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Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit pursued against the Department of Justice by government watchdog Judicial Watch, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled documents being withheld from Congress under President Obama's claim of executive privilege must be turned over. Obama made the claim on the same day Attorney General Eric Holder was voted in criminal and civil contempt of Congress in June 2012. "This order forces the Obama DOJ, for the first time, to provide a detailed listing of all documents that it has withheld from Congress and the American people for...

National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea noted last week that a new General Accounting Office report has found that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lacks the resources to effectively investigate one of their highest stated priorities--firearms in the hands of those prohibited by federal law from having them. Specifically, the GAO report draws the conclusion that the BATFE is unable to efficiently pursue "delayed denial" investigations, in which a person ineligible to own a firearm under federal law is permitted to do so anyway, because the criminal background check did not turn up any disqualifying information in...

U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson was openly irritated both with Attorney General Eric Holder and with the U.S. House of Representatives over whether executive privilege allows Holder to withhold documents on Operation Fast and Furious. But she also signaled she would rule against Holder in part, making it likely that Congress—and the public—could learn the truth about a gun-running scandal that ended with a murdered federal agent. Berman began today’s hearing in Washington, D.C.’s federal district court with an opening statement about this case “concerning the suspected illegal flow of firearms from the United States to Mexican drug cartels.”...

The disappearing act known as the congressional Fast and Furious investigation made a brief return to the stage recently when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder became unhinged during questioning by Representative Louis Gohmert (R). The trigger for his defiance was the mention by Rep. Gohmert of possible contempt charges over the Fast and Furious scandal. The AG’s admonition of “Don’t go there buddy,” started discussion as to why Holder reacted in such a strong manner. Sure, he’s hiding something, or someone, but are the White House, ATF, and the AG the only players? In June 2011, Rep. Darrell Issa’s initial...

Earlier this week the Arizona Republic editorial board published an opinion piece titled, “Dennis Burke should've been celebrated, not sanctioned.” The board portrays the former U.S. Attorney and Operation Fast and Furious ring-leader as a whistleblower and victim rather than holding him accountable for his extensive and reckless actions during his time in office. Consider the following a direct response. Between 2009 and 2011 when Operation Fast and Furious was active, Dennis Burke and his Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley refused to prosecute nearly every straw purchaser case handed to them citing “no probable cause.” One of those straw purchasers...

ATF Meets Congress' Deadline for Fast & Furious Info  Some materials "highly redacted" by Sharyl Attkisson April 1, 2013 Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Director Todd Jones today met a 5 p.m. deadline to provide Congress with some information related to disciplinary action, or lack thereof, against key players involved in ATF’s Fast and Furious gunwalking case. That’s according to an official with the House Oversight Committee who says committee members haven't yet thoroughly reviewed the materials but that they are often “highly redacted.”  Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) set the deadline in a letter...

In the second installation of a three-part series on "gun violence in Mexico," the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) continues to blame the U.S. for gun violence in Mexico, while viewing Fast & Furious as a legitimate attempt at law enforcement which just happened to go wrong. According to NCR, Obama tried to reinstitute an "assault weapons" ban in the U.S. as a way to keep Mexico safer. He also pledged to "keep increasing the pressure on the gun traffickers." NCR claims part of the pressure on traffickers included Operation Fast & Furious, which turned out to be a "botched 2009...

A Mexican man was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison in the December 2010 murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in ATF’s Fast and Furious gunwalking case. Manuel Osorio-Arellanes was wounded at the crime scene and pleaded guilty to first degree murder. Terry's sister, Kelly Terry-Willis told Osorio-Arellanes at the sentencing hearing in federal court in Tucson, Ariz., that he was a coward who had chosen the wrong path in life, the Associated Press reported. She also described her brother as a loving and devoted family man - "a man who loved God and life," according to the...

A man convicted in the shooting death of a federal Border Patrol agent during a firefight that revealed the government's botched gun-smuggling investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious was sentenced Monday to 30 years in prison. Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, who is from El Fuerte in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, is the only person to be convicted in the Dec. 14, 2010, shooting death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry near the Arizona-Mexico border. U.S. District Court judge David C. Bury handed down the sentence, 360 months with credit for time served.

PHOENIX (AP) — A Mexican man has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison in the 2010 killing of a U.S Border Patrol agent that revealed the botched gun-smuggling investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious. #Manuel Osorio-Arellanes was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in Flat Rock native Brian Terry’s shooting death.

