Ruh Roh: Darrell Issa Calling for Special Prosecutor in Fast and Furious

Sorry, two Fast and Furious posts in a row but this is very big news. As I mentioned in the previous post, this scandal appears to be reaching critical mass. The audio recordings released by CBS appear to be coming out via drip, drip, drip. Each new release is more damning than the previous. If they get even worse, those who were on them know it and may commence CYA mode very soon. Now, Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa, who both Howard and McAllister expressed strong concern over in those recordings, is calling for a Special Prosecutor.

Via Washington Examiner:

House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., on Tuesday called for a special prosecutor to investigate the growing “Fast and Furious” scandal, in which the Obama administration allowed guns to walk to Mexico, where they fell into the hands of drug lords and were found at the murder scene of at least one U.S. border agent.

Issa complained in a conference call that, “there is ongoing cover up of a pattern of wrongdoing that can’t be explained by any ordinary people (who tried) to do the right thing but made a mistake.”

The Obama administration has been slow to hand over documents to Issa’s committee, and when they have, they’ve been heavily redacted.

“Even though I have subpoena ability, I don’t have the ability to lock people up for contempt until they fess up and give us what we want,” Issa said.

A special prosecutor would have such powers, and would be independent of the government agencies that were responsible for creating and attempting to cover up details of the program.

“We were happy to see the U.S Attorney’s office in Phoenix relieved of these prosecutions so we could have somebody not tarnished in creating the problem also in charge of prosecuting,” Issa said, referring to last month’s news that U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke was pushed out. “But yes, we’d like to have a true special prosecutor on this.”

There you have it. Issa is laying the groundwork for arrests and jail time. By calling for a special prosecutor, Issa is putting some very powerful people on notice. The steady release of audio recordings of conversations between Andre Howard and lead ATF case agent Hope McAllister coupled with the prospect of people doing serious jail time could force someone very close to Holder and Obama to start chirping.

h/t Weasel Zippers

More Fast and Furious Audio Tapes Coming Out

Sharyl Attkisson over at CBS continues to release audio recordings of conversations between the Lone Wolf Trading Company owner, Andre Howard and the lead ATF case agent, Hope McAllister. A new bit of information here is that according to Attkisson, the source of the recordings is Howard, which makes what's on them even more curious. If Howard is speaking honestly to McAllister, these recordings are very damaging to him because they implicate him in a coverup. Why would someone intentionally record something that would harm them? It looks like we're going to have to wait for the answer to that one. How did Atkisson get her hands on these recordings? Did Howard willingly give them to her?

The two guns found at Border Patrol agent Brian Terry's murder scene came from Howard's store. Note that in the recordings, you hear both Howard and McAllister discuss the FBI. McAllister twice mentions that the FBI 'has their own problems.' Could this be a reference to the third gun found at Terry's murder scene? The existence of that gun was allegedly covered up because it was an FBI informant who put it there.

Via CBS:

In a series of secretly recorded audio tapes believe to have been recorded last March and obtained by CBS News, an Arizona gun dealer and an ATF agent involved with ATF's "Fast and Furious" operation worried about the unraveling scandal.

The conversations were recorded by Andre Howard who ran the Lone Wolf Trading Company. Howard's gun dealership had been cooperating with the ATF in "Fast and Furious." At least two of his weapons were sold to a straw buyer before turning up later at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Hope MacAllister, the ATF agent heard in the conversations, was the lead case agent.

Below is the audio, with transcripts underneath.



This scandal is reaching critical mass folks.

The gun dealer is Andre Howard, the agent is ATF Agent Hope MacAllister.
Dealer: He's (Dodson) more toxic than you realize. I can tell you casue I asked him. How much of this f-----g file did you release?

Agent: Mmmhm

Dealer: He said basically the underlying case file. I said okay, who'd you release it to? F-----g Patrick Leahy! Ok? Wasn't just Grassley it was Leahy alright? Leahy as we both know has adjourned this inquiry right now okay with no plans to reconvene it. So your people were successful on that end.

Agent: Right.

Dealer: Obviously that's good. However these other idiots from

Agent: Yeah I saw that. The House?

Dealer: Yeah and that I don't know. What is troublesome with this I expected Darrell Issa's signature to be on this it wasn't. He's your biggest thorn, he hates Holder.

Agent: Yeah. Where's he out of?

Dealer: Darrell Issa?

Agent: Yeah.

Dealer: California.

Agent: California.

Dealer: Lamar Smith you know's out of Texas, I don't know. Holder has to respond to this tomorrow.

Agent: Yeah he's gonna respond.

Dealer: I know he is. And I can assure you the media isn't gonna like his response because basically it's gonna mirror what he's told Grassley.

Agent: Yeah.

