Fast and Furious: ATF Head Melson Implicates DOJ In Surprise July 4th Testimony
by Rob MillerOver the July Fourth weekend, there was a major development in the Fast and Furious investigation when BATF head Ken Melson made a surprise July 4th appearance before Darrel Issa and Chuck Grassley’s congressional committee put together to investigate Fast and Furious.
That operation involved BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) agents allowing straw purchasers to buy over two thousand automatic weapons and then smuggle them illegally across the border to Mexican Drug cartels. The operation led to a spike in violence in Mexico, the killing in Arizona of a U.S. Border Patrol agent last December and a possible attempted cover up by the BATF and the US Department of Justice.
BATF head Melson was placed in a particularly bad light by the earlier testimony of agents, some of whom depicted him watching the illegal gun deals go down on closed circuit TV and literally rubbing his hands with glee. Melson, a temporary appointee, was set up to fall on his sword for Fast and Furious and was apparently under a great deal of pressure from the Obama Administration to ‘resign’. Instead, he resisted and said he wanted to testify before the investigative committee, but in order to do that, he needed clearance from the Department of Justice.
In a particularly revolting display of partisan horse trading and disregard for justice, the ranking Senate Democrat on the committee, Patrick Leahy made a deal with Republican Senator Chuck Grassley to allow access to certain documents and allow Melson and other witnesses to testify – in exchange for releasing holds on three Obama Administration DOJ nominees.
Testimony was set up for July 13th, but then something very interesting happened. Apparently there was a clause in the agreement between the committee and the Department of Justice saying that “witnesses who choose to attend a voluntary interview with their own lawyer are free to exercise that right rather than participate with counsel representing the Department’s interests.”
Melson apparently was never made aware of it, and neither were Rep. Issa or Senator Grassley and they weren’t exactly pleased about not being informed. But when it became known, Melson chose to appear before the committee with his own lawyer over this last weekend.
In the letter linked above to Attorney General Eric Holder, Issa and Grassley wrote that Melson’s testimony was ‘extremely helpful to our investigation’ which was just the first bit of bad news they had for President Obama’s Attorney general:
According to Mr. Melson, it was not until after the public controversy that he personally reviewed hundreds of documents relating to the case, including wiretap applications and Reports of Investigation (ROIs). By his account, he was sick to his stomach when he obtained those documents and learned the full story.
Mr. Melson said that he told the Office of the Deputy Attorney General (ODAG) at the end of March that the Department needed to reexamine how it was responding to the requests for information from Congress.
According to Mr. Melson, he and ATF’s senior leadership team moved to reassign every manager involved in Fast and Furious, from the Deputy Assistant Director for Field Operations down to the Group Supervisor, after learning the facts in those documents. Mr. Melson also said he was not allowed to communicate to Congress the reasons for the reassignments. He claimed that ATF’s senior leadership would have preferred to be more cooperative with our inquiry much earlier in the process.However, he said that Justice Department officials directed them not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress. The result is that Congress only got the parts of the story that the Department wanted us to hear.
If his account is accurate, then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand. That approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation. The Department’s inability or unwillingness to be more forthcoming served to conceal critical information that we are now learning about the involvement of other agencies, including the DEA and the FBI.
What Issa and Grassley are talking about is Obstruction of Justice. And the fact that some of the ‘gun traffickers’ were paid informants on the FBI and DEA payroll:
The evidence we have gathered raises the disturbing possibility that the Justice Department not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons but that taxpayer dollars from other agencies may have financed those engaging in such activities. While this is preliminary information, we must find out if there is any truth to it. According to Acting Director Melson, he became aware of this startling possibility only after the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the indictments of the straw purchasers, which we now know were substantially delayed by the u.s. Attorney’s Office and Main Justice. Mr. Melson provided documents months ago supporting his concerns to the official in the ODAG responsible for document production to the Committees, but those documents have not been provided to us.
What Melson has effectively done is to finger the Department of Justice for some felony offenses, and there’s no telling how high this might go. Not only that, but by becoming what amounts to friendly witness for the committee, he’s ensured their protection and made sure that any bureaucratic retaliation from the Obama Administration is going to cost a lot more in scrutiny and oversight than it’s going to be worth:
Any decision about Mr. Melson’s future with the Department would need to be justified solely on the basis of the facts and the needs of the agency, rather than on his decision to speak to us. We encourage you to communicate to us any additional significant information about any such decision so that we can work together to ensure that it would not impede our investigation.
