‘Gunwalker’ Scandal and the Case for Impeaching Holder

While Holder didn’t pull any triggers, the Department of Justice was involved in Gunwalker from the beginning.

A detective assembles a crime’s “history” by collecting and examining evidence, which eventually leads him to the perpetrator. When sufficient evidence points to a reasoned conclusion, perpetrators are arrested and prosecuted in court. Crimes consist of means, motive, and opportunity. So it is with ATF’s Operation Fast and Furious, also known as “Gunwalker.”

Besides Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder, “Mexican officials estimate 150 of their people have been shot by Fast and Furious guns.” This indicates at least 150 incidents of murder or attempted murder.

While Holder didn’t pull any triggers, the Department of Justice was involved in Gunwalker from the beginning. The Washington Post notes: “The ATF became part of the Justice Department after Sept. 11, 2001….”

In the fall of 2009, the Department of Justice (DOJ) developed a risky new strategy to combat gun trafficking along the Southwest Border.…The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) implemented that strategy using a reckless investigative technique that street agents call “gunwalking.” ATF’s Phoenix Field Division began allowing suspects to walk away with illegally purchased guns.

This shift in strategy was known and authorized at the highest levels of the Justice Department. Through both the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona and “Main Justice,” headquarters in Washington, D.C., the Department closely monitored and supervised the activities of the ATF.

Murder aside, Gunwalker violated federal law. Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 922 states that only a licensed dealer or manufacturer can engage in interstate or foreign firearms commerce. It’s a federal offense for a person to buy a gun intended for another (straw buyer).

The congressional investigation highlights multiple ATF agents’ testimony that they knew of illegal firearms sales and reported them, but their superiors ordered them to let federal felonies proceed:

Though many line agents objected vociferously, ATF and DOJ leadership continued to prevent them from making every effort to interdict illegally purchased firearms.

Several agents blew the whistle on this reckless operation only to face punishment and retaliation from ATF leadership.

ATF Special Agent John Dodson, the original whistleblower, regularly witnessed these violations:

Well, every time we voiced concerns.…But every day being out here watching a guy go into the same gun store buying another 15 or 20 AK-47s or variants or…five or ten…pistols…guys that don’t have a job, and he is walking in here spending $27,000 for three Barrett .50 calibers…and you are sitting there every day and you can’t do anything….

The attorney general is supposed to uphold federal law; instead, his DOJ intentionally violated it.

A person who is aware of a crime before it occurs, and who gives some form of aid to those committing the crime, is known in legal terms as an “accessory before the fact.”

Fellow PJMedia correspondent Patrick Richardson made the case that it strains credulity that Holder was unaware of Gunwalker. But even giving the benefit of the doubt, the only other possibility is that Holder is incompetent to run DOJ.

The Obama administration has a history of promoting gun control. Soon after Obama’s inauguration, Holder said:

As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons.…I think that will have a positive impact in Mexico, at a minimum.

This March, Sarah Brady, of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said that Obama told her in a private meeting how gun control was “very much on his agenda”:

“I just want you to know that we are working on it,” Brady recalled the president telling them. “We have to go through a few processes, but under the radar.”

The Obama administration may still benefit from Gunwalker. While current ATF chief Kenneth Melson is expected to resign, his replacement is likely worse. Obama originally nominated Andrew Traver to head ATF. Traver has a history of supporting the worst forms of gun control, and will likely replace Melson.

The NRA strongly opposes President Obama’s nomination of Andrew Traver as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE). Traver has been deeply aligned with gun control advocates and anti-gun activities….

Traver served as an advisor to the International Association for Chiefs of Police’s (IACP) “Gun Violence Reduction Project,” a “partnership” with the Joyce Foundation.

Between 2006 and 2009, the Joyce Foundation gave the IACP $1.2M to organize the Great Lakes Summit on Gun Violence, and to implement their conclusions, which included anti-rights goals like renewing the Clinton gun ban (reduced capacity magazines and banning many long guns) and forcing civilians to store firearms in “safe” facilities. That’s what Traver represents.

Joyce represents a dozen well-heeled directors with a direct connection to Obama, a former Joyce director.

Then there’s the rhetoric that 90% of Mexican cartel firearms came from American retailers (recently changed to 70%). Stratfor details how firearms selection was manipulated by Mexican authorities to ensure that the guns most likely of American origin were submitted for tracing.

Nor does the alleged 70% explain how the guns got to Mexico, since our government provided many to Mexican military and police, in addition to those provided by Gunwalker.

But the administration continues to promote the 90% myth, so what better way to “prove” it than by sending guns south?

Federal employees who make disclosures…serve the public interest by assisting in the elimination of fraud, waste, abuse, and unnecessary Government expenditures….

The purpose of this Act is to strengthen and improve protection for the rights of Federal employees, to prevent reprisals, and to help eliminate wrongdoing within the Government…

ATF Agent Dodson testified that he was removed from the ATF Phoenix Group VII because he complained about allowing straw buyers to transport guns into Mexico.

One day after Congressman Issa warned ATF not to retaliate, they fired Special Agent Vince Cefalu, 30-year veteran and long-time ATF critic.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel handles whistleblowers. They consider reprisals “a prohibited personnel practice” citing relevant federal laws, highlighting another violation by the DOJ.

Again, giving Holder the benefit of the doubt: “A person who is unaware of the crime before it takes place, but who helps in the aftermath of the crime, is referred to as an ‘accessory after the fact.’” However, elements of criminal intent have appeared.

