ATF sought to downplay guns scandal, emails show

ATF sought to downplay guns scandal, emails show

www.latimes.com

After the death of Terry and Grassley's inquiries, the agency sought to close ranks. In an email on Feb. 3, ATF supervisors were told "you are in no way obligated to respond to congressional contacts or requests for information.... You are not authorized to disclose non-public information about law enforcement matters outside of ATF or the Department of Justice to anyone, including congressional staff."

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
documents.latimes.com

In addition.... a series of emails to William J. Hoover, the ATF's acting deputy director, bureau officials discussed what steps to take to throw Grassley and congressional investigators off the trail.

They seemed further alarmed when they learned a mid-level ATF supervisor "called to the carpet" an employee who had spoken with Grassley's staff. The employee "was ordered to write a memorandum disclosing everything" he told the senator's staff. The email said Grassley's office had expressed concern that the ATF supervisor may have violated federal laws intended to protect whistle-blowers.

those emails can be read By Clicking Here
or by clicking the second link provided

Oh what a tangled web we weave...

www.latimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by DaddyBare


ATF isn't talking and they've got some splanin' to do. How do convicted criminals legally purchase firearms?? Trick question

In the latest chapter of the gunrunning scandal known as Operation Fast and Furious, federal officials won't say how two suspects obtained more than 360 weapons despite criminal records that should have prevented them from buying even one gun.

Under current federal law, people with felony convictions are not permitted to buy weapons, and those with felony arrests are typically flagged while the FBI conducts a thorough background check.

However, according to court records reviewed by Fox News, two of the 20 defendants indicted in the Fast and Furious investigation have felony convictions and criminal backgrounds that experts say, at the very least, should have delayed them buying a single firearm. Instead, the duo bought dozens of guns on multiple occasions while federal officials watched on closed-circuit cameras.

Congressional and law-enforcement sources say the situation suggests the FBI, which operates the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, knowingly allowed the purchases to go forward after consulting with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which initiated Operation Fast and Furious.

Ooops!!

Who needs rules

"You cannot sanction the violation of federal law by enabling or co-enabling prohibited persons, which includes felony convictions, from purchasing firearms," said Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., a former federal prosecutor and a member of the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee, which is investigating the botched ATF operation. Gowdy said he would discuss the apparent violation with committee chairman, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.

When asked about the breakdown, Stephen Fischer, a spokesman for the NICS System, said the FBI had no comment. However, an ATF agent who worked on the Fast and Furious investigation, told Fox News that NICS officials called the ATF in Phoenix whenever their suspects tried to buy a gun. That conversation typically led to a green light for the buyers, when it should have stopped them.

www.foxnews.com...

All I can do is scratch my head!!

Let's see how much or how little additional coverage this disgusting bahavior get's in MSM.
Terrible

Is THAT J Hoover related to the old J Edgar Hoover I wondor?

Does he cross dress in his spare time too?

gotta cover their butts and get their stories straight..


now hoover this country needs another hoover there wasnt nothing the fbi and hoover didnt know.

didnt matter who it was the fbi saw all and knew all.

Last week we got a few hints as to how far up this goes when we had another story from the LA Times

The Justice Department is trying to protect its political appointees from the Fast and Furious scandal by concealing an internal "smoking gun" report and other documents that acknowledge the role top officials played in the program that allowed firearms to flow illegally into Mexico, according to the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

political appointees???? what political appointees??? Holder????

Kenneth E. Melson, the ATF's acting director, also told congressional investigators this month that the affidavits prepared to obtain wiretaps used in the ill-fated operation were inconsistent with Justice Department officials' public statements about the program. Justice Department officials advised him not to raise his concerns with Congress about "institutional problems" with the Fast and Furious operation, Melson said.

now that was have context this statement makes sense... Holder and the DOJ have been leaning on Melson to keep him mouth shut...

"It was very frustrating to all of us," Melson told congressional investigators in a private meeting over the Fourth of July holiday, "and it appears thoroughly to us that the department is really trying to figure out a way to push the information away from their political appointees at the department."

So does this sound like a statement a federal whistle blower would make...???


Just gets crazier and crazier..

So much involving this story smacks of scandal.

What was the hoped for outcome of what the ATF was doing with Operation Fast and Furious? That's the part that has me so confused. Whatever it was, I'm betting it has nothing to do with making our country safer.

you do know if bush was president and fast and furious came out.

they would be crucifying bush for this

and nothing but a whimper from msm news.

aint it great to have a democratic control of this country you can do no wrong.

Originally posted by Hessling
So much involving this story smacks of scandal.

What was the hoped for outcome of what the ATF was doing with Operation Fast and Furious? That's the part that has me so confused. Whatever it was, I'm betting it has nothing to do with making our country safer.

Operation Fast and Furious: Designed to Promote Gun Control...

we learned that last week from even more released emails... go look
www.abovetopsecret.com...

reply to post by DaddyBare


You must have posted that on one of my ATS days off.

Now if this is true, and I can totally believe it could be, then someone's head needs to be put on a platter. Man, the games being played nowadays for a quick political buck.

I appreciate the reply and the link.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Well that's the thing... Two birds one stone...

On one hand you have possible money to be made in illegal arms trade which doesn't take a genius to figure out is a very lucrative business..

Then you can point the finger at respectable, law abiding gun owners to further your gun control agenda...

The thing is I don't think they ever expected the cat to escape the bag.... Now that it has people are calling for someones head on a pike.. It however will never be delivered and the ATF will continue to spin this the best they can like they always have (can anyone say Waco or Ruby Ridge) in order to cover their own rear..

reply to post by neo96


I don't know...
MSN has always had an anti gun agenda...
wouldn't surprise me at all, if somehow MSN was tied in... or at least given a heads up by one of the Brady people...
could be they already had those stories written "We need more and harsher gun control laws..."

But now the ATF and DOJ got caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar... we're not gonna hear a peep out of em...

Yeah, but if only Alex Jones screams, well,he always screams,so it won't make much noise.

We need a GOOD LOUD LIBERAL to make noise.

It would legitimize what should be a congressional hearing.(I know,just more people to get their names in the headlines)

Where's Oliver North on this one(I know he's not a liberal,Iran Contra anybody?)? OK bad example...He'd never say a word.

How about Diane Feistein or MCCAIN? They could have an impact.

reply to post by DaddyBare


msm is tied in because they are left leaning the majority of them and they are the antigun crowd as well.

just like hollywood and the educational system in america.

they define what is right and wrong they always have at least for the last 30 years.

the government isnt wrong here so they do nothing to put it in a bad light that goes agianst their agenda.

and that goes back to the anti gun crowd they are one in the same.

one of thier guys is in the whitehouse so they do nothing that will hurt his image or theirs.

the only thing i know for sure here that first part is conjecture on my part.

the government screwed up here and they will get off and they will be making people pay for something they had nothing to do with.

reply to post by neo96

you do know if bush was president and fast and furious came out. they would be crucifying bush for this and nothing but a whimper from msm news. aint it great to have a democratic control of this country you can do no wrong.

REALLY? Get real. Bush and clan walked away from 9/11 without a scratch on them, even 10 years after it happened.

Go sell your bipartisan snake oil somewhere else.

reply to post by DaMod


you forgot to add "Pine Ridge"
and in that story we see what happens when they cant spin a story in their favor...

Leonard Peltier still sits in a prison cell despite all the evidence to prove he didn't do it... So why do the leave him locked up.... because if the truth of what really happened were to come out now it would be very embarrassing to the government...

cant have that now can we...

reply to post by NightGypsy


yeah whatever i got news for you had al gore won in 2000 9-11 still would have happened and afghanistan still would have happened.

the 9-11 cts would be talking about nothing because democrats can do no wrong since they are the party of do no wrong.

someone is selling partisan snake oil here and it aint me.

deal with it.

Raising Hand..... Not ME Not Me.....
No Bi partisan crap please.

If it's already split by party on page one of this thread...it will go down in flames.

Don't shoot the messenger... HATE the message.

This is not getting the attention through the MSM because simply, the Debt Ceiling crisis.

Once Congress deals with that, then Ellis needs to be on every network.

However, I am waiting on the Norway tragedy to somehow be contected to gun ownship here in the states. That will be a stretch, but I can see the Brady insitute doing it.

It seems logic and cause and effect have nothing to do with the propaganda the brady bunch can dream up.
Simple figures disprove their every premise.
When gun ownership goes up, crime goes down.
This has been the overall result of every social experiment with gun laws......This basic fact alone talkes all the reasons they give for further restrictions and nullfys their logic.