For now, the Office of Inspector General is still conducting its review, and we are still conducting ours. Knowing what we know so far, we believe it would be inappropriate to make Mr. Melson the fall guy in an attempt to prevent further congressional oversight.
Issa has already stated that he has proof Eric Holder was out and out lying about what he knew about Fast and Furious and when he knew it. Now it’s just a matter of moving up the ladder and getting these people to rat out one another until they get to Holder.
The cover up’s always worse than the original offense in these matters.
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149 Comments
If I were Issa I would indict the head of the ATF. I would give immunity to the agents he ordered to do this insane thing of allowing guns to walk into enemy hands. Then I would flip him for Holder. You know the guy who doesn't want to prosecute cases that upset his, shall we say, sensibilities.
There's gambling at Rick's place?? I'm Shocked! Shocked I say! HOlder breaking the law or covering up breaking the law? I'm Shocked…
HANG THEM ALL!!!!!
Fast and Furious?
The only thing "Fast and Furious" about this, will be the fast and furious manner in which those involved start rolling over on their superiors, in an effort to save their hides, and their pensions.
"The cover up’s always worse than the original offense in these matters."
In this case, they are scurrying around like a bunch of scoured cats, covering scat in a full litter-box.
I wouldn't stand too close to it.
Death by firing squad!
Sadly I doubt that the ones who need to be punished will be. The Democrat administration as well as the MSM will do whatever it takes to protect Holder from taking the fall because if Holder goes down, Obama won't be far behind. I truly believe Obama knew what was going on and Holder could put him right into the middle of it so you know they're going to toss out a sacrificial lamb to keep both of them safe.
American Conservatives are going to have to give the RINOs the spurs to keep them focused on the Left Wing crime.
And expect the MSM will give Obama cover.
None of these should deter us, though. Nixon was handling Watergate fine UNTIL HIS CABINET moved away from him. That's when he resigned.
Maybe if Obama's cabinet was being handcuffed he would get the idea. Save us from an impeachment effort!
I have fired off a letter to my Congressman Cummings who is the rank Democrat member of the committee looking into this.
This has all the markings of a progressive democrat plan to effect the USA gun laws. A Cloward–Piven type operation to send firearms to Mexico and then use the same to restrict Americans civil rights.
Do a google search for AMERICAN GUNS MEXICO 2009 and read all the stories put out there by someone in the White House response team . Look at all the stories and see the common thread.
This was nothing more than a planned coordinated operation to use the number of "traced" guns found in Mexico from America to further the anti-rights programs of the dictators in the government.
Look at the stories about "80% of all guns traced" etc. It was all lies as we now know.
This is going to be the end of corrupt racist Holder.
They used GPS units from Radio Shack to track the guns . . . if that is not a reason to end the ATF and place those agents into FBI training I don't know what is.
Prosecute prosecute prosecute and don't lift the needle for a year and a half! Keep this treasonous Administration that has been getting away with murder, under active aggressive investigation!
Holder should resign immediately, then investigated, indicted and prosecuted. We need to have some recourse for these types of appointments. You can't impeach an appointment by Barry.
This is not a reason to end ATF.
Waco, Texas, where they attacked a sovereign citizenry, and executed and barbecued and murdered innocent women and children was the time to end the ATF.
Those ****suckers at ATF have been a rogue outfit, sine Waco.
And if you look back in history, Eric Holder, was Janet Reno's boy in training.
It is a shame that such a powerful right and responsibility as the 2nd Amendment is so trivialized and abused by the WH, DOJ and BATF. It appears the DOJ may get a first hand lesson in real Justice in the coming days.
We should assign all the guilty parties including Holder to be border agents. I believe the Mexican Cartels can meet mete out the proper justice in this case.
Was Brian Terry merely a sacrificial lamb in the US governments march toward further abuse and des-
truction of our second amendment RIGHT?
It's not looking so good for the o-HOLE crew, is it?
WHAT A COUNTRY!
.
Well aware of it. They did the right thing up in NH. They delivered pizza and waited the guy out. That is what they should have done in Waco.
But this shows a level of insanity, even beyond Waco. The head of the damned agency ok'd this! Carried out in such a childish and amateurish manner it makes me question the whole lot of them.
Holder better be brought up on murder charges,along with his boss Obama!
The ''litter-box" overfloweth…
phew-eeee!
.
It'll never happen….
This administration thinks they're untouchable……and they are…
My thought is that if I were an ATF agent, I'd want to distance myself and assign blame for this operation back to the source….just based on the completely incompetent and insane nature of the project to begin with.
