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Darrell Issa Puts Details of Secret Wiretap Applications in Congressional Record
Roll Call ^ | June 29, 2012 | Jonathan Strong

Posted on 06/29/2012 10:20:30 AM PDT by Hotlanta Mike

In the midst of a fiery floor debate over contempt proceedings for Attorney General Eric Holder, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) quietly dropped a bombshell letter into the Congressional Record. The May 24 letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member on the panel, quotes from and describes in detail a secret wiretap application that has become a point of debate in the GOP’s “Fast and Furious” gun-walking probe. The wiretap applications are under court seal, and releasing such information to the public would ordinarily be illegal. But Issa appears to be protected by the Speech or Debate Clause in the Constitution, which offers immunity for Congressional speech, especially on a chamber’s floor.

(Excerpt) Read more at rollcall.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2deadfeds; 300deadmexicans; atf; banglist; brianterry; cummings; dea; dhs; doj; fastandfurious; fbi; gunrunner; gunwalker; holder; ice; issa; jaimezapata; murdergate; obama; terry; zapata
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To: Hotlanta Mike

So basically the entire Congressional Black Caucus is in on this up to their necks. Can’t say this surprises me. But I haZ a Racisssss.

My black son in law might disagree, but I’m sure I iZ racisssssss for saying it.


21 posted on 06/29/2012 10:38:07 AM PDT by Norm Lenhart
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To: All

In the midst of a fiery floor debate over contempt proceedings for Attorney General Eric Holder, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) quietly dropped a bombshell letter into the Congressional Record.

The May 24 letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member on the panel, quotes from and describes in detail a secret wiretap application that has become a point of debate in the GOP’s “Fast and Furious” gun-walking probe.

The wiretap applications are under court seal, and releasing such information to the public would ordinarily be illegal. But Issa appears to be protected by the Speech or Debate Clause in the Constitution, which offers immunity for Congressional speech, especially on a chamber’s floor.

According to the letter, the wiretap applications contained a startling amount of detail about the operation, which would have tipped off anyone who read them closely about what tactics were being used.
Holder and Cummings have both maintained that the wiretap applications did not contain such details and that the applications were reviewed narrowly for probable cause, not for whether any investigatory tactics contained followed Justice Department policy.

The wiretap applications were signed by senior DOJ officials in the department’s criminal division, including Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco and another official who is now deceased.

In Fast and Furious, agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed assault guns bought by “straw purchasers” to “walk,” which meant ending surveillance on weapons suspected to be en route to Mexican drug cartels.

The tactic, which was intended to allow agents to track criminal networks by finding the guns at crime scenes, was condemned after two guns that were part of the operation were found at U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder scene.

Straw purchasers are individuals who buy guns on behalf of criminals, obscuring who is buying the weapons.
While Issa has since said he has obtained a number of wiretap applications, the letter only refers to one, from March 15, 2010. The full application is not included in what Issa entered into the Congressional Record, and names are obscured in Issa’s letter.

In the application, ATF agents included transcripts from a wiretap intercept from a previous Drug Enforcement Administration investigation that demonstrated the suspects were part of a gun-smuggling ring.

“The wiretap affidavit details that agents were well aware that large sums of money were being used to purchase a large number of firearms, many of which were flowing across the border,” the letter says.

The application included details such as how many guns specific suspects had purchased via straw purchasers and how many of those guns had been recovered in Mexico.
It also described how ATF officials watched guns bought by suspected straw purchasers but then ended their surveillance without interdicting the guns.

In at least one instance, the guns were recovered at a police stop at the U.S.-Mexico border the next day.
The application included financial details for four suspected straw purchasers showing they had purchased $373,000 worth of guns in cash but reported almost no income for the previous year, the letter says.

“Although ATF was aware of these facts, no one was arrested, and ATF failed to even approach the straw purchasers. Upon learning these details through its review of this wiretap affidavit, senior Justice Department officials had a duty to stop this operation. Further, failure to do so was a violation of Justice Department policy,” the letter says.
Holder declined to discuss the contents of the applications at a House Judiciary Committee hearing June 7 but said the applications were narrowly reviewed for whether there was probable cause to obtain a wiretap application.

Thousands of wiretap applications are reviewed each year by the DOJ’s criminal division. The applications are designed to obtain approval, so they tend to focus on the most suspicious information available.

A line attorney first creates a summary of the application, which is then usually reviewed by a deputy to Lanny Breuer, the head of the division, on his behalf. It is then reviewed and approved or denied by a judge.
Cummings has sided with the DOJ in the debate over the secret applications, but the full substance of his argument is unknown.

A June 5 letter from Cummings responding to Issa’s May 24 letter said Issa “omits the critical fact that [redacted].” The entire first section of the letter’s body is likewise blacked out.

“Sadly, it looks like Mr. Issa is continuing his string of desperate and unsubstantiated claims, while hiding key information from the very same documents,” a Democratic committee staffer said. “His actions demonstrate a lack of concern for the facts, as well as a reckless disregard for our nation’s courts and federal prosecutors who are trying to bring criminals to justice. We’re not going to stoop to his level. Obviously, we are going to honor the court’s seal and the prosecutors’ requests. But if Mr. Issa won’t tell you what he is hiding from the wiretaps, you should ask him why.”

