Obama Administration - BATFE - Mexico - Fast & Furious Scandal

The Obama Administration Attempting To Subvert American's Second Amendment Rights?

5/4/12 Issa releases blistering memo supporting Holder contempt citation. House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa has issued a blistering memorandum detailing his case for issuing a Contempt of Congress citation against Attorney General Eric Holder for the Justice Department’s stonewalling and cover-up on the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious. The memorandum alleges that, “For over a year, the Department has issued false denials, given answers intended to misdirect investigators, sought to intimidate witnesses, unlawfully withheld subpoenaed documents, and waited to be confronted with indisputable evidence before acknowledging uncomfortable facts.”

• 3/30/12 Lawmakers push to interview ex-White House aide in 'Fast and Furious' Two top Republican lawmakers investigating the Fast and Furious controversy are demanding the White House make a former aide available for testimony to see whether the scandal reached the upper echelons of the administration
• 3/19/12 Gun-tracking operation caught top suspect, then let him go. Federal agents stopped the main target of the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious in May 2010. After they questioned him, he disappeared back into Mexico, and the program went on to spiral out of control.
• 3/17/12 Friday Document Dump: Holder - DOJ Play Dirty Trick on Oversight Again. In what has become a pattern, Attorney General Eric Holder dumped more documents related to Operation Fast and Furious on congressional investigators late Friday.
• 2/15/12 Issa takes step toward holding Holder in contempt of Congress. On Tuesday Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the House committee on Oversight and Government Reform, took a major step toward holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for his failure to provide subpoenaed documents and other information about Operation Fast and Furious.
• 2/8/12 Holder tells Congress the Obama administration wants to ban guns Last Thursday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder appeared before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to answer questions about his role in the deadly “Fast and Furious” gun-running scandal.
• 2/2/12 Gowdy repeats call for Holder to resign ‘the easy way,’ or be impeached ‘the hard way’ South Carolina Republican Rep. Trey Gowdy reaffirmed his call for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation “the easy way,” or impeachment “the hard way”
• 2/2/12 Holder: No cover-up in 'Fast and Furious,' no effort to hide details of the operation Attorney General Eric Holder vigorously denied a "cover-up" by the Justice Department over "Operation Fast and Furious," telling a House panel investigating the botched gun-running program that he has nothing to hide and suggesting the probe is a "political" effort to embarrass the administration.

1/31/12 Democrats Fully Engaged in Fast and Furious Coverup. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are officially trying to cover for Attorney General Eric Holder just before he testifies on Thursday about Operation Fast and Furious, with anti-Second Amendment Ranking Member Elijah Cummings leading the way. Last night, Cummings released a 95 page waste of paper and taxpayer money report, alleging that top Justice Department officials did not authorize the program, despite evidence showing otherwise. The report tries to pin the blame back on a few "rogue" managers in the ATF Phoenix Field Division. This is the same argument we've heard since the beginning of the scandal: it was a local operation, nobody important knew anything.

