An internal Justice Department investigation into the Operation Fast and Furious scandal released Wednesday singles out 14 different federal officials for criticism and possible disciplinary action. But the report found no evidence that the department’s top leaders knew about the gun-walking aspect of the operation while it was underway.
The long-awaited, 471-page report from Justice’s Inspector General finds misconduct or poor judgment on the part of officials at DOJ headquarters, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Washington and its field office in Arizona, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Arizona in connection with the operation that reportedly allowed as many as 2000 weapons to flow from U.S. gun dealers to Mexican drug cartels.
As the report was being released Wednesday afternoon, Holder announced the departure of two officials criticized in the report: former ATF director Kenneth Melson and Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Jason Weinstein.
The attorney general announced no action against the head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Lanny Breuer, who was criticized in the report and whose firing has been demanded by Republican lawmakers. However, a senior Justice Department official said Holder “admonished” Breuer over the episode.
2 out at Justice Department after Fast and Furious internal report criticism - Josh Gerstein - POLITICO.com
so lanny was admonished by holder?
who admonished holder?
the ig finds the dept exhibited a "worrisome disregard for public safety"
"the report cites 14 other department employees---including
criminal division head lanny breuer -- for potential wrongdoing,
recommending the department consider disciplinary action against them."
breuer is one peg away from the addled ag, breuer is the man who forwarded to his private email account a copy of the infamous february 4 letter to congress which doj had to withdraw 10 months later, conceding its misstatement of the facts
and when he testified to congress about the false assertions in the feb 4 letter, doj's criminal division chief forgot to tell committee members of the transaction
"justice department criminal division chief lanny breuer received draft copies of the feb 4, 2011 letter from weinstein and forwarded those messages to his personal email account, which he didn't share in recent congressional testimony about questionable atf tactics in gun cases"
admonished, huh?
weinstein quit today, his people wrote the letter
weinstein knew about gun walking---which the dept in testimony to congress has repeatedly denied any awareness of---in april, 2010, after conversations with william newell in phoenix, the principal fall guy
according to eric holder's own ig
also, applications for wiretaps contained all the dirty details, weinstein signed em and says he never read em
jason weinstein is asst ag, criminal division, one rung below breuer
the ig finds that after the death of brian terry the doj showed no interest in learning what happened, the ignorance of which is the dept's sole excuse
holder spikes the ball in vindication:
“it is unfortunate that some were so quick to make baseless accusations before they possessed the facts about these operations..."
accusations based on the assumption you knew what you were doing?
the ignorant ag continues:
"accusations that turned out to be without foundation and that have caused a great deal of unnecessary harm and confusion"
it's the
accusations that caused the harm?
remember brian terry?
daryle issa---he didn't do his job
issa---obama needs to step up
john kyl---"the whole thing is a mess, it’s obvious it’s one of those things where either way, the attorney general can be blamed for what happened---either he didn’t know and should have, or he did and he hasn’t ‘fessed up"
patrick leahy---"it is what it always was, a badly conceived effort by law enforcement field agents to respond to difficult circumstances that went tragically wrong"
yup, all the way up to lanny breuer
the old man from vermont, by the way, is best known as leaky leahy, forced to resign from senate intel for engaging in press-friendly behavior not matched until stuxnet, the kill list, zafridi, the ubl movie, the drones...
politico drops a bomb at the bottom of page 1:
"the wiretap applications themselves are under seal, though issa obtained copies of at least some of them, the doj agreed to [ig michael] horowitz’s request that officials ask a judge to unseal them"
horowitz testifies on the hill on thursday
stay tuned
'Furious' report slams 'disregard' for public safety as DOJ officials quit | Fox News
Justice Withdraws Inaccurate 'Fast And Furious' Letter It Sent To Congress : The Two-Way : NPR