Okay, it was a long painful session to watch the House Judicial Committee get testimony on various questions and topics today from Eric Holder, the top lawyer in the land at the Department of Justice.

A couple of things were quite striking with regard to Holder’s responses. If you are so inclined to put yourself through such torture, then you can watch it here as long as C-Span keeps the video posted. However, if you choose not to watch, then I will provide some highlights for you most of which in Holder’s opening statement he said all cases that come through the DoJ are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Heh, well my first thought on that was how come more people are not in prison then, like Jon Corzine, Jamie Dimon or any of those found guilty of being co-conspirators of the Holyland Foundation Trial?

 

Here are some key items of which I took note.

1. Holder said that defending all statues are the job of his agency and the White House unless the DoJ determines there is no Constitutional basis for the law. (Oh, so HE decides first eh?)

2. The Attorney General and the White House has discretion on law enforcement as they are measured against values. (Remember that item in his opening statement and just exactly whose values?)

3. When it comes to the Foreign Intelligence Services Act/NSA or the FISC, all rulings and cases are based on ‘reasonable’ suspicion requests. (Who determines reasonable with this DoJ?)

4. When asked the question on whether James Clapper lied in testimony on whether the ODNI/NSA spies on common American citizens, and he replied ‘not wittingly’ then later said it is the least wrong answer he could give, admitting his testimony was false, Holder was asked if he would prosecute anyone if they lied before Congress, his reply was yes but an investigation is required and he would have to look at the materials and take appropriate action. Well, Clapper admitted the lie on so now what Holder?

5. Now, how about those banks that Holder is giving a pass to for money laundering when it comes to pot sales in Colorado and Washington State? Well, Holder replied that due to the large amounts of money in jeopardy, the rules were changed by Holder my a signed memo.

6. The NSA spying is compliant with the Fourth Amendment but does need modifications.

7. Ah, when it comes to the White House delaying the employer mandate or any other changes to obamacare, Holder was in receipt of a letter dated last year as the legal basis for this and he has yet to respond. He added that the DoJ does not disclosure legal advise to the White House, (yeah sure dude) and it was the legal team at the Treasury Department that approved the White House on the delays and alterations of obamacare. Holder did also say again that the White House has a duty to follow the law depending on the law/statute so Treasury looked at it and approved the delay and dynamic decisions.

8. Holder was asked about who trumps who, Federal law versus State law. He responded with when he is suspicious of State law he will challenge the State law. Remember there is a law from 1953, separate but equal, and he will find a Constitutional basis to challenge State law. (That is right, he has done that so the Tenth Amendment be damned.)

9. Now to the IRS, he refused to comment on any question regarding the IRS. He was asked by Congressman Issa, what departments within the DoJ are investigating the IRS, he said ‘criminal, Treasury and Civil Rights’. Well how come not Public Integrity which would be the primary department to investigate the IRS, he refused to answer.

10. There were two other interesting exchanges and they included Congressman Louis Gohmert with regard to the Holyland Foundation Trial documents which Congress has issued a subpoena in 2010 and has yet to receive, but the document were in fact provided to the lawyers of the terrorists. (wow, just wow), the exchange went further when Gohmert also made reference to Fast and Furious and that being in contempt did not matter to Holder. Well, see that part here for yourself. (Don’t miss it). The other interesting exchange included Trey Gowdy. This one rocked because Gowdy once again challenged Holder on what laws are to be followed and enforced. Here it is that you again need to see for yourself. Gowdy said that Holder did not have discretion and Holder clearly thinks otherwise.

The best moment in my opinion was Congressman Blake Farenthold was to question Holder, he refused to do it and merely said that Holder does not belong in this hearing as he is in contempt of Congress….  gotta agree with that for sure.

In the end, Holder continued with his bravado, refused to answer questions and cited lack of resources to respond and perform in a timely fashion when his agency has 120,000 plus employees. His memos trump law….and yes it seems so, as that is the very way his agency and the rest have been operating….and so it goes.

