Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen. Chuck Grassley have sent a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller seeking information in their Fast and Furious investigation.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
ATF Fast and Furious investigation: Congress tells FBI: clarify evidence in Brian Terry murder
WASHINGTON- Today, members of Congress investigating the Fast and Furious "gunwalker" scandal asked the FBI to clear up questions about evidence at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Terry was gunned down in Arizona near the Mexican border Dec. 14, 2010. Two weapons recovered at the scene traced back to the ATF Fast and Furious operation in which agents were told to let thousands of weapons be sold to suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels. The FBI has been investigating the murder for the past ten months.
In a lengthy letter directed to FBI Director Robert Mueller, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) pointed to inconsistencies in reports of how many weapons and suspects were involved, as well as their current whereabouts. The letter refers to evidence indicating there may have been five suspects in the group that shot Brian Terry, and as many as five rifles.
Sen. Grassley's staff raised the possibility of a "missing" third gun in his Feb. 16 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder. Last Sunday on CBS' Face the Nation, Rep. Issa stated that colleagues of deceased Agent Terry told his mother there was a third weapon, and that a federal agent had referred to a third weapon in secret recordings about the case.
The FBI has stated that it recovered two, and only two guns. However, neither was a conclusive match to the bullet that murdered Terry.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Congressional Investigators Target FBI Over Fast and Furious
Published October 20, 2011
| FoxNews.com
FBI
Congressional investigators probing the botched federal gun-trafficking program known as Fast and Furious are now setting their sights on the FBI.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, the ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, sent a letter Thursday to FBI Director Robert Mueller demanding answers about the guns found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Terry was gunned down last December in a remote area of the Arizona desert by a group of illegal immigrants. Two of the guns recovered at the scene were later traced to Fast and Furious, the ATF program where more than 2,000 illegally purchased guns were “allowed to walk” or were not tracked, with many crossing into Mexico.
In the letter, the lawmakers ask 16 detailed questions about the number of weapons discovered after Terry’s death. While the Justice Department has maintained that only two guns were found, the Republican lawmakers say there are inconsistencies in documents including the search warrant and the unsealed indictment.
“Out of deference to the FBI’s ongoing criminal inquiry, we have delayed asking the Bureau direct questions about the case for nearly 10 months,” they wrote. “However, Congress has a right and a duty to conduct oversight of federal law enforcement operations.
“Agencies like the FBI can wield tremendous power and influence over individual citizens. With that power and influence comes responsibility, and nothing exempts the Bureau from accountability to Congress as well as to the courts.”
They asked Mueller whether the FBI believes a third weapon killed Terry, since ballistic reports on the two Fast and Furious guns were inconclusive. They also asked the total number of suspects that Terry’s unit encountered in the desert, and how many of them are still at large.
So far, only one man, Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, has been charged with Terry’s murder. According to documents, Osorio- Arellanes told investigators that he was travelling with four other armed individuals. The letter said that it appears that the men who shot Terry may have been armed with five rifles.
The lawmakers also referred to statements made to Terry’s mother at his funeral that three weapons were recovered at the scene. Along with responses to their questions, the letter also asks for all documents and communications between nine FBI officials relating to Operation Fast and Furious. They set a deadline of November 2 for the information.
In response, the FBI said Mueller is out of town, and it's unclear if he has seen the letter.
On Monday, the Justice Department responded to Issa’s accusations about a possible third gun saying, "The FBI has made clear that reports of a third gun recovered from the perpetrators at the scene of Agent Terry's murder are false.” They also maintain that Issa’s staff was previously informed of this.
“Unfortunately, this most recent false accusation not only maligns the dedicated agents investigating the murder of Agent Terry, it mischaracterizes evidence in an ongoing case, the Just Department said in its statement.
Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the oversight committee, took Issa to task for sending the letter to Mueller.
"Frankly, I am shocked that Chairman Issa would continue to spin this conspiracy theory -- that the FBI is hiding a third weapon -- even after his recent allegations proved false," he said in a statement. "Rather than acknowledging this embarrassing mistake and apologizing for making false accusations about the FBI, Chairman Issa's letter is an unprecedented attack on the integrity and credibility of law enforcement that could seriously jeopardize the ongoing prosecution."
Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Schiff ,D-Calif., has come to the defense of Attorney General Eric Holder, saying the “politically motivated attacks” on him “need to come to an end.”
“They are a meritless distraction from the important work of the Department of Justice, and the many men and women who work every day to make America safer,” he said in a statement.
Schiff argued the evidence shows that Holder has been “forthright throughout” by requesting a full investigation by the inspector general once he learned of the operation’s problems. He added that Issa’s own staff was briefed on the operation in April 2010.
