It's Been Over 7 Years And DOJ Is Still Stiffing The Terry Family

The family of slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry has been waiting over seven years for the Department of Justice to release documents related to his death. As this tweet by former Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) makes clear, they will have to keep waiting.

I met with AG Sessions to get the Fast & Furious documents. He said NO and decided to let it continue to play out in court. Frustrating and disappointing to say the least. @realDonaldTrump #FastAndFurious https://t.co/0rRaSAskC8

— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) March 3, 2018

That Attorney General Jeff Sessions continues to hide the role of the Department of Justice in the death of Agent Terry is unconscionable. It was what we expected from his predecessors. Frankly, for this and so many more reasons, it is time for Sessions to be sent home to Alabama.

The Terry family was promised back during the presidential campaign by Donald Trump he would get them justice.

#FastAndFurious @realDonaldTrump Sir it's been 7 yrs .my family ask you reopen Obama's gun scandal that cost my brother his life..I talk to you back on the campaign trail here in Michigan and you offered to reopen the books into this senseless scandal .thank you.God bless

— Kent terry (@terry_superman) March 3, 2018

They are still waiting.

If you would like to send a message to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, here is the link.

Tweet Of The Day

The tweet of the day comes from BearingArms.com editor Bob Owens. This was in response to a tweet by former Attorney General Eric Holder.

Brian Terry, murdered with guns Holder's DOJ provided to narco-terrorists, could not be reached for comment. https://t.co/iJGXcfR9zz

— Bob Owens (@bob_owens) October 10, 2016

You can see Holder's full tweet below:

Be afraid of any candidate who says he will order DOJ/FBI to act on his command This is dangerous/so is @realDonaldTrump-he's not qualified

— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) October 10, 2016

Lest we forget, Holder was found in Contempt of Congress for withholding documents (among other things) during the hearings into Operation Fast and Furious.

As to "acting on command", one must wonder what current Attorney General Loretta Lynch's marching orders were from President Obama that she passed on to FBI Director James Comey. Hmm?

She Approves Of Dead Mexicans, Gun Running, And Murdered Federal LEOs

Hillary Clinton is one of the most shameless politicians of this era or any era. If an endorsement or ad will get her just one more vote, she'll go for it. It doesn't matter if the person making the endorsement was the most partisan, the most contemptible, the most brutally corrupt Attorney General since the founding of this Republic. A man whose fingerprints were all over an operation to run guns to Mexican cartels so as to build support for gun control. A man who was found in Contempt of Congress. A man who said he supported voting rights but dismissed charges of outright voter intimidation against favored groups. A man who used the Department of Justice as a shakedown machine against corporate America.

Of course, I'm referring to former Attorney General Eric Holder.

Living in western North Carolina, 3/4's of our broadcast TV comes from the Upstate of South Carolina. I was watching Jeopardy! last night when the ad below came on with Holder's endorsement of Hillary. The two themes pushed were gun control and voting rights. These are themes that play well with black voters and Hillary needs to lock down the black vote to stave off Bernie Sanders.




Who cares if the endorser and his minions were responsible, directly or indirectly, for the murders of two Federal law enforcement officers, the deaths of a minimum of 300 Mexican nationals, and the arming of Mexican drug cartels through smuggled guns?

Hillary doesn't. All she cares about is getting one more vote.

Day Two Of Project Gunwalker At Lynch's Confirmation Hearings

The second day of the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Loretta Lynch featured nine witnesses who touched upon a number of things. There were the "Loretta was a great US Attorney and I felt fortunate to work with her comments" from attorney David Barlow and former FBI Assistant Director in Charge Janice Fedaryck. There was the "Loretta comes from a good Baptist family" testimony by Rev. Dr. Clarence Newsome. There was the testimony from law professor Stephen Legomsky that said he was "the" expert on immigration law and Obama's actions on making illegal aliens legal was OK with him.

Then there was what I consider the meat of the day:  the witnesses who described just bad the Department of Justice has gotten, how it has screwed people over, and how it has looked the other way at the abuses of power by the White House. Catherine Englebrecht of True the Vote described how the dogs of war were unleashed on her when she filed applications for non-profit status for two organizations. These "dogs of war" include the IRS, OSHA, the FBI, and BATFE. Sheriff David Clarke of Milwaukee discussed how the Department of Justice under Eric Holder was actively hostile to local law enforcement. He discussed how Holder and DOJ made the situation in Ferguson, Missouri worse by inserting itself where it had no business. Professor Nicholas Rosenkranz of Georgetown and the Cato Institute spoke about the role of the Attorney General in providing legal advice to the President and how Eric Holder has failed in this regard.

