Wow: Darrell Issa calls DOJ IG to testify on 9/11... about that Fast and Furious report

The Fast and Furious investigation started in early 2011. It has been both compelling and painfully slow to watch. Ever suspicious of congressional investigations that almost always lead nowhere - unless the subjects are not politicians - I often waffled between believing that Oversight Committee chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Senate Judiciary ranking member, Charles Grassley (R-IA) would give it all they have or succumb to the political pressure that demands little more than dog and pony shows that precede such investigations' fade into the abyss.

When I saw what was billed as the first of three reports to come out of the Oversight committee relative to its Fast and Furious investigation, I'll admit it was discouraging. It appeared that Holder had successfully coughed up his fall guys - five local ATF employees in Arizona. The letter from Issa's committee identified them as the responsible parties; DOJ leadership would escape.

Hang on just a minute. Issa still appears to be fighting despite having limited options. Sipsey Street calls it "three-dimensional chess".

The long anticipated DOJ Inspectors General report that every leader of consequence has deferred to whenever questions from Congress became too uncomfortable, is finally coming out and Rep. Issa is summoning the IG himself - Michael Horowitz - to testify in front of the Oversight Committee on September 11, 2012.

Via Kerry Picket at the Washington Times:

Congressman Darrell Issa, California Republican and House Oversight Committee Chairman, sent a letter on Friday to the Justice Department's Inspector General Michael Horowitz that summoned the IG inspector to a Capitol Hill hearing to testify before the House Oversight Committee on September 11.

According to Mr. Issa's letter, Horowitz already sent a draft of the eagerly awaited for Fast and Furious report to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) as well as Attorney General Eric Holder and the Office of the Deputy Attorney General on August 21.

Here is a copy of the letter. Note that in addition to calling Horowitz to testify, Issa is doing so prior to the 30-day window the IG has given for the report to be released after DOJ leadership has had a chance to review. Issa points out that 30 days is not customary; two weeks is. Perhaps that's why Issa has decided to split the difference and request Horowitz to appear three weeks after completion of the report.

Issa addresses this concern in the letter.

These committee members have got to be F-E-D U-P with the number of times they've heard testimony that included deferrals to the IG. On September 11th, they'll be grilling a guy that has no one to defer to.

I'm back to believing Issa has no interest in dog and pony shows.

Should be big.

About those Fast and Furious Reports

On July 30th,  Los Angeles Times reported that Operation Fast and Furious was being laid at the feet of "five senior ATF officials," while mentioning that there are still two more reports due out from Congressional Investigators. Still, the news that ATF officials were being identified as the responsible parties for the operation didn't seem to jibe with what is known about DOJ leadership.  The Times piece, published before that report was released to the public, may have left readers (this one included) with the impression that this was basically the final word on the operation.

However, since then, increased focus has been placed on two more reports expected to come out; they will detail things like what the Justice Department knew, covered up, or refused to release. Those reports are likely going to be more explosive.

Before I get to those, let's consider what the consequences should be for those five senior ATF officials. Here are their names, via the Daily Caller:

The five ATF officials Grassley and Issa point to as responsible for Fast and Furious are:

William Newell, the special agent in charge of the phoenix field division
William McMahon, Newell’s boss who was ATF’s deputy assistant director for field operations
Mark Chait, McMahon’s boss who was ATF’s assistant director for field operations
William Hoover, ATF’s former deputy director
Kenneth Melson, former acting ATF director

Our system of Justice will be tested here because as of right now, those five men have been reassigned. When one takes a look at the blood on their hands, based on this 211-page report, the next thing to watch for is accountability. Check out what the Los Angeles Times piece (mentioned above) relayed from the report:

They found that William Newell, the special agent-in-charge in Phoenix, exhibited “repeatedly risky” management and “consistently pushed the envelope of permissible investigative techniques.” The report said “he had been reprimanded ... before for crossing the line, but under a new administration and a new attorney general he reverted back to the use of risky gunwalking tactics.”

His boss, Deputy Assistant Director for Field Operations William McMahon, “rubber stamped critical documents that came across his desk without reading them,” the report alleged. “In McMahon’s view it was not his job to ask any questions about what was going on in the field.”

They added that McMahon gave “false testimony” to Congress about signing applications for wiretap intercepts in Fast and Furious.

His supervisor, Mark Chait, assistant director for field operations, “played a surprisingly passive role during the operation,” the report said. “He failed to provide oversight that his experience should have dictated and his position required.”