“Mr. Issa said nothing about the operation at the time – one might just as well call for an investigation of his office – but none is required,” he said. “Mr. Issa should understand better than most that being made aware of a program’s existence is not the same as being apprised of the operational details of a plan that has gone terribly wrong.”
FOX NEWS
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
House Republicans ask Obama for information on Fast and Furious
President Obama (AP photo)
Shortly after public controversy over the operation started, President Obama told an Univision interview in March that neither he nor Attorney General Eric Holder authorized it. That interview was almost a month before the time period Holder claimed under oath to have found out about the operation.
“To that end, if you knew the Attorney General did not authorize “Fast and Furious” how did you learn that and when did you learn that?” Reps. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., wrote. “If you knew Attorney General Holder did not authorize it, inherent in that response is knowledge of who did authorize it.”
Operation Fast and Furious was run from late 2009 to as late as early 2011 out of the Phoenix office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Agents allowed illegally bought guns to cross the border as part of a plan to build a case against Mexican drug-cartel kingpins. Agents lost track of more than 1,000 guns, including two later found at the scene of the December 2010 murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Obama indicated yesterday he didn’t sign off on Fast and Furious. “It’s very upsetting to me, to think that somebody showed such bad judgment that they would allow something like that to happen,” he told ABC News. “And we will find out who and what happened in this situation, and make sure it gets corrected.”
Separately today, Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa., sent a letter to Holder asking him to appear before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Republicans have suggested Holder may have misled Congress under oath by saying he didn’t know about the botched gun-trafficking operation until April, despite memos mentioning the operation by name being sent to him in July 2010.
Sen. John Cornyn (AP photo)
Holder recently said he had “no recollection” of hearing of Fast and Furious before spring and said staffers didn’t bring the memos to his attention “because the information presented in the reports did not suggest a problem.” Holder also accused Republicans of trying to score political points with “irresponsible and inflammatory rhetoric.”
Meehan implicitly shot back at Holder: “Our shared goal is to uncover the truth and identify the right lessons-learned so this never happens again — not in scoring political points.”
TEXAS ON THE POTOMAC
Napolitano on ATF Fast and Furious: "We're waiting for the Inspector General"
Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano speaks at House Judiciary Committee Oversight hearing, Oct. 19, 2011.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee Oversight hearing today, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) questioned Napolitano about what communications she had after two Fast and Furious guns were found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry last December. Napolitano answered that she met with Assistant US Attorneys in the case because "I wanted to be sure those responsible for his death were brought to justice and every resource brought to bear." Napolitano says she did have conversations in December 2010 about the murder of Agent Terry "but at that point in time nobody knew about Fast and Furious."
More coverage:
DOJ: No 3rd gun in "Fast and Furious" murder
Issa to press FBI for "gunwalking" info
Holder subpoenaed for documents in "Gunwalker"
AG Holder responds to critics on Gunwalker
An internal ATF email dated the day after Terry's death reveals the quick decision to not disclose the source of the weapons found at the murder when the primary suspect was charged: "... this way we do not divulge our current case (Fast and Furious) or the Border Patrol shooting case," wrote an ATF official.
As CBS News previously reported, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent under Napolitano's Homeland Security agency was assigned to a team of federal agents responsible for the Fast and Furious case.
Napolitano told Sen. Grassley she has asked ICE to look into the matter, but that she has taken no further action pending the results of a Justice Department Inspector General investigation.
"We are waiting for the Inspector General," Napolitano said.
CBS NEWS
Oversight Committee Subpoenas Attorney General for ‘Operation Fast and Furious’ Communications and Documents
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) today announced the issuance of a subpoena to Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. for Justice Department documents related to the "Operation Fast and Furious" gun walking scandal.
"Top Justice Department officials, including Attorney General Holder, know more about Operation Fast and Furious than they have publicly acknowledged," said Chairman Issa. "The documents this subpoena demands will provide answers to questions that Justice officials have tried to avoid since this investigation began eight months ago. It's time we know the whole truth."
The subpoena seeks the following:
In accordance with the attached schedule instructions, you, Eric H. Holder Jr., are required to produce all records in unredacted form described below:
- All communications referring or relating to Operation Fast and Furious, the Jacob Chambers case, or any Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) firearms trafficking case based in Phoenix, Arizona, to or from the following individuals:
a. Eric Holder Jr., Attorney General;
b. David Ogden, Former Deputy Attorney General;
c. Gary Grindler, Office of the Attorney General and former Acting Deputy Attorney General;
d. James Cole, Deputy Attorney General;
e. Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General;
f. Ronald Weich, Assistant Attorney General;
g. Kenneth Blanco, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;
h. Jason Weinstein, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;
i. John Keeney, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;
j. Bruce Swartz, Deputy Assistant Attorney General;
k. Matt Axelrod, Associate Deputy Attorney General;
l. Ed Siskel, former Associate Deputy Attorney General;
m. Brad Smith, Office of the Deputy Attorney General;
n. Kevin Carwile, Section Chief, Capital Case Unit, Criminal Division;
o. Joseph Cooley, Criminal Fraud Section, Criminal Division; and,
p. James Trusty, Acting Chief, Organized Crime and Gang Section.
