On July 4th, acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson told congressional investigators that the DOJ is obstructing the probe of Operation Fast & Furious. DOJ is actively seeking to rid themselves of Melson but he refuses to go. Another recent development in this case was the revelation that U.S. taxpayer dollars were used to purchase guns that later found their way to Mexican drug lords. It also turns out the main target of Operation Fast & Furious was, in fact, an FBI informant who was a former drug dealer and had been previously deported.
This story gets dirtier every day.
The Justice Department is obstructing the congressional investigation of a U.S. law enforcement operation intended to crack down on major weapons traffickers on the Southwest border, according to the embattled leader of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Ken Melson, the acting director of the ATF, lobbed the accusation when he sneaked in for an interview with congressional investigators on July 4, two days ahead of his scheduled interview with the inspector general about the operation known as “Fast and Furious,” Fox News has learned.
FILE: Soldiers stand guard near seized weapons during a news conference at the Defense Headquarters in Mexico City.
“If his account is accurate, then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand,” Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Eric Holder. “That approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation.”
In a separate development, congressional sources have learned that not only was U.S. taxpayer money being used to buy guns that were later sent to Mexico, but the main target of the investigation was actually a FBI informant and former drug dealer who had been deported years ago.
UPDATE:
Melson claims he was directed by Justice Department officials to avoid cooperating with Congress. “If his account is accurate,” Issa and Grassley told Holder, “then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand. That approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation.”
Melson’s testimony confirmed the dark suspicions of Congressional investigators that Operation Fast and Furious was never intended to work the way it was advertised. “Specifically, we have very real indications from several sources that some of the gun trafficking ‘higher-ups’ that the ATF sought to identify were already known to other agencies, and may even have been paid as informants,” Issa and Grassley stated.
In other words, this was never about letting American guns “walk” to shadowy Mexican drug kingpins, leaving a trail of bullets that ATF could follow. Also, this means agencies other than ATF were involved in the Gun Walker outrage… which means the Acting ATF Director’s potential usefulness as a firewall to protect superiors, such as Eric Holder, has just about come to an end.
Read the rest here: http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=44671
Tags: ATF, DOJ, Eric Holder
