DoJ to turn over “Fast and Furious” documents
The Hill reports that the Department of Justice will comply with a 2014 judge’s order to turn over documents regarding the failed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Operation Fast and Furious which armed Mexican cartels with more than two thousand firearms, some of which have turned up at crime scenes on both sides of the frontier, including the murder of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
The Justice Department, then run by Eric Holder, declined to provide documents on the program to Congress in 2012 and was held in contempt of Congress. Today’s decision ends six years of litigation with the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
“The Department of Justice under my watch is committed to transparency and the rule of law. This settlement agreement is an important step to make sure that the public finally receives all the facts related to Operation Fast and Furious,” Sessions said in a press release.
The Hill article fails to mention that Holder was also in contempt of a judge’s order to turn over the documents to Congress (the People’s representatives). From US News and World Report;
A report by the Justice Department Office of Inspector General in 2012 found that neither President Barack Obama nor his attorney general at the time, Eric Holder, were aware of Fast and Furious until 2011. Nonetheless, as Holder refused to provide documents about the operation to Congress, he drew unrivaled scorn from GOP lawmakers, some of whom openly considered the rare step of pursuing impeachment proceedings against him. The House voted in 2012 to hold him in contempt.
A federal judge in 2014 declined to uphold the contempt finding, calling the House’s motion “entirely unnecessary” but also ordering the Justice Department to produce documents to the committee.
AG Holder refused to comply with the order. So AG Session is only complying with that judge’s order. I’m sure that it will be portrayed in the media as some sort of “pay back” to the Obama Administration by Trump.
I remember when Obama and Clinton were saying that we needed more gun control laws to prevent guns from going to Mexico when the Obama Administration was actually facilitating gun shipments to Mexico, telling US dealers to look the other way while straw purchasers carried guns to the cartels.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Government Incompetence
And no one is going to go to jail for any of the fucked up shit they pulled off in the last 9 years.
Got it.
“With Liberty and Justice for Some….”
Goddamn politicos.
No, no one will go to jail and anyone intimately involved is either retired or days away from retiring. Moreover, I am quite confident that over the years a number of records have disappeared.
They didn’t disappear forever. Sandy Burglar is just storing them for safekeeping… In his socks.
Am hoping that a few competent employees made copies of significant docs just in case. Or saved a significant hard drive or two.
As many storage facilities as there are around the country, there could a warehouse or two full of stuff just waiting for someone to ask to see it.
As a retired LEO, this scandal pisses me off more than any of the others from the Obama era. I’ve got friends that work the border.
Heads should have rolled for this years ago. Can’t believe anyone thought it was a good idea in the first place. Police chiefs around here send confiscated firearms to the shredder instead of auctions just to deny the future connection to the department when the gun gets stolen and used in a street crime.
That’s a waste. Do they destroy confiscated cars and trucks, too, b/c they might be used in a future crime? How about money? Do they burn it b/c it might be used to buy drugs or a firearm that could be used in a crime?
Preaching to the choir here. I damn near cried watching a Tommy gun and a Spas12 get shredded some years back. We couldn’t even use them for department use. Policy was all seized firearms are destroyed.
Police chiefs like to think they aren’t politicians, but they are. So they play political games.
Obama and Holder need to personally apologize to the family of Brian A. Terry, preferably at the Border Patrol station that bears Terry’s name. Right before they’re charged with accessory to murder.
Never going to happen. Denial is not just a river in Egypt, especially for professional progtard politicians.
“…neither President Barack Obama nor his attorney general at the time, Eric Holder, were aware of Fast and Furious until 2011.”
Oh, gee, is that for real??? I was under the distinct impression that not only did Holder know about it, he approved it. But that’s just me.
No way an operation like that, with its obvious and glaring potential to backfire big time, would not get the preapproval of the big chief.
Unaware of F&F, because they changed the name to that in 2011?
You caught that Clintonesque slight of hand, didn’t you? Nice job.
As simplistic as this sounds it seems to me that if the energy put into taking guns from lawful owners and directed that energy towards not providing guns to criminals a lot of lives would have been saved and, well, more time, effort and money could have been directed at things that would improve the quality of life for all of us.
Things that make me go hmmmm…
Hmmmm,,,
IMNSHO, Holder and Obama ought to fry for that – and other crimes.
I think Holder announced his run for President last week to get out in front of this in order to (falsely claim) that Trump is using the power of the Federal Government to discredit him as a candidate.
Holder is smart and dangerous.
They’ve floated him as a potential 2020 run for a while now. I invite them to put him up. If he’s not in prison by then.
He’s currently being retained by the state of California to rebuke the AG’s lawsuit asserting the supremacy clause.
Ironic, because Holder sued the state of Arizona for their immigration enforcement by asserting the supremacy clause.
When I think of Holder, I immediately think of three things:
1. Fast & Furious
2. H. Wide Load Clinton
3. Trump’s immediate predecessor in
office
Holder has more baggage than a passenger train.
This would be better news if it came with an indictment against Holder for major crimes.
As soon as that happens Holder will whip out his race/victim card at supersonic speed.
Well of course. However, that card is so threadbare and worn that no one is impressed any longer. Perhaps he’ll try the LGBQWERTY card, instead. Double down on the stupid.
To my knowledge, the only crime ever committed with a Barrett .50 came from one acquired through F&F. A Mexican Army helicopter was shot down with one by a cartel , and I believe they traced the .50 back to a shop in New Mexico.
Let’s also not forget that FFL Dealers were calling the BATFE during that to report obvious Straw Purchases only to be told to proceed with them. IMHO the previous administration will go down in History as at least one of the most corrupt in American History.
Most corrupt and least prosecuted. Also the one with the most criminals who escaped justice with a nice, fat taxpayer retirement.
Sounds like the Chicago political machine. Guess Obama was learning something when he was community organizing.
Much worse. At least the old machine operators had a code of ethics. And you could figure out the rules and who was running the show.
Airwick pretty much threw down the gauntlet, stating on several recent occasions, “The difference between me and Jeff Sessions is, I had a president I did not have to protect.”
Poor grammar aside and for the record, in 2012, Holder became the first sitting attorney general to be held in contempt of Congress — in a 255-to-67 vote — for refusing to turn over documents related to a botched gun-running investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Any bets on how hard the SCoaMF will protect Airwick in return?
I understand the Martha Stewart wing in Club Fed is available. Thursday is fried bologna and mashed potato night, followed by a spirited game of “pick up the soap” in the showers. Tag, Airwick, you’re “It.”
“The difference between me and Jeff Sessions is, I had a president I did not have to protect.” And yet, that’s all Holder did. A president, black panthers, assorted criminals, big and small time, usually of the dindu nuffin persuasion.
I forgot about the black panthers polling place episode, UpNorth. Thugs intimidating voters on video and Holder said, ‘What problem? I don’t see a problem.’
You left out suppressed NoI photos. Not that he needed protecting when the media would gladly help him out with that
The Obama years: get caught breaking laws no consequences.
I dont understand how they could refuse to turn over documents. Hasnt the federal govt gone in and seized what they wanted to in numerous cases? How was this any different and why didnt they send in the feds to take what they wanted?
I vaguely remember Obama, when asked about gun control early in his first term responded by saying something like ‘We are doing some things under the radar’ on the topic. That keeps popping into my memory whenever I heard something about the Fast & Furious debacle. I’ve always thought that the entire operation was designed to use straw purchases of guns to set up a strawman for create the conditions for confiscatory gun control legislation.
Wish I could remember the exact quote and where I read it. When Fast & Furious first broke, I remember thinking “That’s what he was talking about.”