Above Chait was Deputy Director William Hoover, who the report said ordered an exit strategy to scuttle Fast and Furious but never followed through: “Hoover was derelict in his duty to ensure that public safety was not jeopardized.”

And they said Melson, a longtime career Justice official, “often stayed above the fray” instead of bringing Fast and Furious to an “end sooner.”

But, the investigators said, ATF agents said that they were hamstrung by federal prosecutors in Arizona from  obtaining criminal charges for illegal gun sales, and that Melson “even offered to travel to Phoenix to write the indictments himself. Still, he never ordered it be shut down.”

In the November 2010 slaying in Mexico of Mario Gonzalez, the brother of Patricia Gonzalez, then attorney general for the state of Chihuahua, two of 16 weapons were traced back to Fast and Furious after they were recovered from a shootout with Mexican police.

But 10 days later, ATF Agent Tonya English urged Agent Hope MacAllister and their supervisor, David J. Voth, to keep it under wraps. “My thought is not to release any information,” she told them in an email.

When Patricia Gonzalez later learned that two of the guns had been illegally obtained under Fast and Furious, she was outraged. "The basic ineptitude of these officials [who ordered the Fast and Furious operation] caused the death of my brother and surely thousands more victims," she said.

Based on the findings in this report, there should be jail time and / or plea bargains for every one of those five individuals. They each have blood on their hands.

Moreover, the first report does, in fact, point to senior DOJ leadership, something that was given scant to no attention by the L.A. Times piece.

Via Daily Caller:

Darrell Issa and Sen. Chuck Grassley — both Republicans — concludes senior Obama administration officials appear to have set the stage for, and possibly encouraged, ATF officials to walk guns into Mexico.

The report finds that Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who leads the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division, told Holder about the Firearms Trafficking Working Group (FTWG) in an Aug. 19, 2009, memo of recommendation.

“The FTWG’s mission was to formulate a plan to improve the U.S. government’s efforts in stemming the illegal flow of weapons, which was fueling escalating violence along both sides of the Southwestern border,” the report reads. “The working group’s first recommendation was that the ‘attorney general and secretary of Homeland Security should form an interagency Southwest Border (‘SWB’) firearms trafficking strategy group.’ According to the Justice Department, ‘the deputy attorney general responded to the specific proposals in this memorandum by forming the Southwest Border Strategy Group, which he chaired.’”

Shortly thereafter, then-Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, the No. 2 official in the Department of Justice, drafted and disseminated a new planning document titled “Strategy for Combating the Mexican Cartels.”

In that document, Ogden laid the groundwork for the Obama administration’s senior-level political support of gunwalking.

“[M]erely seizing firearms through interdiction will not stop firearms trafficking to Mexico,” Ogden wrote in that memo, obtained by congressional investigators and released along with the report Tuesday.

“We must identify, investigate, and eliminate the sources of illegally trafficked firearms and the networks that transport them.”

Ogden’s directive was an official policy statement directing agents to stop focusing exclusively on arresting straw purchasers. Instead,the Department of Justice would zero in on more complex conspiracy cases.

The Ogden memo and its explicit support from senior administration officials opened the door for agents like Bill Newell, who led ATF’s Phoenix field division, to allow guns to walk in large numbers. Newell, one of five officials to whom Issa and Grassley have pointed as responsible for Operation Fast and Furious, had already tried similar tactics during the George W. Bush administration.

In short, it may have been a bit premature to look at this as Holder and the gang escaping accountability. It's also premature to say that they won't. The next two reports, and what comes from them, will tell a lot.

Also, to be fair to Issa and Grassley, they've really fought hard and against long odds. For example, the fate of those five senior ATF officials is shockingly in the hands of none other than Eric Holder.

WOW! Former US Attorney in Arizona Admits to Smearing ATF Whistleblower

Former US Attorney in Arizona, Dennis Burke, resigned several months ago and has been cooperating with congressional investigators. Unlike former ATF Director Kenneth Melson and SAC in Phoenix William Newell, Burke was apparently unable to fly under the radar with a reassignment; he was essentially sent packing. It appears he has dropped a bit of a bombshell by admitting that he was responsible for leaking a memo that was intended to smear ATF agent / whistleblower John Dodson.

Via Daily Caller:

Former Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, who resigned in August, admitted late Tuesday that he leaked a document aimed at smearing Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent John Dodson, an Operation Fast and Furious whistle-blower.

