Thread: Issa: Officials had information about ‘reckless tactics’ in ‘Fast and Furious’

By Jerry Seper

The Washington Times

Tuesday, June 5, 2012



The chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday said new documents show that senior Justice Department officials in Washington, despite their previous denials, were given “specific information about reckless tactics” in the botched “Fast and Furious” gunrunning investigation.

In a letter, Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican, rebuked Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. for what he described as Mr. Holder’s “continuing efforts to mislead Congress about both the contents of the wiretap applications and details of who knew about and gave approval for reckless tactics.”

While refusing to produce documents on the Fast and Furious operation that have been subpoenaed by the committee, Mr. Issa said, Mr. Holder previously denied knowledge of and cast doubt on the possibility that the wiretap applications contained information about reckless tactics.

“The wiretap applications show that immense detail about questionable investigative tactics was available to the senior officials who reviewed and authorized them. The close involvement of these officials
— much greater than previously known —
is shocking,” Mr. Issa wrote.

“Throughout the course of the congressional investigation into Operation Fast and Furious, the [Justice] Department has consistently denied that any senior officials were provided information about the tactics used in Operation Fast and Furious,” he wrote. “The wiretap applications obtained by the committee show such statements made by senior department officials regarding the wiretaps to be false and misleading.”

Mr. Issa said that Mr. Holder repeatedly has either denied involvement by senior officials in Fast and Furious or asserted that the wiretap applications did not contain detail about “irresponsible investigative tactics.”

Wiretaps utilized in Fast and Furious were intended to allow investigators in Arizona to listen to the phone calls of suspect drug traffickers as part of a strategy to reveal evidence of involvement by high-level Mexican cartel associates, Mr. Issa said.

He said six applications for wiretaps obtained by the committee, which have been sealed by a federal judge, detail specific actions taken by agents in Fast and Furious, including “conscious decisions not to interdict weapons that agents knew were illegally purchased by smugglers taking weapons to Mexico.” Mr. Issa said the applications were approved by senior Justice Department officials in March, April, May, June and July of 2010.

The wiretaps, as required by federal law, were submitted to Washington for approval by senior officials in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Mr. Issa said, adding that they were approved under the authority of Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who heads the division.

“To justify the need for the invasive law enforcement tool, Justice Department officials use robust and detailed information to explain the evidence used to merit its use and why other tactics are not sufficient to achieve the goals of the operation,” he said.

Information contained in the wiretaps was subpoenaed by the committee, but the Justice Department refused to turn them over to investigators.

The committee and Republican leaders in the House warned Mr. Holder in a letter last month that he must fully address concerns outlined by investigators over the Fast and Furious operation or face a contempt citation. Mr. Holder has not responded to this letter.

A 64-page draft contempt resolution and an accompanying 17-page staff briefing paper explained what Mr. Issa called the “reckless conduct” of the Fast and Furious investigation and the “hardships” faced by the family of a U.S. Border Patrol agent killed with a weapon purchased in the probe. The two documents also detail retaliation against agents who blew the whistle on the operation and the “carnage in Mexico” that Fast and Furious helped fuel.

As the wiretaps have been sealed, the committee cannot release them publicly, but copies have been sent to the committee minority, and the wiretaps were made available for review by the full committee.

Issa: Officials had information about 'reckless tactics' in 'Fast and Furious' - Washington Times

It seems that the box Holder has put himself into is getting smaller.

Is Fast & Furious investigation fizzling? Fox Video:

Jun 5, 2012 Because You Asked: Deadline for Attorney General Holder to hand over more documents passes

Is Fast & Furious investigation fizzling?

Documents prove senior Justice officials approved Fast and Furious, Issa says

06/05/2012
By Matthew Boyle

House oversight committee chairman Darrell Issa said Tuesday that congressional investigators now have documents that prove senior officials in Attorney General Eric Holder’s Department of Justice approved gun-walking in Operation Fast and Furious.

“The Committee has obtained copies of six wiretap applications in support of seven wire intercepts utilized during Fast and Furious,” Issa said in a Tuesday letter to Holder.

Issa said those wiretap documents “show that immense detail about questionable investigative tactics was available to the senior officials who reviewed and authorized them.”

Issa said these documents prove that the Department of Justice again provided “false” information to Congress.

“On February 8, 2012, Senator Grassley, Congressman Meehan and I wrote to you requesting the Department’s assistance in obtaining the wiretap applications from Operation Fast and Furious,” Issa wrote to Holder. “We did so because we believed their contents would shed additional light on senior Department officials’ level of knowledge of the unacceptable tactics used in Fast and Furious.”

“Other than having acknowledged receipt of the letter, the Department has not responded to the February 8 request,” Issa continued. “In a May 15, 2012 letter, the Deputy Attorney General reiterated the Department’s position that the ‘inappropriate tactics used in Fast and Furious … were not initiated of authorized by Department leadership in Washington.’”

