much stricter gun control regulations that reveal his California permit is not valid in New York.

    On November 16th, the House passed H.R. 822, the concealed carry gun bill, by a margin of 272 – 154. The purpose of this bill is that a state permit to carry a concealed firearm would be valid in almost every other state in the United States. But as of yet, it has not been taken up in the United States Senate. This, of course, is no consolation to Meckler. H.R. 822 will allow individuals with valid state-issued concealed firearm permits or licenses to carry a concealed firearm in any other state that also issues concealed firearm permits or licenses, or in any other state that does not generally prohibit the carrying of concealed firearms. Of course concealed weapons are banned at all sporting events, bars and state parks.

    H.R. 822 requires the Comptroller General of the United States to conduct an audit of the laws and regulations of each state that authorizes the issuance of a valid permit or license to permit a nonresident to possess or carry a concealed firearm. The audit will include a description of the permitting or licensing requirements of each state that issues concealed carry permits and licenses issued or denied (and the basis for the denial) by each state, and the effectiveness of state laws and regulations in protecting public safety.

    This was the very first pro-gun bill to be introduced in the House since U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was near-fatally injured in a gun shooting this past January. In spite of that, the measure comfortably passed. Each state has different concealed weapons regulations. However, only Illinois and the District of Columbia forbid the concealed carrying of weapons.

    U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), chief co-sponsor of H.R. 822, described his legislation as making “it easier for law-abiding permit holders to know that they are simply in compliance with the law when they carry a firearm as they travel.”

    U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, praised the piece of legislation: “The Second Amendment is a fundamental right to bear arms that should not be constrained by state boundary lines.” Meckler was taken into custody as he was checking in for his Delta flight. He presented the locked safe with the Glock 27 pistol and 19 cartridges of ammunition. Richard Brown, the Queens District Attorney, admonished: “Before leaving home, passengers should acquaint themselves with the weapon laws of the jurisdiction that they are visiting and comply with any and all legal requirements if they choose to travel with a weapon. Otherwise, they may find themselves being arrested and charged with a felony – as is what occurred in this case.”

    Had the United States Senate passed a parallel bill to H.R. 822, Meckler would not be facing up to 15 years in prison on a charge of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Unfortunately, many expect the mainly anti-gun United States Senate to turn H.R. 822 into an ANTI-Gun bill!! Our thoughts and prayers go out to Mark Meckler as he believed he was following all the TSA rules. Now, this Tea Party leader is facing prison time—which would not have happened in most States!
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

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    AP on DOJ Prosecutor Taking the Fifth in Fast and Furious: The Problem is With the 'Investigation'
    By Tom Blumer | January 21, 2012 | 10:35


    Pete Yost's Friday evening story http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT at the Associated Press, also known to yours truly as the Administration's Press, on the latest development in the Operation Fast and Furious scandal (that's my word, certainly not Yost's) has a "this is a boring story, don't read it" headline ("Prosecutor intends to take 5th if called in probe"), followed by an opening sentence which acts as if it has nothing to do with at least 300 Mexican citizens, a slain Border patrol agent, and thousands of disappearing guns.

    Yost's opening sentence: "A federal prosecutor in Arizona intends to remain silent if called for questioning in a congressional probe of a problem-plagued gun smuggling investigation." Yep, Yost wants readers who don't get past the first paragraph to believe that it's only the "investigation" that's messed up beyond all recognition, not what happened in the Fast and Furious operation. Here's more from Pete's pathetic piece (bolds are mine throughout this post):

    Patrick Cunningham's decision to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious was disclosed Friday after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee subpoenaed him.

    Republican committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said congressional investigators have information that Cunningham played a role in approving a controversial law enforcement tactic, resulting in federal agents losing track of weapons that later turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S.

    In a letter to the committee Thursday, Cunningham's lawyer said his client wasn't even working at the U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix until 2010, months after Operation Fast and Furious began there.

    According to Issa, senior Justice Department officials have told the committee that Cunningham relayed inaccurate and misleading information to department superiors insisting that no unacceptable [tactics were used.

    ... The evidence shows that "my client is, in fact, innocent," (Cunningham attorney Tobin) Romero wrote.

    ... Cunningham, chief of the criminal division in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix, is resigning his government post effective next Friday to take a job in the private sector.
    Note the following:

    * Yost really wants to make sure we know that Darrell Issa is a Republican, tagging him as one twice in one phrase.