“Dennis regrets his role in disclosing the memo but he’s a stand-up guy and is willing to take responsibility for what he did,” Chuck Rosenberg, Burke’s lawyer, said according to NPR. “It was absolutely not Dennis’s intent to retaliate against Special Agent Dodson or anyone else for the information they provided Congress.”

Rosenberg claims Burke is cooperating with congressional investigators.

The memo that leaked this summer ended up being an attempt by Justice Department officials to cast aspersions on Dodson — one of the leading ATF Fast and Furious whistle-blowers. Burke admitted he leaked the memo in a Tuesday afternoon letter to Justice Department Inspector General Cynthia Schnedar.

The memo was leaked to press and had the names of criminal suspects deleted — but kept Dodson’s name on it. Attorney General Eric Holder came under fire during Tuesday morning’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing when he wouldn’t answer any questions from Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley about the leaked memo, who was held accountable for it and how they were held accountable.

It’s unclear if Burke was the only DOJ official who leaked documents to smear whistle-blowers, but Dodson thinks Burke “did not act alone.”

This is very significant and it was addressed by Grassley to Holder in the November 8th Senate Judiciary committee hearing. In fact, it seemed to elicit Attorney General Eric Holder's most indignant reaction of the day. Fast forward to the 5:30 mark to see the portion of the hearing that may have prompted Dennis Burke to come forward. Holder's reaction is very telling; he did NOT want this coming up. Perhaps Burke's coming forward later that day goes a long way toward explaining why. Also take note when Holder throws his hands up.

Kudos to Grassley...

Is Holder's DOJ Compromising Fast and Furious Investigation?

It appears that Eric Holder has a brand new problem on his hands; Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa and Senate Judiciary ranking member Charles Grassley have learned that there is a shared hard drive over at DOJ that contains emails and other documents for potential witnesses in Issa's investigation to review. Quite obviously, the reason is most likely to make sure that all of these witnesses are reading from the same playbook and don't contradict one another.

Remember, all along, Holder's excuse for not complying with subpoenas from Issa's committee has been that the DOJ's Office of Inspector General (OIG) is conducting its own investigation. If it comes out that the OIG is aware of this 'shared drive,' we have an entirely new problem.

Anyway, here is a portion of the letter from Issa and Grassley to Holder I found in my inbox yesterday:

Dear Attorney General Holder:

We have recently learned that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) has afforded potential witnesses for the COmmittees' investigation into Operation Fast and Furious to a shared drive on its computer system replete with pertinent investigative documents, including official ATF e-mails. Although, our staff has been advised the Department has since terminated access to this document cache, we write to seek additional information relating to this egregious decision. We also ask that you promptly self-report this matter to the Office of Instpector General (OIG).

As we understand it, the shared drive contains the documents that have been produced to the Committees through the course of our investigation, those made available for in camera review and possibly documents that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has not yet provided to the Committee. These witnesses had not previously seen many of these documents.

Allowing witnesses access to such documents could taint their testimony by allowing them to tailor their responses to what they think the Committees already know. Additionally, witnesses who gain access to documents they have not previously seen could alter their recollection of events. This practice harms no only our investigation, but also the independent investigation that you instructed the Inspector General to conduct.

Clearly, these references to the OIG have a double meaning and seem to implicate the internal investigators in either incompetence or complicity. If the OIG is conducting an honest investigation and have more access to what's going on, how do Issa and Grassley know about this hard drive and the OIG doesn't?

Read the ENTIRE LETTER.

Project Gunrunner: Grassley Threatens to Block Nominees Unless Given Answers

As ranking member of the Senate Judiciary, Chuck Grassley (R-IA) doesn't have the subpoena power Darrell Issa does over in the House. That's the main reason Grassley is running into far more stonewalling when requesting documents that will shed more light on the Project Gunrunner scandal that is responsible for the deaths of two U.S. federal agents - Brian Terry and Jaime Zapata. It appears Grassley is threatening to block Obama's nominees unless he starts getting the answers he's demanding.

Via The Hill:

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is vowing to block President Obama’s nominations until he gets detailed answers on a controversial program that resulted in drug cartels acquiring more than 1,300 firearms from the U.S.

Grassley is pressing the Department of Justice (DOJ) on who initiated the “Gun Runner” program that authorized the sale of guns to people acting as straw purchasers for drug cartels in Mexico. Gun Runner might have contributed to the death of at least one federal agent.