Then there was the testimony of Sharyl Attkisson and Professor Jonathan Turley. They were the bookends, so to speak, as they began and ended the testimony for the day. Leading off was Ms. Attkisson who described how she had been targeted by the Justice Department for her factually accurate reporting on
Operation Fast and Furious (among other things).

When I reported on factual contradictions in the administration’s accounts regarding Fast and Furious, pushback included a frenzied campaign with White House officials trying to chill the reporting by calling and emailing my superiors and colleagues, and using surrogate bloggers to advance false claims. One White House official got so mad, he angrily cussed me out.

The Justice Department used its authority over building security to handpick reporters allowed to attend a Fast and Furious briefing, refusing to clear me into the public Justice Department building.

Advocates had to file a lawsuit to obtain public information about Fast and Furious improperly withheld under executive privilege. Documents recently released show emails in which taxpayer paid White House and Justice Department press officials complained that I was “out of control,” and vowed to call my bosses to try to stop my reporting.

Let me emphasize that my reporting was factually indisputable. Government officials weren’t angry because I was doing my job poorly. They were panicked because I was doing my job well.

While the testimony of Ms. Attkisson was damning, I think the testimony of Prof. Jonathan Turley of George Washington University was even more damning of the Justice Department under Eric Holder. Turley admitted he voted for Obama and supported many of the Administration's policies. Turley is a DC insider. He appears on Sunday morning talk shows, he writes op-eds, he goes to the insider cocktail parties, and he rubs elbows with the powers that be.

Turley submitted a 26-page written testimony accusing the Justice Department of being the architect of the effort to expand the power of the presidency beyond what was Constitutional. He says that they actively attempt to block legislative authority and Congressional oversight. The most egregious example of this, in Turley's opinion, and the one that best captures the obstruction of Congress in recent years is Operation Fast and Furious. Turley devotes seven pages of his testimony to it.

However, the controversy that best captures the obstruction of Congress in recent years is the response of the Obama Administration in the Fast and Furious investigation. The reason that Fast and Furious is particularly illustrative is for a couple of salient factors. First, no one (not even General Holder) defends the Fast and Furious operation, which proved as lethal as it was moronic. It is a prototypical example of a program that is legitimately a focus of congressional oversight authority. A federal agency was responsible for facilitating the acquisition of powerful weapons by criminal gangs, including weapons later used to kill United States Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010. Congress has investigated not only the “gunwalking” operation, but also what it saw as concealment and obstruction, by the Administration, in its efforts to investigate the operation. Second, Congress had ample reason to expand its investigation after the Justice Department sent a letter on February 4, 2011 stating categorically that no gunwalking had taken place. It was not until December 2011 that Attorney General Holder informed Congress that it had been given false information and the letter was formally withdrawn. Congress responded by expanding the investigation into the false information given to it by the Executive Branch and the months of delay before Congress was informed of the misrepresentation of the facts underlying Fast and Furious. Finally, the position of the Justice Department on withholding documents has, in my view, been facially invalid and lacking in any credible good-faith interpretation of the executive privilege.

Turley goes on to say that one of the most troubling aspects of the Justice Department's behavior has been its refusal to prosecute the House of Representative's contempt citation against Eric Holder.

One of the most troubling aspects of the Fast and Furious investigation was not just the withholding of non-privileged material but the later refusal of the Justice Department to submit the alleged violation to a grand jury— despite a historic vote of the House of Representatives finding General Holder in contempt. The decision to block any prosecution was a violation of a long-standing agreement between the branches and represents a serious affront to the institutional authority of this body.

He goes on to attack the Obama Administration's circular reasoning cited for withholding requested documents saying "I have had criminal defense clients who would only envy such an ability to cite the basis for a criminal charge as the defense to a criminal charge."

I don't think any of the testimony given in day two of the hearings will derail Ms. Lynch's confirmation as the next Attorney General. I really have no doubt that she will be confirmed. I see this testimony as more an airing of grievances and an attempt to put the Administration on notice that a Republican-majority Senate - unlike the Democratic-majority Senate run by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) - is watching them.

Biggest Failures Of His Tenure?

Outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder named as the biggest failure of his tenure - the lack of more gun control. Moreover, it "weighs heavily" on his mind.

“I think the inability to pass reasonable gun safety laws after the Newtown massacre is something that weighs heavily on my mind,” Holder said during an interview aired on CNN.

I can think of things that should weigh heavier on his mind like 300 dead Mexican nationals and 2 Federal law enforcement officer. And as Katie Pavlich reports, Project Gunwalker AKs were still being found at Arizona crime scenes as late as 2013.

Holder goes on to say:

“And the thought that we could not translate that horror into reasonable — I mean, really reasonable gun safety measures that were supported by the vast majority of the American people is for me something that I take personally as a failure,” he said, “and something that I think we as a society should take as a failure, a glaring failure, that I hope will ultimately be rectified.”

While Holder may look upon this as a failure, those of us who believe that 20,000 existing gun control laws is more than enough (and less would be better) would look upon it as one of the few accomplishments of his reign at DOJ. If Holder really wants to look at failures, he should look at how his tenure at Justice has politicized that department far and above anything that could have been dreamed up by Nixon's Attorney General John Mitchell.

Off To The 2014 Gun Rights Policy Conference

I leave in a couple of hours for my flight to Chicago to attend the Gun Rights Policy Conference. It has been a momentous week leading up to the conference.

First, Atlantic County Prosecutor Jim McClain said he would be recommending pre-trial intervention for Shaneen Allen. This comes after the Attorney General John J. Hoffman "clarified" his directive to prosecutors regarding the prosecution of legally licensed visitors to the State of NJ who ran afoul of their onerous laws. And it formally happened yesterday as Ms. Allen stood before NJ Superior Court Judge Michael Donio "who formally put on record that she had been entered into PTI, and that all motions have been withdrawn and all pending court dates — including an Oct. 20 trial — suspended."

As for Ms. Allen herself, she had this to say:

“I have no words for how I feel,” Shaneen Allen said outside the courtroom. “I won’t be going to jail and can stay home with my kids and get back to my life.”

That includes finding work after losing her three jobs as a result of a felony charge hanging over her head.

Now, she wants to head to nursing school — a plan detoured after she was arrested and jailed for 46 days after she was stopped on the Atlantic City Expressway with her gun.

Frankly, I don't think this would have been the outcome if she hadn't been such a sympathetic figure AND if Ray Rice hadn't gotten a slap on the wrist after brutally knocking out his wife-to-be. It also goes to show that politicians can find ways to act correctly if the heat is high enough.

Second, Alan Gura chalks up another win for the Second Amendment with a case from Pennsylvania.  Binderup v. Holder involved a guy who lost his Second Amendment rights for sleeping with the wrong woman. Dan Binderup had pled guilty to a the misdemeanor crime of "corruption of a minor" which could have carried a five-year sentence. He got a fine and probation. However, under Federal law, you lose your Second Amendment rights if the crime could carry a penalty of more than a year. Dave Hardy give a good explanation of that here. It is a shame that Jefferson Schrader didn't live long enough to see this decision.

Finally, Eric Holder resigned as Attorney General of the United States. I was so busy with work yesterday I didn't know about this until the Complementary Spouse came home and told me. As the editorial headline from Investor's Business Daily said, "Holder's Exit Not Fast Or Furious Enough".

In a just world, Eric Holder would be headed to prison. As it is, he'll become just another Obama Administration alumnus getting his multi-million dollar payday from some business or law firm that wants an "in" with Obama.

More will be written about Holder's departure in the coming days but right now it is my own departure for Chicago that is more pressing.

UPDATE: After having my first flight cancelled at 8:45 this morning, going to the airport (5 minute drive) and waiting a half hour for a United ticket agent, getting rebooked out of Greenville-Spartanburg, driving to GSP, waiting 3 hours, and then having my second flight cancelled at 4:00 pm, attending this year's Gun Rights Policy Conference will be nothing more than a fond dream. It sucks but it also is a good lesson in the fragility of technology. Who would have thought one suicidal man could have wreaked so much havoc?

Comment Of The Day

The comment of the day comes from an editorial in Investor's Business Daily. The subject of the editorial was the supposedly lost emails from former IRS official Lois Lerner. She is the IRS official who "took the Fifth" before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee with regard to her actions against Tea Party groups. Lerner has also been charged with contempt of Congress but the prosecution of that charge would have to come from the Department of Justice run by Eric Holder.

