John Crump writes [via ammoland.com]: After six years of being stonewalled by the US Justice Department, we might finally get the details of the Eric Holder and Barack Obama era failed gun-walking operation that blew up into a scandal known as “Fast and Furious.”
Attorney General Jeff Sessions released a statement stating that the Justice Department will release the long sought out internal documents on the gun-walking scheme to House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Congress originally subpoenaed the records from the Holder-era Justice Department in 2012.
“The Department of Justice under my watch is committed to transparency and the rule of law. This settlement agreement is an important step to make sure that the public finally receives all the facts related to Operation Fast and Furious,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions in a press release.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder refused to hand over the records forcing the Republican lead committee to take Holder to federal court. Holder was found to be in contempt by the committee for refusing to supply the documents. President Barak Obama, who appointed Holder to the position of Attorney General, stepped in and asserted executive privilege to prevent Congress from obtaining the records through the courts.
The Justice Department named the operation after the “Fast and Furious” movie franchise. During the operation the government allowed over 2000 firearms to flow into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels. The government lost track of over 1600 of the guns. It is unknown how many times that the Cartel used these guns in their crimes or how many 1000’s of people were killed with these weapons, including U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry
Members of a “rip off squad” engaged U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in a firefight on the Arizona side of the US/Mexico border. Rip off squads target drug smugglers for robberies. Agent Terry tragically died during the gunfight. Authorities traced two guns recovered from the site of the battle to the failed U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ gun-walking operation.
Agent Terry’s family sued the ATF for creating a risk to law enforcement officers. They alleged that the ATF officials should have foreseen the risk that the program would cause to CBP and other law enforcement agents. The liberal-leaning 9th Circuit Court dismissed the case because “congressionally-mandated remedies” were already in place for the families of fallen federal agents.
Kent Terry, the brother of the slain agent, has been pushing the President for the release of the documents. On Saturday he took to Twitter to tweet directly at President Trump to release the records reminding Trump of a campaign promise he made to Terry while on the campaign trail.
This past Tuesday Kent Terry appeared on The Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends.” to plead to reopen the investigation and release the documents.
“We need to find out the truth, exactly what happened, how it happened, why it happened. We need Mr. Trump, President Trump, to unseal the documents, reverse executive privilege so that we know what happened, and that we can hold the people accountable that are responsible,” Terry told the cast of the show.
In September 2012, The Department of Justice Inspector General released a report that cleared Eric Holder of any wrongdoing in the “Fast and Furious” scandal.
The report faulted 12 other DOJ employees who worked under Holder. Holder himself claimed not to recall knowing about the failed gun-walking operation even though internal emails referenced “Fast and Furious.” Holder claimed that the emails were referencing another operation.
Eric Holder claimed to be vindicated by the Inspector General’s report. Democrats then accused Republicans of using “Fast and Furious” as a witch hunt. Eric Holder has not released a statement on the release of the documents to Congress by the DOJ and is still a free man.
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on the history of the patriot movement and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss or at www.crumpy.com.