As the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Grassley has been working closely with House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) for the past several months, gathering documents and conducting interviews with DOJ officials and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents in an attempt to find out who gave the order for the operation.

Sources note that unlike Grassley, Issa has subpoena power.

Gun Runner and another operation called Fast and Furious were designed to dismantle the gun-smuggling routes that drug cartels use to ferry high-powered assault rifles from the U.S. into Mexico. By allowing people to illegally purchase large quantities of the weapons from gun dealers, officials hoped to trace the firearms to the drug cartel members and prosecute them. But ATF whistleblowers allege that officials lost track of the guns.

The degree to which Grassley's threats will be effective remains to be seen but it could get very interesting if there's a judge Obama is really chomping at the bit to appoint.

h/t to Sipsey Street

Video: Senator Grassley Goes After Holder at Hearing

Though there weren't as many fireworks between Grassley and Holder as there were between House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa and Holder, there were some revealing moments. First off, the congressional investigators that Grassley and Issa have on the ground at the Phoenix ATF are producing documents that are very damaging to the ATF and the Justice Department. Both Grassley and Issa have documents in their possession - and continue to get more - that are catching Holder flat-footed. The Attorney General knows this but he doesn't know what he's going to be hit with. Each time, he looks more and more incompetent and complicit.

Here is the exchange between Grassley and Holder at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing one day after Issa grilled the Attorney General. If short on time, fast forward to the 3:47 mark; Grassley presents Holder with a chart that leaves the latter dumbfounded. I can't find the actual chart but Grassley said it showed an ATF document that identified 15 suspects who were being tracked. They had purchased more than 1300 weapons. Two of those weapons were found at the murder scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. The indictments against those 15 men did not come until AFTER Terry's death.

Holder's response? He hasn't seen the chart and says, 'I don't know.'

Ouch! Obama's WaterLOOGIE?

Rumors about the level of Obama's narcissism are sure to multiply after what Republican Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) apparently has revealed. In particular, it is being reported that Grassley has gone public with a narcissistic moment for Barack Obama.

I've long maintained that the best way to defeat evil is to get it to unmask itself. If these reports are correct, Grassley may have gotten Obama to do a little unmasking.

Before reading the below excerpt from the National Journal, allow a recent quote by Obama to sink in for a moment. When asked about the idea that politics is being played with his health care bill, Barack said, "This isn't about me". Let that marinate as you read this:

Grassley said he spoke with a Democratic House member last week who shared Obama's bleak reaction during a private meeting to reports that some factions of House Democrats were lining up to stall or even take down the overhaul unless leaders made major changes.

"Let's just lay everything on the table," Grassley said. "A Democrat congressman last week told me after a conversation with the president that the president had trouble in the House of Representatives, and it wasn't going to pass if there weren't some changes made ... and the president says, 'You're going to destroy my presidency.' "

The White House did not respond to requests for comment.

Has Obama picked the wrong Senator to dis? Perhaps, as WSJ's Kimberly Strassel reported on July 17th, Grassley strongly resents how he was treated by the Obama administration relative to not being included in the writing of this bitter health care pill, er bill.

Committed as he's been to getting legislation, the Iowan has been clear on what he considers nonnegotiable. The White House and liberal Democrats have cavalierly ignored these parameters, vexing him greatly in the process. There are growing signs the Republican may exit the table. He won't have walked away; he'll have been shoved.

Surely, Mr. Grassley wouldn't be THAT upset, would he?

Perhaps not, until one takes a look at how the Obama administration has been treating a group of people Grassley views as residing in his own political hen house. Namely, the Inspectors General. Grassley is widely regarded as THE Senate Watchdog when it comes to the IG's who have arguably been dissed by Obama far worse than Grassley has been on this WaterLoogie health care legislation.

Byron York has been all over the AmeriCorps story, which involves IG Gerald Walpin but there are other IG's getting dissed left and right including the one at AMTRAK, the International Trade Commission, and TARP with reportedly more to come.

Grassley appears to be getting ever more closer to each one of these IG scandals that began unraveling when Walpin was given one hour notice that he was being fired back in June. Here is a video of York explaining it all on Glenn Beck's show:


I simply can't help wondering if Grassley would be going public with extremely damaging quotes from Obama or aggressively pursuing the IG scandals like this if he'd have been an actual part of crafting the health care legislation.

