Fast And Furious: The Scandal In Washington No One Is Talking About

Paul Sperry at the New York Post offers a piece on the Fast and Furious scandal.

The deadly-but-forgotten government gun-running scandal known as “Fast and Furious” has lain dormant for years, thanks to White House stonewalling and media compliance. But newly uncovered e-mails have reopened the case, exposing the anatomy of a coverup by an administration that promised to be the most transparent in history.

A federal judge has forced the release of more than 20,000 pages of emails and memos previously locked up under President Obama’s phony executive-privilege claim. A preliminary review shows top Obama officials deliberately obstructing congressional probes into the border gun-running operation.

Fast and Furious was a Justice Department program that allowed assault weapons — including .50-caliber rifles powerful enough to take down a helicopter — to be sold to Mexican drug cartels allegedly as a way to track them. But internal documents later revealed the real goal was to gin up a crisis requiring a crackdown on guns in America. Fast and Furious was merely a pretext for imposing stricter gun laws.

Only, the scheme backfired when Justice agents lost track of the nearly 2,000 guns sold through the program and they started turning up at murder scenes on both sides of the border — including one that claimed the life of US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry (seen in the above photo).

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://nypost.com/2016/05/21/the-scandal-in-washington-no-one-is-talking-about/

Gun Walking: ATF Tries to Block Whistleblower Agent's Fast And Furious Book

John Soloman at the Washington Times offers a piece on the Obama administration's attempt to block a book written by the "Operation Fast and Furious" whistleblowing ATF special agent.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is blocking the main whistleblower in the Fast and Furious case from publishing a book, claiming his retelling of the Mexico “gun-walking” scandal will hurt morale inside the embattled law enforcement agency, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times.

ATF's dispute with Special Agent John Dodson is setting up a First Amendment showdown that is poised to bring together liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and conservatives in Congress who have championed Mr. Dodson’s protection as a whistleblower.

The ACLU is slated to become involved in the case Monday, informing ATF it is representing Mr. Dodson and filing a formal protest to the decision to reject his request to publish the already written book, sources told The Times, speaking only on the condition of anonymity.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/6/atf-tries-block-whistleblowing-agents-fast-and-fur/

Blame Bush Department: Jake Tapper At ABC News Notes That President Obama Falsely Claims Fast And Furious Program "Begun Under The Previous Administration"

 

Jake Tapper at ABCNews.com reports that President Obama blamed former President Bush once again for his failure.

Asked about the Fast and Furious program at the Univision forum on Thursday, President Obama falsely claimed that the program began under President George W. Bush.

“I think it’s important for us to understand that the Fast and Furious program was a field-initiated program begun under the previous administration,” the president said. “When Eric Holder found out about it, he discontinued it. We assigned a inspector general to do a thorough report that was just issued, confirming that in fact Eric Holder did not know about this, that he took prompt action and the people who did initiate this were held accountable.”

In actuality, the Fast and Furious program was started in October 2009, nine months into the Obama presidency.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/09/president-obama-falsely-claims-fast-and-furious-program-begun-under-the-previous-administration/

Mexico Arrests Suspect in Fast And Furious Killings Of Brian Terry

 

Foxnews.com reports that Mexico has arrested one of the suspected killers of U.S. Border Patrol officer Brian Terry (seen in the above photo).

MEXICO CITY – Mexican federal police announced Friday that they have arrested a suspect in the killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, the slaying at the center of the scandal over the botched U.S. gun-smuggling probe known as Operation Fast and Furious.

Jesus Leonel Sanchez Meza is one of the five men charged with killing Terry in December 2010 during a shootout in Arizona near the Mexico border. One is on trial in Arizona and the other three remain fugitives. Sanchez was arrested Thursday in Sonora state.

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/08/mexico-arrests-suspect-in-fast-and-furious-killing-brian-terry/?test=latestnews 

Remember Operation Fast And Furious' Mexican Victims

 

Deroy Murdock suggests we remember the Mexican victims of Operation Fast and Furious in a piece that appears in National Review Online.

