Gunrunner: Darrell Issa claims the DOJ obstructed his investigation
Eric Holder tried to make the acting head of the ATF–Kenneth Melson–the fall guy for Operation Gunrunner, demanding his resignation in the hopes that this one scalp would be enough to convince Darrell Issa that justice had been served in the murder of border patrol agent Brian Terry.
Unfortunately for Eric Holder, and fortunately for Americans who want to see justice served, Kenneth Melson was not willing to resign and become Eric Holder’s fall guy, saying that he was looking forward to defending himself in front of the Congress. Kenneth Melson claimed that while he wanted to testify in front of the Congress the DOJ would not give him permission to do so. This news has to make people wonder what it is that the DOJ is trying to hide.
Kenneth Melson was finally granted the opportunity to defend himself in a secret meeting with Darrell Issa, and in my opinion the testimony is pretty damning toward Eric Holder and his attempt to obstruct justice in this case.
One key takeaway from the meeting was that Melson acknowledged to investigators that agents had witnessed transfers of weapons from straw purchasers to third parties without following the guns afterwards
Another point Melson clarified for investigators was that the ATF group carrying out the mission of Operation Fast and Furious was placed under the direction of the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s office. The U.S. Attorney in Arizona, Dennis Burke, is a political appointee of the Obama administration.
Eric Holder would have us believe that Kenneth Melson alone was responsible for Gunrunnner, hence the calls for his resignation, but if this were the case why was he placed under the direction of the Arizona US Attorney’s office if he was not beholden to a higher authority?
Justice Department officials sought to limit and control his communications with Congress. This is yet another example of why direct communications with Congress are so important and are protected by law
Acting Director Melson’s cooperation was extremely helpful to our investigation,” Issa and Grassley wrote to Holder. “He claimed that ATF’s senior leadership would have preferred to be more cooperative with our inquiry much earlier in the process. However, he said that Justice Department officials directed them not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress. The result is that Congress only got the parts of the story that the (Justice) Department wanted us to hear. 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. That approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation. The Department’s inability or unwillingness to be more forthcoming served to conceal critical information that we are now learning about the involvement of other agencies, including the DEA and the FBI
The evidence we have gathered raises the disturbing possibility that the Justice Department not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons but that taxpayer dollars from other agencies may have financed those engaging in such activities. While this is preliminary information, we must find out if there is any truth to it. According to Acting Director Melson, he became aware of this startling possibility only after the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the indictments of the straw purchasers, which we now know were substantially delayed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Main Justice (Department).”
“It is one thing to argue that the ends justify the means in an attempt to defend a policy that puts building a big case ahead of stopping known criminals from getting guns,” the lawmakers wrote to Holder. “Yet it is a much more serious matter to conceal from Congress the possible involvement of other agencies in identifying and maybe even working with the same criminals that Operation Fast and Furious was trying to identify.”
Nearly a decade after the September 11th attacks, the stovepipes of information within our government may still be causing tragic mistakes long after they should have been broken down,” Issa and Grassley concluded.
This is a damning indictment of the Justice Department and we can see that the Gunrunner scandal is expanding with every new detail that comes to light. Because of the restrictions which were placed on Kenneth Melson by the Justice Department for the department’s authorization to let Melson testify, Kenneth Melson did not use a DOJ attorney, but rather a personal attorney so that he could provide the Congress with the truth as he saw it, and not with the watered down “truth” that the DOJ demanded he conform to in order to give him permission to testify.
I find it hard to believe that Kenneth Melson is simply trying to deflect the blame for Gunrunner by passing the buck, and find it highly likely that he is telling the whole truth. When faced with the options of either resigning without testifying in order to avoid the possibility of further accusations, as well as letting the controversy around him die, or testifying in front of the Congress under oath that he was only a pawn in a larger game who could possibly ascertain the possibility that Melson would chose the latter only to perjure himself in front of the Congress?
He must be telling the truth, and Eric Holder should be shaking in his boots right now for two reasons: First, he authorized the program which led to the murder of Brian Terry; and secondly he has tried to obstruct justice in this case because he knows all trails lead back to him.
There can be no justice in the Gunrunner scandal if it does not end with the resignation of Eric Holder; he is not only duplicitous in this scandal, he is responsible for it. Even in the unlikely event that Eric Holder knew nothing about Gunrunner, he still engaged in trying to hide something and coming from the man who heads the Department of Justice, this alone is unforgivable.
America's Watchtower 
I read about this earlier at Maggie’s Notebook. If this doesn’t blow the lid off this , I don’t know what will. Holder should be brought up on criminal charges.
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I’ll have to check out Maggie’s post, there is no doubt that Eric Holder has to go. This scandal is getting worse and worse every day!
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Now it looks like the ATF office in Tampa was running guns to Honduras.
Stay tuned.
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I haven’t heard about this! I wil have to do some digging!
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Let’s see now, wasn’t the Obama administration supposed to be much more open and honest about their actions? Seems to me that’s how the President said he would be running the ship, now that he has control. I think the Gunrunner scandal is a prime example of just how open and honest this administration isn’t.
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Those promises seem so long ago now, don’t they?
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I had thought the Bush Administration would be the worst presidency we’d have for a long time to come. This has been easily topped by the Obama administration which has not only done most things wrong, but in a devastating fashion. Our country has been on a downward trend for some time now, but this, coupled with pretty much every other action of this administration has forced a freefall. We’ve lost our status as the top economy, our military is slipping, society is down the tubes, and our integrity as respecters of law and order is in shambles. What next? Really.
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It really doesn’t bode well for the future, does it? Where have all the statesmen gone?
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Oh boy, this just keeps getting better and better. There was never any doubt, at least to us and people like us, that Holder was in this up to his eyeballs. And I suspect that is goes on up to obama. And now it looks like Zorro has given us something else to watch out for. Yep, better and better.
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There is no doubt in my mind that Holder was involved in this decision and I feel Obama probably was also.
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Melson should avoid flying and hanging out in public until this is done. Honestly, I believe this guy is in danger. The anti gun sentiment doesn’t stop with the statists in our government, it goes all the way to the UN’s Agenda 21 and the shadow government. If he’s not real careful, he may end up having an “accident”.
Another good source for info is infowars.com. He has some fantastic guests on his radio show ( Talker Magazines key note speaker 2011). I used to call this stuff conspiracy theory. I now call it conspiracy. When you hear guys like Cass Sunstein say he wants “conspiracy theorists” put in reeducation camps, you have to realize there are things the tyrants don’t want you to know. Sunstein also wants animals to be able to sue humans in court. No joke.
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