Issa said the wiretap applications his committee has obtained “were approved by senior Justice Department officials in March, April, May, June and July 2010.”

“Each application included a memorandum from Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer to Paul M. O’Brien, Director, Office of Enforcement Operations, authorizing the wiretap applications on behalf of the Attorney General,” Issa wrote to Holder. “The memoranda from Breuer are marked specifically for the attention of Emory Hurley, the lead prosecutor for Operation Fast and Furious.”

Issa said these wiretap applications prove senior DOJ officials’ continued denial of having been aware of the tactics used in Fast and Furious “to be false and misleading.”

Issa then cites several instances in which Holder himself provided statements about Fast and Furious that Issa said Congress now knows “are not accurate.”

Issa said Holder’s comments at a Sept. 7, 2011, press conference, an Oct. 7, 2011 letter he wrote to Congress and two different instances where he testified before different congressional committees — testimony he gave to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Nov. 8, 2011, and to the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 2, 2012, were incorrect.

In each of those statements, Holder denied the fact that senior Department of Justice officials were aware of gun-walking tactics used in Fast and Furious.

“We now know all that all of these statements are not accurate,” Issa wrote to Holder.

“The remarkable level of detail about these objectionable tactics contained in the applications renews concerns that senior Department officials failed to perform their jobs,” Issa continued. “It also raises concerns about the veracity of your testimony before Congress, and the accuracy of recent letters sent to Congress by senior Department officials.”

“Not insignificantly, this is not the first time that the Department presented inaccurate information to Congress during this investigation,” Issa added.

“Having seen the wiretap applications, we now know that the information coming from the Department has been misleading. That must stop.”

The wiretap application documents “have been sealed by a federal judge,” according to a press release from Issa’s office.
Issa told Holder, too, that the “new information in the wiretap applications places us in a position to begin the process of assigning accountability among senior Department officials, some of whom were responsible for approving the wiretap applications.”


“After having reviewed these applications, we now understand why the Department has been resisting our efforts to secure full cooperation and compliance with the subpoena,” Issa wrote. “It is because, as former ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson testified, ‘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.”


Issa said his committee’s possession of the wiretap document evidence means “the Department can no longer push such information away from its political appointees.”


“These appointees were responsible for approving the reckless tactics used during Fast and Furious,” Issa continued. “Because of the wiretap applications, we now know which senior Department officials made these serious mistakes. It is time for you to honor your commitment to Congress and the American people by holding these individuals accountable.”


DOJ spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler did not respond to The Daily Caller’s request for comment about these new revelations, nor did a spokeswoman, Ashley Etienne, for House oversight committee ranking member Elijah Cummings.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/05/do...#ixzz1wxWPs9ZA

Justice Dept. tries to cut Fast and Furious deal with Congress

06/05/2012
By Matthew Boyle

The Department of Justice told Republican House leadership in a Tuesday letter that it hopes to reach an agreement with congressional overseers on how much information about Operation Fast and Furious it is required to hand over.

Congressional Republicans have threatened to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for not fully complying with a 22-part subpoena served last October.

The letter comes amid reports that House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa has obtained evidence proving that senior Justice Department officials approved Operation Fast and Furious gunwalking tactics.

The Justice Department letter was in response to a request Speaker of the House John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy and Issa sent in mid-May.

“Following the receipt of your letter, the department has had a number of constructive conversations with staff aimed at satisfying the legitimate goals of congressional oversight while, at the same time, ensuring the integrity and independence of the department’s law enforcement efforts,” Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote to those congressional leaders on Tuesday afternoon.

Holder and the DOJ, he added, think the GOP leadership’s May 18 letter “was a helpful step toward reaching a resolution of the issues in dispute.”
“We are hopeful that these ongoing conversations will lead to a mutually acceptable resolution of these issues and continue to provide the kinds of information that would answer your questions,” Cole wrote. “While our staffs continue to discuss these issues, I want to reiterate that I remain available to meet with you personally.”

Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy and Issa’s mid-May letter specified “two key questions” that “remain unanswered.”

“First, who on your leadership team was informed of the reckless tactics used in the Fast & Furious prior to Agent Terry’s murder; and, second, did your leadership team mislead or misinform Congress in response to a Congressional subpoena?” the May 18 letter reads.

Cole also responded frostily to Issa’s claim to have obtained documents showing that senior Justice Department officials approved of Operation Fast and Furious.

Cole accused the committee of obtaining the documents illegally.
“This is of great concern to us,” Cole wrote. “While we are legally prohibited from commenting on the content of sealed court documents, we disagree with the chairman’s assertions.”

Issa said that the documents show that Holder and several other Department of Justice officials in the Obama administration provided “false” statements to Congress.

Read more: DOJ tries to cut Fast and Furious deal with Congress | The Daily Caller