3.

Well who is B. Todd Jones anyway and why does he matter? Well he is now the Director of Alcohol. Tobacco and Firearms and he replaced Kenneth Melson after the ATF gun-walking scandal. Jones is a PC progressive lawyer and has not taken any measures to understand how rogue the ATF has become. There was Operation White Pistol, Operation Fast and Furious and then there was Operation Fearless which operated in several states.

Once again today, hearing rooms in Congress were busy today, one filled with B. Todd Jones and the House Oversight Committee drilling Jones on this operation.

This case included armed felons, mentally challenged people, stolen goods and school safe zone violations. At least the aggressive questions were bipartisan.

 

 

Read on and try to keep your jaw from dropping.

Congressional members slam ATF director in hearing on gun stings

http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/atf-director-to-testify-face-questions-on-botched-stings-b99237201z1-253538291.html#ixzz2xnDfENRs

Washington, D.C. — In his first appearance before Congress as ATF  director, B. Todd Jones faced blistering bipartisan questioning Wednesday about  mistakes and failures in undercover storefront operations in Milwaukee and  across the nation.

Republicans and Democrats alike ticked off myriad problems in the operations:  letting armed felons leave the storefronts, locating operations near schools and  other safe zones; an agent having his guns stolen; paying such high prices for  guns that firearms came straight from stores; and buying stolen goods, including  police officers’ guns.

Members of the Committee on House Oversight and Government Reform hammered  Jones the hardest on the agency’s  use of people with mental disabilities to promote the operations and then  arresting them, something that occurred in Milwaukee; Wichita, Kan.;  Portland, Ore.; Pensacola, Fla.; and Albuquerque, N.M.

Those problems were all revealed in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation that began with an  examination of a troubled storefront sting in Milwaukee’s Riverwest  neighborhood. The ongoing reporting has prompted an internal ATF review, an  investigation  by the U.S. Justice Department’s inspector general and on Wednesday the  second of two congressional hearings.

Jones told the committee that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms  and Explosives does not “target people with developmental disabilities,” adding  that agents didn’t know the people had mental disabilities.

Congressional members were skeptical.

“You don’t think that your agents, dealing with a man with an IQ in the 50s,  knew he was mentally disabled?” asked U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).

U.S. Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (R-Mich.), a former teacher who taught children  with disabilities, said people with low IQs are easy to spot.

“Anyone with any life experience can ask simple questions,” he said. “I was  surrounded by these kids. They are some of the best, nicest people who try their  best and just want to please. I am appalled you would use these individuals like  this and arrest them later.”

Said Jones: “Hindsight is 20/20.”

At the hearing, Jones acknowledged it was a mistake for ATF agents to pay two  teens in Oregon — one with an intellectual disability — to get tattoos depicting  Squids smoking joints.

Jones said several times that the mental capacity of the low IQ individuals  did not surface until raised by defense attorneys in court, saying they were  part of the argument for lighter sentences. However, in several cases  evaluations were done and IQ tests administered, according to court records. And  federal prosecutors agreed that the individuals had diminished capacity.

The director also said his agency has not implemented training for agents on  how to identify such people, more than a year after a Journal Sentinel  investigation revealed a Milwaukee  man with an IQ of 54 was hired by ATF to promote the store and then was  charged. He was paid in cigarettes, merchandise and cash.

U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-New Mexico) said such training has been  used by other law enforcement agencies for a decade.

“I am flabbergasted they are not available to you, that you are not utilizing  them,” she said.

Director admits flaws

In nearly three hours of testimony, Jones admitted deep problems in  the stings, especially Milwaukee’s Operation Fearless, but added the storefront  technique, if done properly, has value.

He said new procedures — drafted in the wake of Operation Fearless — will  prevent such problems from recurring. The agency has refused to release any  documents related to any new policies or to describe all the reforms that were  put in place.

