Wednesday night on Politics Nation, Katherine Eban of Fortune magazine threw a major stumbling block into the GOP’s much-ballyhooed Fast and Furious investigation, in which Republicans are seeking to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt.
For her Fortune story, published Wednesday, Eban reviewed 2,000 pages of confidential documents and interviewed 39 people who could shed light on allegations that guns bought by ATF-surveilled “straw purchasers” wound up in the holsters of Mexican drug lords.
“There was no effort to get more guns to the straw purchasers,” Eban said in an interview with host Al Sharpton, summarizing her findings. “The ATF agents in question did everything that they could to seize guns, and basically prosecutors determined that they didn’t have grounds under the laws as written to seize most of the guns that wound up flowing ultimately to criminals; that is a far cry from guns being walked.”
Eban told Sharpton that the only ATF agent who deliberately conducted a gun-running operation was John Dodson, who acted as the prime whistle-blower and witness in Republican hearings on the program.
“The agents and the prosecutors say they were following the laws as written,” Eban added. “It’s not a question of throwing the laws aside. That’s not what occurred. Nor was it the case that there was actually a tactical plan to let the guns walk.”
This reporter sounded an alarm that something isn’t right here. The NRA absolutely should not be welding power in a Congressional inquiry. How dare they threaten our elected officials with their black marks. I could understand if it was a vote on guns, but this inquiry goes far beyond their scope.
Congress ought to discipline the NRA and stopthe Gotcha politics. I can see now that this will turn into another political circus. How sad. Poor commentary on American politics.
So what are they going to do? Fire Holder? Put him in jail? Lock him out of the Justice Dept? What are the consequences?
Funny how all of her interviews are with PRO-govt interviewees. And how did she get access to “confidential” papers? Why no interviews with the whistle blowers that were told to ignore the gun walking?
Interesting that the article follows the government line almost word for word.
But lets say that she’s right. 100%.
Why is the DOJ stonewalling? Why isn’t it crowing to the rooftops? Oh, that’s right. We have testimony and evidence that contradicts this article.
Also, given that it starts with this complete falsehood, “No federal statute outlaws firearms trafficking, so agents must build cases using a patchwork of often toothless laws.”, you know that its going to be a doozy.
That statement will be a surprise to the gun traffickers sitting in federal prison. ITAR(International Traffic in Arms Regulations – which does prohibit arms export without a Federal license – is part of the Code of Federal Regulations!
It’s a regulation, not a statute, so despite it still being illegal, they say “no statute” to make the reader think it’s perfectly legal. Also if there were no federal laws against trafficking, then why did the ATF publish a study in 2000: Following the Gun: Enforcing Federal Laws Against Firearm Traffickers
Federal law prohibits straw purchases by criminalizing the making of false statements to an FFL about a material fact on ATF Form 4473, or presenting false identification in connection with the firearm purchase. Two federal statutes – 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6) and 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(1)(A) – are the primary laws under which straw purchases are prosecuted.
First, 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6) prohibits any person:
[I]n connection with the acquisition or attempted acquisition of any firearm or ammunition from a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector, knowingly to make any false or fictitious oral or written statement or to furnish or exhibit any false, fictitious, or misrepresented identification, intended or likely to deceive such importer, manufacturer, dealer, or collector with respect to any fact material to the lawfulness of the sale or other disposition of such firearm or ammunition.
Subject to limited exceptions, 18 U.S.C. § 924(a)(1)(A) imposes criminal penalties, such as fines and imprisonment, upon any person who:
[K]nowingly makes any false statement or representation with respect to the information required by [federal firearms law] to be kept in the records of a person licensed under [federal firearms law] or in applying for any license or exemption or relief from disability under the provisions of [federal firearms law].
These false statements or representations are punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and up to 10 years in prison
If Dodson was such a rogue, why isn’t HE front and center in front of Congress, brought by the ATF?
Furthermore, the author states that that other agencies within the Department of Justice — including the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Agency — were involved in the program, and were tracking the guns through the cartel networks via paid informants, without the knowledge of the ATF agents on the ground. So…those informants were useless since almost 2000 guns were lost. AND those guns were STILL INSIDE MEXICO. Why weren’t the Mexicans and the ATF agents with them notified?