JonathanStrong@cqrollcall.com | @j_strong


22 posted on 06/29/2012 10:38:53 AM PDT by Hotlanta Mike (Resurrect the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)...before there is no America!)
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To: LuvFreeRepublic
Quote from article....

"The agents were concerned because they were being forced into “gun walking.” Some agents were removed from their positions because of their reluctance and questioning of the ethics and legalities of what they were being made to do. "

23 posted on 06/29/2012 10:39:14 AM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: concerned about politics
Can Eric Holder claim the same....
24 posted on 06/29/2012 10:42:15 AM PDT by Hotlanta Mike (Resurrect the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)...before there is no America!)
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To: Venturer

Or he’s honest and is behind enemy lines...trying to not blow his cover. (which entails having pigment in skin)

If he provided the document, he’s keeping his promise to Brian’s family and is a man of honor. If not........


25 posted on 06/29/2012 10:44:51 AM PDT by hoosiermama ( Obama: " born in Kenya.".. he's lying now or then?)
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To: concerned about politics

Thanks for the reply.


26 posted on 06/29/2012 10:45:22 AM PDT by LuvFreeRepublic ( (#withNewt))
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To: Jet Jaguar; NorwegianViking; ExTexasRedhead; HollyB; FromLori; EricTheRed_VocalMinority; ...

The list, Ping

Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list

http://www.nachumlist.com/gunrunner.htm


27 posted on 06/29/2012 10:46:16 AM PDT by Nachum (http://www.houstongalvestonlawyer.com/blog/2010/05/justThe complete Obama list at www.nachumlist.com)
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To: Hotlanta Mike
Closest thing I could find in the Congressional Record for yesterday...

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2012-06-28/pdf/CREC-2012-06-28-pt1-PgH4177-2.pdf

28 posted on 06/29/2012 10:53:48 AM PDT by bcsco
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To: All

Open my link in post #28 in Adobe Reader or on your browser. Then, using [Ctl] [F], do a search for “wiretap”. There’s lots of interesting stuff there...


29 posted on 06/29/2012 11:00:31 AM PDT by bcsco
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To: Hotlanta Mike
“Sadly, it looks like Mr. Issa is continuing his string of desperate and unsubstantiated claims, while hiding key information from the very same documents,” a Democratic committee staffer said. “His actions demonstrate a lack of concern for the facts, as well as a reckless disregard for our nation’s courts and federal prosecutors who are trying to bring criminals to justice. We’re not going to stoop to his level. Obviously, we are going to honor the court’s seal and the prosecutors’ requests. But if Mr. Issa won’t tell you what he is hiding from the wiretaps, you should ask him why.”

I would not want to be playing poker with Issa. He has done an outstanding job .... not fast enough for some people, but when dealing with the Dem/DOJ/Obama lying slimeballs, you have to dot your 'i's & cross your 't's and be very, very patient - the best strategy is to let them hang themselves & Cummings just did (as has Holder). I think Cummings just found out that calling Issa's bluff is not a good idea ... if you think he has a good hand, he does.

30 posted on 06/29/2012 11:02:02 AM PDT by MissMagnolia (Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't. (M.Thatcher))
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To: Hotlanta Mike

Issa has to have something big or he wouldn’t have gone through with the contempt process.


31 posted on 06/29/2012 11:02:32 AM PDT by jersey117
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To: MissMagnolia

WITHHOLDER your busted. The mole’s inside the DOJ are going to take your anti american racist rear end politically out. Who appointed you. Your partner in crime obama. He will not escape this fiasco either. Cummings didn’t say why he supported the DOJ position. Cummings. You don’t have to say. You are one of his people.


32 posted on 06/29/2012 11:16:24 AM PDT by spawn44 (moo)
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To: Hotlanta Mike

the plot thickens


33 posted on 06/29/2012 11:16:59 AM PDT by CPT Clay (Pick up your weapon and follow me.)
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To: jersey117

Yelp...Issa ksnow how to Holder.


34 posted on 06/29/2012 11:18:34 AM PDT by hoosiermama ( Obama: " born in Kenya.".. he's lying now or then?)
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To: concerned about politics

The wiretap applications were signed by senior DOJ officials in the department’s criminal division, including Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco and another official who is now deceased.

in earlier years this might be considered Arkancide.


35 posted on 06/29/2012 11:21:30 AM PDT by CPT Clay (Pick up your weapon and follow me.)
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To: Hotlanta Mike
Darrell Issa Puts Details of Secret Wiretap Applications in Congressional Record
By Jonathan Strong
Roll Call Staff
June 29, 2012, 12:06 p.m.

In the midst of a fiery floor debate over contempt proceedings for Attorney General Eric Holder, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) quietly dropped a bombshell letter into the Congressional Record.

The May 24 letter to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), ranking member on the panel, quotes from and describes in detail a secret wiretap application that has become a point of debate in the GOP’s “Fast and Furious” gun-walking probe.

