ATF Project Gunrunner

Was hoping some of that testimony might make it to U Toob but I see it hasn't yet.
Those CBS excerpts aren't exactly showing a man in authority saying "we will gladly cooperate and bring everyone associated with this debacle to the table until we get to the bottom of it"
But it's highly edited too, and likely edited with a bias.

Anyone able to see the entire testimony?
 
In my opinion, Cong. Issa of CA line of questioning during the hearing before the House Oversight Committee, was the most poignant of all. I was not able to view the entire hearing so there may have been others who asked pertinent questions.

I believe Holder has been caught in a lie. He claimed that he only learned about the Project Gun-walker a "few weeks ago". He also attempted to brush off criticism by Issa with talk about ongoing investigations and a classic Clinton-speak; "I felt their pain."

Today during the Senate hearing the only person who asked any questions about this scheme was Grassley and as far as I am concerned he is useless. He can't even read the notes effectively.

Now we need to see what happens. Can Issa prove that Holder is lying? and if so what happens next? Will the cover-up continue in the wake of the AG testifying that he intends to fully cooperate? Will anyone at ATF be punished?

Stay tuned.
 
Uncle Buck said:
My thinking is this was a backdoor attempt to show "We need more restrictive gun laws to help our Southern Neighbor."
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I agree -- as long as

"backdoor attempt" = plot, conspiracy

This was not dreamed up and pulled off by a couple of rogue BATFE agents.
 
This was not dreamed up and pulled off by a couple of rogue BATFE agents.
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Well considering that there are now 12-15 whistleblowers working with Issa and Grassley, I'd say you are right that it is more than a couple. We also have Lanny Breuer and Emory Hurley named from the Department of Justice and some unnamed agents from other federal agencies who were apparently a part of the Fast and Furious task force.

Whoever is behind this clever plan has enough clout to form a multi-agency task force that includes DoJ, ATF, and DHS and then order said task force to violate treaties and standing agreements the U.S. has with neighboring countries. If that guy isn't close enough to Holder that Holder knows what he is doing, then why does he have that much power?
 
alloy said:
Was hoping some of that testimony might make it to U Toob but I see it hasn't yet.
Those CBS excerpts aren't exactly showing a man in authority saying "we will gladly cooperate and bring everyone associated with this debacle to the table until we get to the bottom of it"
But it's highly edited too, and likely edited with a bias.

Anyone able to see the entire testimony?
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Video of the testimony can be found here along with a transcript. Be aware that you will have to search throughout the video for segments of Holder's House Judiciary Committee testimony re: Project Gunrunner as multiple subjects were covered by multiple questioners.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/JusticeDepartmentOve
 
2Guns said:
Now we need to see what happens. Can Issa prove that Holder is lying? and if so what happens next? Will the cover-up continue in the wake of the AG testifying that he intends to fully cooperate? Will anyone at ATF be punished?
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Of course someone will be punished. But they need the cover of the "investigation" to identify one or two or a few people low enough in the organization to not matter, yet high enough to make (somewhat) credible scapegoats. Once those individuals have been identified -- they'll be thrown under the proverbial bus, with appropriate fanfare, and life will continue unchanged.
 
The C-Span video direct link: http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/JusticeDepartmentOve# The Issa questioning starts at 1:30:17.

Description: Attorney General Eric Holder testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Topics included the killing of Osama bin Laden, the threat from al-Qaeda, DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act), and the extensions of key provisions of the PATRIOT Act. Representative Darrell Issa questioned Attorney General Holder about the death of two border agents, suggesting the deaths were due to Justice Department policies. Attorney General Holder said the suggestion was "offensive."

If I had been a Rep. I would have told him flat out "If I find out that this debacle goes to your office I will do everything in my power to put you in prison; and if I get my way it will be a Mexican prison."
 
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Seems that Issa has documents that show that Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer approved wiretaps for Operation Fast and Furious, which strongly suggests that Breuer know about the Operation and what was going on.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20059640-10391695.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody

So the scandal has risen to level of Assistant Attorney General, right now its like the Mississippi River, everyone holding their breath to see how high it will rise.
 
While Holder and Breuer may try to pin this on mid-level scapegoats, thsoe very same people may see the writing on the wall and decide being a whistleblower/witness for the prosecution is better than scapegoat.

