Thread: Valerie Jarrett Key Player in Fast and Furious Cover-Up After Holder Lied to Congress

Valerie Jarrett Key Player in Fast and Furious Cover-Up After Holder Lied to Congress

OCTOBER 24, 2014

President Obama’s trusted senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, was a key player in the effort to cover up that Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about the Fast and Furious scandal, according to public records obtained by Judicial Watch.

The information is part of a Department of Justice (DOJ) “Vaughn index” detailing records about the gun-running operation known as Fast and Furious. JW had to sue the agency for the records after the Obama administration failed to provide them under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A federal court ordered the DOJ to provide the records over the agency’s objections. Yesterday JW reported on the broad information in the records, including that Obama asserted executive privilege for Holder’s wife as part of the administration’s efforts to cover up the scandal.

Practically lost in the 1,000-plus pages of records is an index that shows Jarrett was brought in to manage the fact that Holder lied to Congress after the story about the disastrous gun-running operation broke in the media. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) ran the once-secret program that allowed guns from the U.S. to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels. Instead, federal law enforcement officers lost track of hundreds of weapons which have been used in an unknown number of crimes, including the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.

The files received by JW include three electronic mails between Holder and Jarrett and one from former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke to Jarrett. The e-mails with Holder are all from October 4, 2011, a significant date because, on the evening of October 3rd, Sheryl Attkisson (then at CBS news) released documentsshowing that Holder had been sent a briefing paper on Operation Fast and Furious on June 5, 2010. The paper was from the director of the National Drug Intelligence Center, Michael Walther.

This directly contradicted Holder’s May 3, 2011 testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, during which he stated that he, “probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.” The October 4, 2011 date may also be significant because it came shortly after the August 30, 2011 resignation of U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke and reassignment of acting ATF director Kenneth Melson to the position of “senior forensics advisor” at DOJ.

The description of one of the e-mails, written from Jarrett to Holder, reads, “re: personnel issues.” Another, also from Jarrett, reads, “outlining and discussing preferred course of action for future responses in light of recent development in congressional investigation.” Unfortunately, the index is vague and that’s all the information we have about them. Nevertheless, given the timing and subject of these e-mails, it seems clear that Jarrett quickly became a key player in the Fast and Furious cover-up in the immediate aftermath of the revelation that Holder had lied to Congress.

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Sharyl Attkisson is a great reporter.

YOU ARE HERE: HOME › NEWS › FAST AND FURIOUS › JUSTICE DEPT. LIST OF WITHHELD FAST & FURIOUS DOCS IS 1,323 PAGES LONG

Justice Dept. List of Withheld Fast & Furious Docs is 1,323 Pages Long

by sattkisson

on October 23, 2014

• List shows documents on wide-ranging subject matter being withheld.
• Emails between Attorney General Eric Holder and his wife Sharon Malone, and his mother, are withheld under executive privilege.

Also withheld are emails between Obama administration spokesmen regarding news articles.


For the first time, the Department of Justice has provided a detailed description of 15,662 Fast and Furious-related documents it is withholding from Congress, the public and the press under executive privilege exerted by President Obama.

The description comes in the form of a so-called Vaughn index ordered by a federal court in a lawsuit filed against the Justice Department by the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch. The Justice Department waited to provide the index, due yesterday, until 8:34 p.m.

The number of withheld documents is so extensive, that the list describing them is 1,323 pages long.
Read the Justice Dept. Vaughn index of withheld documents

The Vaughn index identifies each record held and explains why the Justice Department believes the material should be withheld from public disclosure.

According to Judicial Watch,

“The document details Attorney General Holder’s personal involvement in managing the Justice Department’s strategy on media and Congressional investigations into the Fast and Furious scandal. Notably, the document discloses that emails between Attorney General Holder and his wife Sharon Malone – and his mother – are being withheld under claims of executive privilege and the deliberative process privilege.”

That includes approximately 30 emails between Attorney General Eric Holder and his wife.

“There is no precedent for President Obama’s Nixonian assertion of executive privilege over these ordinary government agency records,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton in a written statement. “Americans will be astonished that Obama asserted executive privilege over Eric Holder’s emails to his wife about Fast and Furious.”

Among the withheld communications is a March 8, 2011 email from a Mexico-based Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) official less than one week after federal agent John Dodson blew the whistle on Fast and Furious in an interview with me for CBS News. The email is described as “discussing response to [Mexico].”

Another withheld email sent in the same time period is from then-White House official Kevin O’Reilly. Dated March 10, 2011, it was sent to more than a dozen federal officials and is described as, “discussing draft press statement.”

More withheld emails “forwarding and discussing news items” have Attorney General Holder’s name on them. One series of such exchanges is dated July 26, 2011, the same day I reported the revelation that ATF had shared information about Fast and Furious with the White House.