    * The use of the term "law enforcement tactic." What laws are being "enforced" when you give out guns which you know you won't be able to track?

    * "Weapons" just sort of "turned up" at "crime scenes." Yost doesn't mention what was also "turned up" -- as noted above, hundreds of dead Mexican citizens and slain Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

    * There's also no mention of who used the "weapons" at the crime scenes, i.e., Mexican drug cartel members, gangsters, and other criminals.

    * Regarding Cunningham's resignation, does this mean that he will conveniently end up being out of the reach of congressional investigators, and that he is invoking the Fifth to play stall-ball until he is? Yost doesn't say.


    At PJ Media, http://pjmedia.com/blog/pleading-the...inglepage=true Bob Owens provides a number of chronological facts Yost could have and should have used if his intention were to inform readers instead of to create an uninteresting story from which no one would learn anything. Owens also recounts how the administration's story has changed over time, something in which Yost and the AP also have demonstrated little if any interest:

    Cunningham’s defense seeks to portray him as an innocent man caught in a conflict between the legislative and executive branches of government. He also seems to be the designated “fall guy” in the Obama administration’s recent tactical shift.

    Previously, administration officials claimed they were unaware of the gunwalking plot and had no involvement in it. That excuse fell apart when evidence was presented that Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich, ATF Director Kenneth E. Melson, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota/Chair of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee/Acting ATF Director B. Todd Jones, and the top federal prosecutors in the Southwestern border states were all privy to information about Operation Fast and Furious.

    The administration has since shifted to what can only be described as an “incompetence defense,” where they are asserting that rogue Phoenix operatives initiated the massive gunwalking plot without their supervisors in Washington, D.C., knowing anything about it — even as the “rogue” agents worked across directorships with DOJ, DHS, the IRS, and the required authorization of the State Department.

    Attorney General Eric Holder’s defense seems to hinge upon the theory that he’s a detached boss more interested in pursuing heavily politicized racial justice schemes than enforcing the law or knowing what his direct reports are engaged in. One has to wonder about how serious the criminal crimes are that the attorney general is attempting to avoid by claiming gross incompetence.

    It will be interesting to see if an immunity arrangement can be worked out for Mr. Cunningham so that he can share what he knows about Operation Fast and Furious.
    With Cunningham's departure from the Department of Justice, that would seem less likely.


    Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blu...#ixzz1kNrpaX6S

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    And let's not forget that this Administration insists that it is still the most transparent ever.

    The fact that a senior attorney in the Justice Department is going to plead the Fifth, and the MSM keeps treating the Fast & Furious scandal as if it's a minor story, is solid evidence of pro-Obama bias in the media.

    The Republicans need to air 30-second ads on Fast & Furious and Solyndra this spring.

    ...

    The Obama Administration's success in laundering money via the sale of guns to narco-terrorists has resulted in the death of at least one Border Agent.

    Richard Nixon's "plumbers" broke into a Psychiatrist's office.

    ****

    Do your recall anybody during the Watergate hearings taking the 5th?

    ****

    ⇒ Actually I think the majority of the plumbers did invoke the Fifth, which raises the question, how involved was Holder's Phoenix official at DOJ with the illegal distribution of firearms to narco-terrorists.

    ****

    Going along with the "law enforcement tactic" idea,

    what tactic allows convicted felons to purchase firearms? This was questioned, by firearms dealers, and they were told to let the purchases proceed. So, the ATFE and FBI were complicit in letting felons buy guns.

    My wife works in sporting goods at one of the big box stores, and the NICS system won't even let someone purchase a firearm if the address on their identification isn't current, or if the name of the purchaser is close to someone prohibited from buying a firearm, a hold is placed until the problem can be cleared up. Yet convicted felons were allowed to buy 360 guns?

    .....

    Arizona is opening a state investigation into the matter.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/...es-feds-over-/

    Arizona's legislature is opening its own inquiry into the matter to see if any state laws were broken. If they were, that puts the matter into a different context. Obama could not protect any of his lapdogs, because his pardon protection extends only to federal offenses, and not state.

    I can easily see Arizona's legislature doing a full bore investigation, including taking Holder and others to federal courts to force their testimony in the matter.

    Also, if Cunningham leaves federal government service, he no longer has the immunity of being a federal official. I can imagine Arizona is loaded for bear on this one, given the way the illegal immigration issue went down and how badly those morons Holder and Obama offended the state.

