The Great Destroyer: Barack Obama's War on the Republic (41 page)

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Authors: David Limbaugh

BOOK: The Great Destroyer: Barack Obama's War on the Republic
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Other key figures in Fast and Furious transferred or retired without facing any consequences. At the end of August 2011, Ken Melson stepped down from his position as ATF acting director and was transferred to the DOJ’s Office of Legal Affairs as a senior forensic science adviser. Melson had claimed he’d only learned about Fast and Furious after it was shut down, but Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich insisted Melson knew about it almost from the beginning.
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Additionally, the U.S. attorney for Arizona, Dennis Burke, resigned. Notably, statements from Holder and Burke didn’t tie these moves to Fast and Furious, though both alluded to distractions affecting federal prosecutors in Arizona.
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COVER-UP AND RETALIATION
In the meantime, several ATF agents claimed the agency had retaliated against them for shedding light on the abuses of Fast and Furious. The House Oversight Committee found that Special Agent John Dodson was removed from Phoenix Group VII in the summer of 2010 for complaining to ATF supervisors about the operation.
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Likewise, Vince Cefalu, a Tucson-based agent who had been with the agency for twenty-four years, said he was served with termination papers in June 2011. “Aside from Jay Dobyns,” said Cefalu, “I don’t know of anyone that’s been more vocal about ATF mismanagement than me. That’s why this is happening.” He added, “Simply put, we knowingly let hundreds of guns and dozens of identified bad guys go across the border.”
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Although some other agents attributed Cefalu’s dismissal to personality clashes, he was adamant that “it was my willingness to expose [Fast and Furious] and support other people to come forward.”
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In addition, Peter J. Forcelli, group supervisor, ATF, alleged that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona and the DOJ Office of Deputy Attorney General retaliated against him for his remarks before the House Oversight Committee, to whom he testified, “I believe that these firearms will continue to turn up at crime scenes, on both sides of the border, for years to come.” According to Forcelli’s attorney,
It now appears to GS Forcelli that a pattern of conduct has emerged designed to attack GS Forcelli’s credibility…. Clearly, the USAO is clumsily attempting to paint a picture that GS Forcelli’s testimony and conduct resulted from a “personal issue” between AUSA Hurley and himself, rather than hold AUSA Hurley accountable for missteps in several of his cases…. GS Forcelli would respectfully request that the actions of certain members of the Department of Justice be investigated inasmuch as said actions seem to flout the power of Congress to oversee and reform the workings of our great Nation’s government.
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THE LETTER “CONTAINS INACCURACIES”
During congressional hearings, Democrat committee members generally sided with the Obama administration, showing a reluctance to ask hard questions and trying to deflect attention from Fast and Furious to Operation Wide Receiver. They even tried to leverage the scandal to promote gun control legislation.
This may have set a new record for Democratic chutzpah, given that Fast and Furious—not lax gun laws—allowed these deadly weapons to reach Mexico and “fueled” the drug war there—all behind the backs of the Mexican authorities. Regardless, a few weeks after the hearing, Cummings released a report—cleverly titled “Outgunned”—arguing that stricter gun control laws are needed to help fight organized crime at the border.
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Meanwhile, there were growing indications of DOJ stonewalling and even a possible cover-up surrounding Fast and Furious. In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on November 8, Eric Holder told Senator Grassley that after he received two letters from Grassley back in January requesting information about gunwalking tactics, he’d asked his “staff to look into this.” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein drafted a response to Grassley, which was reviewed by Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer. On February 4, 2011, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich signed off on the letter, which stated that “ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico.”
Of course, in both Wide Receiver and Fast and Furious, that was entirely false. What’s more, an email from Anthony Garcia, a DOJ employee assigned to Mexico City, to Adam Lurie of that same date, February 4, 2011, showed that Lanny Breuer was actually advocating a gunwalking scheme to Mexican authorities, who were unaware gunwalking was already occurring through Fast and Furious.
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So, while gunwalking was already happening, and while he was advocating gunwalking to Mexican officials, Breuer was involved in preparing a letter stating that the ATF does no such thing.
Breuer said he wasn’t sure whether he’d seen the draft of the Weich letter. But when internal emails were released in December, they showed that Breuer had been well informed about it. Even more incriminating was the revelation that Breuer had received both drafts of the letter as well as the final version and even forwarded them to his personal gmail account.
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On December 2, Deputy Attorney General Cole formally withdrew the Weich letter, saying it “contains inaccuracies.”
Senator Grassley had harsh words about this episode.
Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer admitted one week ago in this room that the department’s letter to me in February was absolutely false. Think about that for a second. It’s bad enough that the head of the Criminal Division admits that the department’s letter to me was false. It gets worse, though. He admitted that he knew all along that it was false. Although he could not recall whether he helped edit it, he knew it was false because he was aware of a previous gunwalking operation called Wide Receiver. Yet he remained silent for nine months as the public controversy over gunwalking grew. He was aware that Congress had been misled and yet made no effort to correct the department’s official denial. I am eager to hear whether the Attorney General thinks that is acceptable and what he intends to do about it.
