Posted on 07/07/2011 12:41:27 PM PDT by Kaslin
A blockbuster development in the Operation Fast and Furious scandal.
In a blockbuster development in the Operation Fast & Furious gun-running scandal, Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson secretly testified before House and Senate investigators on July 4 with his own personal lawyer present, former United States Attorney Richard Cullen, without the knowledge of the ATF or the Department of Justice.
This morning, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley released a copy of a letter they sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on July 5 about Melson’s testimony. Melson’s revelations raise even more serious issues not only about the operation itself, but about apparent attempts by the Justice Department to mislead Congress on the details of the operation.
Contrary to the Justice Department’s denials, according to Melson, ATF agents specifically witnessed transfers of weapons from straw purchasers to third parties without taking any further action. Melson claimed that it was not until the public disclosure of the operation that he personally reviewed the “hundreds of documents” related to the case. He said he became “sick to his stomach” when he learned the full story. Even more shocking is that some of the “gun trafficking ‘higher-ups’ that the ATF sought to identify were already known to other agencies and may even have been paid as informants” by agencies such as the FBI and the DEA.
Melson provided detailed information and documents to the Office of the Deputy Attorney General at the Justice Department. But that information was not given to Congress by then-Acting Deputy Attorney General James Cole. In fact, “Melson was not allowed to communicate to Congress” and “Justice Department officials directed [ATF’s senior leadership] not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress.” According to the letter Issa and Grassley sent to Holder, it was “two days after [Melson] told [Cole] about serious issues involving lack of information sharing” that the Wall Street Journal suddenly reported that Melson was about to be ousted by the Obama administration.
In fact, Melson told the Justice Department’s acting inspector general about the possible role of the DEA and the FBI in April and specifically informed Acting Deputy Attorney General Cole on June 16. Yet Cole was not confirmed as the deputy attorney general until June 28 — and only after Senator Grassley agreed to lift his objection to Cole because Justice agreed to allow oversight into Operation Fast & Furious. But it seems obvious that at the time Grassley made this agreement with the Justice Department, neither Cole nor anyone else at Justice had told Grassley about the vital information it was withholding, particularly the possible involvement of the FBI and the DEA.
The details of Operation Fast & Furious just keep getting worse from the standpoint of prosecutorial ineptitude and incompetence. But with Melson’s testimony, it is also appears that the Justice Department and specifically Deputy Attorney General James Cole have been obstructing Congress and engaging in a cover-up to prevent Congress and the public from finding out just how much the leadership of the Justice Department was involved in this expanding scandal.
“without the knowledge of the ATF or the Department of Justice.”
Gotta love it.
"I was on the golf course!" - O
“Another point Melson clarified for investigators was that the ATF group carrying out the mission of Operation Fast and Furious was placed under the direction of the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s office.”
How many times do you think this exact article has been posted in the last three days?
Melson wasn't going down alone....let's see if Steadman acts like the smug POS he usually acts like when he has to testify
“How many times do you think this exact article has been posted in the last three days?”
Who gives a damn...
Repost it a dozen times a day until the mainstream media is finally FORCED to cover this.
LOL!!!
You're funny, do you tell any other jokes?
Well, it’s the first time I’ve seen this specific article, but hey, I’m only monitoring the forum off and on 10 hours a day.
"Why is there a space between Lyons and Spakowski? (Movie reference)"
Him being on that committee reads like a bad joke.
“without the knowledge of the ATF or the Department of Justice.”
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Well, in retrospect, “WE” did try to convince “THEM” that a LTCOL USMC was running around the country ‘single handedly’ setting up the Iran/Contra debacle.
I still conjure up memorable visions of Fawn Hall stuffing documents in her skivvies while on the way to the shredder or door....
Not enough, this is huge and illegal.
“Well, in retrospect, “WE” did try to convince “THEM” that a LTCOL USMC was running around the country ‘single handedly’ setting up the Iran/Contra debacle.”
Long story short, “we” were fighting Latin American Communists. Fast and Furiously, Obama and Holder are using Mexicans as violent pawns in their fight against U.S. America’s Constitution. And Clinton? He was risking all, just trying to get a chubby Jewish intern to make his dink stink.
(And, by the way, love your ALL CAPS and “scare quote” emphasis. ‘Helps’ me figger out which WORDS are IMPORTANT.)
A keyword search on 'gunwalker' shows that this is the only posting and since it was published today it is unlikely that it could have been posted before.
Then why bother clicking on the thread?
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