ATF director: No one fired for Fast and Furious

5:26 PM 04/02/2014
Rachel Stoltzfoos
The Daily Caller

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Todd Jones, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives director, admitted to a House panel Wednesday that no one was fired as a result of the Fast and Furious scandal.

The Justice Department had called for the firing of William Newell, who was the special agent in charge of the operation, and a suspension for case agent Hope MacAllister. Newell was not fired and MacAllister was only reprimanded. The ATF did follow the suggestion of the DoJ to demote David Both, reports The Blaze.

Todd Jones didn’t take over as ATF director until August 2013, so he was not directly involved with the scandal. However, he was director when the agency decided to give ATF officials involved lesser penalties than the DoJ reccommended.

Rep. Darrell Issa, House Oversight Committee chair, demanded a yes or no answer from Jones about the penalties. “Just to make the record clear, was anyone fired as a result of Fast and Furious?” he asked.

Jones responded that everyone involved had either been disciplined or is no longer at the agency.

Issa continued to press for a direct answer. “It’s a yes or no. It really is, Todd,” he said.

“As a result of the inspector general’s report, the answer is no,” Jones said.

In Operation Fast and Furious, the federal government put 2,000 guns in the hands of Mexican drug traffickers to track them, but later lost track of the guns. The operation was halted in December 2010, after one of the guns was found at the murder scene of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

Jones also said he was not directly involved in personnel decisions. The ultimate decision maker is the deputy director, unless the employee is unsatisfied, he said.

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