• 1/31/12 Issa Demands Access to Second US Attorney who Supervised Operation Fast and Furious. WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa demanded in letter to Attorney General Holder that the Justice Department make Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office Assistant United States Attorney Michael Morrissey available to speak with Committee investigators about his role in and knowledge of Operation Fast and Furious. His supervisor, Patrick Cunningham, has stated he will exercise his Fifth Amendment and refuse to answer any questions pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious
• 1/27/12 Justice Dept. Turns Over Docs in Fast and Furious. The documents on Breuer were among 486 pages of material turned over to the House committee chaired by Republican Rep. Darrell Issa of California.
• 1/27/12 DOJ dodges, won’t say if Holder knew ‘Fast and Furious’ gun killed border guard. The documents sent from the DOJ to congressional officials Friday night included a series of emails between former Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke and Holder’s then-deputy chief of staff Monty Wilkinson.
• 1/13/12 Attorney General Holder to Testify Feb. 2 on DOJ’s Response to Operation Fast and Furious. WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa today announced that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been scheduled to testify on February 2 about the Department of Justice's knowledge of, and response to, gunwalking that occurred in Operation Fast and Furious.
• 1/19/12 Issa Subpoenas Criminal Division Chief from Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office WASHINGTON, DC – House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) today announced the issuance of a subpoena to Patrick J. Cunningham, Chief of the Criminal Division in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona.
• 1/5/12 Holder facing further ‘Fast and Furious’ grilling. A major focus of the hearing is expected to include what Mr. Issa has described as the Justice Department’s “steadfast refusal” to disclose information following a Feb. 4 letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley
• 12/22/11 Lieberman directs staff to examine Fast and Furious coordination Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman has directed the staff of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, which he chairs, to examine miscommunication between law enforcement agencies related to the Justice Department’s Operation Fast and Furious.
• 12/17/11 75 cosponsors sign House resolution of ‘no confidence’ in AG Eric Holder Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar’s office announced on Thursday morning that it has 75 cosponsors on its House of Representatives resolution of “no confidence” in Attorney General Eric Holder’s ability to serve.
• 12/12/11 Holder may be holding on to private emails about Fast and Furious A largely overlooked exchange from Thursday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing includes what appears to be an admission from Attorney General Eric Holder that emails to and from him about Operation Fast and Furious may exist
• 12/8/11 Eric Holder, "Have you no shame?" Grilled on Gun Inquiry, Says He Won’t Resign. Mr. Holder denied the allegations and declared that he would not resign. Mr. Holder had testified about Fast and Furious on three prior occasions, and the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee produced few revelations. But it was the most politically charged session yet

12/8/11 Oversight Hearing - AG Holder argues the definition of lying and more.

 

• 12/7/11 Documents: ATF used "Fast and Furious" to make the case for gun regulations Documents obtained by CBS News show that the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) discussed using their covert operation "Fast and Furious" to argue for controversial new rules about gun sales.
• 12/2/11 Top officials sent false Fast and Furious denials False denials the Justice Department sent to Congress about the Fast and Furious gun-running investigation came from top officials at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona
• 12/1/11 'Fast and Furious' Whistleblowers Struggle Six Months After Testifying Against ATF Program Six months ago, several agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stood before Congress to testify about the details of a U.S. government program that armed Mexico's largest drug cartel
• New Emails: DOJ-Holder Manipulated Press For Favorable "Fast & Furious" Coverage. Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department sought to manipulate reporters’ coverage of Operation Fast and Furious during the days preceding a November 1 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing

• 11/15/11 Holder pushes back against GOP lawmakers over Fast and Furious. Attorney General Eric Holder is trying to get in front of the Fast and Furious controversy that has led to calls from conservatives for his resignation.
• 11/12/11 House Republican demands more 'Fast and Furious' information. One day after Attorney General Eric Holder admitted to a Senate panel the Department of Justice had sent "inaccurate"
• 11/9/11 Holder Refuses To Apologize For Murder Of Border Agent; Says Fast & Furious Didn't Lead To Death. Attorney General Eric Holder has not apologized to the family of Brian Terry, the U.S. Border Patrol agent murdered by a weapon used in the Fast & Furious operation now being investigated.
• 11/9/11 Grassley: Holder Either Lying or Incompetent.
• 11/3/11 More Guns Provided Through Fast and Furious Found in Arizona Raid. While Sheriff Babeu and his deputies are doing their best to fight these cartels with limited resources, the Obama Justice Department has been arming the enemy with weapons Babeu’s deputies don’t even have.
• Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer Blames Second Amendment For ATF/DOJ Gun Walking Mistakes. It looks like someone, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, is falling on a sword, and that sword happens to be Eric Holder’s.
• Napolitano and Clinton ‘Gunwalker’ reactions simply not credible. “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told lawmakers Thursday that she had not been notified by the Justice Department about a botched, international gun-tracking program has been linked to the death of a Border Patrol agent,”
• Video 11/1/11 Justice Dept. Knew About 'Gun Walking' Ops in April 2010 Documents Reveal DOJ Knew of Early 'Gunwalking'
• 10/27/11 Napolitano Grilled Over ‘Fast and Furious,’ Likens Hearing to Cross Examination House Republicans on Wednesday turned their sharp questioning over "Operation Fast and Furious" toward Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who acknowledged her agents were twice told to "stand down" in deference to what she called a "very troublesome" operation. Napolitano, at one point likening the questioning to a cross-examination, said repeatedly she only learned of "Fast and Furious" after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in December.
• 10/19/11 GOP Reps Directly Press Obama on Fast and Furious. Republican Reps. Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Trey Gowdy of South Carolina fired off a letter to Barack Obama last Friday demanding to know what the president knew about Operation Fast and Furious and when he knew it.
• 10/18/11 Holder on Hot Seat for Fast & Furious Documents.The Fast and Furious scandal may be the final undoing of Obama Attorney General Eric Holder.
• 10/17/11 ‘Fast & Furious’: How a botched operation spawned fatal results. “Attorney General Holder has failed to give Congress and the American people an honest account of what he and other senior Justice Department officials knew about gunwalking and Operation Fast and Furious,” Mr. Issa said. “The lack of candor and honesty from our nation’s chief law enforcement officials in this matter is deeply disturbing.
• 10/14/11 NRA's LaPierre: 'Fast and Furious' Was Plot Against Second Amendment. LaPierre said that President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were determined to make it appear that most weapons used by the Mexicans came from north of the border, “so they could stick more gun legislation on honest American gun owners of the United States.” Read more on Newsmax.com: NRA's LaPierre: 'Fast and Furious' Was Plot Against Second Amendment
• 10/14/11 In Holder Subpoena, Issa Also Probes White House Press Aide. A little-noticed provision of the subpoena targets the White House, specifically naming Eric Schultz, a communications aide.
• 10/14/11 Video: Obama Spoke About "Fast & Furious" Before Holder Claimed He Knew.

