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Politics : Fast and Furious-----Obama/Holder Gun Running Scandal -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wayners who wrote (462)	6/29/2012 1:46:43 AM
From: joseffy	1 Recommendation Respond to of 749

ATF leader’s email could be Fast and Furious smoking gun and Holder admitted Obama can’t shield it Daily Caller ^ \| 06/25/2012 \| Matthew Boyle dailycaller.com A single internal Department of Justice email could be the smoking-gun document in the Operation Fast and Furious scandal — if it turns out to contain what congressional investigators have said it does. The document would establish that wiretap application documents show senior DOJ officials knew about and approved the gunwalking tactic in Fast and Furious. This is the opposite of what Attorney General Eric Holder and House oversight committee ranking Democratic member Rep. Elijah Cummings have claimed. It appears that email would also prove senior DOJ officials, likely including Holder himself, knew in March 2011 that a Feb. 4, 2011 letter from the DOJ to Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley falsely denied guns were permitted to “walk” into Mexico. The DOJ allowed that false letter to stand for nine more months, only withdrawing it in December 2011. During the June 24 broadcast of Fox News Sunday, House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa cited the email as a “good example” of a specific document his committee knows Holder is hiding from Congress. “The ATF director, Kenneth Melson, sent an e-mail. And he had said to us in sworn testimony that, in fact, he had concerns,” Issa said. “And we want to see that e-mail because that’s an example where he was saying, if we believe his sworn testimony, that guns walked. And he said it shortly after February 4, and [on] July 4. When he told us that, we began asking for that document.” But the details of it surfaced first when Grassley mentioned it for the first time publicly during a June 12 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing where Holder was testifying. “He [Melson] immediately sent an email warning others, ‘back off the letter to Sen. Grassley in light of the information in the affidavits,’” Grassley explained. Ken Melson, now the former acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, purportedly sent that email to several DOJ leaders in March 2011. According to Grassley, Melson wrote that he had reviewed the wiretap applications — the same documents Cummings and Holder claim do not show senior DOJ officials knew of or approved gunwalking tactics in Fast and Furious. “ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson described reading those same wiretap affidavits in March of last year,” Grassley told Holder during the Senate hearing. “He said he was alarmed that the information in the affidavits contradicted the public denial to Congress.” It appears Republican congressional investigators first learned of the Melson email’s existence on July 4, 2011, when Melson chose to give a lengthy deposition on Fast and Furious without DOJ and ATF lawyers present. Grassley told Holder during the Senate hearing that congressional investigators first requested that the DOJ provide Congress with that email during July 2011, shortly after Melson made his then-secret trip across town to Capitol Hill. The wiretap documents themselves are under federal court seal, leaving Grassley and Issa to tussle with Holder and Cumming about what they might show. Issa has said a whistleblower provided copies to his committee. Holder has declined to ask the federal judge who sealed them to unseal them. The March 2011 Melson email, then, may be the only legal way — without violating a court order — to document the agreement of some senior Obama administration members with Issa’s and Grassley’s characterizations of the documents. Melson’s email could also prove that although senior DOJ officials knew in March 2011 that the Feb. 4, 2011 letter was false, they chose to continue misleading Congress with gunwalking denials for several months. “We need to see it [the email] to corroborate his testimony,” Grassley said during the June 12 hearing. “But the Department is withholding that email along with every other document after Feb. 4, 2011.” Grassley pressed Holder on the question of how DOJ had the authority to withhold Melson’s email from Congress, a full week before President Obama indicated that he would invoke executive privilege to shield requested documents. At that time, Holder claimed the Melson email would not be protected by executive privilege. “On what legal ground are you withholding that email?” He asked. “The president can’t claim executive privilege to withhold that email, is that correct?” “Well, let me just say this: We have reached out to Chairman Issa to work our way through these issues,” Holder filibustered. “We have had sporadic contacts and we are prepared to make – I am prepared to make – compromises with regard to the documents that can be made available. There is a basis for withholding these documents if they deal with the deliberative …” “But not on executive privilege?” Grassley interrupted. “No,” Holder responded. Holder spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler wouldn’t answer when The Daily Caller asked her if the DOJ was planning to provide the Melson email to Congress.