The Vaughn index raises questions about why some of the material is being withheld at all. For example, many of the emails are regarding press articles, television reports and other news items. Some of them are between then-Justice Department spokesman Tracy Schmaler and White House operative Eric Schulz. In some instances, the given description reads “email forwarding news items.” Why an email between two government spokesmen that forwards public news reports would be withheld under presidential executive privilege is not fully explained.

Other withheld documents are concerning Freedom of Information (FOI) requests I made in May of 2011.
It’s unclear as to why the president would exert executive privilege to keep from turning over documents discussing “which office will respond” to my FOI requests. The Justice Department never properly responded to my requests.

President Obama exerted executive privilege over documents regarding Sharyl Attkisson’s Freedom of Info requests. Click to see larger image.

Also withheld are communications surrounding the infamous Justice Department letter to Congress in 2011 which erroneously claimed there had been no “gunwalking” in Fast and Furious or any other case.

Republicans in Congress subpoenaed the materials in hopes of pinpointing who knew, how high up, that the letter to Congress contained incorrect information. The Justice Department later retracted the letter, long after overwhelming proof of the gunwalking surfaced.

Another withheld email between two officials with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Arizona that oversaw the Fast and Furious case is titled, “sad, sickening draft for your review” and is said to involve personnel matters.

Other emails being kept secret are dated May 4, 2011 from Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer to other officials in the Justice Department about a news article revealing Breuer authorized the wiretap in Fast and Furious. The justification for the wiretap included a detailed narrative on the case, implying Breuer would have known that the gunwalking tactic was being used, contrary to his and the Justice Department’s claims. It’s unclear what news article is discussed in the withheld emails, but I reported this story for CBS News on that same date.

Congress held Holder in contempt on June 28, 2012 when he failed to turn over subpoenaed records. It is the first time a sitting Attorney General has been held in contempt. President Obama asserted executive privilege to prevent Congress from obtaining the material. Judicial Watch sued for the documents a short time later. The House of Representatives has an ongoing federal lawsuit in its attempt to obtain the same materials.

All of Attkisson’s Fast and Furious reports are here.

http://sharylattkisson.com/justice-d...323-pages-long

BREAKING: New "Fast and Furious" Evidence Proves Holder and Valerie Jarrett Should Both Be in Jail This is massive. conservativetribune.com · 11,185 Shares · 25 October 2014

BREAKING: New “Fast and Furious” Evidence Proves Holder and Valerie Jarrett Should Both Be in Jail

Eric Holder’s continuing status as an unindicted man has been a source of constant wonder to anyone who’s paid attention to the Fast and Furious scandal, and, given of Valerie Jarrett’s role in any number of debacles, one wonders why she hasn’t left the White House to lawyer up and practice taking the Fifth spend more time with her family.
This latest evidence won’t surprise anyone following Fast and Furious, but it ties directly Jarrett to the cover-up for the first time, as well as raises the question of just what one has to do to get indicted in the Obama Administration. (H/T TPNN.)
The latest evidence of malfeasance by Attorney General Holder and Jarrett comes in the form of e-mails obtained by watchdog group Judicial Watch (JW) via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
Among the over 1,000 pages of information obtained were three e-mails between Holder and Jarrett on Oct. 4, 2011, and one between Holder and U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke. All were on the subject of Fast and Furious.
According to JW, this is critical because, “on the evening of October 3rd, Sheryl Attkisson (then at CBS news) released documents showing that Holder had been sent a briefing paper on Operation Fast and Furious on June 5, 2010… [t]his directly contradicted Holder’s May 3, 2011 testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, during which he stated that he, ‘probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.'”

The e-mails are the first concrete evidence to link Jarrett to the Fast and Furious scandal and tie her directly to the cover-up surrounding Holder’s statements to Congress.
The Fast and Furious operation – in which the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) knowingly allowed gun smugglers to purchase weapons and import them in to Mexico – was supposed to serve the dual purpose of tracking and catching gun runners, and providing evidence to erode gun rights.
The operation has instead led to the death of a U.S. border patrol agent, Attorney General Holder being held in contempt of Congress, and increased gun violence at the border.
Please share on Facebook and Twitter if you agree that Holder and Jarrett ought to be in jail for their role in the Fast and Furious scandal.

http://conservativetribune.com/break...th-be-in-jail/

Valerie Jarrett Covered Up Fast-and-Furious Operation After Eric Holder Lied to Congress Judicial Watch reports: President Obama’s trusted senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, was a key player in the effort to cover up that Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about the Fast and F...