Jones added no such storefront operations are underway.

“We have hit the pause button on storefronts so we can get them right. Now,  if we can’t do them right, we won’t do them,” Jones said. “Unless there is an  intelligence purpose for it — other than to generate numbers — we aren’t doing  them.”

Echoing ATF news conferences to tout numbers when various storefront  operations closed, Jones then ticked off the number of guns seized and people  arrested in the half-dozen flawed operations.

Committee Chairman U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said such numbers fail  to distinguish if the guns were purchased by ATF agents shortly after they were  bought at stores, and they don’t detail the kinds of individuals arrested.

“This was about pumping up the number of weapons and the number of arrests,”  Issa said after the hearing.

Issa and other members of Congress has been demanding documents for more than  a year on the Milwaukee sting. Last month, Issa  issued a subpoena for those and from stings in other cities. The deadline  was Monday, but Issa said the documents have not been received.

In the hearing, Jones said he was not briefed on Operation Fearless — though  the agency has said the case was briefed at headquarters several times.

“It did not migrate up the food chain,” Jones said.

Stories prompted changes

The Milwaukee operation was included in the Monitored Case Program, one of  the reforms made following the ATF’s highly criticized “Operation Fast and  Furious,” where agents allowed thousands of guns to flow into Mexico, with some  ending up at murder scenes, including that of a slain U.S. border guard.

Jones said changes have been made to the Monitored Case Program as a result  of the Milwaukee operation.

Jones did not reveal whether anyone has been disciplined as a result of  Operation Fearless or any of the other flawed operations.

U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) questioned why Jones put  two key supervisors responsible for Operation Fearless — Bernard “B.J.” Zapor  and Fred Milanowski — in top positions in the Phoenix Field Division.

“Here we have the Phoenix office, probably the highest profile on the heels  of Fast and Furious, and yet this same person was in charge of an office that  executed Operation Fearless,” Chaffetz said. “Where is the accountability?”

Jones defended the decision.

“The movements were made for very good reasons based on their record of  performance. That is not to excuse the mistakes made in Operation Fearless,”  Jones said.

Jones was pressed on how much the storefront operations cost. He did not  provide numbers on Wednesday, frustrating several members asking him about  it.

“What we need to find out is how much was spent on these 37 storefronts,”  said U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) “We need better accountability.”

Speier also asked if the storefront operations generated crime and if agents  were overpaying for guns.

Jones said prices paid for guns were in line with the black market prices.  The Journal Sentinel investigation found agents knowingly bought guns that were  coming straight from stores, including one in Milwaukee where agents paid $2,000  for a rifle purchased from Gander Mountain for $700 the same day. Records show  agents immediately traced the gun as coming from the store.

Jones said generating crime is always a concern with such storefront  operations, adding agents count on local law enforcement to tell them if it is  happening. In Pensacola, the Journal Sentinel found, agents were openly buying  stolen goods, leading to increased burglaries in the area.

In Atlanta, agents bought guns that were stolen from Atlanta police  officers,and never told the local police department about other stolen  guns they had bought, resulting in local police searching for weapons that the  ATF already had, the Journal Sentinel found.

Under questioning by U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, (R-Ga.), Jones could not say if  the stolen police guns were ever returned.

“Did you look over this case before you came here today?” Collins asked. “Are  you aware that the Atlanta Police Department expended considerable resources,  interviewing witnesses in an attempt to recover the weapons because the ATF  agents did not report the guns as recovered? Why didn’t the ATF return the guns  to the Atlanta Police Department?”

Jones did not have an answer. He also didn’t know if his agency had a policy  to notify other law enforcement agencies if agents buy a stolen police gun.

“I may be stepping out of bounds to say for certain we do, but I would be  surprised if we did not have a policy,” Jones said.

As the hearing wrapped up, committee members wanted additional answers and  requested another hearing with Jones. No date was disclosed.

