Project Gunwalker

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CCRKBA Says Holder Should Have Resigned Instead

August 30, 2011 by 2 Comments

Alan Gottlieb doesn’t mince words. He says that Eric Holder should have resigned instead of engaging in a “shell game” of reassignment.

HOLDER PLAYS ‘SHELL GAME’ AT JUSTICE, SHOULD RESIGN INSTEAD, SAYS CCRKBA

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

BELLEVUE, WA – Today’s replacement of Kenneth Melson as acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a political charade by the man who really ought to tender his resignation, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today. That man is Attorney General Eric Holder.

CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb called for Holder’s resignation after this morning’s announcements that Melson was being “reassigned” and replaced. This action appears to be an attempt by Holder to convince people he is taking action in response to the Fast and Furious scandal, now being investigated by Congress.

“Holder is just moving deck chairs on the Titanic,” Gottlieb stated. “Today’s announcements will do nothing to restore America’s confidence in the BATF or the Justice Department so long as Eric Holder remains the Attorney General.

“The ultimate responsibility for Fast and Furious lies with Holder,” he continued. “Melson is just the latest player to be shifted around, rather than lose his job. Everyone directly involved in the Fast and Furious scandal has simply been moved to another position. There has been no discipline and no accountability, because the man who should be ultimately accountable is still running the Justice Department.”

Gottlieb called today’s announcement “self-serving” for Holder, who is “looking out for his own interests.”

“That’s the only thing that is really transparent about this entire administration,” Gottlieb observed. “They are looking out for themselves, and playing administrative games when they should step up to the plate and accept responsibility for this scandal. Several people have been moved from the ATF office in Phoenix to other jobs, especially in Washington, D.C. because of Fast and Furious.

“If there had not been significant wrong-doing,” he said, “none of these moves would have been made. This is an admission of guilt by the Obama administration without saying so. And where is the president in all of this? Maybe he’s hiding out on the ninth hole of a golf course.”

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Burke Out As U.S. Attorney For Arizona

August 30, 2011 by 1 Comment

Dennis Burke, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona and a protege’ of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, is out as U.S. Attorney. The release below does not indicate whether he was fired or whether he resigned. However, the Arizona Republic is reporting that it is a resignation. Combined with the reassignment of Ken Melson, I would speculate that the Obama Administration and Attorney General Eric Holder are hoping this will take attention away from Project Gunwalker by making Melson and Burke the fall guys.

Burke and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona have been in the thick of Project Gunwalker since the start as numerous emails released by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) have shown.

Statement of Attorney General Eric Holder on the Resignation of U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Dennis Burke

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Eric Holder issued the following statement today on the resignation of U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Dennis Burke:

“United States Attorney Dennis Burke has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to the Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s office, first as a line prosecutor over a decade ago and more recently as United States Attorney.

“Under his leadership, the office has made great progress in its pursuit of justice with the creation of special units focusing on civil rights enforcement and rule of law, as well as more robust outreach to key communities, particularly in Indian Country. The office’s quick response to the devastating shootings in January that claimed the lives of several people and critically injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was crucial in arresting and charging the alleged shooter.

“I am grateful to Dennis for his dedication and service to the Department of Justice over these many years and commend his decision to place the interests of the U.S. Attorney’s office above all else.”

The story about Burke’s resignation in the Arizona Republic which I mention above has an interesting comment from former U.S. Senator Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ) about the resignation.

Former Arizona Sen. Dennis DeConcini said if the resignation is tied to Fast and Furious, it would be a misguided effort to lay blame on Burke.

“If his resignation is tied to Fast and Furious, it’s ridiculous. It would be absolutely outrageous for ‘Justice Main’ to take it out on Dennis and make him the fall guy,” DeConcini said. “It’s just typical Washington cronyism. It just shows you how incompetent government can be to save themselves. It appears they screwed up, based on congressional hearings.”

Laurie Roberts, a columnist for the Arizona Republic, had this to say about Burke’s resignation which appears to be forced.

Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, who sits on the committee investigating Fast and Furious, has told me that he believes the responsibility for this lies at the top, in the office of Eric Holder or someplace nearby.

This move to dump Burke — who oversaw the operation — looks like an effort to make this mess go away.

My bet: it won’t happen. And it shouldn’t, not until the complete story is told.

FoxNews reports that Burke gave testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last week which didn’t go well.