Valerie Jarrett Covered Up Fast-and-Furious Operation After Eric Holder Lied to Congress

October 25, 2014
DC, nobama




Valerie Jarrett Covered Up Fast-and-Furious Operation After Eric Holder Lied to Congress

Judicial Watch reports:

President Obama’s trusted senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, was a key player in the effort to cover up that Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about the Fast and Furious scandal, according to public records obtained by Judicial Watch.
The information is part of a Department of Justice (DOJ) “Vaughn index” detailing records about the gun-running operation known as Fast and Furious. JW had to sue the agency for the records after the Obama administration failed to provide them under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A federal court ordered the DOJ to provide the records over the agency’s objections. Yesterday JW reported on the broad information in the records, including that Obama asserted executive privilege for Holder’s wife as part of the administration’s efforts to cover up the scandal.
Practically lost in the 1,000-plus pages of records is an index that shows Jarrett was brought in to manage the fact that Holder lied to Congress after the story about the disastrous gun-running operation broke in the media. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) ran the once-secret program that allowed guns from the U.S. to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels. Instead, federal law enforcement officers lost track of hundreds of weapons which have been used in an unknown number of crimes, including the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.

The files received by JW include three electronic mails between Holder and Jarrett and one from former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke to Jarrett. The e-mails with Holder are all from October 4, 2011, a significant date because, on the evening of October 3rd, Sheryl Attkisson (then at CBS news) released documents showing that Holder had been sent a briefing paper on Operation Fast and Furious on June 5, 2010. The paper was from the director of the National Drug Intelligence Center, Michael Walther.
This directly contradicted Holder’s May 3, 2011 testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, during which he stated that he, “probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.” The October 4, 2011 date may also be significant because it came shortly after the August 30, 2011 resignation of U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke and reassignment of acting ATF director Kenneth Melson to the position of “senior forensics advisor” at DOJ.
The description of one of the e-mails, written from Jarrett to Holder, reads, “re: personnel issues.” Another, also from Jarrett, reads, “outlining and discussing preferred course of action for future responses in light of recent development in congressional investigation.” Unfortunately, the index is vague and that’s all the information we have about them. Nevertheless, given the timing and subject of these e-mails, it seems clear that Jarrett quickly became a key player in the Fast and Furious cover-up in the immediate aftermath of the revelation that Holder had lied to Congress.



http://defund.com/valerie-jarrett-co...d-to-congress/

Valerie Jarrett recruited to spin Fast and Furious scandal Judicial Watch pores over the 1,323 pages of document names the Department of Justice handed over to a federal court last week. SaveSaved Share personalliberty.com · 1,674 Shares · 24 October 2014

Judicial Watch: Valerie Jarrett recruited to spin Fast and Furious scandal for Eric Holder

Posted on October 24, 2014October 27, 2014 by Ben Bullard Views: 3,112
1.7K Shares



We’ll probably be seeing more stories like these in coming days, as Judicial Watch pores over the 1,323 pages of document names the Department of Justice handed over to a federal court last week.
Judicial Watch, the nonprofit government watchdog suing the DOJ for the release of Fast and Furious information that President Obama has so far kept secret under an assertion of executive privilege, wrote Friday that Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett entered the picture just as the scandal was starting to hit the news.
It appears that Holder jumped on the scandal by seeking advice from Jarrett immediately after investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson released an October 2011 story showing that Holder was aware of the operation for far longer than he had previously admitted, under oath, to Congressional investigators.
From Judicial Watch:

Practically lost in the 1,000-plus pages of records is an index that shows Jarrett was brought in to manage the fact that Holder lied to Congress after the story about the disastrous gun-running operation broke in the media. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) ran the once-secret program that allowed guns from the U.S. to be smuggled into Mexico so they could eventually be traced to drug cartels. Instead, federal law enforcement officers lost track of hundreds of weapons which have been used in an unknown number of crimes, including the murder of a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona.
The files received by JW include three electronic mails between Holder and Jarrett and one from former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke to Jarrett. The e-mails with Holder are all from October 4, 2011, a significant date because, on the evening of October 3rd, Sheryl Attkisson (then at CBS news) released documents showing that Holder had been sent a briefing paper on Operation Fast and Furious on June 5, 2010. The paper was from the director of the National Drug Intelligence Center, Michael Walther.
This directly contradicted Holder’s May 3, 2011 testimony to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, during which he stated that he, “probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.” The October 4, 2011 date may also be significant because it came shortly after the August 30, 2011 resignation of U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke and reassignment of acting ATF director Kenneth Melson to the position of “senior forensics advisor” at DOJ.

Lest there be any doubt about Holder’s intentions in getting Jarrett’s attention, we have the DOJ’s descriptions of what the emails discussed. “The description of one of the e-mails, written from Jarrett to Holder, reads, ‘re: personnel issues.’ Another, also from Jarrett, reads, ‘outlining and discussing preferred course of action for future responses in light of recent development in congressional investigation,'” Judicial Watch wrote.
The group hopes to eventually get its hands not only on a truncated list of all the items the DOJ is trying to keep hidden, but the documents themselves. In the meantime, you can see the list for yourself at this page, where Judicial Watch has posted the entire thing.


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