“We just can’t let this happen again,” said U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold  (R-Texas) of the many problems.

 

Contempt, Oversight hearing, more contempt. The original story of Fast and Furious has been litigated and yet there is no solution or consequence, when in fact another operation has since occurred named Operation Fearless. At the core of these two operations is the Department of Justice, ATF and hired operatives.

Darrell Issa: Reprimand of ‘Fast and Furious’ official justifies Eric Holder contempt lawsuit

House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa believes new disciplinary action against a government operative in the “Fast and Furious” gun running scandal reinforces a Congressional contempt charge against Attorney General Eric Holder.

Issa, R-Calif., said former Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke “undoubtedly deserved” the reprimand he received from the Arizona State Bar for leaking information to the press about the gun-running operation. Issa said it also justifies the GOP-led lawsuit against Holder for information relating to the matter.

“Dennis Burke’s disciplinary agreement with the Arizona State Bar makes clear his belief that Eric Holder’s Justice Department was more interested in politically protecting itself than giving Congress full information about what happened in Operation Fast and Furious,” Issa said on Monday.

Burke was reprimanded last week by the Arizona Bar for leaking classified Fast and Furious documents to two media outlets.

Republican lawmakers are entangled with Holder in a court case stemming from a June 2012 House vote to hold him in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents and emails related to the gun-trafficking case.

Both sides are preparing to present arguments before a federal judge, who will then issue a judgement in the case. So far, the judge has rejected efforts by the Justice Department to dismiss the House lawsuit.

“These documents will shed light on the nature of the Department’s false denials of improper conduct and its response to Congress, including misconduct of which Dennis Burke was aware, that Attorney General Holder refused to discuss with Congress,” Issa said.

The Fast and Furious operation was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to try to trace gun sales to Mexican drug cartels. The program, which was based out of Phoenix between 2009 and 2011, when Burke headed the Attorney General’s office there, ended up allowing more than 1,400 guns to be smuggled over the Mexican border and one of them was used to kill a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

Burke told the Arizona Bar and congressional investigators in an earlier interview that he leaked the Justice Department information to the media to provide more transparency about the matter.

But Issa said Monday he believes Burke gave out the information to reveal who inside the government had originally blown the whistle on the deeply flawed operation.

“His actions to selectively leak a single document supporting a misleading narrative, though a common tactic in the Obama administration, was a cowardly and self-serving action intended to smear a whistleblower,” Issa said.

 

 

Now we move on to Operation Fearless

The Committee first became aware of Operation Fearless, a storefront operation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from media reports in January 2013.  These reports made clear that Operation Fearless was fundamentally mismanaged, evidenced by the fact that nearly $40,000 in merchandise and three guns were stolen from ATF agents during the operation, including a fully-automatic rifle.  After months of delay, ATF officials finally briefed congressional staff on April 15, 2013, representing that such storefront operations were limited to the single instance in Milwaukee.  Subsequent media reports, however, revealed that the ATF used these same storefront stings across the country. In one case, the ATF exploited a mentally disabled man to work at the storefront. In another, the ATF had a mentally disabled man tattoo a squid smoking a joint on his neck.

The Committee’s Subpoena Requires ATF to Provide Documents Including:

·         Communications relating to Operation Fearless Distributing and the Monitored Case Program at ATF.

·         Operational plans and relevant Reports of Investigation for undercover storefront operations conducted around the country.

·         Documents relating to authorization for ATF agents to sell weapons during these operations.

·         ATF policies for conducting undercover storefront operations.

·         Relevant Reports of Investigation, for undercover storefront operations conducted between January 1, 2010 and March 19, 2014, in any of the following cities:

o   Milwaukee, Wisconsin

o   Portland, Oregon

o   Wichita, Kansas

o   Albuquerque, New Mexico

o   Pensacola, Florida

o   Atlanta, Georgia

_________________________________________

Some things concocted by government and then approved are not only disgusting but deadly.