Largely overlooked is this plan’s calamitous impact on Mexico, its people, and U.S.-Mexican relations. Fast and Furious has spilled American blood. But south of the border, it has made blood gush like an oil strike.

“One of the things that’s so offensive about this case is that our federal government knowingly, willfully, purposefully gave the drug cartels nearly 2,000 weapons — mainly AK-47s — and allowed them to walk,” Representative Jason Chaffetz (R., Utah) told NBC News. These arms were supposed to lead federal agents in Phoenix to the Mexican thugs who acquired them. Instead, Fast and Furious guns melted into Mexico without a trace.

These weapons became invisible, but not silent.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/304835/remember-fast-and-furious-s-mexican-victims-deroy-murdock

You can also read an earlier post on Operation Fast and Furious via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2012/07/operation-fast-and-furious-timeline.html

Operation Fast And Furious: A Timeline

National Review Online offers a timeline of Operation Fast and Furious.

Above is a photo of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

You can read the timeline via the below link:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/304215/fast-and-furious-timeline-nro-staff

You can also read an earlier post on Operation Fast and Furious via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2011/07/answers-needed-on-operation-fast-and.html

'Fast And Furious' Whistleblower Says He's Disappointed One Year Later

 

More than a year after ATF Special Agent John Dodson first blew the whistle on the scandal known as Operation Fast and Furious, Dodson tells FoxNews that he's disheartened and disappointed by the congressional investigation and Attorney General Eric Holder's gunrunning probe.

You can read the story via the below link:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/18/fast-and-furious-whistleblower-says-disappointed-one-year-later/

You can also read John Fund's piece on Eric Holder at National Review Online via the below link:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/303069/will-holder-s-politicking-finally-end-john-fund

Operation Fast and Furious Investigation Escalates As ATF, FBI Disconnect Revealed

Foxnews.com reports on the leaked Justice Department documents that were provided to Congressional investigators.

The scope of investigation also includes the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which records show failed to tell ATF its own confidential informants were helping finance the illegal gun purchases.

Eduardo and Jesus A. Miramontes-Varela, Mexican nationals born in Juarez worked for the Sinaloa Cartel when they became informants for the FBI in 2009, according to sources.
Previously, the brothers, ages 36 and 37, worked as informants for police in Miami, the U.S. Marshall's Service, and the DEA.

According to DEA and Congressional reports, the two men were the primary cartel contacts used to finance the illegal gun trafficking ring. Jim Needles, the assistant Agent in Charge of the Phoenix ATF office estimated the brothers spent $250,000 on guns tracked by his agency while conducting Operation Fast and Furious. Needles called it “a disappointment” the FBI didn’t bother to tell his agency of the connection.

“You are getting at the very basis of this investigation,” Senator Charles Grassley said Friday.
“But I have to wait till we have all the information before we bring down the hammer.”

You can read the rest of the story and watch the video report via the below link:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/03/24/operation-fast-and-furious-investigation-escalates-justice-department-faulted/

Congressman Issa to Attorney General Holder: Come Clean To The American People Regarding Operation Fast And Furious

Foxnews.com reports that Congressman Darrell Issa has responded to Attorney General Eric Holder's letter to Congress regarding his testimony about the failed "Gunwalking" program. Holder, seen in his official photo above, claims he did not know about the program.   

Despite a federal holiday, the lawmaker leading a congressional investigation into "Operation Fast and Furious" launched his latest salvo Monday against Attorney General Eric Holder, insisting it's time for the nation's top cop to "come clean to the American public about what you knew, when you knew it, and who is going to be held accountable."

"Whether you realize yet or not, you own 'Fast and Furious,'" Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said in a letter to Holder. "It is your responsibility."

...the broader back-and-forth focuses on a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigation in Arizona targeting major gun-runners. Launched in late 2009, the investigation planned to follow gun purchasers in hopes that suspects would lead them to the heads of Mexican cartels. But high-powered weapons tied to the investigation ended up at crime scenes in Mexico and the United States, including the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry late last year.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/10/issa-responds-to-holder-letter-with-matching-gusto/

You can also read a previous post about Operation Fast & Furious vai the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2011/09/atfs-operation-fast-and-furious-screw.html

ATF's Operation Fast And Furious: Screw Up, Move Up, Cover Up

Michelle Malkin wrote an interesting column that appeared in National Review Online that covered how  Obama administration officals involved in the bust of an operation called Fast and Furious are being given new government positions.