The longer this goes on the more likely momentum will build from the middle ranks to expose the top tier before their own heads are sent rolling.
 
Sen. Grassley asked some hard questions and presented a document to Holder and of course, Holder feigned ignorance. He is the most know-nothing head of a government agency that I have ever witnessed.

There is a video at the link as well as the story.

SOURCE

An internal memo from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives shows that U.S. officials allowed criminals to buy 1,318 guns worth nearly $1 million, even after they suspected the buyers were working for Mexican drug cartels, and that the agency's effort to stop the guns had "yielded little or no results."
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More on that:

SOURCE

Not the first brush one of the whistle-blowers has had with BATFE incompetence.

The ATF office in Phoenix, specifically Agent-in-Charge Bill Newell and his deputy, George Gillette, promised to protect Dobyns, but Dobyns says they didn't. He says the Hells Angels threatened to rape his wife and behead his children. Weeks later, Dobyns says the gang burned down his house with his family inside. Miraculously, they escaped.
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The ATF office in Phoenix, specifically Agent-in-Charge Bill Newell and his deputy, George Gillette, promised to protect Dobyns, but Dobyns says they didn't. He says the Hells Angels threatened to rape his wife and behead his children. Weeks later, Dobyns says the gang burned down his house with his family inside. Miraculously, they escaped.
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In a much less serious case, I have had personal experience with the kind of "protection" the Feds provide to witnesses who have received threats. I was such a witness/whistleblower. My "protection" was being given the direct office telephone number (not a cell phone number or home number, just the office "skip the operator" direct extension) of an agent in the next state. IF I had actually reached him in an emergency, he was a minimum of two hours away.

When a "situation" arose, I called the local police -- who asked why I was calling them since it was a Federal investigation.

Me: "Because it's 3:00 o'clock in the morning and I just received a telephone call threatening to kill me."

Dispatch: "What would you like us to do about it?"

banghead.gif
 
I was going to mention something similar to that Jimpeel, when the topic of the Phoenix office came up a few pages back, but decided against it.
Black Biscuit a few years ago included Cynthia Garcia's decapitation by a payrolled ATF associate, who was left on the payroll after the event was known...among other details that got alot of evidence tossed in the end and was another ATF Phoenix black eye.
Also a gun running escapade into Mexico....dancing with the devil in similar ways.
 
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Don't know if anyone mentioned it but yesterday when I was driving, I heard a very factual and thus damning report on the issue on NPR.

Holder didn't sound very convincing.

Surprisingly today, NPR had a report of a FL law stopping pediatricians from asking you about guns in the house. Very professional and interviewed M. Hammer and other RKBA people. They were convincing.
 
Story this morning of how the Department of Justice is trying to deflect blame for Project Gunrunner to local officials.

“As the department has stated, the Fast and Furious operation was approved by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona and the ATF Phoenix Field Office,” Schmaler told TheDC. “The investigation was subsequently approved by the multi-agency Organized Crime and Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) Program.”
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller...sgunrunnerfastandfuriousblametolocalofficials

Guess they've stalled long enough to get their cover stories straight. This is probably the first shot in the big cover up. Here's hoping local officials realize they are being sold out and start to sing like canaries.
 
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2011/05/doj-deflects-blame-down-food-chain-bad.html

A long post from one of the people who broke the story originally.

Are you starting to connect the dots? This involved not only the ATF and DoJ but also DEA, State Department and more.

Another interesting thread on another forum: PAFOA.ORG
Pennsylvania's leading gun forum. The thread is under National news and has now 28 pages.

As I said there, we know the media is willing to look the other way but where the hell is the outcry from more members of congress?

If your Congress-critter gets a good grade from the NRA and is not raising hell about this issue then he/she is useless and so are the NRA!

Obama is now courting the Latino vote in the SW. Campaign time is upon us. Will anyone ask the tough questions of how this scandal was allowed to go forward?
 
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Hiring a Public relations guy to run cover for them is a sign they are feeling the heat.
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Schultz did a lot for the Democratic party during the last mid-terms, and he might have helped a few Senators hold onto their seats. He's previously worked as an assistant to Charles Schumer.

Nice way of repaying him by throwing him before the wolves, I'd say.

...which is exactly what those sympathetic to the administration are subtly trying to paint Issa as. Sadly, I do expect to see personal attacks levied at the man.
 
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