    I wish them the best of luck. Seeing Eric and Lanny marched into an Arizona courtroom in handcuffs and orange jumpsuits (or better yet-- in pink boxers in Joe Arpaio's prison camp!) would just be sweet.
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

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    This was also posted under the comments of the previous article :



    ....

    laming the underlings doesn't pass muster any more than the other failed excuses have.

    Look, it took Fibbie's NICS checks to see the guns sold and it took ATF's leaning on retailers to sell them in the first place. It took Border Patrol , ICE and DEA cooperation (and quite possibly some leaning on state and local entities by DOHS as a while and even DOS) in order for the guns not to be interdicted after sale before they got to the border.

    As a matter of common sense, all of this cooperation did not happen all by itself. C'mon now, nothing in government goes so well without being deliberately steered to go that way. It most certainly did not happen by Cunningham's orders, or even Newell's. Low level lackeys simply do not have the ability, much less the authority, to direct multiple cabinet level agencies, bureaus and departments into such serious cooperation. Coordination is self evident and that means it was a top down order, not a bottom up rogue operation.

    At the very least, even if the "rogue" is to stick, it has to mean that Janet, Eric, Hillary, Robert and several other department Secretaries went rogue on Barry. It would have to mean that all of them banded together aside from Barry's order or without his knowledge. Yeah, Hillary is that stupid, huh? Sure she is.

    Eric is trying to throw underlings under the bus, but he presents, in doing so, that the only believable storyline there is for Barry to throw his entire cabinet, at least most of it, under the bus.

    Nope.

    This is not going to play any better than the other excuses. It defies common sense just like the others.

    Now, Arizona is opening a state level investigation. There wouldn't be any reason to do that officially if there wasn't already something smoking - or burning - at that level. Sure, there is the Joe factor, and there is the Immigration law DOJ suit fiasco but these are not reasons to open a GunWalker investigation.

    People have been openly exposed telling outright lies, even right to Congress. Some facts already known are Pythagorean in nature, thus making other facts indisputable, though some try to hush those, going so far as to pretend they do not exist. The example above is along those lines.

    The Barry administration ran guns to cartels and the only possible reason for doing so is the further subversion of our Second Amendment recognitions. With the loss that Heller dealt the control lobby, there ha to be a serious move to combat it. The 90% lie was that choice, with GunWalker being intended to fabricate statistics to support it.

    Almost a year ago I wrote "I look forward to what NewsBusters participants have to say about this. It cannot get much more ridiculous, or corrupt, than this, imho. This cannot be allowed to be swept under the rug and one member of Congress isn't good enough. Mr. Issa, its time to get serious, Sir." and I reiterate that sentiment this day.

    In a matter of days now, we will see if Chairman Iss'as definition of the word "Oversight" is "holding those so clearly responsible accountable" or simply "Looking past, and giving a free pass to, anything the Executive does".

    In the last "hearing" we witnessed some "up twinkles", and some "down twinkles" regarding the word "Impeachment". There is no more room for vague implication and there is no more time for dog and pony shows. It is time for Mr. Issa to demonstrate the choice made by him and his party. Either the lid gets blown off this entire debacle on February Second, or, it is being admitted that all those in Washington today, especially those sitting in positions of authority, are actively locking arms together, across aisles and even ideological separations, in order to keep the lid on it as tightly and for as long as humanly possible.

    As I have said some very many times in the last year, Brian Terry is owed better than what we have witnessed. His family is due justice and, quite frankly, so too are the rest of us.

    Mr. Issa is either on the side of Liberty and the defense of it, or he is not. There is no in between. Come February Second, he will have no choice but to demonstrate which side he is actually on and it will be both his action and inaction showing us all where he stands.

    Mr. Issa is quite familiar with sounding the alarm. Soon, we will see if that is the entirety of his character. Either he will continue to market his alarms, or he will exercise the authority that marketing his alarms carried him to. What does oversight mean to you Mr. Issa?

    And still the Silent Speaker refuses to talk. What good is a Speaker of the House who refuses to even speak about the biggest and most consequential scandal in our time, possibly in this nation's history? Mr. Boehner how about you "tell us where you are at"? Hmmmm?


    http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blu...-investigation
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

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    1st convictions from Fast and Furious gun probe
    By JACQUES BILLEAUD | Associated Press – 7 hrs ago


    PHOENIX (AP) — Two men have pleaded guilty to buying guns that were destined to be smuggled into Mexico, the first convictions in the federal government's botched Operation Fast and Furious.