 

• 10/12/11 Issa Issues Subpoena to Holder in Fast and Furious Investigation. "Top Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Holder, know more about Operation Fast and Furious than they have publicly acknowledged,"
• 10/11/11 Issa to Holder: “You Own Fast and Furious” the Department of Justice has been lying to Congress ever since the inquiry into Fast and Furious began
• 10/7/11 Rep Labrador Calls for Resignation of Attorney General Holder Over Testimony Discrepancies. “He cannot avoid responsibility for his involvement with a government program that directly led to the tragic death of a decorated U.S. Border Patrol agent."

10/4/11 Congress Asks W.H. For Special Prosecutor. House Republicans are calling for a special counsel to determine whether Attorney General Eric Holder misled Congress during his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on Operation Fast and Furious, Fox News has learned. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, was sending a letter to President Obama on Tuesday arguing that Holder cannot investigate himself, and requesting the president instruct the Department of Justice to appoint a special counsel.

 

• 10/4/11 Documents Suggest A.G. Holder Lied to Congress. The documents seem to contradict what Holder told a House Judiciary Committee on May 3
• 10/3/11 Furiously Unraveling. It's time for politicians on both sides of the aisle to demand answers from Justice and the White House
• 9/29/11 "Fast And Furious" Just Might Be President Obama's Watergate. Must read! This is an excellent summary to date.
• 9/27/11 Senator Grassley Interview: Justice Dept - White House knew of Cover up.

9/26/11 Blockbuster! U.S. Government Bought and Sold Weapons During 'Fast and Furious,' Not only did U.S. officials approve, allow and assist in the sale of more than 2,000 guns to the Sinaloa cartel -- the federal government used taxpayer money to buy semi-automatic weapons, sold them to criminals and then watched as the guns disappeared. This disclosure, revealed in documents obtained by Fox News, could undermine the Department of Justice's previous defense that Operation Fast and Furious was a "botched" operation where agents simply "lost track" of weapons as they were transferred from one illegal buyer to another

 

• 9/21/11 Rep Issa: “The [Obama] administration wanted to show that guns found in Mexico came from the United States.”
• 9/15/2011 3 more murders linked to Gunwalker. Weapons linked to ATF's controversial "Fast and Furious" operation have been tied to at least eight violent crimes in Mexico

9/12/11 Congress expands Fast and Furious probe to White House. Congressional investigators reviewing the failed gun-tracking program Operation Fast and Furious have formally asked the Obama administration to turn over copies of "all records" involving three key White House national security officials and the program, other ATF gun cases in Phoenix, and all communications between the White House and the ATF field office in Arizona. A White House official said that "no one at the White House knew about the investigative tactics being used in the operation, let alone any decision to let guns walk."

