ATF Investigator Smuggled Weapons into Mexico
Excerpt:
A former investigator with the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) is accused of trafficking weapons to Mexico while he was an employee of the bureau in 2017, according to a letter sent to the ATF Director this week by US Senator Charles Grassley.
José Luis Meneses, a Mexican citizen who worked as an investigator for the ATF at the US consulate in Tijuana, BC, Mexico admitted to purchasing firearm parts online as well as at a California gun store and trafficking them to Mexico for the purposes of profit in 2017, according to the letter and a then-agency memo obtained by Reuters. The case has not been reported previously.
The Grassley letter dated Oct. 18, 2023, cites the 2017 ATF memo and information described as “whistleblower disclosures,” accusing the agency of not conducting a full investigation into the matter.
“If these protected disclosures are true and accurate, they illustrate a failure by the ATF to hold its employees accountable for criminal misconduct.”
.....The internal investigation into Meneses began when a firearm parts vendor called the US Consulate in Tijuana to report suspicious purchases, according to Grassley’s letter.
The tip led US officials to interrogate Meneses, who admitted to buying firearm parts in the US, smuggling them into Mexico, and handing them off to his brother, a Mexican police officer, and a former Mexican soldier, according to the ATF memo.
ATF agents from the San Diego office then searched the PO box that Meneses said he used for the purchases, where they found assault-style rifle parts and high-capacity magazines, the memo said.
Meneses used a vehicle with diplomatic plates to avoid being searched at the border while smuggling the firearms, according to the letter. In total, Meneses said he bought enough parts to assemble eight AR-15 rifles, the memo said.
Meneses was placed on administrative leave and then terminated in April 2017, the memo said.
In Grassley’s letter, he accused the agency of treating the allegations of gun smuggling like an “administrative matter” and questioned whether ATF investigated possible links between Meneses or his associates and Mexican cartels.
.....Last week, Grassley sent a a letter to the head of the ATF questioning their stopping of Project Thor which sought to stem the tide of arms trafficking to Mexico last year, and requesting documents related to that operation.
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Shades of Fast and Furious. Not surprising given the occupant in DC. ATF protecting their own. The DS is dirty and deep for sure this is another example.
Is there a reason to think they aren't true?
Rabid supporter of Cuban dictatorship running for Speaker of the House
Emmer buddied up with Barack Obama and other Dems on Cuba issues, a big no-no in South Florida.
Excerpt:
In politics, there are always skeletons lurking, waiting to jump out of the closet.
For U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, who is running for House Speaker amid chaos on Capitol Hill following the ouster of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, that skeleton hails from Cuba and parties with the Obamas.
Already you might be catching the drift — the Florida congressional delegation, overwhelmingly red, isn’t likely to take kindly to this particular revelation.
Way back in 2015 — admittedly a lifetime ago in political years — Emmer filed the Cuba Trade Act of 2015 that would have lifted the Cuba trade embargo, allowing businesses in the private sector to trade freely with Cuba.
He introduced it with a Democrat from Tampa, U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor.
Strange bedfellows indeed. But it gets even more strange.
Emmer joined former President Barack Obama and Sen. Amy Klobuchar on a Cuba trip the next year, the first time a sitting President had visited the island nation since Calvin Coolidge in 1928, according to a press release announcing the trip.
When introducing the 2015 legislation, which then Speaker John Boehner strongly opposed without significant changes to the Cuban government, Emmer called it “a new and exciting chapter for the U.S.” He went on to say the legislation would “improve our position within the region, giving the U.S. a seat at the table and increased leverage” to support “political transformations.”
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A Democrat in Republican costume? Coming from Minnesota probably. Another uniparty member who loves tyrannical dictatorships.