Gunwalker: Justice Dept. Inspector General Opens Investigation
Operation Fast and Furious — and other alleged “gunwalker” programs — only ended when whistleblowers came forward from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after a firefight in Rio Rico, Arizona, left Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry dead.
NPR – yes, NPR – is now reporting that the Department of Justice inspector general is launching an investigation into whether or not the DOJ illegally retaliated against one of the agents that revealed the gunwalking plot:
The Justice Department’s inspector general has opened an investigation into possible retaliation against a whistleblowing agent at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to two people briefed on the inquiry.
Watchdogs are examining whether anyone at the Justice Department improperly released internal correspondence to try to smear ATF agent John Dodson, who told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last month that he repeatedly warned supervisors about what he called a reckless law enforcement operation known as “Fast and Furious.”
The inspector general is attempting to determine if Obama’s Justice Department leaked one of Dodson’s internal memos to reporters in order to discredit him.
Senator Charles Grassley has warned the Department of Justice repeatedly not to attack whistleblowers, apparently with little effect:
“I’ve warned the administration several times not to retaliate against the whistle-blowers who speak to Congress,” Grassley wrote in an email to NPR Thursday. “Unfortunately, there are indications that the administration leaked Privacy Act-protected documents to the press in an effort to discredit Mr. Dodson with half-truths even though those documents had been withheld from Congress. It’s a very serious matter that should be thoroughly investigated.”
The Justice Department has been ruthless in dealing with the whistleblowers, who have blown the lid off an operation that saw the director-level involvement of every law enforcement entity within the DOJ, in addition to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and likely the State Department.
In addition to retaliating against Dodson, the DOJ stands accused of firing 30-year ATF Agent Vince Cefalu for his role in bringing this and other illegal operations to light at a website he helped found: CleanUpATF.org.
Cefalu ran afoul of the DOJ for criticizing the ATF for previous questionable operations, but his termination seems to have been in response to his stating that those government entities that participated in Gunwalker should be tried as criminals for conspiring to traffic in firearms.
Cefalu also claims that an Obama administration meme that large-scale gun smuggling operations were supplying the cartels was false, which likely drew even more scrutiny.
Obviously these fired agents are the ideal individuals for the House Committees to hire as investigators into DOJ malfeasance within the ATF. It is always better to have a running start when dealing with the old shell game by knowing which cups to turn over and which individuals can be squeezed.
The ultimate goal needs to be the impeachment of Holder and a thorough cleansing of the departments political appointees. My bet is that once it starts Holder will sudden find he needs to spend more time with his family.
canuck. holder needs to spend about 40 years and one day in leavenworth macking gravel from boulders with a 10 pound hammer 12 hours a day. as do a lot of people in this regime from the top down,
I would say that would almost cover it.
you guys are too soft. life with no possibility of parole and a heavier hammer.
he and obama are the worst criminals in the USA. yes they are worst then rapists and murderers.
Seems to me Holder’s actions would fall well within the definition of treason. By trafficking arms to foreign operatives known to be hostile to the US, he is aiding those who would topple our government. The FACT that some of these arms so trafficked have been smuggled BACK into our territory and used in lethal actions against United States agents enforcing the law is proof of their intentions. Holder, being responsible for this, is chargeable with treason. If memory serves, the penalty for treason, if convicted, is very quick and simple.. and cheap. I’d be happy to supply the prescription myself. Particularly if his Cohort in Chief is complicit and also convicted.
With such founts of corruption and malfeasance out of the way, perhaps others, seeing the example, might clean up their own acts, and we can get about being who we SHOULD be rather than pretending to become something we are not, and never can be.
The whole mess begs for a special prosecutor and quite a few firings and prosecutions. It is good to be the King though and not have to worry about the rule of law.
Absolutely correct. The US DOJ under Holder and Obama has lost whatever expectation of impartiality it may have had: The only way to get to the truth of this is with a special independent prosecutor…..
