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More Fast and Furious Guns Found at Violent Crime Scenes
I began looking into allegations brought to me in January by courageous whistleblowers about an ill-advised policy known as Fast and Furious, implemented by the Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). In March, Congressman Darrell Issa, the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, joined my efforts. Since then, congressional investigators have interviewed dozens of people involved in the case, and Congressman Issa and I have released one report focusing on the perspective of the agents working on the case and a second report focusing on the perspective of the U.S. officials working in the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. We’ve also written several letters asking questions about the actions of both the Justice Department and the ATF, which led to thousands of guns falling into the hands of known straw purchasers who then often transferred the weapons to third parties and moved the guns across the border to Mexico and the Mexican drug cartels.
Now we’re learning about some of the repercussions from the foolish program. Despite being less than forthcoming in responses to questions I had for Attorney General Eric Holder at a May 4, 2011, oversight hearing, the Attorney General disclosed some disturbing information.
The Attorney General wrote in his answers that in addition to the murder of Border Patrol Special Agent Brian Terry, “…the ATF is aware of 11 instances where a recovered firearm associated with this case was recovered in connection with a crime of violence in the United States.” Despite an agreement I had with the Attorney General to answer every question and every subpart to every question, the Department of Justice failed to answer my entire question, so little more about the weapons is known at this point. What’s even more frustrating is that Justice Department staff has now indicated that this answer is incorrect, but has yet to provide a corrected version.
In an attempt to receive complete answers to my latest questions, Congressman Issa and I have again requested the information that the Attorney General failed to provide earlier.
With any luck, we’ll cut through the Department of Justice’s word games and get straightforward answers to the questions.
Friday, Aug. 19, 2011
I began looking into allegations brought to me in January by courageous whistleblowers about an ill-advised policy known as Fast and Furious, implemented by the Justice Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). In March, Congressman Darrell Issa, the Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, joined my efforts. Since then, congressional investigators have interviewed dozens of people involved in the case, and Congressman Issa and I have released one report focusing on the perspective of the agents working on the case and a second report focusing on the perspective of the U.S. officials working in the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. We’ve also written several letters asking questions about the actions of both the Justice Department and the ATF, which led to thousands of guns falling into the hands of known straw purchasers who then often transferred the weapons to third parties and moved the guns across the border to Mexico and the Mexican drug cartels.
Now we’re learning about some of the repercussions from the foolish program. Despite being less than forthcoming in responses to questions I had for Attorney General Eric Holder at a May 4, 2011, oversight hearing, the Attorney General disclosed some disturbing information.
The Attorney General wrote in his answers that in addition to the murder of Border Patrol Special Agent Brian Terry, “…the ATF is aware of 11 instances where a recovered firearm associated with this case was recovered in connection with a crime of violence in the United States.” Despite an agreement I had with the Attorney General to answer every question and every subpart to every question, the Department of Justice failed to answer my entire question, so little more about the weapons is known at this point. What’s even more frustrating is that Justice Department staff has now indicated that this answer is incorrect, but has yet to provide a corrected version.
In an attempt to receive complete answers to my latest questions, Congressman Issa and I have again requested the information that the Attorney General failed to provide earlier.
With any luck, we’ll cut through the Department of Justice’s word games and get straightforward answers to the questions.
Friday, Aug. 19, 2011