U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke, one of the officials closely tied to Fast and Furious, is also a casualty in a shakeup tied to the botched gun-running program. Burke was on the hot seat last week with congressional investigators and, according to several sources, got physically sick during questioning and could not finish his session.

Bob Owens, at Confederate Yankee, speculates that Burke resigned to save his own skin.

Burke is the same slimeball that blocked Brian Terry’s family from being recognized as crime victims in court after Terry was murdered and two Fast and Furious weapons were recovered at the scene of his death.

The only plausible reason Burke would have done that was an attempt to limit his own legal exposure and that of the government as it relates to investigations about Agent Terry’s murder.

Bob also thinks it looks like Grassley, Issa, and Cornyn have painted the Obama Administration into a corner which I agree with. However, I think we need to keep a really close eye on Obama and Holder now as, like any cornered animal, they are more dangerous when back into a corner.

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Melson Out At ATF

August 30, 2011 by

The Department of Justice released this just a bit ago announcing that Kenneth Melson is being reassigned outside of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and that the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota B. Todd Jones is being appointed the Acting Director. At the same time, DOJ has announced that Dennis Burke, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona is leaving. More on that in another post.

It is interesting to note that Todd Jones will serve as both U.S. Attorney for Minnesota and as Acting Director of ATF. I would have thought they would have learned their lesson about a part-time Director after the experience of Michael Sullivan as both U.S. Attorney in Massachusetts and Acting Director of ATF. They didn’t seem to work out too well.

Department of Justice Announces New Acting Director of ATF and Senior Advisor in the Office of Legal Policy

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice today announced the appointments of U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota B. Todd Jones to serve as Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson to become Senior Advisor on forensic science in the Office of Legal Policy (OLP).

“As a seasoned prosecutor and former military judge advocate, U.S. Attorney Jones is a demonstrated leader who brings a wealth of experience to this position,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “I have great confidence that he will be a strong and steady influence guiding ATF in fulfilling its mission of combating violent crime by enforcing federal criminal laws and regulations in the firearms and explosives industries.”

Jones will continue to serve in the capacity of U.S. Attorney when he assumes the role of ATF acting director on Aug. 31, 2011.

A veteran of the Justice Department, Jones has served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota under two presidential administrations. He first served from 1998 to 2001. He was nominated again in 2009 by President Obama and has been in that role since being confirmed that year.

In 2009, the Attorney General appointed him to serve as chair of the Attorney General Advisory Committee (AGAC), a group of U.S. Attorneys appointed to advise the Attorney General on policy, management and operational issues affecting U.S. Attorneys’ Offices throughout the country. Jones previously served as a member, vice chair and chair of the AGAC from 1999 to 2001.

During his several years as a federal prosecutor, Jones conducted grand jury investigations and has been the lead trial lawyer in many federal prosecutions involving drug trafficking, firearms, financial fraud and violent crime.

Throughout his career, Jones has served as a partner with Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi (2001-2009); a partner with Greene Espel, PLLP (2001; 1994-1997); First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota (1997-1998); and Assistant U.S. Attorney (1992-1994).

Following admission to the Minnesota bar, Jones went on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps, where he served as both a trial defense counsel and prosecutor in a number of courts martial proceedings.

Jones received his B.A. from Macalester College in 1979 and his J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1983.

Melson will join OLP on Aug. 31, 2011, in his new role as senior advisor where he will focus on issues relating to policy development in forensic science.

“Ken brings decades of experience at the department and extensive knowledge in forensic science to his new role and I know he will be a valuable contributor on these issues,” said Attorney General Holder. “As he moves into this new role, I want to thank Ken for his dedication to the department over the last three decades.”

He is a past president and distinguished fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, and currently participates on behalf of the department on the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board. He has been an adjunct professor at George Washington University for almost 30 years teaching both law and forensic science courses.

Melson was appointed acting director of ATF in 2009. Prior to that, he was director of the Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys and served several years in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Melson received his B.A. from Denison University in 1970 and his J.D. from George Washington University in 1973.

CNN also has a report up on this move which repeats the info from the DOJ release and adds some old info about Project Gunwalker.

Politico is also reporting on this move and have a reaction from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who has been spearheading hearings into Project Gunwalker.

In a statement Tuesday, Issa said “the reckless disregard for safety” by the Justice Department “certainly merits changes” in personnel.

