The House Oversight Committee slammed former President Barack Obama and former Attorney General Eric Holder for lying to the family of a Border Patrol agent killed in Operation Fast and Furious.
At a public hearing on Wednesday, members of the congressional committee accused the Obama administration, and Holder in particular, of covering up the investigation into the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, who was killed in 2010 as a result of the failed government gun-running project, Fox News reported.
The committee released a nearly 300-page report that it said revealed the “full depth of DOJ’s obstructionist tactics.”
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The report provided damning evidence concluding that Holder’s Justice Department tried to hide information and lied to Terry’s family about the government plan to arm Mexicans, and the guns that subsequently were used to kill the agent.
Fast and Furious hearing rips Holder, DOJ for deception in gun-running scandal | Fox News https://t.co/byofHdIrfJ
— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) June 7, 2017
Committee chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz blasted the Obama administration’s stonewalling.
.@jasoninthehouse: This is the 7th year in search of the facts of the reckless gun trafficking operation leaving agent Brian Terry murdered.
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) June 7, 2017
“[Terry’s death] happened on Dec. 14, 2010, and we still don’t have all the answers,” the Utah Republican said. “Brian Terry’s family should not have to wait six years for answers.”
Chairman Opener – Fast and Furious, Six Years Later https://t.co/6LRdMxb1sg
— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) June 7, 2017
Fox News’ William La Jeunesse reported:
Terry died in a gunfight between Border Patrol agents and members of a six-man cartel “rip crew,” which regularly patrolled the desert along the U.S.-Mexico border looking for drug dealers to rob. The cartel member suspected of slaying the Border Patrol agent, Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, was apprehended in April of this year by a joint U.S.-Mexico law enforcement task force.
Terry’s death exposed Operation Fast and Furious, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) operation in which the federal government allowed criminals to buy guns in Phoenix-area shops with the intention of tracking them as they were transported into Mexico. But the agency lost track of more than 1,400 of the 2,000 guns they allowed smugglers to buy. Two of those guns were found at the scene of Terry’s killing.
The committee’s report stated that Terry’s family “still wonders about key details” of the scandal-ridden project. “The Justice Department’s obstruction of Congress’s investigation contributed to the Terry family’s inability to find answers.”
Testifying before the committee on Wednesday, Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa accused the DOJ and ATF of obstructing the investigation and attempting to silence ATF agents who tried to warn the Senate about Fast and Furious.
“The Department of Justice and ATF had no intention of looking for honest answers and being transparent,” Grassley said. “In fact, from the onset, bureaucrats employed shameless delay tactics to obstruct the investigation.”
The report claimed the Obama administration tried to hinder the investigation by discrediting whistleblowers like ATF agent John Dodson, who testified that he was “lied about, disparaged, publicly attacked, ridiculed, libeled” as well as being denied promotions and transferred 11 times.
“That decision, the single act of standing up and saying, ‘What we are doing is wrong’… instantly took my standing from being that of an agent of the government – to an enemy of the state,” Dodson told the committee. “ATF and DOJ officials implemented an all-out campaign to silence and discredit me… Suffice to say, the last six to seven years at ATF have not been the best for me or my career.”
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The report concluded that the Justice Department knew that the ATF was “walking” guns to Mexico even before Terry’s death and knew that Fast and Furious guns were the cause of the agent’s death as soon one day after it happened.
Brian Terry’s family deserves justice and his death should not be in vain. https://t.co/1bb7Ll6scb @GOPoversight https://t.co/COy8UDbGhs
— Rep. Mark Walker (@RepMarkWalker) June 7, 2017
.@jasoninthehouse: This is a travesty of justice.
— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) June 7, 2017
The report also stated that an internal investigation by the Justice Department seemed intent on spinning the story to avoid negative press coverage. No DOJ or ATF officials were ever fired or disciplined for the cover-up.
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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