To: Wayners who wrote (462)	6/29/2012 8:34:23 PM
From: joseffy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 749

Justice Department will not prosecute Holder over gun scandal Fri Jun 29, 2012 reuters.com (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Friday it would not prosecute Attorney General Eric Holder for refusing to turn over to Congress documents about a gun-running scandal to Mexico. Holder, who heads the Justice Department, was cited on Thursday for contempt of Congress by the Republican-led House of Representatives. The mostly partisan vote of 255-67 marked the first time a sitting attorney general and presidential cabinet member was cited for contempt by the full House. More than 100 Democrats walked out in protest and refused to vote. In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, Holder's deputy said that the attorney general properly withheld the documents under "executive privilege," which allows President Barack Obama to keep private documents on internal government discussions. "The department will not bring the Congressional contempt citation before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the attorney general," said Deputy Attorney General James Cole. The fight over the Obama administration documents revolves around "Operation Fast and Furious," a federal law enforcement program intended to track weapons sold in Arizona that were suspected of being transported to Mexico for use by violent drug cartels. The Justice Department initially denied that a program was being run that allowed some guns to "walk" into Mexico - a contention it later retracted, raising Republican suspicions. Republicans accuse the Obama administration of allowing guns to enter Mexico that were used in at least one case to kill a U.S. official. Cole said in the letter that presidents of both parties have traditionally used "executive privilege" to shield internal communications from Congress, citing cases in both the administrations of former presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Some Republicans have called on Holder to resign over the scandal, which he has refused to do.

To: Wayners who wrote (462)	7/2/2012 10:51:15 AM
From: joseffy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 749

ATF Directors “Acting” Since 2006: Democrats Want Anti-Gun Nominees July 1, 2012 By Maggie Alcohol, tobacco and firearms are legal in the United States, but there is a long history of the government classifying those who sell alcohol, buy alcohol, sell tobacco, use tobacco, sell firearms and possess firearms as a lower order of being. Democrats want anti-gun leadership at ATF – by the nature of what is legal and what is not, promoting an anti-gun-stance Agency Director is a Constitutional conflict. If proof of criminality isn’t there, the BATFE-ATF will hound you anyway. For years, the ATF was under the Treasury Department. In 2006, a new law placed the ATF under the Justice Department, with the Directorship requiring the confirmation of Congress. And since 2006 and the new law, we haven’t had a single successful confirmation. Every Director since that time has been an “acting” director. Democrats say that Republicans have stopped confirmations, leading to a lack of leadership – but someone led furiously in Operation Fast and Furious. pics on Sodahead When Ken Melson, the acting director during the period of Fast and Furious was forced to resign, Barack Obama nominated Andrew Travers (Nov. 2010). Congress sent the nomination back to him. He resubmitted Travers’ name, and it remains sitting in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where they likely do not have the votes to stop the debate and vote. Traver is anti-gun and anti-Second Amendment Rights. He is allegedly a member of the anti-gun International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), has an anti-assault rifle stance, conveniently confuses assault rifles with machine guns, signed-off on the Liberal Joyce Foundation study, and has received the NRA’s “strong” opposition. But the idea of an ATF director who hails from Chicago, a city without gun shops, and who has conflated black market automatic weapons with legal semi-automatic “assault-style” rifles is causing Second Amendment defenders to worry that President Obamaintends to blast away at gun rights by force of bureaucracy, if not law. Source CS Monitor Interesting that Chicago has had a ban on handguns for 28 years, yet for 2009 the murder rate in Chicago is THREE TIMES that of New York City, and crimes in general are twice as violent as in Los Angeles. Only Philadelphia has a higher murder. In June 2010, SCOTUS declared the ban on handguns unconstitutional. The murder rate in Chicago is down 4 percent (maybe due to citizens being able to protect themselves and their families), but in the South Side of Chicago, where Michelle Obama admires the tradition of family values and wants to pass them on to her daughters, the murder rate is still out of control While Travers’ nomination lolled, Holder named Kenneth Melson to acting director. Travers asked to be transferred from Chicago to the Denver division at a cost of $1 Million to get him there, taxpayer paid. In 2007, Michael Sullivan was nominated by G. W Bush. Republicans blocked the confirmation due to an alleged “indifference” to the rights and plight of small gun dealers. Sullivan became the “acting” director and served until January 20, 2009. Ronald Carter served as acting director for a brief 4 months, until Holder appointed Melson as acting director. Under Democrat control, taxes protect tobacco and alcohol use – the government has to have the revenue. Under Democrat control, no one but government and criminals will have firearms, if and when a Nancy Pelosi/Harry Reid/Barack Obama-type government have a chance to whittle away at firearms, one regulation, one rule, one Executive Order at a time. As a public servant, an ATF Director, (and hopefully an ATF “acting” director) takes this oath of office: I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God. Leadership must uphold the law, not make the law fit the personal whims of Liberals. Republican control of both Chambers can give us a Senate-confirmed ATF Director who will respect our rights under the law, not punish us relentlessly for living our lives – with undue paperwork, licenses, and privacy abuses and ATF Agents’ noses poked under our tent. In the meantime, let us not forget that Ken Melson was Holder’s pick, and rather than a lack of leadership, we got a bold and lawless assault on the Second Amendment, at least one dead American, and an imperious coverup that makes WaterGate look like nothing more than abusing mandatory watering restrictions in a severe drought. maggiesnotebook.com credit to brumar

