Posted on 07/07/2011 5:13:54 PM PDT by neverdem
WASHINGTON — Amid speculation that he would soon be removed from office, Kenneth E. Melson, the top official at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, met with Congressional staff members this week to defend himself.
Mr. Melson’s account, provided on Monday, was described in a letter written Tuesday by Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and Senator Charles E. Grassley, the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The lawmakers have been investigating an A.T.F. program called Operation Fast and Furious in which federal agents knowingly let weapons slip across the Mexican border in the hope of tracing them to drug cartels. Two of the guns later turned up in Arizona, where an American Border Patrol agent was killed in a shootout.
Mr. Melson said he had not been deeply involved in the operation “until after the public controversy,” according to the letter, which was addressed to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. The Justice Department houses the firearms bureau and is conducting its own Fast and Furious investigation.
In his account, Mr. Melson was “candid in admitting mistakes that his agency made” and said he had become “sick to his stomach when he obtained those documents and learned the full story,” according to the letter.
Mr. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, and Mr. Issa, Republican of California, have accused the Justice Department of obstructing their investigation into who authorized the operation, which was begun in fall 2009 by the Phoenix field division of the bureau...
--snip--
Mr. Melson was scheduled to be interviewed by Congressional investigators next Wednesday in the company of Justice Department lawyers. After news reports said he might be ousted, he hired a lawyer, Richard Cullen, and arranged to meet on Monday with staff members of the Oversight and Judiciary Committees.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
And they wonder why nobody buys their rag.
That headline is incredibly deceptive. He was “sick to his stomach” but “defended” the program? Please. But then what do you expect from the mass media...
Guns to Honduras to get Zelaya back in: impeachable.
Talk about a BS story. He hired a Lawyer so HE’S suspect.
Amazing how lefties think if a person doesn’t want to be the fall guy, there is something wrong with him.
guess we all know how the msm is going to try to protect the Fascist Pig in the WH.
Yeah, why bother? Disributing guns to Mexican cartels is no big deal.
Actually, the reason he hired a lawyer was because Issa and Grassley informed him that he could legally talk to them without the Justice Dept present. The NY SLimes conveniently leaves out that devastating fact. Justice Dept told him to not co-operate with Issa and Grassley, and not to testify before their respective committees without a Justice Dept lawyer present. When he found out he was being made the fall guy, he wised up and got a lawyer, and then met privately without telling Justice Dept he was going to sing.
The MSM can help Holder/Obama obfuscate all they want, but the facts are dribbling out, and the trail leads to Holder at least, and probably all the way to the White House. Stay tuned.
“knowingly let weapons slip across the Mexican border in the hope of tracing them to drug cartels.”>
Every time the press mentions this story they include this line. As much as I’ve read about Operation Gunwalker, I’ve never heard any explanation what so ever about how they were going to do to trace them to drug cartels. We all know what the real purpose of this was. It did have to do with tracing but not to drug cartels. It was so they could boost the numbers of American sold guns used in crimes in Mexico. That’s it. That was their plan. And it was despicable that our government officials would do this.
Thanks for clarifying. Yes I read that yesterday. It is interesting how the Times tried to make it sound nefarious.
No truth in Pravda....
Everything.
AND WHEN DID HE KNOW IT.
From the beginning.
A mystery for you: How can they run out of toilet paper on Coney Island when the New York Times print edition still exists?
Melson may be correct about this. Note that the Issa/Grassley letter states that the personnel assigned to "Fast and Furious" were being farmed out temporarily to the Arizona US Attorney's Office, which strongly implies that their actual chain-of-command went straight to DOJ, by-passing Melson.
And, at a minimum to Napalitano. Minimum.
And any reasonable person knows that it reaches somewhere into the White House.
Multiple felonies have been committed.
Time to scream for a Special Prosecutor.
Where is the GOP on this? All we have is Issa and Grassley. Where are Boner and McConnell?
And damit, why are they not screaming for a Special Prosecutor!?!?!?!?
Wow, that had not occurred to me! But it's a definite possibility. In the Spring of 2009 the administration was on a definite mission to help Zelaya subvert the Honduran Constitution Article 239, allowing him to consolidate power.
Worth looking into, though it must be kept in mind that we already know that arms are regularly smuggled into Mexico via Central America.
The BATFE report on Fast & Furious states that they could not make one connection between a straw buyer and any Mexican drug cartel.
Therefore, regardless of strategy, this program was a 100% failure. The liberals cannot even stand behind the concept that they were able to arrest significant players in the illegal firearms trade.
There is less and less for Obama/Holder to hide behind.
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