Posted on 04/21/2011 2:00:37 PM PDT by neverdem
Tick, tick, tick. Another Project Gunrunner disclosure deadline approaches for the Obama Department of Justice. And GOP watchdogs are hammering away at yet another stonewall erected by corruptocrat Attorney General Eric Holder.
Late last week, Sen. Charles Grassley roasted the DOJ for failing to produce documents he requested in February — and released his own set of damning e-mails between a gun shop owner who had protested the ATF’s dangerous straw purchase scheme repeatedly. Via CBS News’s Sheryl Atkinson:
Damning, newly-obtained emails show that a key gun shop owner made explicit concerns in writing last year in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ “gunwalking” scandal.
Starting in late 2009, ATF allegedly directed an undetermined number of Phoenix-area gun shop owners to go ahead with sales of thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to suspicious buyers. Insiders claim ATF knew the buyers were connected to Mexico’s drug cartels, but let the guns “walk” onto the street anyway in a misguided attempt to obtain intelligence. ATF and the Justice Department have denied that.
Investigators from Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) obtained the emails this week.
You can download the .pdf file of Grassley’s letter to the DOJ and the e-mails here.
This will make your blood boil over:
On June 17, 2010, the gun dealer wrote to the ATF to again express concerns after seeing a report
on Fox News about firearms and the border:The segment, if the information was correct, is disturbing to me. When
you, [the Assistant U.S. Attorney], and I met on May 13th, I shared my
concerns with you guys that I wanted to make sure that none of the
firearms that were sold per our conversation with you and various ATF
agents could or would ever end up south of the border or in the hands of
the bad guys. … I want to help ATF with its investigation but not at the risk
of agents‟ safety because I have some very close friends that are U.S.
Border Patrol agents in southern AZ[.]5Incredibly, the FFL sent this email six months before guns from the same ATF operation were found at the scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry‟s murder. So, not only were
the ATF agents who later blew the whistle predicting that this operation would end in tragedy, so were the gun dealers—even as ATF urged them to make the sales. Furthermore, according to the FFL, there were “one or two†occasions on which his employees actually witnessed and recorded with surveillance cameras an exchange of money between the straw purchaser and another individual on the premises.6Despite this actual knowledge of a straw purchase, the dealer said ATF officials wanted him to proceed with the transaction.7 However, his employees refused to process the sale.8
In light of this new evidence, the Justice Department‟s claim that the ATF never knowingly sanctioned or allowed the sale of assault weapons to straw purchasers is simply not credible.
Grassley wants to know:
1.Do you stand by the assertion in the Department‟s reply that the ATF whistleblower allegations are “false†and specifically that ATF did not sanction or otherwise knowingly allow the sale of assault weapons to straw purchasers? If so, please explain why in light of the mounting evidence to the contrary.
2. Will you commit to providing the Senate Judiciary Committee with documents, or access to documents, simultaneously with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform? If not, please explain why not.
Grassley’s deadline for a DOJ response to his continued inquiries is tomorrow.
Tick, tick, tick.
***
More: U.S. urged dealer to continue gun sales despite concerns, inquiry finds, LAT
Mexican homicides tripled while ATF operation sent guns south, Dave Workman
Murdered ICE agent Jaime Zapata’s parents speak, via Sipsey Street Irregulars
And you Michelle Malkin ignore the birther issue. So why should I care what you write about?
If anyone was gonna be asking the questions here, Michelle is at the top of the list.
She should be moderating upcoming debates, imo.
Are American citizens dying at the hands of its own officials due to their ill-conceived policies or are they just inherently inept at recognizing who the real enemy or intruder is?
Drumbeat. Independent Counselor.
The ATF whistleblower site is interesting. The whistleblower sent certified letters to Obama and Holder telling them about the mess at the AZ office.
This story would be Iran/Contra, Warergate every day on the news had a Reoublican administration done something this stupid.
“Grassley’s deadline for a DOJ response to his continued inquiries is tomorrow.”
or what? what is he going to do if this deadline is ignored?
Answer = NOTHING
The BATFE has no fear of accountability or prosecution and why should they.
I am losing respect for a lot of people over that issue.
and why aren’t GOP congress people on the cameras every day raising hell about this?
Besides Fox News on the internet and the Wall Street Journal in a blog ant the LA Times, apparently in print, CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson has done dozens of stories. I don't know how many have made it to CBS' Morning or Evening News on TV or radio. Personally, I'd like this story to smolder along into next year's campaign season. I'm hoping Holder and Clinton will be impeached if they don't resign.
http://www.cbsnews.com/sharylattkisson
I wouldn't mind a 60 Minutes show on Gun Walker during the campaign season either.
Brett Baer made mention of it on Special Report tonight. Special Report has done a few segments on it before.
Thanks for the link!
bump
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