The Los Angeles Times says that acting ATF head Kenneth Melson is resisting pressure to step down over the Gunwalker controversy. “Melson does not want to be ‘the fall guy’ for the program, under which ATF agents allowed straw purchasers to acquire more than 1,700 AK-47s and other high-powered rifles from Arizona gun dealers, the sources said.”
“He is saying he won’t go,” said one source close to the situation, who asked for anonymity because high-level discussions with Melson remained fluid. “He has told them, ‘I’m not going to be the fall guy on this.’ ”
Added a second source, who also requested anonymity: “He’s resisting. He does not want to go.”
Melson has an open invitation to appear on Capitol Hill. So far, he has not been given Justice Department approval to appear before Congress.
This occurred as allegations were flung back and forth about who knew what and when about a program which put thousands of weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.
Rep. Darrell Issa’s office tells Newsmax that a published report claiming the California Republican was briefed about the “Fast and Furious” weapons operation is an “outright lie.”
The Washington Post on Tuesday stated that Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, was told of the operation, which allowed automatic weapons to fall into the hands of Mexican drug cartels, at an April 2010 meeting and raised no objection.issa, DOJ, fast, furious
But Issa spokesman Frederick Hill told Newsmax on Thursday that “what is reported in the Washington Post is an outright lie.
Press coverage of the scandal has so far been relatively light possibly because it has not yet attracted the attention of major political figures who are probably waiting to see whether the ice is thick enough to venture upon.
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