I would think that being linked to this (in any way other than following direct orders) would be a death sentence for anyone interested in furthering their career.
EVERYONE involved in this travesty should be FIRED and JAILED NOW!!!! Of course with Holder as the criminal in chief of the un-Justice dept. this will not happen until they are ALL run out of the White House in 2012!!!!
I'm not so sure on this one brother. Holder is already on record lying. Obviously, they are scrubbing like crazy to hide the link to Barry, but again, it all comes down to the size of Issa's balls. Peanuts or pears?
It's there, get it Darrell………..
If I were Rick Perry, I would make sure the ATF wasn't pulling crap on the Texas border.
He ought track them down, have the Rangers round them up, fingerprint them and take their mugshots, and put them all on a bus and ship them to Washington.
If they had, say, given weapons to the Texas Constitutional Militia instead of the Mexican drug cartels, the MSM would have been all over this and he would already be gone.
It's one thing to allow marked bills and traceable narcotics out into the, shall we say, the stream of commerce. But to let hundreds of arms into hands that we have passed extremely stringent laws to avoid is beyond the pale. Those agents need a little re-education as to why they are there, give them immunity so they do not get the career shaft in the future, and let them tell their whole story on the record. Then indict the guy that ordered them to do this.
As someone who once contemplated this business I could not even fathom saying yes to my boss if I was told to do this.
Fired and Jailed?
Nah.
But I am sure there will be promotions for all involved.
Eric Holder needs to be cuffed and perp-walked immediately – but would the MSM cover it?
"The cover up’s always worse than the original offense in these matters."
Not this time. Don't lose sight of the fact that people died as a result of this. That includes two American law enforcement officers, Jamie Zapata and Brian Terry.
I'm sure that Issa has been told by the Republican leadership to end this before going any higher…
As for his balls, soybeans, soon to be tofu….
This whole deal was designed to DENY American citizens their Second Amendment rights by blaming our laws for Mexico's problems. It is treason of the highest order in the form of 'dirty tricks' designed to sway public opinion. During this false flag operation a U.S. agent was killed and untold thousands of Mexicans either killed or put in fear of their life.
Somewhere in the bowels of the OhZero administration is the socialist weasel that thought of it. Put a noose around his neck and ask him who OKed it. Line them all up, right down to field commanders AND agents that obeyed an unlawful order and spring the trap on them all.
Cabinet officers and above get a new rope in deference to their position.
You can count on it…
True, and instead, this Administration is doing anything it possibly can to take our guns away. Most people are unaware of a U.N. meeting coming up where they want to ban small arms worldwide:
http://www.nraila.org/Legislation/Federal/Read.as...
Actually would it be manslaughter?
Everyone involved should be terminated, investigated and prosecuted where applicable. Can anyone give a better argument why the AG needs to be elected rather then appointed? AG must not cover the administration they must keep the administration in check as the highest upholder of the laws of the land. Alas in DC the laws are only for the little people…US. RESET RESET RESET RESET.
Agreed, and if Holder knew, then we know Oblunder knew. AND, with that said, is enough ammo to start up impeachment proceedings but we all know none of these clowns have the balls to do that.
"………What Melson has effectively done is to finger the Department of Justice for some felony offenses, and there’s no telling how high this might go………"
At this very moment, representatives of the Obama administartion and,…….
members of the MSM are meeting to discuss,……
how are they going to play this.
Keep an eye on Bill Daley (Chief of Staff) and remember,…
he placed there to look out for the interests of the Democrat party.
Time to throw the boy under the bus there Billy.
They also violated the statutes of Posse Comitatus. Blatantly I might add. Yes, it is high time to reign in these cretins.
== The cover up’s always worse than the original offense in these matters. ==
In this case where we have increased violence and deaths on both sides of the border, I have to say this rule does not apply. In this case, the offense is far worse than the cover-up, but it might be the cover-up that brings them down.
One thing IS for sure. Some Fast and Furious shredding by the most transparent administration in American history.
The Senate will never vote to impeach Obama. It is a waste of time. It would be fun to watch, don't get me wrong, but it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars. Or I should say Communist Chinese ones, and why would they pay to prosecute their golden boy?
You and I know how that game works.
They will all get a letter of reprimand to put in the file, and simultaneously all get a promotion to a better pay grade.
I just posted exactly the same thought. I guess I should have read the comments first, yet its worth repeating.
This is treason, pure and simple from the Obama administration.
Too True
This case shows how far liberals will go to create an excuse to attack the 2ed Amendment.
