Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley made the following statement regarding the Department of Justice Office of Inspector General’s report on the Osorio and Barba Firearms Trafficking Rings. Grassley began asking questions of the Obama administration in March 2011, soon after he began his investigation into Operation Fast and Furious, the illegal gunwalking operation designed and carried out by the ATF. He requested the inspector general look into the Osorio Brothers issue in September 2012.
“I began asking questions about the shady operations of the ATF and its gunwalking operations more than six years ago. Congress is still in litigation regarding Fast and Furious to understand the full extent of what happened and how the Obama administration attempted to avoid congressional oversight, and now 4 ½ years after my request for an IG investigation we’re finally learning more from the Inspector General about another botched operation. Sadly, the information provided by whistleblowers appears to be proven true once again. ATF did indeed fail to seize illegal firearms that later turned up at a crime scene in Mexico, trafficked by the same suspects who had previously sold two firearms used in the February 15, 2011, attack on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Mexico. The circumstances look all too familiar and seem to be part of a pattern of recklessness that failed to recognize the consequences of allowing firearms to get in the hands of the cartels.”
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