Dealer: He can't deviate.

Agent: Well if, I mean I've seen a rough copy at least of what our US Attorney here has sent up. Whether or not he has the b---s to actually use it or not, I doubt it. But I mean it's pretty aggressive. Um. The way I see it our local US Attorney is extremely aggressive. When it gets to DC..

Dealer: Who Emory?

Agent: No...THE US Attorney.

Dealer: Burke, yeah, used to work under Clinton. Guy used to work under Clinton. Talking about Burke?

Agent: MMhmm.

Dealer: yeah well

Agent: But the problem is once it gets to dc it just gets... well you know

(unintell.)

Dealer: Discombobulated that's a good term for it yeah I get that.

Dealer: Let me tell you you got more people out there now talking about this f-----g thing than anything I've ever seen...(unintell.) ... they're not shutting the hell up

Agent: (unintell)

Dealer: and that goes from DHS to f-----g FBI to everybody...

Agent: Yeah.

Dealer: I'm hearing hypothetically on every fringe

Agent: Yeah.

Dealer: Thru third parties and I can assure you they're all like what the hell are they nuts?

EXCERPT 2

Dealer: But you have got to put the word out there to all the departments tell the f------g FBI shut the f--- up. (whispering)

Agent: FBI'S got their own problems, trust me.

Dealer: I know I hear.

Agent: They've got their own problems.

Dealer: Hypothetically.

Agent: If anybody's gonna get sued it's gonna be the FBI in my opinion.

EXCERPT 3

Dealer: What is it with the FBI they just have a h--- on for you guys or what?

Agent: The FBI's got their own problems. Like I said they're focusing on our problems they should probably turn it inward, cause they got their own problems right now.

Dealer: That ain't no lie.

Agent: So.. so hahaha.

EXCERPT 4

Dealer: What's Holders' office got to say about this?

Agent: Well like I said they're supposed to come out with little more um b----y statement than they have in the past, so...

Dealer: God they're (intell)

Agent: I mean at some point they're gonna say have to say Grassley you're just gonna have to sit your a-- down. I mean that or they're gonna have to (unintell). I mean like I said my understanding is he can't call a hearing. Somebody from the majority party has got to call a congressional hearing and as of right now...

Dealer: Patrick Leahy's an a----e, you know that. He gets ahold of something he's like a dog with a bone.

Agent: As of right now we don't have any info that's occurred. So...

Dealer: No, not now, but

Agent: I know there was a presentation given to Judiciary committee and everybody aside from Grassley is is satisfied. At least at this point.

Dealer: So they say you know I don't trust em...

Agent: No but I mean that's all I've got...it's all (unintell.)

It's very interesting that within those recordings, there seems to be the realization that Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee was told to stand down by the DOJ and he obeyed. This is the quintessential example of how Congress is ceding its power to the Executive Branch.

CLICK HERE to listen to recordings released earlier.

h/t Sipsey Street

Palin Gaining on Obama (and She's not Even in the Race... yet)

I will continue to shout from the rooftops that Rick Perry would be a terrible choice for Republicans to settle on as their nominee. He is such a moderate, he'd only open the door for another Democrat in 2016. Unless the Republicans nominate a conservative, it will be the biggest waste of the Obama years. Jimmy Carter opened the door for Ronald Reagan. Obama is Carter on steroids and it will be an utter shame if conservatives don't take advantage of this reality. Sure, there are conservatives in the race (Santorum and Bachmann) but they increasingly look like they don't have a chance. There is one conservative who does and her name is Sarah Palin. She's also gaining ground on Obama.

Via Miami Herald:

WASHINGTON -- Look out President Barack Obama. Even Sarah Palin's gaining on you.

A new McClatchy-Marist poll finds that Obama looks increasingly vulnerable in next year's election, with a majority of voters believing he'll lose to any Republican, a solid plurality saying they'll definitely vote against him and most potential Republican challengers gaining on him.

Even in potential matchups where he leads, Obama in most cases has lost ground to the Republican.

The biggest gain came for Palin, the former Alaska governor who hasn't yet announced whether she'll jump into the fast-changing race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.

After trailing Obama by more than 20 percentage points in polls all year, the new national survey, taken Sept. 13-14, found Palin trailing the president by just 5 points, 49-44 percent. The key reason: She now leads Obama among independents, a sharp turnaround.

If it's true that any Republican nominated would defeat Obama, why on earth should the Tea Party or conservatives settle for a moderate like Romney or Perry. Let's face it. As it stands right now, one of those two is probably who we're going to get unless Palin gets in. She's the only potential candidate who can beat either Romney or Perry for the nomination.

On top of that, she's the only one with a quantifiable record of taking on crony capitalism, which is fast becoming a primary issue in 2012.

h/t Drudge