Kent Terry, the brother of slain border agent Brian Terry, sent a scathing letter to Attorney General Eric Holder demanding to know why the United States has let years pass without holding anyone accountable for Operation Fast and Furious. In his letter, Mr. Terry wrote, Breitbart.com reported: “Mr. Holder, I am going to get right to the point of this letter. I am not pleased with your behavior as America’s Attorney General. Simply denying that you had no knowledge about Operation Fast and Furious is troubling in itself, but for you to not comply with Congress is even more troubling....

Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in the line of duty while protecting our borders from the onslaught of illegal immigrants and drug smugglers. As such, he should be awarded every honor that is available. That is an established fact. Another fact is that his death helped bring the end to a government gun running operation known as Fast and Furious. He was killed with one of the weapons the Obama administration allowed to "walk" into Mexico, in the hopes the guns could be tracked back to the gangs that purchased them. That was the stated purpose, but I...

On December 14, 2010, Border Agent Brian Terry was shot and killed by drug smugglers north of the Arizona/Mexico border. He was hit once and pronounced dead at the scene. Two rifles from Operation Fast & Furious, an ATF gun walking operation, were recovered from the crime scene.

Documents show that on Dec. 14, 2010, Terry's team was on a hill above a ravine. A ground sensor went off alerting them to the approaching smugglers. When agents yelled "police" in Spanish, the smugglers turned and fired. According to the documents, this happened at 11:08 p.m. Just 52 minutes later, Terry would have been relieved by a second BORTAC team and gone home for Christmas. "I saw some members of the group point their weapons at us," Agent Gabriel Fragoza declared to the court. "Agent Castano and I deployed less lethal bean bag rounds as the individuals began to...

In a new development in the Fast and Furious gunwalking case, the Justice Department's Inspector General (IG) is making inquiries into the possible existence of a missing third weapon in the 2010 murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, CBS News has learned. According to sources close to the investigation, the IG is questioning the Border Patrol’s evidence collection team this week in Tucson, Ariz. The Justice Department, which oversees ATF and the FBI - and which is investigating Terry’s murder - has steadfastly denied the existence of a third gun. Court records have previously only mentioned two weapons: Romanian...

The DEA agents met with members of the cartel in Mexico to obtain information about their rivals and simultaneously built a network of informants who sign drug cooperation agreements, subject to results, to enable them to obtain future benefits, including cancellation of charges in the U.S.," reports El Universal Operation Fast and Furious was part of an agreement to finance and arm the cartel in exchange for information used to take down its rivals. (If true, that re-raises the issue regarding what Attorney General Eric Holder knew about the gun-running arrangements.)

When this case first appeared, at the height of the first exposure of  the Fast and Furious scandal, it was highlighted as an example of smuggling to the Mexican cartels that was *not* a part of the operation.    It might or might not be significant that the BATFE agent quoted in the article is William Newell, who had a significant role in Fast and Furious, and whose testimony before congress became infamous. Now, one of the victims of the prosecution is able to tell a bit of his story.   He was never allowed bail from the time he was...

Lest anyone forget that the Obama administration has yet to fully come clean on the travesty that was Operation Fast and Furious — the not-”botched” but certainly crooked gunrunning scandal in which federal officials pressed American gun dealers into selling more than 2,000 weapons to known cartel smugglers, and then allowed those criminals to funnel the weapons back across the Mexican border with no way of actively tracing them — the results of the administration’s egregiously deficient enterprise are still popping up in the aftermath of deadly violence. Back in August, CBS reported on the unwelcome discovery of three Fast...

If not for Ian Garland’s appeal, he would still be sitting in prison. In what appears to be a gross injustice, Garland, who ran a gun shop near El Paso, Texas, was encouraged by ATF officials to sell weapons to “straw purchasers during the failed Operation Fast and Furious,” and then was arrested and thrown in prison for doing what he was told to do by the government.Thankfully, a federal judge released Garland earlier this month, over the objections of federal prosecutors.Ian Garland was arrested, along with the town’s mayor, Eddie Espinoza, former Columbus Police Chief Angelo Vega, and former village trustee Blas “Woody” Gutierrez, and...

Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) has introduced an Articles of Impeachment resolution against Attorney General Eric Holder for his role in Operation Fast and Furious and other scandals of President Barack Obama’s administration. Seven congressman have signed onto the resolution thus far in addition to Olson. They are Reps. Larry Bucshon (R-IN), Blake Farenthold (R-TX), Phil Roe (R-TN), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), Roger Williams (R-TX), Ted Yoho (R-FL), and Randy Weber (R-TX). The Articles of Impeachment has four different sections. The first calls for Holder’s official removal because of his failure to comply with congressional subpoenas relating to Operation Fast and Furious....