Will someone please tell a know-nothing just what it takes to get a special prosecutor? Who appoints one? Can it be done over the objections of the White House and the DoJ? I admit I’m really ignorant of the whole process.
Nothing major will happen with this case until an independent special prosecutor is named and given full power to investigate this scandal. Will it happen? I doubt it.
Libertyship46 – Also don’t expect any breathless LSM stories asking, What did the President know and when did he know it?
I read recently where a court overturned a person’s conviction for threatening the president, saying it was a violation of his right to freedom of speech. I would never threaten anyone in the government but sometimes I have these thoughts. I wish legal proceedings would get these guys into a cell where they belong.
Look for the IG over at ATF to be Gerald Walpined in 5…4…3…2…
Behind this strategy for a full frontal assault on the second amendment is malicious scheming, callousness and an utter disregard for law rivaled only by dictators in third-rate, third world dumps. I ,personally, will never forgive Obama supporters for the shame they have brought on our nation. There is no excuse for not seeing him for what he is during the campaign.
I ask everyone again; If they are willing to create a river of innocent blood to justify gun-grabbing, how will they behave if they are successful in disarming us? Having no fear of an armed populous, what lengths will they dare go to then?
This is a very good point. There are still so many who say, “Naaahhhhh. Can’t happen here…our government would never do such a thing”. But when you examine the content of their behavior for the past several years, it is suddenly not that absurd. I hate to be so parochial as to go to the “Nazi reference” but any/all nations that have disarmed their citizens and installed a thug government don’t take very long to start eliminating their perceived enemies.
The hatred these people feel is just below the surface and the reason we don’t see it is because the media helps hide it and never asks them difficult or probing questions. There is a vast majority in the nation that do not truct government, even one they like and we fear how close we’re getting to the precipice, just as those in Germany in the 1930′s feared it, and left early to avoid the rush and the rail-cars filled with “enemies of the state”.
I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to imagine a nation where Obama and Holder have whites carted off to re-education camps, never to be heard from again for some fabricated slight or imagined racism. They are naturally oppressive people who have volumes of contempt for people who are thinking their own thoughts. One thing that a person with character would understand is that not everyone is going to love them and some may outright hate them. These are things that cannot be controlled or otherwise rectified as each individual is responsible for their own emotions. But socialists like Holder think that 1) the emotions are the result of outside forces and that 2) different outside forces can change those emotions.
How wrong they are. They understand little and know even less. But it’s their arrogance in thinking that they know, if for no other reason than because of the offices that they hold, that results in the desire for even more control. I truly hope we, as a nation, wake up from this bad dream.
“I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to imagine a nation where Obama and Holder have whites carted off to re-education camps, never to be heard from again for some fabricated slight or imagined racism.”
They have you covered. HR6500, introduced by Allcee Hastings, defines hate crimes as just about anything that opposes the Obama administration. A companion bill in a 2009 military appropriations bill requires the government to convert unused military bases for internment camps. Some bases have been fitted with gun towers, barbed wire fences and what appear to be holding pens, cells, processing centers or some such. Don’t think for a second there’s no intent to use them.
SG-1 wrote,”They understand little and know even less. But it’s their arrogance in thinking….”
Sorry, these folks are smart. The last crisis at the DOJ has passed out of consciousness. That revolved about the differential application of the Voter Rights law in which white complainants were not going to be represented by the DOJ, which was saving its powder for “minority” rights violations. Can anyone recall the details of this debacle? I cannot! I only know that it has dropped off the radar!
Which is why a give the single finger salute to drivers of vehicles still carrying any Obama bumper stickers.
This includes all the white guilt soccer moms in their gas guzzling luxury SUV’s.
I was absolutely struck funny the other day while walking into work and seeing a nice SUV with an “Obama ’08″ bumper sticker. The owner of said vehicle apparently attempted its removal but I noted that 60% of it was still there owing, most likely to the tenacious glue-like substance they used on it, which also holds the socialists together. I remarked to myself, “Can’t even remove a bumper sticker correctly”, as I moved on.