2. All communications between and among Department of Justice (DOJ) employees and Executive Office of the President employees, including but not limited to Associate Communications Director Eric Schultz, referring or relating to Operation Fast and Furious or any other firearms trafficking cases.
3. All communications between DOJ employees and Executive Office of the President employees referring or relating to the President's March 22, 2011 interview with Jorge Ramos of Univision.
4. All documents and communications referring or relating to any instances prior to February 4, 2011 where the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) failed to interdict weapons that had been illegally purchased or transferred.
5. All documents and communications referring or relating to any instances prior to February 4, 2011 where ATF broke off surveillance of weapons and subsequently became aware that those weapons entered Mexico.
6. All documents and communications referring or relating to the murder of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata, including but not limited to documents and communications regarding Zapata's mission when he was murdered, Form for Reporting Information That May Become Testimony (FD-302), photographs of the crime scene, and investigative reports prepared by the FBI.
7. All communications to or from William Newell, former Special Agent-in-Charge for ATF's Phoenix Field Division, between:
a. December 14, 2010 to January 25, 2011; and,
b. March 16, 2009 to March 19, 2009.
8. All Reports of Investigation (ROIs) related to Operation Fast and Furious or ATF Case Number 785115-10-0004.
9. All communications between and among Matt Axelrod, Kenneth Melson, and William Hoover referring or relating to ROIs identified pursuant to Paragraph 7.
10. All documents and communications between and among former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, Attorney General Eric Holder Jr., former Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein referring or relating to Operation Fast and Furious or any OCDETF case originating in Arizona.
11. All communications sent or received between:
a. December 16, 2009 and December 18, 2009, and;
b. March 9, 2011 and March 14, 2011, to or from the following individuals:
- Emory Hurley, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona;
- Michael Morrissey, Assistant U.S. Attorney, Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona;
- Patrick Cunningham, Chief, Criminal Division, Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona;
- David Voth, Group Supervisor, ATF; and,
- Hope MacAllister, Special Agent, ATF.
12. All communications sent or received between December 15, 2010 and December 17, 2010 to or from the following individuals in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona:
a. Dennis Burke, former United States Attorney;
b. Emory Hurley, Assistant United States Attorney;
c. Michael Morrissey, Assistant United States Attorney; and,
d. Patrick Cunningham, Chief of the Criminal Division.
13. All communications sent or received between August 7, 2009 and March 19, 2011 between and among former Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual; Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer; and, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Bruce Swartz.
14. All communications sent or received between August 7, 2009 and March 19, 2011 between and among former Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual and any Department of Justice employee based in Mexico City referring or relating to firearms trafficking initiatives, Operation Fast and Furious or any firearms trafficking case based in Arizona, or any visits by Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer to Mexico.
15. Any FD-302 relating to targets, suspects, defendants, or their associates, bosses, or financiers in the Fast and Furious investigation, including but not limited to any FD-302s ATF Special Agent Hope MacAllister provided to ATF leadership during the calendar year 2011.
16. Any investigative reports prepared by the FBI or Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) referring or relating to targets, suspects, or defendants in the Fast and Furious case.
17. Any investigative reports prepared by the FBI or DEA relating to the individuals described to Committee staff at the October 5, 2011 briefing at Justice Department headquarters as Target Number 1 and Target Number 2.
18. All documents and communications in the possession, custody or control of the DEA referring or relating to Manuel Fabian Celis-Acosta.
19. All documents and communications between and among FBI employees in Arizona and the FBI Laboratory, including but not limited to employees in the Firearms/Toolmark Unit, referring or relating to the firearms recovered during the course of the investigation of Brian Terry's death.
20. All agendas, meeting notes, meeting minutes, and follow-up reports for the Attorney General's Advisory Committee of U.S. Attorneys between March 1, 2009 and July 31, 2011, referring or relating to Operation Fast and Furious.
21. All weekly reports and memoranda for the Attorney General, either directly or through the Deputy Attorney General, from any employee in the Criminal Division, ATF, DEA, FBI, or the National Drug Intelligence Center created between November 1, 2009 and September 30, 2011.