The wiretap applications are under court seal, and releasing such information to the public would ordinarily be illegal. But Issa appears to be protected by the Speech or Debate Clause in the Constitution, which offers immunity for Congressional speech, especially on a chamber’s floor.

According to the letter, the wiretap applications contained a startling amount of detail about the operation, which would have tipped off anyone who read them closely about what tactics were being used.

Holder and Cummings have both maintained that the wiretap applications did not contain such details and that the applications were reviewed narrowly for probable cause, not for whether any investigatory tactics contained followed Justice Department policy.

The wiretap applications were signed by senior DOJ officials in the department’s criminal division, including Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Blanco and another official who is now deceased.

In Fast and Furious, agents for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed assault guns bought by “straw purchasers” to “walk,” which meant ending surveillance on weapons suspected to be en route to Mexican drug cartels.

The tactic, which was intended to allow agents to track criminal networks by finding the guns at crime scenes, was condemned after two guns that were part of the operation were found at U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder scene.

Straw purchasers are individuals who buy guns on behalf of criminals, obscuring who is buying the weapons.

While Issa has since said he has obtained a number of wiretap applications, the letter only refers to one, from March 15, 2010. The full application is not included in what Issa entered into the Congressional Record, and names are obscured in Issa’s letter.

In he application, ATF agents included transcripts from a wiretap intercept from a previous Drug Enforcement Administration investigation that demonstrated the suspects were part of a gun-smuggling ring.

“The wiretap affidavit details that agents were well aware that large sums of money were being used to purchase a large number of firearms, many of which were flowing across the border,” the letter says.

The application included details such as how many guns specific suspects had purchased via straw purchasers and how many of those guns had been recovered in Mexico.

It also described how ATF officials watched guns bought by suspected straw purchasers but then ended their surveillance without interdicting the guns.

In at least one instance, the guns were recovered at a police stop at the U.S.-Mexico border the next day.

The application included financial details for four suspected straw purchasers showing they had purchased $373,000 worth of guns in cash but reported almost no income for the previous year, the letter says.

“Although ATF was aware of these facts, no one was arrested, and ATF failed to even approach the straw purchasers. Upon learning these details through its review of this wiretap affidavit, senior Justice Department officials had a duty to stop this operation. Further, failure to do so was a violation of Justice Department policy,” the letter says.

Holder declined to discuss the contents of the applications at a House Judiciary Committee hearing June 7 but said the applications were narrowly reviewed for whether there was probable cause to obtain a wiretap application.

Thousands of wiretap applications are reviewed each year by the DOJ’s criminal division. The applications are designed to obtain approval, so they tend to focus on the most suspicious information available.

A line attorney first creates a summary of the application, which is then usually reviewed by a deputy to Lanny Breuer, the head of the division, on his behalf. It is then reviewed and approved or denied by a judge.

Cummings has sided with the DOJ in the debate over the secret applications, but the full substance of his argument is unknown.

A June 5 letter from Cummings responding to Issa’s May 24 letter said Issa “omits the critical fact that [redacted].” The entire first section of the letter’s body is likewise blacked out.

"Sadly, it looks like Mr. Issa is continuing his string of desperate and unsubstantiated claims, while hiding key information from the very same documents," a Democratic committee staffer said. "His actions demonstrate a lack of concern for the facts, as well as a reckless disregard for our nation’s courts and federal prosecutors who are trying to bring criminals to justice. We’re not going to stoop to his level. Obviously, we are going to honor the court’s seal and the prosecutors’ requests. But if Mr. Issa won’t tell you what he is hiding from the wiretaps, you should ask him why."
###

36 posted on 06/29/2012 11:23:41 AM PDT by SERKIT ("Blazing Saddles" explains it all.......)
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To: jersey117

I think Issa does.... and he sure as hell better.


37 posted on 06/29/2012 11:34:31 AM PDT by Gator113 (***YOU GAVE it to Obama. I would have voted for NEWT.~Just livin' life, my way~)
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To: MissMagnolia

Issa laid the trap...and the Congressional Bigot Caucus took the bait.


38 posted on 06/29/2012 11:36:23 AM PDT by Hotlanta Mike (Resurrect the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)...before there is no America!)
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To: jersey117

The whistleblowers are coming out of the woodwork...


39 posted on 06/29/2012 11:38:15 AM PDT by Hotlanta Mike (Resurrect the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)...before there is no America!)
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To: spawn44
This is our only hope now, I think. This is setting up for real Impeachment proceedings after the election which the kenyan will probably "win." He has the benefit of millions of illegal votes and of Pelosi-produced voting machines and Soros counted votes in November. We have to hope the Soros vote counters feel they would be overdoing it to take back the House and Senate along with counting the kenyan into a second term.

The kenyan's people are likely also anticipating Impeachment after the election a la Nixon and will be prepared to deal with it. That could come to anything from an acceptance of the process to an arrest of the Republicans in Congress and an executive proclamation of the Venezuelan Republic of the USA. The drama is welling up in the political volcano.

40 posted on 06/29/2012 11:39:47 AM PDT by arthurus (Read Hazlitt's Economics In One Lesson)
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