There are now enough Operation Fast and Furious officials playing hide-and-seek in the Obama administration to fill a “rubber room.”

That’s the nickname for taxpayer-subsidized holding pens — such as the ones in the New York City public schools — where crooked employees are separated from the system and paid to do nothing. Perhaps the White House can stimulate a few construction jobs by adding an entire rubber room annex for “reassigned” scandal bureaucrats at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s getting mighty crowded.

You can read the rest of the column via the below link:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/275928/screw-move-cover-michelle-malkin

You can also read an earlier post on Operation Fast and Furious via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-atf-delivered-assault-weapons-to.html

There ought to be some firing, in my view, beginning with Attorney General Holder.

How ATF Delivered Assault Weapons To Drug Cartels

Kevin Ferris, a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, wrote an interesting column about President Obama and Eric Holder, his Attorney General, and their misguided gun control policies.

... What did happen was Fast and Furious, a new operation out of the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives that turned the world of fighting gun trafficking upside down.

You can read the rest of Ferris' column via the below link:

http://articles.philly.com/2011-07-31/news/29835873_1_gun-trafficking-cartels-assault-weapons

You can also read two earlier posts on Operation Fast and Furious via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2011/07/atf-agents-denounce-operation-fast-and.html

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2011/07/answers-needed-on-operation-fast-and.html

ATF Agents Denounce Operation Fast And Furious

Chuck Neubauer at the Washington Times reports on the congressional hearings on the Justice Department and ATF's Operation Fast and Furious.

ATF field agents working in Mexico broke ranks with their supervisors Tuesday during a rancorous five-hour House committee hearing, saying they were kept in the dark about a controversial undercover operation in which hundreds of guns ended up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Carlos Canino, the ATF acting attache to Mexico; Darren Gil, former attache; and Jose Wall, senior agent in Tijuana, told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee they had serious concerns about the alarming rate of guns found in violent crimes in Mexico whose source was “Operation Fast and Furious” in Arizona.

You can read the rest of the newspaper story via the below link:
 
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/26/atf-agents-denounce-rogue-guns-transfers/?page=all#pagebreak

Answers Needed On Operation Fast And Furious

The San Antonio Express-News published an editiorial that calls for answers from the Obama Justice Department regarding Operation Fast and Furious.

In theory, Operation Fast and Furious was a sting operation run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to take down major gun traffickers supplying the drug cartels in Mexico. In practice, it was an operation out of control, with U.S. authorities allowing the illegal sale of 1,700 guns.

Two guns recovered from the scene of a murdered U.S. Border Patrol agent were sold to straw buyers under Operation Fast and Furious. The Mexican government alleges at least 150 Mexican citizens have been killed or injured by weapons that entered the country with the knowledge of federal agents.

You can read the rest of the editorial via the below link:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/editorials/article/Answers-needed-on-gun-program-1529227.php

You can also read my earlier post on Operation Fast and Furious via the below link:

http://pauldavisoncrime.blogspot.com/2011/07/atf-chief-admits-mistakes-in-fast-and.html

ATF Chief Admits Mistakes In Operation Fast And Furious, Accuses Holder Aides Of Stonewalling Congress

FoxNews has been on top of the ATF scandal involving the disastrous "Fast and Furious" operation.

The below piece was published on FoxNews.com yesterday, July 18th:

WASHINGTON -- The head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has admitted that his agency, in at least one instance, allowed sales of high-powered weapons without intercepting them -- and he accuses his superiors at the Justice Department of stonewalling Congress to protect political appointees in the scandal over those decisions.

Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson made the disclosures about the so-called Operation Fast and Furious in an interview with congressional investigators looking into the controversial anti-gunrunning initiative.

You can read the rest of the report via the below link:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/07/18/atf-chief-admits-mistakes-in-fast-and-furious-accuses-holder-stonewalling/