Could Gillett ‘cooperation’ with Grassley probe bring down ATF hierarchy?

Seattle Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 10 April, 2011 | Dave Workman

[marktwain]

Speculation is rampant since Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley revealed in a letter to ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson that Phoenix Assistant Special Agent in Charge George Gillett was, through and in conjunction with his attorney, “cooperating with” Grassley’s investigation of ATF’s Project Gunrunner.

Earlier, when Gillett was not invited to a Gunrunner confab at ATF headquarters, there was speculation that ATF higher-ups were planning to throw Gillett under the bus. It was a question about not being at that meeting that caused Gillette to quickly terminate a telephone conversation with this column early last month.

This weekend’s speculation is whether Gillett’s cooperation with Grassley’s probe could bring down ATF hierarchy, the people who planned and executed Project Gunrunner and its Phoenix-based Operation Fast and Furious component. After the latest CBS blog report by Sharyl Attkisson, there are many good reasons for such speculation. Sunday's Washington Times reports about Grassley's letter here. This column wrote about it here on Friday.

Here is something that is not speculation: Gillett’s cooperation is steeped in hypocrisy. It was Gillett’s name that surfaced early in Grassley’s investigation, in a Jan. 31 letter the senator wrote to Melson, posted here by my colleague, David Codrea. In that letter, Grassley wrote, “I understand that Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) George Gillette of the ATF’s Phoenix office questioned one of the individual agents who answered my staff’s questions about Project Gunrunner. ASAC Gillette allegedly accused the agent of misconduct related to his contacts with the Senate Judiciary Committee. This is exactly the wrong sort of reaction for the ATF.” This column discussed the Grassley letter here.

[marktwain]

I have heard that the first people on the federal investigation bus get the best seats.

[rawhide]

This guy better have some very good ‘trusted’ protective custody, protection from both the ATF, dealers, and the Mexican gangs.