The MSM has already delegated this scandal to the back burner, therefore the only ones that will be punished will be the whistleblowers. This Inspector General will find only what this administration wants it to find. People don’t seem to understand that congress does not run anything, they are there for show. Everything in this government is controled by non-elected corrupt bureaucrats in out of control agencies that congress delegated it’s authority to.
I’m about to say something very corny, but my years of teaching adults has shown me that positive reinforcement actually works. Write to the few who have been covering it, thank them, and encourage them to keep on it.
Sharyl Attkisson of CBS has covered this story unflinchingly, CNN has flirted with it, and the LA Times has done at least one good story. (Richard Serrano in their D.C. bureau is supposed to be taking over from Kim Murphy.) And I see something below about the Chicago Trib. If it’s a fair story, write to the reporter and the editor and tell them it’s important news and you want more.
House Oversight Committee Announces Next Hearing on DOJ’s Operation Fast and Furious Washington DC–
On Tuesday, July 26th, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will convene a hearing as part of the ongoing investigation into the Department of Justice’s Operation Fast and Furious, a tragically flawed effort that is connected to deaths on both sides of the U.S./Mexico border.
The Committee’s previous hearing, Operation Fast and Furious: Reckless Decisions, Tragic Outcomes, featured ATF agents who testified they were ordered to let guns destined for Mexican drug cartels walk and heartbreaking testimony from the family of a U.S. Border Patrol agent whose murder is linked to guns that law enforcement chose not to interdict.
This Tuesday’s hearing, Operation Fast and Furious: The Other Side of the Border, will feature the testimony of U.S. law enforcement officials who witnessed a different side of the controversial operation. These officials saw the steady stream of Operation Fast and Furious guns recovered at crime scenes in Mexico and were given orders from superiors not to alert Mexican authorities. Members of the Committee will also have their first opportunity to question ATF supervisors who have defended Operation Fast and Furious and the Justice Department’s decisions to committee investigators.
“The Acting Director of the ATF has told congressional investigators that the Justice Department is attempting to shift blame in Operation Fast and Furious away from its political appointees,” said Chairman Darrell Issa. “Examining the accounts of witnesses who did not participate in Operation Fast and Furious, but were nonetheless disturbed as they watched it unfold is critical to understanding the scope of this flawed program. This testimony is especially important in light of the Justice Department’s willful efforts to withhold key evidence from investigators about what occurred, who knew and who authorized this reckless operation.”
Hearing Page- Check Here for Additional Information and to Watch the Hearing Live on Tuesday
Operation Fast and Furious: The Other Side of the Border
Full Committee, Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif.
10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 26th in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building.
Witnesses
Mr. Carlos Canino – ATF Acting Attaché to Mexico
Mr. Darren Gil – Former ATF Attaché to Mexico
Mr. Jose Wall – ATF Senior Special Agent, Tijuana, Mexico
Mr. Lorren Leadmon – ATF Intelligence Operations Specialist
Mr. William Newell – Former ATF Special Agent in Charge, Phoenix Field Division
Mr. William McMahon – ATF Deputy Assistant Director for Field Operations (West, including Phoenix and Mexico)
Congressman Darrell Issa website:
http://issa.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=867:house-oversight-committee-announces-next-hearing-on-dojs-operation-fast-and-furious&catid=63:2011-press-releases&Itemid=4
Nice info — although I shudder to think of what we’re going to hear.
Chicago Tribune has a page long article about F & F today. Page 18 – front page section. I have not read it yet, but this seems to be some progress in coverage.
Don’t forget after they serve time in the US, they need to be extradited to Mexico to face murder charges there.
We all know extradition will never happen, but if I were the next (Repub) administration I wouldn’t exactly throw myself between Eric Holder and a bounty hunter.
What about the Gun shop owners who were tangled in this.
