Gunwalker: Fast Leaks, Furious Congressmen

[Geee]

Pajamas Media:

July 5, July 12, July 19, July 26, and August 9, 2010.

These are the dates of weekly memos provided by National Drug Intelligence Center Director Michael Walther to Attorney General Eric Holder. Each was a short document that included information on Operation Fast and Furious, including descriptions of the operation as a multi-agency task force targeting a gun trafficking ring headed by Manuel Celis-Acosta that had purchased “1,500 firearms that were then supplied to Mexican drug trafficking cartels.”

The release of these documents from mid-2010 — and supporting documents from Department of Justice insiders discussing “gunwalking” — has led House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) to ask President Obama to appoint a special prosecutor. The special prosecutor would investigate whether or not Attorney General Holder committed perjury when he stated in sworn testimony in March: “ probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.”

Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) yesterday called for Holder to resign, and Arizona Senator John McCain is “leaning towards” demanding a special council appointment to investigate.

With the increased attention on the case — including coverage from johnny-come-lately ABC that needed to add a backstory section to get their readers up to speed — the White House and Department of Justice are fighting back, alleging that the growing scandal is nothing but a game of “gotcha” being played by Republicans:

“Here they go again. Chairman Issa and Senator Grassley can re-package and re-release the same documents every other day and it won’t change the facts: the attorney general’s testimony to both the House and Senate committees has been consistent and truthful,” the department said.

The department said the “brief” passages were “buried in a few written reports” and did not detail the full extent of the operation.

“Instead of peddling selectively edited transcripts and distorting questions and answers in some distracting political game of gotcha, these congressional leaders should be focusing their attention on the underlying public safety problem we confront as a nation — that too many guns are being illegally trafficked to Mexico,” the statement said.

It is worth noting: the documents being released are new; the information was not buried, but featured bullet points of weekly summary reports; and there were no “selectively edited” transcripts or “distorted questions.” The DOJ pushback seems rooted in political firefighting, not facts.

Even left-leaning NPR — which seems to doubt Holder’s truthfulness — reported the details of the key question and answer accurately:

At a hearing in March, California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa asked: “When did you first know about the program officially, I believe, called Fast and Furious? To the best of your knowledge, what date?”

Holder replied: “I’m not sure the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.”

Texas Senator John Cornyn blasted President Obama’s forceful defense of his attorney general, claiming that the president was the “the only person left with any confidence” in Holder:

“It is difficult to believe that after memos were sent to his office, ATF officials briefed Congress on Fast and Furious and it was reported in the media, Mr. Holder still didn’t have knowledge of it, as he claims, for several months,” Cornyn, a San Antonio Republican, said in an emailed statement.

The worst news of the week for Holder and Obama may have come last night. Bill O’Reilly interviewed CBSNews investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson, who has provided the most dogged mainstream media coverage of the administration’s gun-walking plots. O’Reilly asked Attkisson what caused a White House staffer to scream and curse at her several days ago. Her response left little doubt that more damning revelations are to come:

Well, I would say there have been some pretty incredible developments in the past week. Also, documents we haven’t even had time to report on all of them. They are very sensitive documents and allegations going around. Many of them we haven’t reported yet because we need to get more confirmation of them.

But what you see on the surface that we do report in our stories is really only a part of what may be going on and we may be reporting the future when we can get confirmation.