22. All surveillance tapes recorded by pole cameras inside the Lone Wolf Trading Co. store between 12:00 a.m. on October 3, 2010 and 12:00 a.m. on October 7, 2010.
###
HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE
Senate nixes gun-running stings after controversy
(AP) WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Tuesday to effectively block the Justice Department from undertaking gun-smuggling probes like the flawed "Operation Fast and Furious" aimed at breaking up networks running guns to Mexican drug cartels but that lost track of hundreds of the weapons, some of which were used to commit crimes in Mexico and the United States.
The 99-0 vote would block the government from transferring guns to drug cartels unless federal agents "continuously monitor or control" the weapons. The amendment's sponsor, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called the vote "just the first step towards ensuring that such a foolish operation can never be repeated by our own law enforcement."
The Justice Department has already stopped the program.
A Justice Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Congress did not ask the department for its views, said the amendment essentially reflects DOJ policy.
In an interview Tuesday with ABC News, President Barack Obama said "we will find out who and what happened in this situation and make sure it gets corrected."
The vote came as the Senate debated a $128 billion spending measure that would fund Justice Department operations and those of several other Cabinet agencies for the 2012 budget year already under way.
DOJ: No 3rd gun in "Fast and Furious" murder
Issa to press FBI for "gunwalking" info
Holder subpoenaed for documents in "Gunwalker"
AG Holder responds to critics on Gunwalker
Operation Fast and Furious was a gun-smuggling investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives aimed at tracking small-time illicit gun buyers up the chain to major traffickers in an effort to take down arms networks. In the process, ATF agents lost track of many of the weapons.
Fast and Furious came to light after two assault rifles purchased by a now-indicted small-time buyer under scrutiny in the operation turned up at a shootout in Arizona where Customs and Border Protection agent Brian Terry was killed.
The operation has caused something of a firestorm in Washington and is the focus of an investigation by House Republicans, who have questioned whether Attorney General Eric Holder has been candid about all he knows about the botched operation.
Holder already has called a halt to the practice of allowing guns to "walk" in an effort to track them to arms traffickers, saying in a recent letter to lawmakers that "those tactics should never again be adopted in any investigation."
The operation was designed to respond to criticism that the agency had focused on small-time gun arrests while major traffickers had eluded prosecution.
As recently as 11 months ago, the Justice Department's inspector general criticized ATF for focusing "largely on inspections of gun dealers and investigations of straw purchasers, rather than on higher-level traffickers, smugglers and the ultimate recipients of the trafficked guns."
The IG said some ATF managers discourage agents from conducting complex conspiracy investigations that target high-level traffickers.
CBS NEWS
The 99-0 vote would block the government from transferring guns to drug cartels unless federal agents "continuously monitor or control" the weapons. The amendment's sponsor, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called the vote "just the first step towards ensuring that such a foolish operation can never be repeated by our own law enforcement."
The Justice Department has already stopped the program.
A Justice Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because Congress did not ask the department for its views, said the amendment essentially reflects DOJ policy.
In an interview Tuesday with ABC News, President Barack Obama said "we will find out who and what happened in this situation and make sure it gets corrected."
The vote came as the Senate debated a $128 billion spending measure that would fund Justice Department operations and those of several other Cabinet agencies for the 2012 budget year already under way.
DOJ: No 3rd gun in "Fast and Furious" murder
Issa to press FBI for "gunwalking" info
Holder subpoenaed for documents in "Gunwalker"
AG Holder responds to critics on Gunwalker
Operation Fast and Furious was a gun-smuggling investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives aimed at tracking small-time illicit gun buyers up the chain to major traffickers in an effort to take down arms networks. In the process, ATF agents lost track of many of the weapons.
Fast and Furious came to light after two assault rifles purchased by a now-indicted small-time buyer under scrutiny in the operation turned up at a shootout in Arizona where Customs and Border Protection agent Brian Terry was killed.
The operation has caused something of a firestorm in Washington and is the focus of an investigation by House Republicans, who have questioned whether Attorney General Eric Holder has been candid about all he knows about the botched operation.
Holder already has called a halt to the practice of allowing guns to "walk" in an effort to track them to arms traffickers, saying in a recent letter to lawmakers that "those tactics should never again be adopted in any investigation."
The operation was designed to respond to criticism that the agency had focused on small-time gun arrests while major traffickers had eluded prosecution.
As recently as 11 months ago, the Justice Department's inspector general criticized ATF for focusing "largely on inspections of gun dealers and investigations of straw purchasers, rather than on higher-level traffickers, smugglers and the ultimate recipients of the trafficked guns."
The IG said some ATF managers discourage agents from conducting complex conspiracy investigations that target high-level traffickers.
CBS NEWS
Sunday, October 16, 2011
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