With regard to Holder, the editorial had this to say:

As in Watergate, more than a few individuals warrant prosecution and incarceration. But that would have to come from Eric Holder's Justice Department, an organization shown to be as corrupt as the IRS.

Watergate's John Mitchell was the first attorney general to be convicted and imprisoned due to illegal activities. We suggest that he shouldn't be the last.

I quite agree. I can think of many reasons that Attorney General Eric Holder should be tried but first and foremost among them would have to be Operation Fast and Furious. Unlike Watergate, two Federal law enforcement officers and over 300 Mexican nationals have been murdered as a result of those guns walked by ATF agents. 

Fat Chance Of This Happening

According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation's Bullet Points for November 18th, a coalition of groups has requested that Attorney General Eric Holder apply the "'sporting purposes' exemption to the definition of armor piercing ammunition set forth in the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA)."

The letter accuses ATF of sitting on petitions from ammunition manufacturers for exemptions for ammo made from materials such as brass and copper. While these materials fail the composition test set forth by the Gun Control Act of 1968, the law does provide an exemption for products clearly intended for sporting purposes. Long range target shooting and hunting would both clearly be sporting purposes.

The letter from these groups (seen below) makes a good case for why such ammo should be granted an exemption. That said, I don't think there is a chance in hell of Eric Holder pushing ATF to act on these petitions. Not only is Holder anti-gun, he tries to portray himself as pro-cop which would cause him to rule out any ammo that could be considered "armor piercing". It is a sham but it is what it is.

AWCP HolderLetterRE Ammo by jpr9954

Not Just Walmart Should Be Called

Walmart was the largest of the retailers invited (or summoned as the case may be) to meet with Vice-President Joe Biden's "gun violence" (sic) task force. A number of other large firearms/sporting goods retailers were at the same meeting with Attorney General Eric Holder held on this past Thursday. It is my understanding that the National Shooting Sports Foundation had requested to be at the same meeting as they represent many independent gun shops but the request was refused.

They included:

Academy Sports and Outdoors

Bass Pro Shops

Big 5 Sporting Goods

Cabela's

Dick's Sporting Goods

Dunham's Sports

Gander Mountain

Sportsman's Warehouse

Wal-Mart

National Retail Federation

Sen. Chuck Schumer has announced he is contacting them to "voluntarily" stop selling semi-automatic rifles with bad cosmetics while Congress debates a new assault weapon (sic) ban. As Schumer notes:

“Since the Sandy Hook shooting, the sales of assault weapons are skyrocketing,” Schumer (D-N.Y.) told The News.

“We have no idea how many people [buying the guns] are mentally ill, or how many are felons,” he continued. “If Congress passes measures to reduce availability of these weapons, those efforts could be undermined by the purchase of thousands of weapons before then.”

Just like it has been suggested that we call Walmart and express our concerns lest they think it is in their best interest to screw gun owners, I'd suggest we call the rest of the retailers on this list. If Schumer can contact these companies, then there is no reason that we as consumers shouldn't as well. I have assembled contact information for all of these companies as well as other relevant information.

When you call be respectful and polite but be firm in your stance. You don't need to argue but merely state your case. Make sure the company knows that you'll refuse to do business with them in the future if they cave to pressure from the Obama Administration on guns. This is different than a corporate decision decides to stop selling a product due to the profit margins.

Academy Sports and Outdoors

Customer Service: 888-922-2336
Corporate Offices: 281-646-5200
Kevin Chapman is Sr. VP for Store Operations 

Academy's headquarters is located in Katy, TX. They were bought by buyout firm Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts in 2011. Academy has 131 stores in 11 states. They hold 145 FFLs.

Bass Pro Shops

Customer Service: 800-227-7776
Corporate Offices: 417-873-5000

Johnny Morris is the founder of Bass Pro Shops which is headquartered in Springfield, MO. I suggest contacting Larry Whiteley, Manager of Communications at 417-873-5022. His email is lwhiteley@basspro.com. He heads their public relations staff. Bass Pro Shops holds 53 FFLs.

Big 5 Sporting Goods

Customer Service: 800-898-2994
Corporate Offices: 310-536-0611

Big 5 is headquartered in El Segundo, California. Steven Miller is the CEO. Shane Starr is Sr. VP for Operations. Big 5 is a publicly traded company (BGFV) which trades on the NASDAQ Exchange. They have 413 stores in 12 western states. They hold 389 FFLs.