Some of them are starting to be charged for the very same crimes they were told to commit!
This is why those involved should’ve gotten everything in writing. Fast and furious apparently also had to do with how they wanted to implement “the plan” before anyone could realize the full scope of “what could possibly go wrong?”. If they have/had written contracts, which is just good sense, they have nothing to fear in court, uh, relatively speaking of course.
Token cover action by fellow Lefties. They’ll conclude that nothing untoward was done and declare the story over and done with.
Another example of Chicago Gang mentality. “Snitches get Stitches”. These guys are lucky they havent met an untimely “accident” yet. Probably due to sheer incompetence on behalf of the Obummer/Holder/Napolitano administration. Rahm probably would have taken them out sooner.
I hope we have lots of trials after 1/20/2013.
An Inspector General getting involved, one would think that we are going to get a independent investigation, it all depends on the Inspector, is my thought. The Inspector reports to the Attorney General. I will hope that Senator Grassely and Rep.Issa keep calling witnesses.
The fox is going to investigate problems in the hen house, sure, like that is going to net anything…
Well, gee whiz – with a President straight out of central casting, a Pinocchio Chicago Dem dancing on the Outfit’s string who’s never held a real job in his life and an AG whose main claim to fame is being Bill Clinton’s preferred bag-man for payoffs and special treatment, what could possibly go wrong?
“The Justice Department has been ruthless in dealing with the whistleblowers”… and they will with their internal IG if s/he does a real investigation. An outside special prosecutor must be named to get to the bottom of this.
How is it even legal for a DOJ IG to investigate the DOJ and not have a conflict of interests? This doesn’t even make sense. Same as it makes no sense to talk Impeachment for Holder/obama as neither one are legal. An illegal potus elected illegally must be ARRESTED-TRIED-CONVICTED-and SENTENCED as must Holder as an appointee of the posuer of office of the president. Enough is enough as obama said. He needs to be made to see the error of his ways.
Joe (#18) is absolutely correct. The following is by a REAL constitutional lawyer, Dr. Edwin Vieira:
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http://newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin84.htm
Oops, my quote (comment 19) of Dr. Vieira didn’t survive this system. I must’ve inadvertently used some HTML. So here’s the quote again, and see #19 for its source.
Seventh, if Obama does become an usurper posturing as “the President,” Congress cannot even impeach him because, not being the actual President, he cannot be “removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors” (see Article II, Section 4). In that case, some other public officials would have to arrest him—with physical force, if he would not go along quietly—in order to prevent him from continuing his imposture. . . .
Issa need to get a special prosecutor on this, This goes all the way to clinton and obozo. I remember when clinton was the one saying that all the weapons in mexico were from America, she is knee deep in this also.
Grassley Suspects Botched Gun-Tracking Program Was Motivated by Desire to ‘Restrict Guns’ Friday, July 22, 2011 By Fred Lucas
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/grassley-suspects-botched-gun-tracking-p
First of all, the DoJ isn’t fit to investigate itself.
Second, this case is far deeper than face value.
Obama ordered the start of Operation Fast and Furious, with Holder complicity, March 24, 2009:
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/MexicoBor&start=800
With many of these hi-powered firearms going to Hezbollah. Hezbollah IS in Mexico, northern Baja mostly, a quick Google of ‘Hezbollah Mexico’ will show precisely what you’re looking for.
On top of this, with the various lawsuits against Arizona entities, and the ever-so-faulty border ‘security’ this Obama admin is responsible for, he’s making it that much easier for armed Hezbollah to come across our southern border.
The Obama admin has taken position they’re not interested in deportation unless there was serious crime involved, as Hezbollah prefers to behead and mass-bury any opponents to their lifestyle, like a law enforcement officers, it’s very possible they’re completely unknown to Mexico and off radar. Meaning if they didn’t commit a serious crime here, deportation doesn’t happen.
These are Treasonous acts. I don’t make these allegations lightly.
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