Thread: BATF Head Melson Implicates DOJ In Surprise July 4th Testimo

The cover up's always worse than the original offense in these matters

July 6, 2011

BATF Head Melson Implicates DOJ In Surprise July 4th Testimony

By Rob Miller
12 comments

Over the July Fourth weekend, there was a major development in the Fast and Furious investigation when BATF head Ken Melman made a surprise July 4th appearance before Darrel Issa and Chuck Grassley's congressional committee put together to investigate Fast and Furious.

That operation involved BATF(Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) agents allowing straw purchasers to buy over two thousand automatic weapons and then smuggle them illegally across the border to Mexican Drug cartels. The operation led to a spike in violence in Mexico, the killing in Arizona of a U.S. Border Patrol agent last December and a possible attempted cover up by the BATF and the US Department of Justice. http://joshuapundit.blogspot.com/2011/0 ... stice.html

BATF head Melman was placed in a particularly bad light by the earlier testimony of agents, some of whom depicted him watching the illegal gun deals go down on closed circuit TV and literally rubbing his hands with glee. Melman, a temporary appointee, was set up to fall on his sword for Fast and Furious and was apparently under a great deal of pressure from the Obama Administration to 'resign'. Instead, he resisted and said he wanted to testify before the investigative committee, but in order to do that, he needed clearance from the Department of Justice.

In a particularly revolting display of partisan horse trading and disregard for justice, the ranking Senate Democrat on the committee, Patrick Leahy made a deal with Republican Senator Chuck Grassley to allow access to certain documents and allow Melman and other witnesses to testify -- in exchange for releasing holds on three Obama Administration DOJ nominees.

Testimony was set up for July 13th, but then something very interesting happened. Apparently there was a clause in the agreement between the committee and the Department of Justice saying that "witnesses who choose to attend a voluntary interview with their own lawyer are free to exercise that right rather than participate with counsel representing the Department's interests."

Melson apparently was never made aware of it, and neither were Rep. Issa or Senator Grassley and they weren't exactly pleased about not being informed. But when it became known, Melson chose to appear before the committee with his own lawyer over this last weekend. http://oversight.house.gov/images/stori ... o%20ag.pdf

In the letter linked above to Attorney General Eric Holder, Issa and Grassley wrote that Melson's testimony was 'extremely helpful to our investigation' which was just the first bit of bad news they had for President Obama's Attorney general:

According to Mr. Melson, it was not until after the public controversy that he personally reviewed hundreds of documents relating to the case, including wiretap applications and Reports of Investigation (ROIs). By his account, he was sick to his stomach when he obtained those documents and learned the full story.

Mr. Melson said that he told the Office of the Deputy Attorney General (ODAG) at the end of March that the Department needed to reexamine how it was responding to the requests for information from Congress.

According to Mr. Melson, he and ATF's senior leadership team moved to reassign every manager involved in Fast and Furious, from the Deputy Assistant Director for Field Operations down to the Group Supervisor, after learning the facts in those documents. Mr. Melson also said he was not allowed to communicate to Congress the reasons for the reassignments. He claimed that ATF's senior leadership would have preferred to be more cooperative with our inquiry much earlier in the process.However, he said that Justice Department officials directed them not to respond and took full control of replying to briefing and document requests from Congress. The result is that Congress only got the parts of the story that the Department wanted us to hear.

If his account is accurate, then ATF leadership appears to have been effectively muzzled while the DOJ sent over false denials and buried its head in the sand. That approach distorted the truth and obstructed our investigation. The Department's inability or unwillingness to be more forthcoming served to conceal critical nformation that we are now learning about the involvement of other agencies, including the DEA and the FBI.

What Issa and Grassley are talking about is Obstruction of Justice. And the fact that some of the 'gun traffickers' were paid informants on the FBI and DEA payroll:

The evidence we have gathered raises the disturbing possibility that the Justice Department not only allowed criminals to smuggle weapons but that taxpayer dollars from other agencies may have financed those engaging in such activities. While this is preliminary information, we must find out if there is any truth to it. According to Acting Director Melson, he became aware of this startling possibility only after the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the indictments of the straw purchasers, which we now know were substantially delayed by the u.s. Attorney's Office and Main Justice. Mr. Melson provided documents months ago supporting his concerns to the official in the ODAG responsible for document production to the Committees, but those documents have not been provided to us.

What Melson has effectively done is to finger the Department of Justice for some felony offenses, and there's no telling how high this might go. Not only that, but by becoming what amounts to friendly witness for the committee, he's ensured their protection and made sure that any bureaucratic retaliation from the Obama Administration is going to cost a lot more in scrutiny and oversight than it's going to be worth:

Any decision about Mr. Melson's future with the Department would need to be justified solely on the basis of the facts and the needs of the agency, rather than on his decision to speak to us. We encourage you to communicate to us any additional significant information about any such decision so that we can work together to ensure that it would not impede our investigation.

For now, the Office of Inspector General is still conducting its review, and we are still conducting ours. Knowing what we know so far, we believe it would be inappropriate to make Mr. Melson the fall guy in an attempt to prevent further congressional oversight.

Issa has already stated that he has proof Eric Holder was out and out lying about what he knew about Fast and Furious and when he knew it. Now it's just a matter of moving up the ladder and getting these people to rat out one another until they get to Holder.