Cabelas

Customer Service: 800-237-4444
Corporate Offices: 308-254-5505

Cabelas is headquartered in Sidney, Nebraska. They have 40 destination stores in 23 states and 3 Canadian provinces. Thomas Millner, former CEO of Remington and the Freedom Group, has been CEO of Cabelas since 2009. Scott William is the Ex. VP and Chief Marketing Officer. Joe Arterburn is Corporate Communications Manager (308-255-1204) Cabelas is a publicly traded company (CAB) and trades on the NY Stock Exchange. They hold 31 FFLs.

Dick's Sporting Goods

Customer Service: 877-846-9997
Corporate Office: 724-273-3400

Dick's Sporting Goods is headquartered in Corapolis, PA. They are publicly traded on the NY Stock Exchange under the symbol DKS. Edward Stack is the CEO and Lauren Hobart is the Chief Marketing Officer and Sr. VP. Dicks has 511 stores in 44 states. They hold 470 FFLs.

On December 18th, Dick's caved to the perceived pressure after the Newtown shootings and "suspended" sales of all AR-15s in their stores. They also cancelled the pre-orders for the special AR-15 made just for them by Troy Defense. I would suggest calling the corporate offices and letting them know what you think of their corporate cowardice.

Dunham's Sports


Corporate Offices: 248-674-4975
Email Link

Dunham's is a sporting goods chain that is primarily in the Mid-West. They are headquartered in Waterford, Michigan and have 180 FFLs.

Gander Mountain

Customer Service: 888-542-6337
Corporate Offices: 651-325-4300

Gander Mountain is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota and has their customer service operation in Greenville, North Carolina. They have 113 stores in 23 states. They also own Overton's, Gander Mountain Acadmey, and 3 Forks Ranch. David Pratt is Chairman of the Board and Interim CEO while Steven Uline is the Ex. VP for Marketing. They hold 114 FFLs.

Sportsman's Warehouse

Customer Service: 800-286-3076
Corporate Offices: 801-567-1000 

Sportman's Warehouse is headquartered in Midvale, Utah. They operate 32 stores in 17 states. Karen Seaman is their Chief Marketing Officer. She can be reached at 801-566-6681 or by email at kseaman@sportsmanswarehouse.com. They have 32 FFLs. 

Sports Authority 

Customer Service:  800.360.8721
Corporate Offices:  303-200-5050

Sports Authority is headquartered in Englewood, Colorado. It has 465 stores in 45 states. The CEO is Darrell Webb who until recently ran Jo-Ann Stores. Greg Waters is the Ex. VP for Merchandising and supervises store operations. They have 169 FFLs which means only about one-third of their stores carry firearms.

Interesting Location Holder Chose To Speculate On Future

Attorney General Eric Holder spoke to law students today at the University of Baltimore Law School and revealed he isn't sure about staying on as Attorney General.

Of course, while I suppose it would be possible to replace him with someone worse, it would be tough. The blog of LegalTimes.com says some potential candidates would be Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and S. District of NY US Attorney Preet Brahara.

What I found most interesting is that Holder chose the University of Baltimore Law School to make these sentiments known given its dean is Ronald Weich. Weich, you may recall, was the smarmy representative of the Justice Department who appeared many times before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's hearings on Project Gunwalker.  I wonder if this was a sort of payback for Weich for taking so much heat and lying so artfully before the Committee.

I'm Sure They're Consistent, Mr. Attorney General

Attorney General Eric Holder released a statement today on the Office of Inspector General's report on Operation Fast and Furious. He said the key conclusions were "consistent" with what he had been saying "for months now".

Oh, Eric, you live in such a fantasy land if you think a report by your appointed Inspector General which was delayed for months and months is enough to get you off the hook. As Mike Vanderboegh so rightly called it, it is a whitewash. I think Katie Pavlich is probably correct that you are "spiking the football" and doing a victory dance.

Kenneth Melson has "retired", Phoenix ATF and USAO personnel are likely to be terminated, and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein was, as the Instapundit put it, "GoatScaped".

You can read the full statement below provided you don't have a weak gag reflex.

