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Justice Department trying to shield officials in guns scandal, ATF chief says
Los Angeles Times ^ | 7/18/11 | Richard A. Serrano

Posted on 07/18/2011 4:30:41 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

The Department of Justice is trying to protect its political appointees from becoming embroiled in the broadening Fast and Furious gun-tracing scandal by refusing to release an internal "smoking gun" report that acknowledges the role of top officials in the program that allowed guns to flow illegally into Mexico, according to the head of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Kenneth Melson, the ATF acting director, earlier this month also told congressional investigators examining the role of top officials in the ill-fated program that affidavits in support of wiretaps used in the operation are inconsistent with what Justice Department officials have said publicly.

Melson told the investigators that when he raised his concerns with the Justice Department about "institutional problems" with the Fast and Furious operation, department officials resisted his desire to share his thoughts with Congress.

"It was very frustrating to all of us," Melson told congressional investigators over the Fourth of July holiday, "and it appears thoroughly to us that the department is really trying to figure out a way to push the information away from their political appointees at the department."

Not only was the department slow to react, Justice officials even indicated to him they did not want him to cooperate with Congress, Melson said.

His comments appeared in transcripts released by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the top GOP member on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"The Deputy Attorney General's office wasn't very happy with us" at ATF, Melson said, "because they thought this was an admission that there were mistakes made. Well, there were some mistakes made."

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government
KEYWORDS: atf; banglist; batf; castaway; coverup; cultureofcorruption; dea; doj; fastandfurious; fbi; grassley; gunrunner; guns; gunwalker; holder; injusticedepartment; issa; justicedepartment; melson; obama; obamalegacy; obamascandals; reichstag; scandal; transparency
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To: Rebelbase; NFHale
This Melson guy is singing like a canary, and the GOP does nothing.

I hope this zit festers for the next 12 months and is popped with vengeance 90 days before the election.

Next year is the time to impeach at least Holder et al. and dump this baby in the Senate. 17 rat senators are going for re-election.

41 posted on 07/18/2011 7:51:08 PM PDT by neverdem (Xin loi minh oi)
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To: EternalVigilance

Obama lied, and Citizens DIED!!


42 posted on 07/18/2011 7:53:55 PM PDT by 2harddrive
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To: eyeamok

If we fought a War on Drugs......how is it that Drugs WON???


43 posted on 07/18/2011 7:56:48 PM PDT by 2harddrive
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To: NormsRevenge

bump to the top


44 posted on 07/18/2011 8:03:02 PM PDT by GOPJ (Honk if I'm paying for your car, your mortgage, and your big, fat Greek bailout - mewzilla)
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To: gaijin

http://www.policeone.com/police-heroes/articles/4050230-Puerto-Rico-cop-fatally-shot-father-injured/

Is there another operation involved? Puerto Rico (US territory) has a exceptionally high murder rate.
No notation of the type of firearms used in the robbery or the number of suspects.


45 posted on 07/18/2011 8:21:14 PM PDT by Deaf Smith
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To: NormsRevenge

I hope Melson is in a WPProgram. So far one of the other whistle blowers was fired.


46 posted on 07/18/2011 9:02:54 PM PDT by Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid! (Allen West 2012 Make it happen!)
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To: NormsRevenge

Remember the very last minute pardons as Clinton left office ? It was Holder who did the legwork setting those up and many on the DoJ were reported as being livid, especially with the pardon of Marc Rich.

I wonder if there’s some still there who’d love to see Holder get his just desserts, could be they’ve all retired by now.


47 posted on 07/18/2011 9:14:04 PM PDT by 1066AD
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To: NormsRevenge

Remember the very last minute pardons as Clinton left office ? It was Holder who did the legwork setting those up and many on the DoJ were reported as being livid, especially with the pardon of Marc Rich.

I wonder if there’s some still there who’d love to see Holder get his just desserts, could be they’ve all retired by now.


48 posted on 07/18/2011 9:14:23 PM PDT by 1066AD
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To: LucyT

ping #24


49 posted on 07/18/2011 9:17:11 PM PDT by mojitojoe ( 1400 years of existence & Islam has 2 main accomplishments, psychotic violence and goat curry)
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To: NormsRevenge

Obama’s Waterloo ...


50 posted on 07/18/2011 9:58:41 PM PDT by Munz (All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent.)
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To: EternalVigilance
"There are dead Americans because of Obama’s actions."

And only God knows how many Mexican citizens. I'll bet it's dozens, maybe more.

51 posted on 07/18/2011 10:51:05 PM PDT by cookcounty (Nullius in Verba. "Take no man's word for it.")
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To: Typical_Whitey
Not one single reporter has ever asked Obama if he would ask for a Special prosecuter to take up the Gunwalker probe.

These things take time. Just a few days ago, some were complaining the media was totally ignoring this.

The source for this thread/article is the LA Times...

52 posted on 07/18/2011 11:41:41 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: NormsRevenge

Just a SLIGHT Conflict of Interest there, eh??? Who has the power to arrest the Attorney General?


53 posted on 07/19/2011 3:21:36 AM PDT by LibertyRocks
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To: gaijin
"it would have to also involve child molestation, or something"

Well, the TSA has a corner on sexual assault of adults AND children, alike -- and our Federal Government seems to be just fine with that... If only the general public would open their eyes!!!
54 posted on 07/19/2011 3:50:15 AM PDT by LibertyRocks
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To: Nachum

please add me to your ping list...regards


55 posted on 07/19/2011 3:53:20 AM PDT by Abundy
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To: NormsRevenge

I never thought I’d be cheering the ATF to bring the rest of the government down in flames. Truly, I live in interesting times.


56 posted on 07/19/2011 3:55:58 AM PDT by arderkrag (Georgia is God's Country. LOOKING FOR ROLEPLAYERS. Check Profile.)
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To: 2harddrive
If we fought a War on Drugs......how is it that Drugs WON???

The profit motive defeated the Soviet Empire, after all.

57 posted on 07/19/2011 5:38:46 AM PDT by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: NormsRevenge

This is good to bring up again and again in the coming election. This administration thinks it can get away with these criminal acts, but it is going to take a candidate who will not let up and will hammer them time and again every opportunity with this.


58 posted on 07/19/2011 5:58:26 AM PDT by mrspeelwerneeded (Palin 2012)
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To: NormsRevenge

The ones that claim to cover every little thing in the daily life of Obama POLITICO 44 has NOTHING on this serious scandal. POLITICO had a blurb way back when.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52402.html


59 posted on 07/19/2011 6:49:42 AM PDT by Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid! (Allen West 2012 Make it happen!)
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To: mvpel

An excellent point!


60 posted on 07/19/2011 1:39:03 PM PDT by 2harddrive
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