 

• 9/9/11 Investigators confirm violent AZ crime associated with ATF Fast and Furious Case The AK-47 is linked to the Fast and Furious case, according to the ATF.
• 9/7/11 ATF Gunwalker case to be transferred out of Arizona. Fast and Furious will now be prosecuted in San Diego instead of Phoenix.
• 9/2/11 White House received emails about Fast and Furious gun-trafficking operation. Agent Newell caught lying to Oversight Committee.
• 9/2/11 Cover-up in ATF gunwalker case? Congressional investigators tell CBS News there's evidence the U.S. Attorney's office in Arizona sought to cover up

2011 - The Scandal Heats up.

• 8/30/11 ATF Director Reassigned; U.S. Attorney Out Amid 'Fast and Furious' Uproar. The moves follow a series of reports by Fox News detailing the face-off between Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa
• 8/17/11 Senator Blasts ATF’s Reported Promotion of Supervisors in Ill-Fated Gun Operation. The BATFE promoted three key supervisors of Operation Fast and Furious.
• 8/17/11 Guns From 'Fast and Furious' Sting Linked to 11 More Violent Crimes
• 8/11/11 Senator Cornyn demands answers on gun probe. Mr. Cornyn, in the letter, said the Justice Department had been “less than forthcoming”
• 7/27/11 Bombshell: White House Knew About ATF Gunrunning Scandal. Did the White House knowingly let guns fall into the hands of criminals to make the case for more liberal gun laws?
• 7/26/11 ATF AGENT SAYS 4 FEDERAL AGENCIES WERE FULL PARTNERS IN FAST & FURIOUS - While Congressman Patrick Meehan was questioning an ATF Special Agent involved in Fast & Furious, that agent openly admitted multi-agency cooperation in the operation. (see video below)

 

• 7/26/11 ATF Accused in Congressional Report of 'Arming' Cartel for 'War' U.S. officials kept lying to fellow agents in Mexico
• 7/21/11 ATF sought to downplay guns scandal, emails show. bureau officials discussed what steps to take to throw Grassley and congressional investigators off the trail.
• 7/19/11 Justice Department trying to shield officials in guns scandal, ATF chief says. "The deputy attorney general's office wasn't very happy with us" at the ATF, Melson said
• 7/15/11 Justice Department Tampering with Witnesses? It’s becoming increasingly difficult for Holder to claim — as he has all along – that he didn’t know about the operation until it blew up in his face.
• 7/14/11 Operation Fast and Furious: Designed to Promote Gun Control. Townhall has obtained the email which states "Can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same FfL and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales.
• 7/13/11 Republicans seek documents related to Fast and Furious gun scandal. Congressional Republicans ask the attorney general's office to hand over emails and other material to determine the Obama administration's role in the operation that allowed U.S. semiautomatic weapons to flow to Mexican drug cartels.
• 7/8/11 ATF Director Testifies on Operation Targeting Gun Smugglers "DOJ made me do it"

7/6/11 ATF Director Melson - "DOJ is obstructing the investigation." Ken Melson, the acting director of the ATF, lobbed the accusation when he sneaked in for an interview with congressional investigators on July 4. "If his account is accurate, then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand," Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Eric Holder. "That approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation."

 

• 7/1/11 House Panel Members Joust Over Border Gun Program. Republicans and Democrats on the House oversight committee this week intensified their efforts to shape the narrative surrounding Operation Fast and Furious
• 6/30/11 Obama Talks "Gunrunner" Scandal Mr. Obama answered, "My attorney general has made clear that he certainly would not have ordered gun running to be able to pass through into Mexico.
• 6/20/11 "Gunrunner" continues to develop, here is an excellent summary to date.
• 6/17/11 Rep Issa implicates Director of BATFE in 'Gunrunner' Scandal The chairman of the House Oversight Committee released copies of redacted emails on Wednesday

 

• 6/16/11 Democrats try to channel scandal into gun control push the gun control comments Wednesday indicate they may be preparing to chart a new course: embracing the controversy and using it for their own political purposes.
• 6/15/11 House Panel Releases Scathing Report on 'Fast and Furious' Gun Operation, Sure to Anger Mexico
• 6/14/11 'Gunwalker' subpoena dispute escalates ATF agents say they were ordered to allow thousands of weapons to be sold to suspected suppliers for Mexico's drug cartels.
• 6/8/11 House Democrats Urge President to End Stonewalling on "Gunrunner" Today, 31 U.S. House members -- all Democrats -- wrote to President Barack Obama, urging him to end Administration stonewalling on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' "Project Gunrunner," and the "Fast and Furious" program under which border state dealers were encouraged to sell thousands of guns to suspicious buyers.