So, according to her…it wasn’t the ATF allowing the guns to walk. It was the US attorneys. Also Obama appointees in the DOJ and under Holder. How is this better?
She had five agents contradict other agents. So this is he said – they said. Her article is more proof that all the documents need to be released so that the oversight committees can sort this out.
So, a low level ATF only operation run from a field office that was completely unknown to higher level ATF or DOJ officials somehow had interagency cooperation?
As a counterpoint, there’s a book out by Katie Pavlich that does a good job: http://www.regnery.com/books/fastandfurious.html
A summary of an excerpt: THOUGH U.S. ATTORNEY Dennis Burke and Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley – both employees of Obama-appointed Attorney General Eric Holder, who has had an antagonistic relationship with the truth regarding Fast and Furious (pp. 129, 132–3, 150, 154, etc.) – ensured that cartel purchases from involuntarily deputized Phoenix gun shops remained monitored, they actively prevented agents from “interdicting weapons” that were en route to Mexico, and the relevant criminal cases were dropped as soon as the suspects and their newly–acquired weapons crossed the border (p. 42).
As dealers began voicing concern to the ATF over the guns the agency had tasked them with selling to cartel-related buyers, they were reassured that “guns weren’t being sent over the border and into Mexico” (pp. 56-58), and the DOJ publicly claimed that ATF “has never knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to suspected gunrunners” (p. 81). In one case, a cartel buyer requested five times the number of 9mm firearms that a gun store had in stock. When the dealer reached out to the ATF to request guidance, he was told to order the additional guns and make the sale.
From
http://www.redstate.com/jeff_emanuel/2012/05/11/fast-and-furious-barack-obama%E2%80%99s-bloodiest-scandal-and-its-shameless-cover-up/
So while that article is a thoroughly researched piece of work…..its not the final word. There is way to much counter evidence. But…hey, its got nice…… timing.
Here’s a pretty good summary of the whole mess from an apparently non-political source
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-fast-and-furious-2012-6
NO, it isn’t the final word. It IS another point of view.
I would feel better about all of this if the committee Chair wasn’t headed it up by someone who made a certain speech at the NRA convention. I have poor regard for that organization.
Seriously Cargo, this is all purely political. It always has been. It sort of reminds me of Watergate and how it was handled.
Something else suspicious is the length of time the far right has been trying to push this situation to the forefront. I have been observing without comment. Usually if things are not politically motivated, they surface all by themselves. It wasn’t until the Congressional hearings and inquiries that much attention was paid.
I maintain it is real gotcha politics. It has all the right ingredients. The fun part is going to be to watch the House get the Senate involved. It wont happen. There are a few more grown ups on the Senate side.
After listening to IS
Just out of curiosity, why would ISSA involve himself with the NRA?
Its taken a long time because no one wanted to take this political hot potato and the media didn’t want anything to tarnish Obama.
Heck, if Obama had NOT declared executive privilege, the media would still be bypassing this story, contempt vote or not. Its dragged on because the assorted bureaucrats have not cooperated.
This is the type of cooperation Holder’s been offering. Here’s his last minute “deal”
Second, it is patent that Congress has been given the bare minimum, if that, that Holder thinks he can get away with. Just look at what happened yesterday, detailed in this report from the Washington Examiner. After preposterously maintaining for weeks that the committee had already been provided with every relevant document, yesterday, in a desperate attempt to stave off the contempt vote, the Justice Department suddenly located “stacks of documents” relevant to the case that DOJ officials said they were willing to show congressional staffers … but only on the condition that (a) Congress could not keep copies of the documents, (b) Congress’s investigators would not even be permitted to take notes about what is in the documents, and (c) Congress would have to buy a pig in a poke: the contempt vote would need to be cancelled before any documents could be viewed, even under these absurd restrictions.
Having been lied to and strung along for months, Issa and the committee wisely said, “No deal.”
http://pjmedia.com/andrewmccarthy/2012/06/28/what-if-they-held-a-contempt-party-and-nobody-came/
Because the NRA defends certain values and beliefs that ISSA also holds. There’s nothing wrong with being “involved” with the NRA. Until recently, the NRA was the only organization to defend the right to keep and bear arms.
Contempt charges in the HOUSE
http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN/
Currently Pelosi is rambling.
I’ve already detected 2 lies in 5 minutes. oops…3 …4….
