Justice Department Details How It Got Statements Wrong on Fast and Furious Scandal

On December 14, 2010 in Peck Canyon, northwest of Nogales, Arizona, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was shot dead by a group of illegal border entrants who refused commands to drop their weapons after they were confronted by US agents. The illegals murdered Terry with a gun connected to a failed federal experiment that allowed firearms to be smuggled into Mexico. The family of slain border agent Brian Terry blamed Eric Holder for their son’s death in a recent interview. This past month the Obama Administration sealed the court records on Agent Terry’s murder.

Tonight the Holder Justice Department released documents to Congress on the Fast and Furious program. The Justice Department now says they did not sanction the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser and that they make every effort to intercept the illegally purchased weapons(?)
The AP reported:

The Justice Department on Friday provided Congress with documents detailing how department officials gave inaccurate information to a U.S. senator in the controversy surrounding Operation Fast and Furious, the flawed law enforcement initiative aimed at dismantling major arms trafficking networks on the Southwest border.

In a letter last February to Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Justice Department said that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had not sanctioned the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser and that the agency makes every effort to intercept weapons that have been purchased illegally. In Operation Fast and Furious, both statements turned out to be incorrect.

The Justice Department letter was responding to Grassley’s statements that the Senate Judiciary Committee had received allegations the ATF had sanctioned the sale of hundreds of assault weapons to suspected straw purchasers. Grassley also said there were allegations that two of the assault weapons had been used in a shootout that killed customs agent Brian Terry.

In an email four days later to Justice Department colleagues, then-U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke in Phoenix said that “Grassley’s assertions regarding the Arizona investigation and the weapons recovered” at the “murder scene are based on categorical falsehoods. I worry that ATF will take 8 months to answer this when they should be refuting its underlying accusations right now.” That email marked the start of an internal debate in the Justice Department over what and how much to say in response to Grassley’s allegations. The fact that there was an ongoing criminal investigation into Terry’s murder prompted some at the Justice Department to argue for less disclosure.

Does this make any sense to anyone?
They got the statements wrong?
What a complete disaster.

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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Thanks for sharing!