Attorney General Eric Holder released the following statement today on the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General’s report on Operation Fast and Furious:

“I have reviewed the Office of the Inspector General’s report on Operation Fast and Furious and the key conclusions are consistent with what I, and other Justice Department officials, have said for many months now:

• The inappropriate strategy and tactics employed were field-driven and date back to 2006;
• The leadership of the Department did not know about or authorize the use of the flawed strategy and tactics; and
• The Department’s leadership did not attempt to cover up information or mislead Congress about it.

“Beginning in 2011 - shortly after public concerns were first raised about Operation Fast and Furious – I referred this matter to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). Throughout the next several months, I instituted significant policy reforms, stronger internal controls and made key personnel changes to prevent the flaws that plagued this investigation, as well as the earlier investigation, Operation Wide Receiver, from recurring. I’m pleased that the OIG report appropriately recognizes these reforms.

“Based upon the information in the OIG report and other related information, I am also announcing additional personnel changes today.

“First, Kenneth Melson, the former Acting Director at ATF, has retired from the Department, effective immediately. Ken has served the Department in several important roles for over thirty years, including as a United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and more recently as an advisor on forensic science issues. I want to thank him for his dedication and service to the Department over the last three decades.

“Second, those individuals within ATF and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona, whom the OIG report found to have been responsible for designing, implementing or supervising Operation Fast and Furious have been referred to the appropriate entities for review and consideration of potential personnel actions. Consistent with the requirements of the Privacy Act, the Department is prohibited from revealing any additional information about these referrals at this time.

“Finally, I have accepted the resignation of Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jason Weinstein, a longtime career prosecutor who most recently served in the Criminal Division where he led our violent and organized crime, computer crimes and intellectual property enforcement efforts. Jason has dedicated much of his career to fighting violent crime and has led highly successful efforts around the country in this effort. The American people are safer because of his work. His commitment to the Department has been unwavering, and I deeply appreciate his 15 years of distinguished service here at Main Justice as well as in Baltimore and New York.

“It is unfortunate that some were so quick to make baseless accusations before they possessed the facts about these operations – accusations that turned out to be without foundation and that have caused a great deal of unnecessary harm and confusion. I hope today’s report acts as a reminder of the dangers of adopting as fact unsubstantiated conclusions before an investigation of the circumstances is completed.

“I want to assure the American people that I, and my colleagues at the Department, will continue to focus on our mission of protecting their rights and their security, and doing so in a manner that is consistent with the high standards of the Department of Justice. This includes continuing to seek justice on behalf of Agent Brian Terry and his loved ones.

“The FBI and the United States Attorney from the Southern District of California have been working for many months with Mexican authorities to identify and apprehend the fugitives involved in the murder of Agent Terry, who made the ultimate sacrifice in serving his country. We now have two men in custody and we will continue to aggressively pursue the remaining fugitives to ensure justice for Agent Terry, his family and his fellow law enforcement agents who put their lives on the line each day to keep this country safe.”

Issa Confirms Civil Lawsuit To Be Filed Against Eric Holder

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) confirmed last night by Twitter that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will be filing their civil lawsuit against Attorney General Eric Holder in US District Court today. The suit is being brought to force Holder to turn over the subpoenaed documents that he and the Justice Department have been withholding.

Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News first reported that the lawsuit was to be filed yesterday afternoon.

The contempt vote had two possible tracks for enforcement: criminal and civil. But shortly after the House vote, the Department of Justice announced it would not pursue a criminal case against its own Attorney General and did not believe any crime had been committed. The civil lawsuit expected to be filed Monday would ask a federal judge to order the Justice Department to turn over the documents.

Matt Boyle of The Daily Caller has more here.

Reporting Requirement For Semi-Auto Rifles Originally Intended For More States

The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released the first of three parts on its Final  Joint Report on Operation Fast and Furious yesterday. The report itself is 211 pages long while the three appendices comprise another 2,148 pages. To say it is detailed is an understatement.

It will take days before anyone can digest everything that is contained in the report and appendices. That said, a quick browse turned up a very interesting memorandum from then-Acting Director of ATF Kenneth Melson to Attorney General Eric Holder. (See Appendix III, page 173). The memo, received on March 26, 2010, was making the case to Holder for approval of a pilot project to use demand letters to Federal Firearms Licensees in certain states to force them to report multiple sales of semi-automatic rifles in a caliber greater than .22 and with the ability to accept detachable magazines.