The White House claims it’s “committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government.” Yet when Congressman Darrell Issa subpoenaed DOJ for Gunwalker documents, he received pages so redacted their bodies are solid black.

The Department of Justice has repeatedly and steadfastly denied that any guns were walked under Operation Fast and Furious. According to the narrowest possible interpretation, a gun is walked only when an ATF agent physically places an AK-47 into the hands of a straw purchaser and then lets that straw purchaser walk out of sight.

This rationalizing hearkens back to Clinton’s “the meaning of is” grand jury testimony.

The Constitution empowers Congress to impeach federal officials. From Article 2, Section 4:

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

There appears to be enough evidence to impeach Holder for incompetence, violation of federal law, and accessory to murder.

To All:

Let's start referring the the present criminal conspiracy correctly; The program to walk guns across the border for delivery to the Mexican cartels was started by Obama/Holder and is called 'Fast and Furious'.

In marked contrast, 'Gunwalker' was the program to interdict known straw purchasers BEFORE they hauled their guns across the border. It was instituted and ended during the Bush regime. The Obama thugs, the MSM and, sadly, quite a few of their provocateurs on this site, are trying to conflate the two entirely different undertakings in the minds of the intellectually dim and lazy. Again - 'Gunwalker' was a classic, completely legal, sting operation conducted against straw purchasers on US soil. 'Fast and Furious' was a completely illegal criminal enterprise, concocted by the present DOJ, led by Holder with the knowledge and consent of the undocumented alien chief magistrate. Under this enterprise, BATF agents in the field were expressly PROHIBITED from taking down known straw purchasers as they were in the act of hauling guns toward the border. Such conduct was guaranteed to and in fact did result in the deaths of US law enforcement officers and untold numbers of innocent Mexican civilians. So, to confuse these two entirely separate enterprises is to assist the perpetrators in their flight from justice.

See Distinction

I heard that several gun stores complained they were threatened with reprisals if they refused to allow straw buys go though ,can this be legitimately confirmed ?

All we have to do is get the Mexican government to send up a request for extradition of any and all responsible authorities. Then Holder and his boss can be sent down there for 150 murder trials.

Its funny that the Mexican gov't is silent here. I suspect they were in on this from the beginning.

Kinda ironic isn't it......the excuse for the ILEGAL gunwalker fiasco was to catch bigger fish up the food chain...

The BATFE final report actually says that, after thousands of firearms were sold, they were never able to find a link between any of the straw buyers and any of the drug cartels in Mexico.

I heard that several gun stores complained they were threatened with reprisals if they refused to allow straw buys go though ,can this be legitimately confirmed ?

Those dealers are probably intimidated to say anything becuase Traver may become the next head of BATFE and his only real power will be to harass dealers into extinction.

But if you want your blood to boil, consider that the Washington Post, the leftist media arm, ran multiple stories in 2009 about corrupt firearm dealers who were responsible for the "iron river" of guns flowing into Mexico. The Washington Post story was totally based on BATFE information and regurgitated in print.

After a few months of liberal press (national and local) against specific dealers, they fought back by showing the documentation that they were cooperating with BATFE and that all the illegal sales were green-lighted by the federal agency.

One dealer was actually put on trial and was 100% exonnerated. The Washington Post printed a one-paragraph note about the trial, but in a way that still suspected the dealer of nefarious activities.

This is why I find it hard to get exited about one more “case” about gunwalker, the president’s eligibility, Libya, ect.

I had enough of this crap from Judicial Watch and the Clinton crimes in the 90s.

People really need to focus their efforts on HOW to hold this administration responsible for it’s crimes, NOT just continuing to make cases for it.

How many more decades are “we the people” going to let this government play us for fools when it comes to investigating their own crimes?

Shame on US.

Here's their problem ~ the Mexican government was in on something a bit different. They didn't expect "this".

That's already been made clear in the testimony. There was the "Gun Walker" thing, and then there was this later deal.

I don't think anyone knew about it except the very top end of the whole business ~ that'd be Holder, the acting Director, some lawyers at DOJ who would be called for advice regarding any bumps in the road (like dealers who wouldn't go along with it).

Michelle was probably part of it if the truth be known.

It's like the OJ murder trial ~ you really do have to avoid impeaching Mark Furman or OJ will walk. At the same time he probably committed something less than First Degree Murder ~ and probably hadn't killed anyone until he called his real estate lawyer!

Every now and then you'll read about a guy who calls women at home during the day and tells them some crazy story to get them to take off their clothes and step outside the house.

They then do it ~ just on the authority of a guy on the phone.

That's the phenomenon here ~ and there are probably a number of gun dealers who reacted to a voice on the phone telling them to "sell them the guns ~ the big stuff ~ it's OK".

Here's their problem ~ the Mexican government was in on something a bit different. They didn't expect "this".

While that is possible, don't forget that Calderon was spouting the 90% story as much as Obama and that only last month the Mexican government announced it was going to sue firearm manufacturers for the weapons being found in Mexico.

Given the unholy union of socialists and islamists worldwide, this may have been a socialist plot to strengthen those groups loyal to worlwide communism south of our border.

I will put nothing past this administration as much of what it does is linked to far greater goals.

First things first. He is “protected” from many/or all his acts until he is removed from federal office by House of Rep impeachment and Senate conviction (aka removal). Then indict and jail him/them. Perhaps better yet, extradite Holder to Mexico so he can face trial there. But I’m with you on the bottom line - Hard time in PRISON.

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