But the committee will continue to investigate Fast and Furious “to ensure that blame isn’t offloaded on just a few individuals for a matter that involved much higher levels of the Justice Department,” Issa said. “There are still many questions to be answered about what happened in Operation Fast and Furious and who else bears responsibility, but these changes are warranted and offer an opportunity for the Justice Department to explain the role other officials and offices played in the infamous efforts to allow weapons to flow to Mexican drug cartels.”

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Hannity Special On Operation Fast And Furious – DOJ Involvement

August 20, 2011 by

In Part II of the Hannity special report on Operation Fast and Furious, FoxNews reporter William LaJeunesse examines who knew what, when, and where about Project Gunwalker within the Department of Justice.

As the former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Melvin McDonald notes, the current U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke was “obviously versed in it, told about it but this is a decision that is made in Washington and is made at the highest levels of the government.” It also should be remembered that before he became the U.S. Attorney, Mr. Burke was the Chief of Staff for Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano.

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com

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Sean Hannity On Fast And Furious

August 20, 2011 by

Sean Hannity of Fox did a special report on Operation Fast and Furious (aka Project Gunwalker) on Friday. The clip below is from the intro section which begins with a very good montage of critical events in the scandal. It also features columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin discussing the scandal. If you only watch part of it, watch the montage. It is excellent.

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The Peter Principle With White Chalk Outlines

August 19, 2011 by

Bob Owens, the Confederate Yankee, was a guest of Cam Edwards on NRA News on Wednesday. He discusses the promotions or “lateral transfers” of Bill McMahon, Bill Newell, and David Voth to new jobs in Washington. In a wonderfully snarky aside, he refers to their promotions as the Peter Principle with white chalk outlines.

He also discusses an email exchange with ATF whistleblower Vince Cefalu about the promotions. Cefalu considers them lateral transfers to keep those who could speak out in Washington in ATF HQ so they can be controlled. Bob also mentions rumors that there is testimony that Operation Fast and Furious may be higher up the food chain than previously thought.

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Quote Of The Day

August 18, 2011 by

Speaking about the appearance of impropriety of naming William McMahon as the Deputy Assistant Director in charge of ATF’s Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations (Internal Affairs) given his testimony in July before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and his previous role in supervising field operations in the western U.S., “Doc Holliday”, a moderator on CleanUpATF.org had this to say:

Isn’t placing McMahon in charge of Internal Affairs after his testimony last week somewhat like placing Tex Watson, Squeeky Fromme and Linda Kasabian on Charles Mansons parole board?

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Splitting Hairs

August 18, 2011 by 2 Comments

In an article posted yesterday evening, Richard Serrano of the L.A. Times writes that the ATF is denying that William McMahon, William Newell, and David Voth were given promotions.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Wednesday that three supervisors in its controversial Fast and Furious gun-trafficking investigation were transferred to lateral jobs, not promoted.

“They did not receive salary or grade increases, nor did they assume positions with greater responsibility,” the agency said in a short statement.

The Times reported Tuesday that William G. McMahon, William D. Newell and David Voth, three key supervisors in the Phoenix-run investigation that went awry, were promoted to management positions at the ATF’s Washington headquarters.

This is splitting hairs. Both McMahon and Newell have Senior Executive Service status and I’m guessing that Voth is a GS-14 at the minimum. The base pay for SES positions is $119,554 and the bottom rate for a GS-14 is $84,697. This does not take into account the extra amount GS-14s get paid for being located in Washington, D.C. as opposed to the boondocks.

If you or I had so royally screwed up in our jobs that people got killed, we would have been fired if we were lucky. If we weren’t lucky, we’d be looking at either a lawsuit or jail time.

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Inconceivable Is Correct

August 17, 2011 by 1 Comment

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who just last week asked for some answers from Eric Holder about Project Gunwalker, blasted the ATF and Justice Department today for promoting three of the ATF officials responsible for Operation Fast and Furious.

Cornyn: ‘Inconceivable’ to Reward Architects of ‘Fast and Furious’
Aug 16 2011

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas) a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and former state Attorney General, today responded to reports that key officials who oversaw the “Fast and Furious” gun-walking operation have been promoted to new positions within the Justice Department in Washington:

“Until Attorney General Holder and Justice Department officials come clean on all alleged gun-walking operations, including a detailed response to allegations of a Texas-based scheme, it is inconceivable to reward those who spearheaded this disastrous operation with cushy desks in Washington.”

