Fast and Furious docs still REDACTED after all these years
Today, I received several pages of documents related to the Fast and Furious scandal where the Obama Administration secretly facilitated the delivery of assault rifles and other weapons to Mexican drug cartels.
Attkisson's Fast and Furious story links
I requested the documents under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) back in 2013. This response took almost six years, even though-- under FOI law-- it was due in 30 days.
Obviously, the way the federal government complies with FOI law (or, more accurately, fails to comply), it becomes impossible for journalists to receive publicly-owned documents to use in relevant news stories.
The pages returned to me today are not enlightening. Some of them are emails from Fall of 2010 referring to a planned meeting in Mexico that included officials from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The bulk of the editorial content in the emails is blacked out. The reason given for many of the redactions is the so-called (b)(5) exemption. It says the government can withhold "inter-agency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency."
The 2010 meeting in Mexico would have occurred as Fast and Furious and other "gunwalking" operations secretly conducted by the federal government were reaching a peak. In December of that year, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered by illegal immigrant cartel members in Arizona who had obtained guns from the U.S. government's Fast and Furious operation.
Federal officials initially denied and attempted to cover up the government's role in the weapons transfers. A sitting ATF agent, John Dodson, blew the whistle on the secret operation in a story with me for CBS News in early 2011.
Attorney General Eric Holder testified to Congress that he didn't know about the controversial program when it was underway. However, documents ultimately showed that he had received regular briefings on Fast and Furious. When those documents were made public, Holder said he hadn't read the briefings.
Although the White House denied knowledge of the cross-border gun operation, emails showed that several White House officials had discussed it. When reporters and Congress pursued more information, President Obama declared executive privilege to keep additional Fast and Furious documents from being released.
It's hard to imagine what could be considered so secret all these years after the operation was exposed. The FOI documents are copied below so that you can review them for yourself.
I commend you and your effort!
Until recently I believed things like this could really make a difference...but it would currently take a lifetime of investigations, indictments, trials and guilty verdicts to change our current trajectory as a country.
I’ve followed the corruption of our political system and country closely for some years now, and have come to the sad understanding that the war has already been lost to the apathy and ignorance most Americans suffer from, and we just don’t yet realize it...
When I visit your site, Norton is saying that it has blocked "Web Attack: Fake Tech Support Domains 2" and "Fake Browser Update ".
Has happened on two separate visits tonight.
Deep State under Barack and all previous presidents is disgraceful. Trump needs them fired. What they put you through and many others is evil. I am so tired of the lies.
Best regards,
Cathy
Could the influx of illegal immigrants be the cartel's retaliation for revealing and shutting down, or game playing with the Obama Administration? Saying don't mess with us again? Just wondering.
Though I'm grateful for the documents you've shared and ones you so awaited, I'm on a fixed income and can't donate at this time. I however wanted to relay my appreciation. Have a beautiful day in God's Blessing.
Please Explain: The law states "30 days" for FOI requests, but this took six years. How do "the people" go about holding SOMEONE to account. Lawlessness has become rampant, an must be corrected if America is to survive. Step by step procedure, please.
AND THERE WILL BE A LOT MORE FROM OBAMA'S 8 YEARS COMEING OUT OVER THE NEXT 10 YR . AND IN THE END .IT WILL SAY . WHILE IN OFFICE OBAMA SERVED HIM SELF AND NOT THE AMERICAN PUBLIC .HE AND THE DNC SOLD AMERICA OUT THE BACK DOOR. AS WELL THE DNC IT SELF . THIIS IS WHY IT SEAMS LIKE THERE ARE OTHER GROPS ARE RUNNING THIS NATION . BECASE IT IS . THE NEW OWNERS . OBAMA WILL BE SEEN AS THE WORSE PRESADENT IN AMERICA HISTORY .RIGHT NOW HE IS KEEPING LID ON HIS ACTIONS .BUT THAT WONT LAST LONG .WHENTRUMP GETS A NOTHER 4 YEARS . AND THE DNC KNOWS IT .THAT IS WHY THE ALL OUT PUSH TO GET HIM OUT OF OFFICE AND TO MAKE SURE HE DOES NOT GET THAT NEXT 4 YR .THEY KNOW MANY WILL BE IN PRISON AT THE END OF THAT 4
Not worth the wait, except I'll bet Sharyl can accurately "guess" who's names are redacted. How do they get away with this "obstruction"?
Sharyl ,
Thank you for everything you do! It cannot be easy working with / fighting the Federal Government. I know I use to work for them - ironically ATF in Phoenix and at the time Fast & Furious took place. Disgusting. Lots of cover-up. Take care.
RIP Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry
Thanks for your diligence, Ms Attkisson!
I wonder why Trump is allowing the DOJ to keep Obama's secrets?
The Terry family should sue the DOJ and CBP for his death and then they will have a RIGHT to see these correspondences in un-redacted form.
My stinking suspicion on this based on the timing, the foot dragging, and some other insights from the case: This was an attempt by some lackeys at ATF, who started the investigation, to help support gun control measures. Mexico was playing along in speeches citing how guns "coming across the border" were being used by Cartels. Some desk-jockey moron for ATF figured "hey, why don't we supply them so we can track them and prove this is happening" but didn't consider that by doing so would be arming criminals who would be killing people. Or maybe they did consider it and just didn't care. I suspect the latter because they made it into a multi-agency case, probably in order to hide who was really behind it.
Thanks for all your hard work on this story. I find it especially troubling that the ATF official in charge of the operation was communicating with a White House official who has never been interviewed under oath. In fact, he was sent out of the country to prevent that from happening. What was the real goal of the operation? Was it to "prove" that the US civilian gun market was the source of crime guns in Mexico? These are reasonable questions that have yet to be answered.
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Fast and Furious is an American-German action and crime thriller
released in 2001, directed by Rob Cohen.
It is the first version of the series of fast and furious movies.
The film stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster
and Rick Yoon. [3] In 2003, a second part was shown entitled Too Fast And Very Angry.