This request was sent months before the Department of Justice Inspector General had released a report criticizing the effectiveness of ATF's Project Gunrunner. Among the recommendations of the OIG's reports was that reporting of multiple sales of long guns be explored. Melson concurred with this recommendation but said at the time "that this may require a change to the Gun Control Act which is beyond ATF's and the Department's authority."

As we now know, ATF did get permission to do their one year pilot program to require reporting of multiple sales of certain rifles. It went into effect on August 14, 2011 in the Southwest Border states of Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.

What makes Melson's letter particularly interesting is that he was requesting authority from the Attorney General to not only request demand letters in the four border states but an additional eight more. These eight additional states included Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Washington State. The rationale given is that these (and the Southwest Border states) were the top 12 source states for firearms recovered and traced in Mexico in FY2009.

I think it has been assumed that the impetus for the multi-rifle reporting requirement was the Office of Inspector General's report. As the Melson memo makes clear, ATF was pushing for this almost nine months earlier. Moreover, it was not limited to just states that bordered Mexico but major Mid-Western states such as Illinois and Southeastern states such as Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina. When you add in a state like Washington which is as far from Mexico as you could get, it doesn't take too much of an imagination to assume that the so-called pilot program was meant to be a predecessor to rolling this out nationwide even though the Gun Control Act of 1968 did not give ATF this authority. Perhaps this is what Obama meant when he said to Sarah Brady that they were working "under the radar" on gun control.

Bar Ethics Complaint Against Holder Makes Fox News

The formal ethics complaint filed with the DC Bar by Mike Vanderboegh and David Codrea got some airtime today on Fox News.



William LaJeunesse of Fox discussed the complaint with Brian Darling of the Heritage Foundation and Michael Frisch of Georgetown Law Center. Frisch was formerly senior assistant bar counsel to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. As might be expected, they differed in the seriousness of the ethics complaint and how it would be treated by the DC Bar.

Darling, who is a Senior Fellow for Government Studies at Heritage, thought the complaint was on solid ground. However, he didn't expect them to take it up until next year.

"It is clearly a reasonable basis for a complaint against Eric Holder to say 'you are in charge of the Justice Department, the Justice Department is refusing to produce documents that were subpoenaed by Congress and as a result you were held in contempt to Congress not once, but twice'," he said.

Frisch, who is an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown, didn't think the DC Bar would take the complaint seriously and would likely dismiss it.

"Because this particular complaint is written as if the attorney general had already been convicted of a crime, I think it will likely be rejected on its face," said Michael Frisch, former member of the D.C. Bar Counsel and current Georgetown Law School professor.

Frisch goes on to add that the DC Bar has the option of deferring any action until such time as a parallel proceeding such as a civil proceeding is completed.

Mike and David fired a shot across the bow and it was a brilliant strategic move. Whether it is squashed or not by the DC Bar is actually irrelevant because it has kept the issue of Holder and contempt alive in the mainstream media.

Ethics Complaint Filed Against Holder With The DC Bar

In the next stage of taking the fight for justice to the belly of the beast, David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh have filed a formal ethics complaint with the Office of Bar Counsel, Board on Professional Responsibility of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

From their press release:

3 July 2012

An ethics complaint against U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has been filed by David Codrea and Mike Vanderboegh with the Office of Bar Counsel, Board on Professional Responsibility of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. Codrea and Vanderboegh are the two bloggers who first broke the news of the Fast and Furious scandal in December 2010.

Said Vanderboegh, Eric Holder believes that he will escape serious consequences of the congressional investigations of the Fast and Furious scandal simply by running out the clock on his tenure. We intend this ethics complaint to place him on notice that his lies and malfeasances will follow him until justice is done."

 The letter accompanying their ethics complaint can be found here.

More power to David and Mike. I'd love to see the look on the face of the person who opened that complaint!

FoxNews Sunday On Fast And Furious

In a web-only roundtable discussion, Chris Wallace discusses the contempt citation for Attorney General Eric Holder with Brit Hume of Fox, Liz Marlantes of the Christian Science Monitor, Shannon Bream of Fox, and Charles Lane of the Washington Post.

Brit Hume says of Holder that "he is damaged goods" but that Obama won't ditch him before the election. Prior to saying this, Hume goes over some of the characteristics that most Attorneys General share including being above the fray, being respected by members of both parties, and being seen as non-political as much as they can be. He says that Holder doesn't share these characteristics.

Liz Marlantes of the Christian Science Monitor buys into the Fortune Magazine story. As such, I dismissed everything else she had to say.