Hugo Chavez may have been correct when he said Obama has bitten off more than he can chew.

For some reason, the word, "Waterloo" appears to be sticking in reference to Obama and his health care bill. Ever since Watergate, people have been putting the word, "Gate" after the name of whatever scandal has been identified in order to juice it up. Maybe the trick is putting the word, "Water" in front of it.

WATERLOO!

h/t to Drudge for the National Journal link.

IG Walpin Goes on Offense - Sues Gov't

Robert McCain refers to it as "The Little Scandal That Could" and it just keeps chugging along. As Inspector General advocate and Senator Chuck Grassley (R - Iowa) learns more about a widening IG scandals involving Amtrak, the International Trade Commission, and another soon-to-be-named IG, we learn that former AmeriCorps IG Gerald Walpin is suing the Federal Government, claiming he was fired unlawfully.

As people become targets of hardcore left wingers and Chicago Way politics, the appear to be much more willing to go on offense. I believe it's a motivator for Walpin much like it's been for Sarah Palin.

Byron York reports in the Washington Examiner:

Walpin's suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is against the Corporation for National and Community Service, which oversees AmeriCorps. Also named are Nicola Goren, the acting CEO of the Corporation, Frank Trinity, its general counsel, and Raymond Limon, the Corporation's "chief human capital officer." The suit asks the court to declare Walpin's firing unlawful and restore him to his position as the Corporation's inspector general.

I can't help wondering if reports about what Frank Trinity reportedly told investigators about Walpin helped to push the latter over the edge. York reported that Trinity cited a parody magazine Walpin had no part in writing as being racially insensitive and played a part in Walpin's firing.

More of the lawsuit article:

On June 10, Walpin received a call from Norman Eisen, the Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform, giving Walpin an hour either to resign or be fired. Eisen's ultimatum appeared to be a violation of the Inspectors General Reform Act, which requires the president to give Congress 30 days' notice, plus an explanation of the reasons for his action, before firing an inspector general. (Then-Sen. Barack Obama was a co-sponsor of that legislation.) It also appeared that Eisen's call to force Walpin to resign was an effort to push Walpin out of his job so the White House would not have to go through the 30-day process, or give a reason for its action. When Walpin refused to quit, the White House informed Congress and began the 30-day countdown.

In its first explanation of the firing, the White House wrote a letter to Congress on June 11 claiming that President Obama no longer had "the fullest confidence" in Walpin. When lawmakers of both parties demanded a more detailed reason, the White House wrote another letter on June 16 accusing Walpin of being "confused, disoriented [and] unable to answer questions" at the May 20 meeting.

In the suit, Walpin alleges that all three actions were violations of the job protections given to inspectors general. "There have been at least three attempts to unlawfully remove Mr. Walpin from his post," the suit says, "the first orally on June 10; the second by writing on June 11; and the third by writing on June 16."

Be sure to Read York's Entire Article.

A very interesting side note is that the IGs' most strongest advocate in the Senate is Chuck Grassley (R - Iowa) and he appears to be digging into all of these IG scandals, including Amtrak, the International Trade Commission, and another one soon to be named. The preponderance of all of them together likely has a compounding effect.

Then, just for added measure, it appears that Grassley doesn't like how he's being treated by the Obama White House relative to Obama-Care.

Check out Kimberly Strassel's article in WSJ.

h/t to Hot Air for providing the link to York's article.

White House Stonewalling on Walpin Investigation

When the president oversteps his bounds and fires an Inspector General without following the law he co-signed, damage control is sure to follow.

It did.

The firing of Gerald Walpin, by law, necessitated specific reasons be issued in writing and sent to congress. After telling Walpin via phone on June 10th that he had an hour to quit or be fired, White House counsel Norman Eisen found himself in front of investigators on Senator Chuck Grassley's staff defending the assertion that Walpin was "confused" and "disoriented" at a Board Meeting on May 20th.

Not satisfied with Eisen's answers, Grassley submitted questions to the White House in writing that sought answers by Wednesday, June 24th. Those answers weren't given and it now appears the White House has whipped out the "Executive Privilege" defense.

Byron York is once again all over it.

There are basically two possible short term outcomes.
1.) Republican Investigators, led by Grassley will dig in their heels and see how far they can push it

2.) It will be dropped, a fate far too many injustices inside the beltway seem to share.