2011 - The Scandal Develops.

• 5/31/11 Is the U.S. Government Arming Mexican Cartels? "Most of the M16s were sold legally to the Mexican government and disappeared," Kartchner added.

5/6/2011 Three Men Charged In Murder Of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry; Questions Over U.S. Program Linger. Weapons recovered near Terry's body have been linked to an investigative program run by Justice Department officials aimed at Mexican cartels and their gun-traffickers. The investigation in Arizona was dubbed "Operation Fast and Furious," and it was part of a broader effort called "Project Gunrunner," launched in 2009 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The plan was to follow suspected straw buyers to see if they would illegally traffic guns and, ultimately, lead investigators to the heads of the enterprise. But hundreds of high-powered rifles and other guns ended up in Mexico, and self-described whistleblowers now accuse ATF of letting the guns "walk" to Mexico even after safety concerns were raised.

• 4/14/11ATF knew risks in border operation Instructed Arizona gun dealer to engage in ‘suspicious sales’ despite concerns
• 3/3/11 ATF Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico. Agent Dodson and other sources say the gun walking strategy was approved all the way up to the Justice Department. The idea was to see where the guns ended up, build a big case and take down a cartel. And it was all kept secret from Mexico.

 

2010 BATFE Uses Mexican Violence As Reason To Backdoor Anti-2A Legislation - Calderon Continues His Full Court Press on The Obama Administration To Renew AWB Ban - Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry Murdered.

• 12/15/10 Agent Agent Brian Terry Shot in Back with AK-47 During Gunfight. "They said he shot one of them, and then one came up behind him and shot him in the back with an AK-47,"
• 9/21/10 U.S. bid to stem flow of weapons to Mexico cartels misfires ATF was failing to share intelligence about illegal gun trafficking with other U.S. law enforcement agencies
• 2/10/11NRA: Please act immediately to block ATF Long Gun Reporting! If you’re one of the nearly 71 million Americans who live in the four southwest border states, some of your gun purchases could soon be reported to the federal government.  And whether you live in one of those states or elsewhere, your help is needed now to stop the federal government’s plan to register Americans’ gun purchases.
• 1/7/11ATF request to require multiple sales reports for long guns delayed. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is moving to require federally licensed firearms retailers to report multiple sales of modern sporting rifles beginning January 5, 2011

5/20/10 Calderón Calls for Restoring Assault Weapons Ban. On the gun question, Mr. Calderón said: “We have seized 75,000 guns and assault weapons in Mexico in the past three years, and more than 80 percent of those we have been able to trace came from the United States.” He said it did not seem coincidental that violence in Mexico had begun to grow in 2006, not long after the weapons ban expired in the United States. Drug-related killings are estimated to have approached 23,000 since Mr. Calderón began a war on trafficking that year.

• 5/17/10 Is the Flow of U.S. Weapons to Mexican Drug Cartels Increasing Under Obama? ATF has been tracing weapons seized in Mexico with time-to-crime numbers that in some cases are as low as weeks or even days

2009 Obama Administration - Hillary Clinton - Mexican President Calderon Blame American Gun Owners For Mexican Violence.

4/19/09 Obama Repeats '90 Percent' Stat for U.S. Guns Recovered in Mexico. "This war is being waged with guns purchased not here, but in the United States. More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States, many from gun shops that line our shared border," the president said.

• 4/12/09 Mexico: U.S. Supplies 90% Of Cartel's Guns. The key issue, Sarukhan reiterated on CBS News' on Face The Nation Sunday, is to stop the flow of U.S. firearms and cash, "which is providing drug cartels in Mexico with the wherewithal to corrupt, to bribe, to kill.
• 4/2/09 The Myth of 90 Percent: Only a Small Fraction of Guns in Mexico Come From U.S. There's just one problem with the 90 percent "statistic" and it's a big one: It's just not true.
• 4/2/09 US targets gun flows into Mexico in bid to stem drug violence. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder are meeting with their Mexican counterparts today in the city of Cuernavaca.

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