The cover up's always worse than the original offense in these matters.

Rob Miller blogs at Joshuapundit


http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/ ... imony.html

How convoluted and dirty this administration is this?? Im afraid we are on our own!!

Now lets see what our spinless, irrelevant elected officials will do with this info.

Where are all the protests in the streets? The egg throwing at the Presidential Limo? How about the accusations of racism against Obama? Why doesn't some rap star take over the mic from someone and claim Obama is a racist? His administration apparently led to the deaths of both Americans, and mexicans.

Easy way to find what "some one" from "somewhere" found on the Justice Dept. Web site.

just google "Eric Holder April 2, 2009 speach"

Big Gov. has it
PJ.com has it.
http://www.theblogmocgracy.com
over under headlines "Fast and Furious Did Eric Holder Perjer himself"

http://www.hotair.com

In the thread on about the Stimulas money funding Fast and Furious

Holder is busted.

Wish I did not have to post this.
But it is what it is.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.+205:

Senate Bill S 205 from 2009
Entroducers: Hutchison, Feinstein, Drubin, McCain, Kyl

There you have it. U.S. aginst them.

Originally Posted by APACHEWHOKNOWS

Wish I did not have to post this.
But it is what it is.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.+205:

Senate Bill S 205 from 2009
Entroducers: Hutchison, Feinstein, Drubin, McCain, Kyl

There you have it. U.S. aginst them.

The Library of Congress > THOMAS Home > Bills, Resolutions > Search Results
Bill Text
111th Congress (2009-2010)
S.205.IS

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Printer Friendly[Help] Congressional Record References Bill Summary & Status

S.205 -- Southwest Border Violence Reduction Act of 2009 (Introduced in Senate - IS)

S 205 IS

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. 205

To authorize additional resources to identify and eliminate illicit sources of firearms smuggled into Mexico for use by violent drug trafficking organizations, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

January 12, 2009

Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself, Mrs. HUTCHISON, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. MCCAIN, and Mr. KYL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

A BILL

To authorize additional resources to identify and eliminate illicit sources of firearms smuggled into Mexico for use by violent drug trafficking organizations, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Southwest Border Violence Reduction Act of 2009'.

SEC. 2. PROJECT GUNRUNNER.

(a) In General- The Attorney General shall dedicate and expand the resources provided for the Project Gunrunner initiative of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to identify, investigate, and prosecute individuals involved in the trafficking of firearms across the international border between the United States and Mexico.

(b) Activities- In carrying out this section, the Attorney General shall--

(1) assign additional agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to the area of the United States adjacent to the international border between the United States and Mexico to support the expansion of Project Gunrunner teams;

(2) establish not fewer than 1 Project Gunrunner team in each State along the international border between the United States and Mexico; and

(3) coordinate with the heads of other relevant Federal law enforcement agencies and State and local law enforcement agencies to address firearms trafficking in a comprehensive manner.

(c) Additional Staff- The Attorney General may hire Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives agents for, and otherwise expend additional resources needed to adequately support, Project Gunrunner.

(d) Authorization of Appropriations- There are authorized to be appropriated $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 and 2011 to carry out this section.

SEC. 3. ENHANCED INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION.

(a) In General- The Attorney General, in cooperation with the Secretary of State, shall--

(1) assign agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to the United States mission in Mexico, to work with Mexican law enforcement agencies in conducting investigations relating to firearms trafficking and other criminal enterprises;

(2) provide the equipment and technological resources necessary to support investigations and to trace firearms recovered in Mexico; and

(3) support the training of Mexican law enforcement officers in serial number restoration techniques, canine explosive detection, and antitrafficking tactics.

(b) Authorization of Appropriations- There are authorized to be appropriated $9,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 and 2011 to carry out this section.

short version please! Its been a long week!

The Louisiana Purchase (French: Vente de la Louisiane "Sale of Louisiana") was the acquisition by the United States of America of 828,800 square miles (2,147,000 km2) of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S. paid 60 million francs ($11,250,000) plus cancellation of debts worth 18 million francs ($3,750,000), for a total sum of 15 million dollars for the Louisiana territory ($219 million in 2010 dollars).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase

American territorial expansion to the Pacific coast was the goal of President James K. Polk, the leader of the Democratic Party.[1] However, the war was highly controversial in the U.S., with the Whig Party and anti-slavery elements strongly opposed. Heavy American casualties and high monetary cost were also criticized. The major consequence of the war was the forced Mexican Cession of the territories of Alta California and New Mexico to the U.S. in exchange for $18 million. In addition, the United States forgave debt owed by the Mexican government to U.S. citizens. Mexico accepted the Rio Grande as its national border, and the loss of Texas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican-American_War

So... $11 million, and $18 million went to buy the territories, that are still under mexican rule?

We just spent an extra $24.5 million on this, without mentioning the war on drugs, and the cost of incarceration, and bennies going to illegal aliens from mexicans here. Are we being dumb, or what? Is it just me, or does the price tag just keep going up? Bada bada bada bada, babingbong! Didn't someone say we spend $billions on bennies to illegals in the U.S.? Obama (B.O.) is a stinkin moron.

Obama is the best President... that mexico( and the terrorists of the world )ever had!!!!