John Mitchell was a white guy, and therefore actually expected to not be corrupt in office.
Posted on 01/30/2012 10:54:59 AM PST by Kaslin
The attorney general's claim regarding when he knew about Operation Fast and Furious conflicts with the released communications.
The Department of Justice released hundreds of documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious late Friday afternoon, including a series of emails that strongly suggests that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder perjured himself in congressional testimony.
The crucial email exchange began at 2:31 a.m. on December 15, 2010, with a message from an unidentified DOJ source to “OIOC SIT” and “SITROOM”:
On December 14, 2010, BORTAC agent working in the Nogales, AZ AOR was shot. The agent was conducting Border Patrol Operations 18 miles north of the International boundary when he encountered [redacted] unidentified subjects. Shots were exchanged resulting in the agent being shot. At this time, the agent is being transported to an area where he can be airlifted to an emergency medical center. [Redacted].
Updates to follow.
At 3:31 a.m., an email was issued from someone in “HQ” to U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke:
Our agent has passed away.
At 9:09 a.m., Burke gave a one word reply: “Horrible.” At 9:41 a.m., Burke issued an email to Holder’s Deputy Chief of Staff Monty Wilkinson: “Not good.” The shooting had occurred “18 miles w/in” the U.S. border. At 10:04 a.m., Wilkinson responded to Burke:
I’ve alerted the AG, the acting DAG, Lisa, etc.
Late that afternoon, Burke received an email saying two guns recovered at the scene were tied to an “on-going Phoenix ATF inv[estigation]” and informing him he would be getting a call from ATF’s Bill Newell. Burke forwarded the information that the guns recovered at the scene of Agent Terry’s death were AK-47s purchased at a Phoenix gun store as part of “the investigation we were going to talk about.”
Wilkinson, Holder’s deputy chief of staff, informs Burke that he would “call tomorrow,”December 16, to discuss the death of a U.S. Border Patrol agent apparently murdered with the very guns the Department of Justice “walked” to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.
The email exchange strongly suggests that Wilkinson was briefed on Operation Fast and Furious, and how the weapons supplied by our government ended up in the hands of the FBI informant-led rip crew that engaged the BORTAC team in Peck Canyon, killing Brian Terry.
It is reasonable to assume that December 16 or 17, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was briefed by his deputy chief of staff that Terry was killed with a walked gun from Operation Fast and Furious. Considering the potential damage the brewing scandal could cause, Wilkinson would have been grossly negligent if he did not make informing the attorney general a priority.
Holder testifies in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee later this week.
In testimony in front of Congress on May 3, 2011, Holder insisted he’d only heard of Operation Fast and Furious “a few weeks” before he testified; a story he later change to “a few months.” These emails strongly suggest that Holder was aware of Operation Fast and Furious within 48 hours of Brian Terry’s death, if he did not know already about the operation well before then from the memos he began receiving in July of 2010, six months before the firefight that ended Agent Terry’s life.
Holder’s expected appearance before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday, February 2, is further complicated by the actions of Patrick Cunningham, the chief of the Phoenix office’s criminal division within the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona. Cunningham invoked his Fifth Amendment rights in an effort to avoid testifying in front of the Oversight Committee — you can only invoke the Fifth to avoid self-incrimination. The invocation makes it even less plausible for the Holder to claim that DOJ was acting lawfully with the Operation. Cunningham resigned from the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Friday, January 27.
Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa reserved the right to call Cunningham before the committee, and also indicated that he has informed Holder that he will seek a new witness to testify, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Morrissey. Morrissey directly reported to Cunningham.
Previously, the Department of Justice had refused to allow Morrissey or Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley (who reported to Morrissey) to testify.
Oversight’s renewed focus on the staff of the U.S. Attorney for Arizona’s office indicates that these officials may be the “weak links” in the cover-up. Oversight will apparently continue to focus on Cunningham, Morrissey, and Hurley, even as they grill Holder later this week.
Their former boss, Dennis Burke, is also undergoing renewed scrutiny. Burke’s 23-year career as the architect of anti-gun legislation lends credence to theories that Operation Fast and Furious and other alleged gun-walking operations were imposed by the Obama administration to help support the 90 percent lie. The 90 percent lie was a manipulation of gun trace data restated on numerous occasions by President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, and other administration officials as they argued for more restrictions on gun sales. The claims seem particularly vicious and deceptive at this time, as we now know that the ATF was forcing gun dealers to supply cartel straw purchases with weapons.
Attorney General Holder’s stated intent to reimpose the “assault weapon ban” Burke authored during the Clinton presidency makes the connection between Burke’s past, the gun-walking plot, and Holder’s hopes of reinstating the ban even more suspect.
>>>>The first step to clan up Washington<<<<
The Democrats tried that but finally gave up when Grand Cleagle Byrd died!
lol
Unfortunate typo. But hilarious!
Actually it’s a pun worthy of your namesake...good to see you at FR.
John Mitchell was a white guy, and therefore actually expected to not be corrupt in office.
Not only was a border agent murdered, hundreds of Mexicans were killed as well.
But, of course, to the DemocRat elite, Mexicans aren’t really people. They’re future DemocRats.
The older I get the more that Watergate looks like a Media-inspired Putsch. Nixon did pull some shady stuff, but even by the standards of his contemporaties it was pretty tame.
Compare Watergate to Clinton & Obama and it’s definitely “Little League.”
I hope someone remembers to bring a set of handcuffs.
And which of our candidates will swear an oath to fully investigate every aspect of O’s Administration - from his own personal history to Eric Holder’s shenanigans - and send everyone to jail who has broken the law?
They’ll probably want to let by-gones be by-gone, like W did with Clinton.
Just thought it needed to be in print again.
Don’t you know, that the SRM (State Run Media) is not interested that people died in Fast and Furious
“The older I get the more that Watergate looks like a Media-inspired Putsch.”
The media certainly played a central role, but every leftard in America hated him for trying to identify foreign agents of influence in government posts.
Exactly what would you have them do? You wouldn’t even know about it if it wasn’t for the Republicans in Congress. As if your cojones are anything to brag about.
Ping.
In an interview Issa was asked about Jaime Zapata and F&F guns and he said they didn’t have definite proof that F&F guns were used and might never have proof. Remember, he was killed in Mexico so Mexican LEOs handled the crime scene I think.
But the backstory on Zapata was a 100 times more horrific than even that of Brian Terry, G-d rest their souls. He was given up to the cartel, outed as an undercover ICE agent, tortured beyond belief, and only OUR government knew who he was. The Mexican government wss never informed. Whether it was an FF gun or not makes not one iota of difference here.
The NEW excuse from Holder will be that he doesn’t read all the e-mails sent to him. And, if they find an e-mail from Holder about Fast & Furious, then his excuse for that will be that an assistant writes and sends his e-mails for him and he doesn’t necessarily read or review them.
Jaime Zapata, U.S. Immigration Agent, Shot Dead in Mexico in Apparent Ambush (CBS)
ICE special agents brutally attacked; suspects sought by authorities (ICE website)
Why should Holder be any different with his lame excuses, then all the other liberals. They are masters in coming up with them all the time
Very well said.
ERIC HOLDER: I am not now, nor have I ever been, responsible for anything that I may have read, said, or done.
Yes. I’m sorry. Zapata was shot three times during a gunfight. Flashed back to Enrique Camarena, an undercover DEA agent who was tortured and murdered. Regardless, he should be part of this investigation since it is strongly suspected that his murder was committed by guns purchased from a similar operation in TEXAS. We forget that FF is not the only illegal gunwalking op going on and we have no idea how many there actually were or how many guns actually walked.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.