Shannon Bream isn't much better but did make a somewhat insightful comment when she said that for those just learning of Operation Fast and Furious, this will seem political and a witch hunt. To which, Chris Wallace brought up the near mainstream media blackout on the scandal until Obama invoked executive privilege. He is correct. With the exception of CBS's Sharyl Attkisson and Fox's William LaJeunesse, the mainstream media ignored the story.

Finally, Charles Lane doesn't think the contempt citation will leave a lasting taint on Holder. I think he'll be found wrong on this.

Delusional

Former Speaker and current House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is delusional. In this clip from today's Meet the Press, she insists to David Gregory that the Republican leadership brought the contempt charges for Attorney General Eric Holder merely as payback. The payback is for what she calls "voter suppression" (sic) or what the rest of us call requiring voters to present identification showing that they are who they say they are.

No mention is made of the deaths of Federal law enforcement agents Brian Terry or Jaime Zapata nor is any mention made of the deaths of an estimated 300 Mexican nationals.

As I said in the headline, delusional.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Well, This Is A Shock...Not

The Department of Justice announced today that they will not prosecute Attorney General Eric Holder. I know that is a shock to everyone that they won't prosecute their own boss. I guess they have forgotten that they took an oath not to Eric Holder and not to Barack Obama but to the Constitution.

Sorry Heath, This Doesn't Cut It

Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC) is usually a reliable vote on Second Amendment issues and is one of the leaders of the Blue Dog Democrats. He decided not to run for re-election earlier this year. His Chief of Staff, Hayden Rogers, is the Democratic nominee for the seat and was endorsed in the primary by the NRA-PVF. Rogers will face the winner of the Republican run-off primary.

Yesterday, Shuler was one of the 67 no votes on H. Res. 711 which is the contempt citation for Attorney General Eric Holder. He released this to press explaining his vote.

“Today the House of Representatives proved once again that dysfunction and partisanship rule the day. The vote to hold Attorney General Holder in Contempt of Congress after the Department of Justice released the requested information demonstrates that Congress has lost touch. While I strongly believe that the Department of Justice should fully cooperate with Congress to ensure transparency in the “Fast and Furious” operation, this motion lacks an enforcement mechanism to make it anything more than politically motivated. Further, I am disappointed that though an agreement could have been reached, the Majority has opted to use this vote as a fundraising mechanism to rally the base. It is no wonder I have opted to retire.”

I'm sorry but I have to raise the BS flag on this. The Department of Justice did NOT release the requested information prior to the vote. The DOJ has given the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approximately 7,600 documents out of an estimated 140,000 (or even larger 250,000 documents according to some sources). If Mr. Shuler considers this releasing the requested information, he is sorely mistaken.

If there is a problem with the enforcement mechanism, it is only because a) the US Attorney for the District of Columbia is a Democrat and b) the Republican leadership does not want to use their inherent contempt power to arrest Holder.

As to his impending retirement, with four years in the NFL and six in Congress, we should all be so lucky to get the retirement checks he'll be getting for 10 years of work.

So, Heath, this BS Flag is for you!

Grassley On Contempt Vote

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) had this to say about the House finding Attorney General Eric Holder in Contempt of Congress.

The House of Representatives today voted to enforce a subpoena to obtain records on Operation Fast and Furious by holding the U.S. attorney general in contempt of Congress. Sen. Chuck Grassley began investigating the circumstances of the death of border patrol agent Brian Terry 18 months ago after whistleblowers came to him with concerns. Grassley made the following comment on the House action.

“When a person dies in service to his country, and his own government may have contributed to his death, covered up evidence about the circumstances, or both, the survivors’ families and the American people have a right to know the truth. That was the case with Pat Tillman, and it’s the case with Brian Terry. The government should own up to any policies and practices that led to the harm of Mexican citizens as well. Those who don’t seem to want the truth or accountability default to accusations of political motivation against those seeking answers. Remember, the Justice Department insisted there was no gun-walking, then retracted that statement and reversed itself. The Justice Department is proven unreliable on this topic. The only way to try to get an accurate, complete account of what happened to Agent Terry and why is to obtain every possible record and account of the facts. We can only draw fair, informed conclusions from the complete facts. The fulfillment of the House’s pursuit of complete records from the Justice Department is necessary. Without it, we might never know what happened to Agent Terry. That can’t stand.”