Watch for Holder to slap a Top Secret or something to that effect to protect "confidential informants" so that the information cant be touched till he and his ilk are long gone from Washington.
Damn right, I know…
Me either. But then, I would be more likely to be on an ATF watch list than to work for the ATF. I can't really identify with these types, but I've got to believe they would be itching to roll over on their superiors based on the asinine nature of the mission.
This was an operation designed by Obama and Holder with the express purpose of manufacturing a crisis, so they can do away with the second amendment. As additional proof, they didn't even track the guns once they were sent across the border.
TREASON:
Violation of allegiance toward one's country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one's country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.
Sedition:
Conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of a state. Insurrection; rebellion.
I think it can be argued that Holder has engaged in the above.
Secret deals in under the cover of darkness to protect THEIR people. Never forget their rule, "the end justifies the means". I'm sorry, I forgot, this rule is straight out of Alinsky's playbook. No rules for them, they even brag about it, BUT everybody else has rules that are a weapon to shove down their throat. Alinsky summarized it this way: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. Sounds to me like the tactics the D's have been using to crucify and get rid of R's for decades doesn't it.
My concern is what is really going on under the screen of darkness that we know nothing about?
I am really concerned about some secret deal that Senator Chuck Grassley seems to have agreed to that helps D's cover their tracks. I sometimes wonder if we have real justice any more.
The D's use full scale WAR and Jihad on R's all the time who only worry about the "rules". News for our side. THERE AIN'T NO RULES when the D's are in charge and R's better wake up and deal with that RIGHT NOW before we get destroyed, which is their goal.
They would not want to jeopardize their futures without some legal protections. Which makes me wonder why they would even do this in the first place. I've been to enough gun shows to spot those that are there to keep guns out of the wrong hands. You wonder why those same people would engage in this activity?
They have to…
It's the ONLY thing standing in their way, as the RINOs and Romney will certainly just step aside…
Yup, simple as that…
Should we be fortunate enough to see the White House change political hands, the next DOJ director's first duty should be to try and imprison Holder and his crew.
Isn't Posse Comitatus regarding the use of US Military against US civilians on US soil? Is there a provision of the act that applies here?
"……..Melson apparently was never made aware of it, and neither were Rep. Issa or Senator Grassley…."
Darrel Issa and Chuck Grassley: this duo doesn't exactly instill confidence,….
in getting to the bottom of this obvious CRIME.
Why didn't they see to it that this testimony was not given,…..
smacked dab in the middle of an Independence Day fireworks display.
………..and if they continue to screw up, they will all be promoted to Field Supervisor.
I consider Eric Holder and Barack Hussein Obama to be enemy aliens operating in the open.
They wouldn't 'tis sadlt true, but with the current American sentiment about the state of affairs on our border, this impeachment proceeding would play a whole lot differently during an election cycle than the Clinton one. It's much harder to make it look like a bunch of sanctimonious moralizing when you're attempting to point the finger over an operation that got Americans and Mexicans killed particularly if you can find even a whiff that this was being done solely to advance an agenda and not for any solid law enforcement reason.
Imagine reelection 2012 set to the back drop of Fast and Furious!
If this is an attempt to effect USA gun laws, I'm not certain I follow the logic they are using. But then, I rarely do. It would seem to me that a heavily armed Mexican drug cartel would indicate a need by citizens of border states to be heavily armed.
LOL. Sounds like a plan….
You'll have an awful lot going on my friend. Obamacare will fall in June of 2012. Then the election will be mostly about that and what are the current events of the day and our national insecurity with Obama as President.
Palin 2012.
I will NOT comply, I will NOT be assimilated, I will NOT be converted, I will NOT sit idly by while they take my freedoms and my RIGHTS.
The problem is with getting the right domino to fall. If you can get the right one to go over and sing, the others will start falling all over themselves to come clean hoping to salvage something. I don't think Melson was the domino, though.
Do your google search and read the stories from 2009. The facts are clear. Even my Congressman Cumming IN THE HEARING a week ago tried to change the subject to the US gun laws that allowed these buyers to take guns south.
Send thousands of firearms south, "trace" them back to the US, say we need to strengthen US gun laws to "stop the flow of weapons to Mexico".
That above sentence is factual in every respect. Each of them has happened.
The "logic" of it is anyones guess but it is in fact exactly what took place.
Nor will I….
If the 'businessman' Romney does get elected, don't be surprised if he 'sells' us down the river…
Melson may not be the domino, but he's probably directing the finger to the right one. That he showed up with his own attorney instead of a DOJ hack is indication he intends to come clean. Could it be he's the ONLY semi-honest guy in the administration? I doubt it but the honest ones sure are quiet.