    The men were so-called "straw buyers" who acknowledged purchasing guns that they knew were headed to Mexico.

    The goal of the federal government's investigation was to catch weapons-trafficking kingpins, but firearms agents lost track of many weapons they were trying to trace to smuggling ringleaders, and some guns ended up at crime scenes in Mexico and the U.S.

    Jacob Wayne Chambers and Jacob Anthony Montelongo each pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to a conspiracy charge.

    The pair admitted to being part of a 20-person smuggling ring that's accused of running guns into Mexico for use by the Sinaloa drug cartel.

    http://news.yahoo.com/1st-conviction...204041626.html
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

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    CAN YOU SAY "PERJURY"? In a Friday night 'document dump', the DOJ has released series of sensitive messages that passed to the highest levels of the agency WITHIN HOURS of an ambush that killed U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in Dec 2010. "I'VE ALERTED THE AG", said Dennis Burke, the then-top Fed. prosecutor in AZ, regarding a potential connection of Terry's death to guns given to his cartel killers under 'Fast and Furious'. Eric Holder has claimed - UNDER OATH - he did not find out about the disastrous operation until May 2011. If proven, this could constitute the first solid proof that Holder perjured himself.

    Documents Say Justice Dept. Knew of 'Fast and Furious' Connection Day After Terry Murder
    Email from aide appears to demonstrate Holder perjury


    http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-i...r-terry-murder


    “Emails Show How 'Fast and Furious' Ambush News Unfolded At Justice Dept.,” NPR reports tonight. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/...t-justice-dept

    For the first time, the Justice Department has made public a series of sensitive messages that passed to the highest levels of the agency within hours of an ambush that killed a U.S. border patrol agent…The email messages show the former top federal prosecutor in Arizona, Dennis Burke, notifying an aide to Holder via email on Dec. 15, 2010 that agent Brian Terry had been wounded and died. "Tragic," responds the aide, Monty Wilkinson. "I've alerted the AG, the acting Deputy Attorney General..."
    This correspondent was on the phone with Mike Vanderboegh of Sipsey Street Irregulars a few hours ago ths evening, shortly before the NPR release. From Vanderboegh’s assessment: http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogsp...ing-white.html

    White House dumps 500 plus pages of documents tonight…NPR was apparently the preferred outlet for the dump…Holder is screwed. Of course the only reason they're doing this is to further the modified limited hangout, which now apparently includes Eric Holder. Remember, these are the emails that the WH WANTED to release. What does that tell us? That they're protecting the White House and are willing to dispose of Holder to do it.
    Click here for the emails posted by NPR. Of interest: http://www.npr.org/assets/news/2012/01/DOJdocs.pdf

    The emails are heavily redacted shielding not just information, but the identities of certain senders and recipients. Stipulating a possibly legitimate need to withhold facts pertaining to ongoing criminal investigations, the question of why the names of key individuals, including those in the US Attorney’s office are also withheld must be explored.

    Also, any discussion of “controlled deliveries” and coordination with Mexican officials does not occur in the disclosed communications threads until February 4, 2011—Gun Rights Examiner’s “Journalists’ Guide to Project Gunwalker” http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-i...ject-gunwalker chronicles reporting and revelations made in this column and on Sipsey Street Irregulars prior to that action—reporters and interested individuals should consult that document to see for themselves how much of this story was already documented by that time, including revelations made on Jan. 6 in this column that the Mexican government had been intentionally left uninformed up until ATF and DOJ officials decided it was in their interests almost a month later to contact them.


    Of particular interest from the Dec. 15, 2010 email from Holder aide Monty Wilkinson to then-US Attorney Dennis Burke:

    I’ve alerted the AG…
    When did Holder say he first became aware of it?

    HOLDER: 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.
    That was on May 3, 2011 (see sidebar video player).

    Does the email from Wilkinson indicate the Attorney General committed perjury in his testimony before the committee?

    The questions this raises include whether this latest document dump throws Holder under the bus to protect the White House, as Vanderboegh concludes.

    Will Chairman Darrell Issa of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform now demand documentation on all communications between the White House and the Department of Justice regarding the selection of documents to be released to his committee?

    And will he press the Attorney General on this key revelation made by Wilkinson and other information gleaned from this latest release?

    And, as an aside, is it any wonder that the White House said about questions raised in the Tuesday GRE column http://waronguns.blogspot.com/2012/0...e-ignored.html "This submission has been removed because people believe it is inappropriate"?
    Laissez les bon temps rouler! Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?

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