To: Wayners who wrote (462)	7/2/2012 2:50:00 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 749

LEFTWING ATTEMPT TO HANDLE FAST AND FURIOUS DEBACLE Darrell Issa’s pointless inquisition Jun. 28, 2012 kansascity.com Rep. Darrell Issa’s joke of an investigation into Operation Fast and Furious needs a name. Operation Plodding and Pointless might do. The probe into the failed federal effort to track U.S.-purchased guns trafficked to Mexican drug cartels has reached a new height of dudgeon. Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives (along with a handful of Democrats) have found Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for withholding documents subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee, chaired by Issa. The committee’s hearings on Fast and Furious have droned on for more than a year now. Yet, to date, no testimony has been taken to address the problem that lay at the heart of the so-called scandal: lax U.S. gun laws that benefit gun shops and do little to stop criminals from getting access to high-powered weaponry. Issa saw to that when the inquiry began. He laid down the ground rule that no testimony would be admitted that commented on gun-control laws or legislation. As committee chairman, that’s his prerogative. But it’s a transparent tactic. Instead, Issa has focused his inquisitorial zeal to achieve one aim: to give the Obama administration a black eye. Fast and Furious was an ill-fated operation of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The idea was to track multiple sales of weaponry made in the U.S., and then trafficked often through straw buyers to drug cartels. The crux of the inquiry is to find out if agents knowingly allowed guns to reach criminals, when they should have stopped the transfers. An extensive investigation by Fortune magazine has shredded the case that ATF agents knowingly let weapons “walk” — i.e., fall into criminal hands. And Issa has admitted that he had no evidence that Holder knew that they had walked. What, then, is the point of Issa’s sideshow? Perhaps to make sure that nobody notices the elephant in the room. Here’s the context that Issa would rather not have discussed: The U.S. is a virtually overflowing weapons warehouse — always open, always selling. Estimates are that 2,000 guns pass south across the border into Mexico every single day. Mexico has stringent gun laws. So it’s criminal element looks to the leniency of its northern neighbor to supply the weapons that have taken more than 45,000 lives since 2006, as the cartels battle for control of distribution paths in Mexico. The greater Phoenix area alone has 853 federally licensed firearms dealers, according to Fortune’s investigation of Fast and Furious. Agents with ATF treaded dicey territory, attempting to build prosecutable cases and intercept guns before they reach criminals — but not interfer with legal purchases. It so happens that a legal purchase in Arizona can include someone paying $10,000 cash for multiple semi-automatic assault rifles, with few questions asked. Agents tracked transients who were laying down thousands of dollars for multiple weapons, including 476 firearms purchased in a six-month period by one man on food stamps. What made Fast and Furious a scandal was the death of a U.S. border agent in December 2010 as he was patrolling near the border in Arizona. He got into a shootout with bandits thought to be preying on undocumented immigrants. Two semiautomatic weapons were found at the scene of his murder. The guns, initially sold at a Phoenix-area gun shop, had been tracked through Fast and Furious. Holder’s antagonists believe that, because the transfer of those guns wasn’t stopped, the U.S. Department of Justice (of which ATF is a part) is complicit in Terry’s death. Many Republicans believe, contrary to evidence, that agents knowingly allowed guns to reach criminals. Some believe this was part of a conspiracy to turn public sentiment against the Second Amendment. The affair is sadly typical of American government today, with the ideologues of the opposition party willing to advance any cock and bull story to put the president in a bad light. It is also sadly typical of our politics that we cannot have a frank discussion of sensible gun laws. Representatives and senators of both parties walk in fear the National Rifle Association — which helpfully made it known that the contempt vote on Holder was going to figure in its scoring of members of Congress. For all we know, there may be a middle ground on gun control. Reasonable people, including strong advocates for gun rights, might be able to agree that changes are needed, and might even be willing to enact them — but for the long arm of the NRA. And that is what truly ought to make us furious. Read more here: kansascity.com