A truth! She just said that “we don’t take our responsibilities here seriously, and that includes the Constitution.”
And now she’s saying that if this contempt vote passes, “today its AG Holder, tomorrow it can be ANYONE….”
Dingell is STILL trying to tie this to Bush. Sad.
Not Dingell….Elijah Cummings
The Democrats just walked off the floor. NO vote for them.
@Cargosquid
The Bush people should have been brought in to testify. You don’t know what happened. You were not there. Why do you fear them testifying? Why is it sad?
I think it is sad that the chairman of this committee already ran it through at the NRA convention where he was a speaker. Conflict of interest? Yeeeaaaaa.
These people make me literally sick with their stupid ass conspiracy theory. Yup. Here comes Obama to round up all the guns and he is using Holder to do it.
What planet are these people on. Obama has not mentioned guns.
I don’t have a problem with the Bush people being brought it, but that testimony would be irrelevant to the current crisis. Wide Receiver ended in 2007. F&F started in 2009. Holder even told Issa that the two programs were not connected. So, what would be the point? The only similarities between the programs is that guns were moved. Under Bush, though, they made attempts to track them, used Mexican law enforcement, and closed it quickly when it proved unworkable. Not so much under GunWalker.
It was mentioned at the Convention because it was already being investigated by journalists, finally brought to Congress, and it was a topic of discussion. How is talking about this a conflict of interest?
Issa has NOT said anything about Holder or Obama being behind this except to state that the MOTIVE behind F&F was to provide evidence of gun running to the American public and thus to create a public demand for more gun control. WHICH HAS BEEN DOCUMENTED by CBS. And the ATF did call for more gun registration. What he has said is that he wants to know who the ultimate authority for the program was…Melson said it was not him. but there are documents stating that higher ups in DOJ knew about it.
If you saw Dingell’s speech, I agree with him. Let’s have an open, bipartisan hearing. But the contempt vote still goes until Justice complies with the legal authority of oversight.
What Obama has said is that he is working on it under the radar. He knows that gun control legislature is dead in the water, so he uses regulatory agencies….like the ATF, that just made their regulations tighter.
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/05/25/obama-were-working-on-gun-control-under-the-radar/
There are members of Congess that still want to increase gun control, up to and including banning the 2nd amendment.
Yea, he blamed them.
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-TV/2012/04/16/WATCH-Derrell-Issa-Speaks-To-NRA
If he is heading up a committee then he needs to put forth a professional appearance, even if it is fake. Why is he speaking to the NRA? The same NRA whose leader is spreading conspiracy theories….
Again, it just makes me sick. Gotcha. Gotcha Gotcha.
I want to see ISSA talk the sEnate into finding him guilty.
There is no evidence whatsoever to support the Republicans’ claim that the Obama administration allowed guns to walk.
Here’s Grassley’s reply to the Fortune article:
M E M O R A N D U M
To: Reporters and Editors
Re: Fortune magazine piece on Fast and Furious
Da: Thursday, June 28, 2012
The Fortune magazine piece on Operation Fast and Furious is problematic in several respects. Sen. Chuck Grassley began investigating the circumstances of the death of border patrol agent Brian Terry 18 months ago after whistleblowers came to him with concerns. The following statement is from Grassley’s office. Supporting documents are available here.
“The Fortune piece conspicuously ignores the most important fact in this case: ATF encouraged cooperating dealers to sell guns to known traffickers. That fact is key to understanding how ATF made a strategic choice to track the guns instead of stop them. The central claim of the article, that there was nothing ATF could have done to stop the illegal sales, is simply incompatible with the evidence. If it is true that ATF could not interdict and seize weapons due to legal hurdles beyond its control, then ATF had no business telling gun dealers to go ahead with the sales.
“The Fortune article asks the reader to believe that sworn statements by whistleblowers who put their careers on the line to expose the truth for Brian Terry’s family are merely conspiratorial fabrications for the sole purpose of getting back at their boss. It asks the reader to believe that the ATF Director, the Attorney General, the White House, and Congress all fell victim to the fabrication and completely misinterpreted or misunderstood the thousands of pages of documents that corroborate the whistleblower allegations. The Justice Department retracted its previous denials of those allegations last December 2. If the Fortune article is accurate, the Justice Department’s December 2 retraction would itself be a false capitulation under political pressure aimed at protecting senior DOJ officials at the expense of ATF field office personnel in Arizona.
