Fast and Furious update

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Remember the good ol' days when dissent was patriotic? And remember when the whistleblower made Time's person of the year back in 2012? Boy, those were the days but ancient history now, so try to preserve as best you can those gauzy memories as coming forward to expose the truth of a highly successful and deadly gun-running scheme isn't what could be considered a career-enhancing act.


From the Daily Caller:

House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa and Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley are asking the Department of Justice’s internal investigator to hold accountable anyone who retaliated against or threatened to retaliate against Operation Fast and Furious whistleblowers.

In a Friday letter to the DOJ’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz, Grassley and Issa said they’re now concerned retaliation is much more likely following Thursday’s votes to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in criminal and civil contempt of Congress.

“We just learned that ATF senior management placed two of the main whistleblowers who have testified before Congress about Fast and Furious under the supervision of someone who vowed to retaliate against them,” they wrote before describing how senior political figures have made dangerous threats before.

And who is this person in question?

Thomasson also allegedly said that: “All these whistleblowers have axes to grind. ATF needs to f—k these guys.”

According to Grassley and Issa, when Thomasson was asked about whistleblowers’ allegations that guns were allowed to walk, Thomasson said he “didn’t know and didn’t care.”

Grassley and Issa have given Horowitz until July 6 to answer whether Thomasson was “admonished” for those threats against whistleblowers, how he got his job in the first place and how the DOJ and ATF are going to make sure he doesn’t retaliate against whistleblowers moving forward.

For those of you in Placentia, California, to "f-k", in this context, can be roughly equated to "ruining one's career".

Issa and Grassley have given Horowitz until July 6 to answere whether or not Thomasson was admonished for the threats and, who the guy is and how in the hell did he get his job.


Issa and Grassley also released new documents that showed ATF's Washington headquarters issuing talking points regarding Fast and Furious two weeks before Grassley ever confronted the Justice Department or ATF.

Grassley didn’t confront the Justice Department or ATF with those questions until Jan. 27, 2011, but ATF headquarters had prepped internal talking points as early as Jan. 12, 2011.

In that Jan. 12, 2011, memo, ATF officials laid out expected questions about gunwalking in Fast and Furious and Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s murder with Fast and Furious weapons – and canned answers ATF officials were supposed to give to press or anyone else asking about it.

-“The death of Agent Terry in tragic and is a sad and dark day for all of law enforcement. We’ve lost one of our own. This is another example of the dangers faced by law enforcement every day across this country when pursuing these violent criminals.”

-“Agent Terry’s death is the exact reason why we must continue going after those who are determined to destroy the lives of so many innocent individuals in our communities by plying their illicit trade. For those who would say it is Mexico’s problem, I say Agent Terry’s death and all of those who have perished because of this violence prove that this challenge belongs to everyone.”

-“The investigation into the murder of Agent Terry is active and ongoing. ATF has pledged its support and resources to bring to justice the perpetrators who are guilty of that crime. I won’t say anything here today to jeopardize that investigation or the subsequent prosecution of those responsible for this terrible crime.”

- blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

(italics, ours)


Time will tell and hopefully we can get to the bottom of who exactly authorized Fast and Furious and what exactly was Holder's role in it and his subsequent actions after it was shut down but the falsely-generated memos, the re-assignments, the stonewalling, the heavily-redacted memos and now these whistle-blower threat allegations all suggest an organization with something to hide.

Yeah, there was a time when transparency was pretty damn patriotic, as well.