When acting-ATF director Ken Melson testified before the House, he said the Justice Department (DOJ) is concealing an internal “smoking gun” report. The latest out just this morning, is the charge that the ATF paid FBI agents to ignore federal law in Operation Fast and Furious, and possibly other Gunwalking operations.
Operation Fast and Furious
Kenneth E. Melson, the ATF’s acting director, also told congressional investigators this month that the affidavits prepared to obtain wiretaps used in the ill-fated operation were inconsistent with Justice Department officials’ public statements about the program. Justice Department officials advised him not to raise his concerns with Congress about “institutional problems” with the Fast and Furious operation, Melson said.
Mr. Melson also said he was not allowed to communicate to Congress the reasons for the reassignments. He claimed that ATF’s senior leadership would have preferred to be more cooperative with our inquiry much earlier in the process. However, he said that Justice Department officials directed them not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress. The result is that Congress only got the parts of the story that the Department wanted us to hear.
Issa and Grassley are also accusing Holder of holding Melson’s emails regarding wiretaps, and refers to Melson’s testimony regarding other Agency higher-ups knowing about Operation Fast and Furious. Apparently, Issa released the full transcript of Ken Melson’s testimony on Monday, July 18th. As soon as I can locate it, I will link it here.
Si Vis Pacem has been following Fast and Furious closely. This from a post on July 17, 2011:
There is evidence that attorney General Holder, under orders from the President, ordered various operations under the Gunrunner program which sent literally thousands of guns and ammunition to Mexican drug crime gangs and to Honduran MS-13 – and much more. American law enforcement agents and civilians are dead and wounded. Mexican law enforcement agents and civilians are dead and wounded.
Some probing questions are asked about the administration’s “jihadism against America.” I encourage you to read this short post.
This appalling report from Bob Evans at PajamasMedia:
…the Department of Justice was paying ATF agents to ignore federal laws in order to provide weapons to criminal informants paid by the FBI, who then distributed those weapons to other cartel members who killed federal agents from Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement plus an estimated 150 soldiers and police in Mexico.
The development draws FBI Director Robert Mueller further into the scandal, and suggests that acting ATF Director Ken Melson was being truthful when he claimed he was unaware of key elements of Operation Fast and Furious. Congressional investigators now need to interview the FBI director and determine if Mueller was also being provided with only partial details about the operation.
If that turns out to be the case, it is a damning indictment of the Justice Department and senior officials within the Department, who learned nothing about the disastrous and deadly effects of compartmentalization which were partially to blame for the success of Islamic terrorists on September 11, 2001. The “wall of separation” created by Clinton-era Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick seems to have been embraced by her successor Eric Holder, who is now the attorney general under Barack Obama.
Bookmark Si Vis Pacem for all the updates, all the time.
Others talking about Fast and Furious: Powerline and Pat Dollard
Linked by The Lonely Conservative – Thanks Karen.
[...] – CONTINUOUSLY UPDATED 2011/07/03 by Yos / Si Vis Pacem 62 Maggie’s Notebook: Fast and Furious: Ken Melson – DOJ Hiding Internal Report: ATF Paid FBI to Ignore Fed Law The plot thickens and widens. To quote Jim Quinn: “High crimes and misdemeanors… mmmm! [...]
Is this gun-running project, the false birth certificate, the dismissal of the Black Panthers voter intimidation case, and so many more – not enough to begin impeachment proceedings?
I do fear the reason it never gets off the ground is because Hussein Barack’s henchmen are frimly in place all over the country, in all important places, so the proceedings don’t even start.
The only thing keeping conservatists hoping is hope in 2012, but hope should NOT be what’s keeping them going, there should be active movements to start impeachment. For, if hope is all they are relegated to – the heavy guns will come from the Democratic side, out the woodwork, out of the silent infrastructure in place – and then it will be too late to save this sinking ship.
Frank recently posted..Modernity in Torah
[...] about the death of conservative blogging. It’s about the biased media, the way they ignore scandals like Operation Fast and Furious when a Democrat controls the White House. It’s about a corrupt government, and corrupt [...]
[...] the death of conservative blogging. It’s about the biased media, the way they ignore scandals like Operation Fast and Furious when a Democrat controls the White House. It’s about a corrupt government, and corrupt unions, [...]
[...] Fast and Furious: Ken Melson – DOJ Hiding Internal Report: ATF Paid FBI to Ignore Federal Law [...]
[...] Fast and Furious: Ken Melson – DOJ Hiding Internal Report: ATF Paid FBI to Ignore Federal Law [...]