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At a hearing on December 8, 2011, Congressman Trey Gowdy asked Eric Holder to admit that at least four senior DOJ officials knew or should have known Weich’s letter was “demonstrably false” and “materially false” at the time it was delivered. Gowdy told Holder he couldn’t believe these officials had just recently learned the ten-month-old letter was inaccurate and pressed as to why they hadn’t withdrawn or corrected it earlier. “When law enforcement officers lie to lawyers, they go to jail; when they lie to Congress, they get promoted,” Gowdy observed. He asked Holder, “What consequences can we expect [for these false statements]?” Holder refused to admit the statements were demonstrably or materially false, saying that would be getting into “the realm” of legal conclusions; rather, they “contained inaccuracies.”
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At a later hearing on February 2, 2012, Holder held fast to his story, saying “Nobody at Justice has lied.”
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HOLDER: LYING OR WOEFULLY INATTENTIVE?
As Holder continued to plead ignorance, congressional investigators tried to determine exactly what he knew about the operation and when he knew it. Back in May 2011, Holder had told the House Judiciary Committee he had only known about Fast and Furious “for a couple of weeks.” This would imply that after Brian Terry was killed on December 15, 2010, months went by before Holder discovered that guns walked via Fast and Furious were found at the scene—even though email records indicate that fact was immediately known within the DOJ; in fact, Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke informed DOJ deputy Monty Wilkinson about that fact the very day Terry was killed. Other memos later surfaced that were addressed to Holder and described the specifics of Fast and Furious. Holder claimed he had neither read the memos nor been informed of their content by his staff.
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CNN’s Anderson Cooper, discussing the matter with reporter Drew Griffin, remarked, “No one seems to know, who authorized this thing? Border Agent Brian Terry, Drew, was murdered back in December 2010. Considering that ATF was part of the Justice Department, does anyone buy that Holder wasn’t aware of the program?” Griffin responded, “I’ve been on the phone talking to some of these ATF agents today, I’ve talked to them over the weekend, and it’s really hard for them to imagine that Holder wasn’t at least briefed about it; this was a major operation, Anderson.” Drew added, “To the boots on the ground it’s unimaginable that high up people in the Department of Justice, including Holder, didn’t know about it.”
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When a reporter asked President Obama about Fast and Furious and about Attorney General Holder’s role in the operation, Obama took Holder at his word. “As you know, my Attorney General has made clear he certainly would not have ordered gun running to be able to pass through into Mexico,” said Obama. “The investigation is still pending and I’m not going to comment on a pending investigation. It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to comment if it is not completed.”
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Congressman Issa was disappointed by Obama’s comments. “There was no sign of urgency to provide answers or explain why no one at the Justice Department has accepted responsibility for authorizing an illegal gunwalking operation six months after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder,” said Issa. “The American people expect more from the President than unsubstantiated assertions that the Attorney General didn’t know about this reckless program and no explanation about who authorized it.”
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“NO ONE AT JUSTICE DEPARTMENT HEADQUARTERS HAS FACED ANY MEANINGFUL CONSEQUENCES”
Congressman Issa, in an op-ed for
USA Today
in December 2011, summarized what his Oversight Committee had learned. He said that almost a year after Border Agent Terry was murdered, the DOJ had spent more time and resources trying to protect the careers of its officials who had been aware of the operation than in holding to account those responsible for it. The operation, Issa said, was the brainchild of the Phoenix field office of the ATF, which is under the DOJ, and began in November 2009 as a result of Justice officials deciding to focus their resources on Mexican drug cartels rather than low-level straw buyers. The idea was that these guns would be purchased by straw buyers and eventually make their way into the hands of drug cartels, whose members could then be identified
after
crimes had been committed and the guns were recovered there and traced to their points of purchase. The operation wasn’t terminated until after Agent Terry’s murder.
Even though the DOJ knew and approved of the operation, Issa argued, Holder had refused to accept responsibility. He claimed he did not know about Fast and Furious until a few weeks prior to May 3, 2011, though he was sent numerous memos about it, which he claimed he did not read. Holder’s senior managers, it was clear, were completely apprised of the operation and did not end it. Specifically, Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler was given a detailed briefing on the operation on March 12, 2010. Grindler’s handwritten notes showed that he was informed about tactical details of the operation and that certain named individuals were purchasing hundreds of weapons for Mexican cartels. Notwithstanding this, Issa noted, Grindler was later elevated to be Holder’s chief of staff.
Furthermore, Issa continued, Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general in charge of the Criminal Division, apologized for certain aspects of the operation but had retained his job. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich withdrew a letter he had sent to Congress because it contained false information—and he wasn’t removed from his position, either. And ATF Director Ken Melson had said that the DOJ was focused on covering for its political appointees. “Surprisingly, no one at Justice Department headquarters has faced any meaningful consequences,” Issa wrote. “While replacing the entire ATF leadership structure and causing the U.S. attorney for Arizona to tender his resignation, Holder has consistently used a concurrent investigation by the inspector general to prevent him from acting against senior officials close to him.”
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In an interview with ABC News in October 2011, Obama acknowledged Fast and Furious was a mistake and vowed that “people who screwed up will be held accountable.”
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But there is no indication he’s exercised any leadership to uncover the facts, and indeed, he has blindly supported Attorney General Eric Holder.
As Fox News reported in November 2011, the record does not bear out Obama’s promise to hold the wrongdoers accountable. Fox News’ William La Jeunesse corroborated Issa’s contention that those accountable have been protected and even promoted. “Those in charge of the botched operation,” wrote La Jeunesse, “have been reassigned or promoted, their pensions intact. But many of those who blew the whistle face isolation, retaliation and transfer.”
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