Last week Sen. Cornyn sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder demanding answers following recent press reports of alleged Texas-based “gun-walking” programs similar to the “Fast and Furious” operation currently being investigated by Congressional lawmakers.

What irritated Sen. Cornyn is this report from the L.A. Times by Richard Serrano reporting that William McMahon, William Newell, and David Voth had all received promotions by ATF  despite their admitted shortcomings in Operation Fast and Furious.

Howard Nemerov puts it all into perspective in a post at Pajamas Media.

McMahon, who has just been promoted to head the ATF’Office of Professional Responsibility and Security Operations, said this in his testimony July 26th:

Let me be clear from the outset, as the ATF senior executive in charge of the West region, I share responsibility for mistakes that were made in the Fast and Furious investigation.

Newell, who is now the special assistant to the assistant director of the agency’s Office of Management (and who won’t be going to Mexico City as attache for fear the Mexican government would arrest him), said in his July 26th testimony:

I acknowledge now that we did make some mistakes in this…initiative, in this program.

Voth, who is now slated to become branch chief for the ATF’s tobacco division, reacting to internal criticism by ATF agents under his command about letting guns walk had this to say,

If you don’t think this is fun you’re in the wrong line of work – period! This is the pinnacle of domestic U.S. law enforcement techniques… Maybe the Maricopa County Jail is hiring detention officers and you can get paid $30,000 (instead of $100,000) to serve lunch to inmates all day.

To top all of this off, Richard Serrano of the L.A. Times is reporting this afternoon that firearms that were walked in Operation Fast and Furious have now turned up at least 11 “violent crime” scenes in the U.S. These are in addition to the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, the downing of a Mexican Army helicopter, the murder of ICE Agent Jaime Zapata in Mexico, and an estimated 150 (or more) Mexican soldiers, policemen, and civilians.

Justice officials were asked how many “violent crime” scenes turned up more Fast and Furious weapons besides the two semiautomatics found after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s slaying last December.

They responded that while the “ATF does not have complete information” on the whereabouts of all the lost guns, “it is our understanding that ATF is aware of 11 instances” where a Fast and Furious firearm “was recovered in connection with a crime of violence in the United States.”

ATF Senior Agent John Dodson was all too correct when he said to CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson that these guns will keep showing up for years to come.

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Senator John Cornyn Now Demanding Answers From Eric Holder

August 12, 2011 by

First there was Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in his lonely quest to get answers from Attorney General Eric Holder about Project Gunwalker. Then Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) got on board and through his chairmanship of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held hearings. Now Senator John Cornyn (R-TX), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is asking questions of Eric Holder as it appears Texas had its own version of Operation Fast and Furious.

Below is the letter he sent to Attorney General Eric Holder today.

August 11, 2011

The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear Attorney General Holder:

I write to express my deep concerns regarding press reports of an ATF “gun-walking” program that allegedly operated in the state of Texas. I request that the Department of Justice immediately brief my office regarding the scope and details of any past or present ATF “gun-walking” programs operated in the state of Texas.

As you are aware, recent congressional investigations have revealed the existence of a controversial “gun-walking” program operated by the ATF in Phoenix, Arizona. As a part of that program, known as “Operation Fast and Furious,” ATF agents instructed federally licensed firearms dealers to illegally sell more than 1,000 weapons to straw purchasers working for drug cartels in Mexico. These ATF agents were also ordered by their superiors to ignore well-established practice and refrain from interdicting these weapons before they flowed into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Sadly, this ill-advised program had tragic consequences, with these “walked” weapons showing up at the scene of multiple violent crimes—including the murder of United States Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Unfortunately, the Department of Justice has been less than forthcoming during congressional investigations into the failed “Operation Fast and Furious.” For instance, Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich initially told Congress that the allegation that “ATF sanctioned or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico—is false.” Additionally, Acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson told congressional investigators that “ATF’s senior leadership would have preferred to be more cooperative” with the congressional investigation of “Operation Fast and Furious,” but “Justice Department officials directed [ATF] not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress.”

 I believe it is important that you promptly disclose the details of any past or present Texas-based ATF “gun-walking” program similar to “Operation Fast and Furious.” My constituents deserve a full accounting of any such activities in Texas. I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator

The Washington Times is covering the story and Cornyn’s letter here. Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle is also giving it good coverage including a video about Operation Fast and Furious.