Fast and Furious: Of Ignoring Subpoenas and Ignoring the need for them

In the wake of the IRS scandal, the AP Reporter scandal, and the James Rosen scandal, we now have a new one, involving CBS Reporter Sharyl Attkisson, who was practically the only mainstream media reporter to doggedly pursue the gun-walking operation known as Fast and Furious. In addition to CBS confirming that Attkisson's computers have been breached, she says that it started during the time she was investigating Fast and Furious.

Here is an excerpt from an exchange with Bill O'Reilly:

O’REILLY: Which was what? What big stories were you working on?

ATTKISSON: Well, at the time I was doing Fast and Furious of course, some green energy debacle sort of stimulus spending stories, and then later on the Benghazi story.

Here is the exchange between O'Reilly and Attkisson, via NewsBusters:



In June of last year, Attorney General Eric Holder was found in both criminal and civil contempt of Congress for not turning over documents related to Operation Fast and Furious demanded by a Congressional subpoena. As the contempt votes were taking place, President Barack Obama asserted Executive Privilege to prevent them from being turned over.

In that case, the Obama administration thumbed its nose at the notion of honoring a subpoena.

Even after being held in contempt, the arrogance of Holder was on full display during a statement he made to the press:



If it comes to light that the Obama administration had anything to do with the breach of Attkisson's computer, we can logically conclude that it was done so without a warrant or subpoena.

Conversely, Barack Obama himself asserted Executive Privilege to prevent Eric Holder from having to honor one. As for suspicions that Obama and Company were involved in breaching Attkisson's computers, they certainly would have had a motive. Otherwise, why go to such great lengths to ignore a Congressional subpoena?

There's a fine line between ignoring a subpoena and ignoring the need for one. That line is made even finer when subpoenas and the absence of subpoenas both appear to involve Fast and Furious.

Is this the John Dodson of the Benghazi attacks?

There are some parallels developing between Operation Fast and Furious and the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. First, the man at the tip of the spear in the Fast and Furious investigation has been Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Oversight committee. He now appears to be taking the lead in the investigation into why four Americans - including ambassador Christopher Stevens - were murdered in Benghazi.

Another similarity is the reporting of Sharyl Attkisson of CBS. Many might remember that Attkisson was the first and only real mainstream media reporter who investigated Fast and Furious. In fact, she's the one who introduced whistleblower John Dodson to the country in an interview during which the ATF agent dropped the bombshell that ultimately led to Attorney General Eric Holder being found in criminal contempt of Congress. Specifically, Dodson was the first whistleblower to charge that the ATF was allowing guns to walk into Mexico. The death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was the last straw for Dodson.

Now, as the Oversight Committee prepares for its first hearing into what happened in Benghazi, Attkisson sat down with Lt. Col. Andy Wood, the man who led the Special Forces "Site Security Team" in Libya before he was told the American mission there would have to do with less. In many ways, Wood does in this interview much of what Dodson did to the Justice Department in Fast and Furious; Wood outs the State Department as being complicit in the Benghazi murders by ignoring calls for more security.

Via CBS News:



Here is Attkisson's interview with Dodson in March of 2011: