Thread: Government's answer to MSM "Fast and Furious" records requests: Blank pages

April 27, 2012 5:12 PM

Government's answer to "Fast and Furious" records requests: Blank pages

By Sharyl Attkisson

Documents provided to CBS News in relation to Freedom of Information Act requests related to the "Fast and Furious" program, which sent U.S. guns to Mexico.
(Credit: CBS)

For more than a year, CBS News has been investigating the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms' "Fast and Furious" operation and related cases that also employed the controversial tactic of "gunwalking." With Justice Department officials refusing all interview requests to date, CBS News requested numerous public documents through the Freedom of Information Act.

So far, all of the requests that have been answered have been denied in part or in full.

This week, we received a partial response to a request made more than a year ago. It asked for communications involving "Project Gunrunner," the umbrella program for Fast and Furious, from 2010 through April 2011. Specifically, it sought any communications to which any of the following top Justice officials were a party: Attorney General Eric Holder; Lanny Breuer, Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division; Kevin Carwile, chief of the Capital Case Unit; and Deputy Assistant Attorney Generals Bruce Schwarz and Kenneth Blanco.
The response includes mostly-blank pages.

See the nearly-blank provided to CBS News (PDF)

Federal agencies can legally claim exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act for a number of reasons including attorney-client privilege, law enforcement purposes, and personal privacy. However, they've fallen under sharp criticism from the media and public interest groups in the past decade as a large number of FOIA requests have languished, sometimes for years.

FOIA was originally intended to expedite the release of public materials to the public and media. However, in practice, FOIA requests are often not even marginally effective at obtaining documents for news reporting. To be most effective and helpful, the requests would often need to be filled in a matter of days or at least weeks.

Few requests filed by this reporter are answered within a year. When and if documents are ever produced, they are often heavily redacted and the timeliness of the information relative to the public interest has long since subsided.

Separately the FBI has denied CBS News all information requested regarding the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Two Fast and Furious weapons were found at his murder scene in December 2010. The FBI stated that the information was withheld because the murder investigation is ongoing. That investigation has now entered its second year.

Republicans prepare contempt citation against Eric Holder over Fast and Furious

CBS News appealed the FBI's denial, arguing that some records had already been made public by FBI to news agencies, that releasing certain parts of its investigative documents would not jeopardize any investigation, and that the FBI should provide, at a minimum, a log of the withheld materials. The appeal was denied. The ATF likewise denied our FOIA request under the basis of "opening investigation."

Government's answer to "Fast and Furious" records requests: Blank pages - CBS News Investigates - CBS News

Lawmakers give Holder deadline on Fast & Furious demands

Apr 27, 2012 California Congressman Darrell Issa weighs in

Lawmakers give Holder deadline on Fast & Furious demands | Video | Fox News

Out of curiosity I searched, Eric holder coverup and eric holder pardons. If this stuff is true, why is he the AG? I find these things troubling.

Voter Fraud Cover-up Mild Compared To What Eric Holder Has Covered Up In The Past

April 10, 2012 By Kris Zane 9 Comments
The murder of Kenneth Michael Trentadue in 1995 at the hand of prison guards and/or FBI agents in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing has been burning for years, but has been continually doused with water due in part to someone making headlines this week with the James O’Keefe voter fraud video. O’Keefe, made famous for bringing ACORN to its knees with his groundbreaking undercover videos, asks for and is given our own Eric Holder’s ballot and is told incredulously that he doesn’t need ID. After telling the polling worker that he’d feel more comfortable showing his ID, O’Keefe hilariously leaves the polling place saying he’ll be back “faster than you can say furious,” an obvious joking reference to the Fast and Furious debacle marring the Obama Administration’s Department of Justice. O’Keefe mockingly interposes clips of Holder denying that there is a chance of voter fraud and arguing against voter ID laws with clips of the polling worker handing over a ballot with Eric Holder’s name on it!
Eric Holder, however, has been dumping water on fires for years in far more serious matters than voter fraud. In 2008, the Trentadue family wrote a letter to Congress before Holder was confirmed, stating “You need to know that Eric Holder, now nominated to become Attorney General, played a key role in covering up the torture-murder of my brother, Kenneth Michael Trentadue. You also need to know that Mr. Holder did this while serving as Deputy Attorney General and Acting Attorney General from 1997-2001.”
The death of Trentadue was deemed a “suicide by hanging” by the Government, despite having bruises and gashes on his body from head to toe (including cable tie indentations around his neck.) With the Trentadue family letter to Congress in December of 2008, almost begging Congress to deny Holder a place next to the President as Attorney General, the Trentadue family and many Americans across the United States were hoping Holder would finally be brought to justice. Congress, however, did a “do over” in again not investigating the murder of Trentadue and ignored the family’s pleas. The result was a literal road of bodies in the wake of Eric Holder’s perfidy, with over three hundred Mexican citizens murdered with Fast and Furious weapons and the deaths of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and DEA agent Jaime Zapata.
Kris Zane over at Obama Files tried to resurrect the call for a Trentadue investigation back in January of this year with his extensive article detailing the case, but it was again ignored by Congress.

“Will Eric Holder and Kenny’s murderers ever be brought to justice?” the Trentadue family asks over and over. Will America rise up and repudiate Eric Holder and the man who knew full well of his past before appointing him Attorney General, one Barack Hussein Obama? Let us hope so.
Voter Fraud Cover-up Mild Compared to What Eric Holder Has Covered Up In The Past

Did Eric Holder Cover Up FBI’s Role In ’95 OKC Bomb Plot?
December 31, 2011
Did Eric Holder Cover Up FBI

ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER TIED TO OKC BOMBER
by Admin on December 18, 2011 in ATF, Border Patrol, Bryan Terry, Fast and Furious, Justice Department - Eric Holder, Project Gunwalker, Terrorism with 1 Comment
ATTORNEY GENERAL HOLDER TIED TO OKC BOMBERS | Congressman Tom Tancredo


The article Newsweek gutted--more proof of FBI corruption
Anthony Martin

When citizen investigative journalist Mike Vanderboegh reported earlier this week that an article that appeared in Newsweek Magazine this week was supposed to contain explosive information damaging to the current Administration and that of Bill Clinton, he had a good idea of what was cut by editor Tina Brown due to his numerous contacts in the government. Today, however, Vanderboegh has an unedited copy of the original version of the article, complete with credible evidence of corruption that exposes Eric Holder, Janet Reno, the FBI, and two Administrations as threats not only to the truth but to the very lives of American citizens.
Red the rest of the story at:
The article Newsweek gutted--more proof of FBI corruption - National Conservative | Examiner.com

Tina Brown?

Newsweek's Queen of Sleaze: Tina Brown Assaults 'Crazy' Conservatives

Tina Brown got in hot water for an unflattering August 15, 2010 Newsweek cover photo of Tea Party Republican Michele Bachmann but those who've followed the current Daily Beast and Newsweek editor's career, ever since she brought her version of tabloid journalism over from England to Vanity Fair in 1984, can tell you this is just par for the course.
MRC.org

Obama’s Choice of Eric Holder for Attorney General Criticized Because of Holder’s Role in Health Care Task Force Cover-Up
Submitted by NLPC Staff on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 01:00
Printer-friendlyEmail to friendThe National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a plaintiff in the successful 1993 lawsuit to open the meetings and records of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s health care task force, today criticized Barack Obama for selecting Eric Holder as his Attorney General nominee.

According to NLPC President Peter Flaherty, “Holder is not ethically qualified to serve as Attorney General. His track record is not one of independence or objectivity. Instead, he has been guided by politics and self-interest.”

On December 21, 1994, federal Judge Royce Lamberth, who presided over the litigation to open the health care task force, asked Holder, who at the time was the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia to investigate Ira Magaziner for possible perjury and criminal contempt of court. He also suggested that Attorney General Janet Reno should appoint an independent counsel to investigate.

Reno announced on March 3, 1995 that she would not appoint an independent prosecutor. On August 3, 1995 Eric Holder announced that he, too, would not prosecute Magaziner.

Magaziner, who headed up the task force, asserted to plaintiffs in a March 3, 1993 statement that no outsiders, or non-government employees, were taking part in the task force. When task force documents were later produced, it was obvious that dozens of outsiders had taken part. It was not a small point. The presence of outsiders would trigger the Federal Advisory Committee Act, requiring that task force meetings be opened to the public. Magaziner’s claim stood for several months. Magaziner and other participants in the task force took no action to expose it or to correct the record.

An example of an outsider was Lois Quam, a vice-president of United Health Care Corporation, a for-profit managed care provider. United Health Care stood to financially benefit from the decisions of the task force, not to mention the reams of inside information to which she would become privy. Quam’s participation also helped fuel a controversy directly involving Hillary. The Clintons were investors in a closely held limited partnership called ValuePartners 1, which held a block of United Health Care stock. The partnership shorted a number of health-related stocks including United Health Care. At the time of his death, deputy White House counsel Vincent Foster was in the process of putting the Clinton's health care stocks into a blind trust, a task not completed until July 26, 1994.

At the time, NLPC accused the Clinton administration of a cover-up. Both Reno and Holder were appointed by Clinton, and Reno owed her job to Hillary. Additionally, the Washington Post reported in January of 1995 that Holder was under consideration by Clinton for appointment to a federal judgeship.

Flaherty concluded, “When Reno said she would not appoint a special prosecutor, it was even more appropriate for the case to be handled by the U.S. Attorney with jurisdiction. That was Holder and he should have acted. Holder’s failure to pursue Magaziner made a mockery of the law.”

A more detailed account of these events can be found in a 1996 book titled The First Lady: A Comprehensive View of Hillary Rodham Clinton by Peter and Timothy Flaherty.

NLPC promotes ethics in public life, and sponsors the Government Integrity Project.


Corruptocrat Eric Holder's National Security Cover-Up

Corruptocrat Eric Holder's National Security Cover-Up - Michelle Malkin - Townhall Conservative Columnists - Page 1


Eric Holder, Law Enforcer or Criminal Endorser?
Mark Polege

Despite large controversy, President-elect Barrack Obama nominated Eric Holder for the position of U.S. Attorney General on December 1, 2008. During the vetting process there was a great deal of pushback from many congressmen and gun rights advocates because of his questionable past. However, Obama awarded Holder the position regardless. Since President Obama's vetting process appears to find some of the most criminal, corruptible, & radical people to ever hold a White House I.D., how does Eric Holder compare with those of Tim Geithner, Van Jones, Mark Lloyd, Cass Sustein, & John Holdren?

Eric Holder Under President Clinton:
While working under the Clinton Administration in 1999, Holder worked to release 16 members of the violent Armed Forces of National Liberation 'terrorists', as deemed by the F.B.I.
Under the Clinton Administration, Holder was appointed Deputy Attorney General in Janet Reno’s Justice Department. From DiscovertheNetworks.org:

"As Deputy Attorney General, Holder, as The Washington Post explained, “was the gatekeeper for presidential pardons.” Indeed, Holder was a key figure entrusted with the task of vetting the Clinton administration’s 176 last-minute pardons in January 2001. The beneficiaries of those pardons included such notables as former Weather Underground members Susan Rosenberg (who was involved in the deadly 1981 armed robbery of a Brink’s armored car) and Linda Evans (who had used false identification to buy firearms, harbored a fugitive, and was in possession of 740 pounds of dynamite at the time of her arrest in 1985)."

This is the same Weather Underground as founded by Bill Ayers and Jeff Jones and responsible for several bombings including a U.S. State building. The group also sympathized with the radically dangerous Black Panthers of the 1960's.

Also, among Holder's list of pardons was the fugitive oil broker and tax cheat Marc Rich. Rich hid $100 million in oil profits of illegal purchases from Iran during the American Trade Embargo by creating dummied transactions in off-shore corporations. He fled to Switzerland to avoid prosecution for illegal oil purchases, 51 counts of racketeering, wire fraud, tax fraud, and tax evasion. Marc Rich's wife was also involved in such dealings:

Read the rest of this article at:
Eric Holder, Law Enforcer or Criminal Endorser? - St. Louis Conservative | Examiner.com


Eric Holder pushed for controversial clemency
January 09, 2009|Josh Meyer and Tom Hamburger

As deputy attorney general in 1999, Holder -- now attorney general nominee -- pressed subordinates to drop objections to clemency for 16 members of violent Puerto Rican nationalist organizations.
Rest of the story at:
Faln | Eric Holder pushed for controversial clemency - Los Angeles Times


Holder will get $3M payoff to leave firm for AG job

Eric Holder, President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for attorney general, has a net worth of $5.7 million and lobbied on behalf of three companies in the past five years, according to a questionnaire filed by Holder with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Last year, he made more than $2.1 million as a partner at Covington & Burling, a prominent Washington law firm. The money is unsurprising given his high-profile client list, which includes companies like UBS Financial Services, Merck & Co., and Hewlett-Packard. He was also paid to sit on the boards of MCI and Eastman Kodak Company

the rest of the story at:
Holder will get $3M payoff to leave firm for AG job - Lisa Lerer - POLITICO.com

Guns, Bullets, Sniper Fire, Corruption, Murder & Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder

Eric Holder has been tapped by PE Obama to serve as the first African American Attorney General of the United States, heading up the entire justice department. Holder is a man of accomplishment having been appointed by then President Ronald Reagan to serve as a Superior Court Judge for The District of Columbia.
However, after stepping down from the bench in 1993 his service in the DOJ under Janet Reno raises some very important questions which may shed some light on the service he might render to President Obama.
In August 1992, you will remember that a federal law enforcement agent and expert sniper shot and murdered Vicki Weaver the wife of Randy Weaver, at their home in Idaho. The federal agents also shot their young son Sam in the back and killed him as he was running away from them. The incident began, as a jury concluded, when the ATF entrapped Randy Weaver into committing a gun violation.
After an initial investigation uncovered evidence of a coverup and other potential crimes by the federal agents following the incident at "Ruby Ridge" the matter was referred to the U.S. Attorney in D.C., Eric Holder, for further proceedings. Holder recused himself from the investigation.

the rest of the story at:
Guns, Bullets, Sniper Fire, Corruption, Murder & Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder - BluegrassBulletin.com


Pay attention to Eric Holder’s law firm and Gitmo detainees

By Michelle Malkin • January 23, 2009 02:41 PM

A good friend writes:


[A]s nearly 100 of the remaining detainees are Yemenis, reflecting that country’s refusal to assure security for repatriated Yemenis, note that AG nominee Eric Holder is a senior partner with Covington & Burling, a prestigious Washington, D.C. law firm, which represents 17 Yemenis currently held at Gitmo. Michelle Malkin » Pay attention to Eric Holder’s law firm and Gitmo detainees



January 24, 2009

Yemen Says Gitmo Prisoners Coming Home

Yemen's president says his country is preparing to take back 94 Yemeni prisoners from the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh told Yemeni security officials Saturday the U.S. will release the prisoners within the next three months, and promised to make sure they do not escape and rejoin extremists groups.
Yemen Says Gitmo Prisoners Coming Home | News | English