“The Fortune article inexplicably credits the self-serving statements of the supervisors in Arizona responsible for overseeing Fast and Furious. There is no explanation as to why, given their obvious motive to claim there was no gun-walking to save themselves from criticism and punishment. That’s why the written records, the interviews on the record, and obtaining and weighing all evidence is so important. We can only draw fair, informed conclusions from the fact.
I just watched your video. He did not accuse Obama of anything. He accused the administration and Holder of obstruction. NOT originating F&F. He’s trying to find out who did.
He is speaking to people who care about the subject and who care enough to push for the investigation. He said absolutely nothing improper or unprofessional.
I can’t make you get concerned over the cross pollination. It obviously is ok to you for him to be speaking to oan outside group about an on-going government sanctioned inquiry. That bothers me.
He bothers me. I have no respect for the NRA for starters. I feel it is over the top.
@Starryflights
Well, except for the 1000 + guns that are in the hands of cartels by only 4 straw purchasers. Guns sold to them on the express orders of the ATF. And the sworn testimony of ATF agents involved in the case.
So, if the ATF is part of the Obama administration….yes. It did. Someone in the administration thought this idea up and implemented it.
It’s a shame that the Democrat Black Caucus is more worried about Holder than about a) Congressional prerogatives b) the death of over 200 people directly connected to the case c) than actually staying to vote to defend him….
No one batted an eye over the 200 or so who died in the desert in a border crossing. No one cares about the drone killings around the world. Could it be that these deaths don’t help their political gotcha goals?
I have never heard one ounce of sympathy for those people who come here from Mexico to escape the violence that is part of their every day life. Why? It isn’t politically helpful to anyone here.
Please don’t boo hoo over the 200 Mexicans who were supposedly killed with gunwalker guns. how on earth is that different from being killed with the guns smuggled and brought into Mexico by the drug cartel folks? You know, those folks that Hillary talked about and Jan Napolitano talked about.
The violence being assisted by the ATF…hmm…isn’t someone trying to get to the bottom of that?
Those that cross over…do it to themselves. I seem to remember many people trying to stop that…..
Those being killed by drones are part of a war.
Those killed by guns NOT supplied by the US gov’t are not our responsibility. The Mexican authorities(well, kinda.) and ours are trying to stop that.
Those killed by American arms supplied by the US government, used by criminals, are crimes that we absolutely did not have to be involved in.
So, since we don’t “boo hoo” over A), its perfectly ok for us to not worry over B). We don’t need to find out anything at all because it might do….what? Make the GOP look bad? You don’t care about that. Find out who was responsible and maybe tarnish the current Administration. Oooooooh…that’s it. Can’t make Holder look incompetent or corrupt. Especially since he does that all by himself quite well.
I don’t believe we are at war with Afghanistan or with women and children…re drones. I am not losing sleep over it either but why do we get to single out one group of people needlessly killed from another?
Tell me again how we know which gun killed whom with those Mexicans who were killed? Is there documentation of that?
There is enough gun smuggling across the border to arm a munitions factor and then some. There are guns smuggled every where.
I just think it is totally hypocritical to boo hoo over people killed by American guns. How about all those New Yorkers who will be killed soon because of the gun running done out of Virginia? You know, back in the day before the one hand gun a month law? We will return to those days if we haven’t already. Americans? Mexicans? Does it really matter if guns are being smuggled.
I know…you want to exercise your 2A rights regardless of how many criminals can now get their hands on Virginia weapons. Worry about New Yorkers a little. They want a turn.
There were firearms left at the scenes. Cartel members drop them before retreating so that they will not be caught with weapons if police stop them.
The majority of Mexican cartel guns are purchased by the container load from other sources than the US and from the Mexican authorities that either sell them or defect to the cartels.
And the time to crime study on Virginia guns in New York…. Years. Its a myth that there is a huge number of guns from Virginia found at crime scenes. Of course, for a gun to be an illegal gun in New York means it just has to be owned by an otherwise law abiding citizen.
I do worry about New Yorkers. They should be allowed to exercise the same rights that we do here.
Weeeeelllllll….looky here….
More interesting people. Apparently gun walking is a time honored tradition.
http://www.examiner.com/article/report-points-to-clinton-era-gunwalking