Time to do a little firearm shopping.
I agree with you. This cannot go away like an early morning fog which caused a 20 car pile up.
Agreed!
This event reeks of such juvenile, moronic logic that it could have only been hatched by Holder and Obama. They are both profoundly stupid and only an absolute moron would do something like this. So it's as obvious as the sky is blue who is responsible. The ONLY question is; is there anyone with the cojones to do something about it and hold these criminals accountable?
Hey DHF! Good to see your still active. All is well here. Need to get together for a beer sometime.
None. In this Obama's America we seek pleasure and avoid pain at all costs. In Bush's America we tried to do the right thing. In Palin's America we will inject nitrous oxide into the engine that drives America.
Why don't we just send this story to every newspaper in our district and to all the MSM asking them if they have the balls to print or report on this? Ask them if they are snivelling wussies and are they actually American citizens or communists.
If enough of us do this, maybe they will get the drift that the country is very aware. Also ask them if they remember the Weiner and Acorn crap they so conveniently forgot to cover. Tell them this will not go away.
Texas Bills of their last session. http://northtexasteaparty.org/texas-bills/
Those things are all factual. But it is symptomatic of incompetence and not of a conspiracy to take all of our guns away. I have no doubt that the administration would love to do that, with or without a UN mandate, but I don't see this as an effort to do so.
Mexico has some of the most stringent gun laws in the world. There is no better example of what happens when you allow the citizens to be disarmed than the current drug wars in Mexico. To me, this was a clear case of a misguided effort and complete incompetence from top to bottom.
Hopefully, if there are any sane people in the ATF, they will be able to show that they tried to talk sense into their superiors about this madness (but were, of course, told to just "go with the program")
Sounds good.
I think you are Shocked, Shocked way to easily. SARC
JB, I like what you are saying.
Doesn't the DOJ monitor elections?
had, great idea
It almost seems like an Obama resignation would be to the Democrat's advantage. All the baggage associated with him could be cast to the side, allowing another Democrat of their choosing to run for election in 2012. They would be able to continue the leftist agenda, while claiming to be "middle of the road".
Obama would issue a pardon before leaving office.
I am afraid that the ChiComs will not accept our money anymore. They are looking for lucrative shares of the new oil and natural gas reserves we are now harvesting from the earth. They are doing it worldwide too in order to feed their economic engine.
LOL, "ship them to Washington"??? Okay, if you think that is the best course of action…
I had something else in mind… involving lariats…
.
Thx Agent 76!
Happy Trails!
.
They provided the weapon. Doesn't that make them an accessory?
This is the crime perpetrated by the administration that the MSM can't escape.
Eric Holder needs to be disbarred.
Better yet, give Holder a walk if he gives up Obama as the mastermind.
Rather see Old Eric serve 20-50 years in Leavenworth, but if it means Obama takes his place? I can live with that trade.
When you use the word agent I feel like I am in a Maxwell Smart episode, but you can refer to me as anything you like.
Happy Trails!
"Just following orders" doesn't cut on something like this, which is obviously unlawful and just plain stupid. Clearly there are times when you simply have to tell the boss, "Not me, I ain't doin' it".
Point taken. None of our speculation matters because even if this is run full course they will make a deal that will turn all of our stomachs! Message to America, the elites don't care about the laws, neither should you.
Yep. All the talk of "a river of guns" to Mexico. …except the only river of guns that existed is the one the ATF created.
It was quite appalling watching some of the Congressmen at the ATF hearings keep trying to change the subject into how guns are bad and we need more gun laws and blah blah.
If the U.S. and Mexico are so worried about "a river of guns to Mexico," how about both countries start protecting the border so nothing illegal can get through? durrr….
This is my big fear, I'm hoping this is The One's Watergate, he has to fall over this blatantly heinous act, but the LSM will site some Affirmative Action crap and let both the criminal actions go uncovered. Our hope is that Issa and company won't collapse and insist on an Independent Counsel.
It's easy to see why last year during a normally-routine congressional yes vote to "celebrate" the DOJ, Ron Paul voted no and then gave five minutes worth of history about the DOJ restricting freedoms and just plain being a-holes.
There wouldn't be anything he can do if we wait until after the elections to initiate prosecutions
IMHO it is worthless to write to congressman Elijah Cummings, he's a worthless piece of crap, clearly in bed with the progressives, the CBC, and not worth the p$ss to cover him up with.
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