Political Quotes

“It is dated February 3, 2011, the day before the Justice Department sent their letter to me. The memo was passed up his chain in response to investigators on my staff talking to him about Operation Fast and Furious. He accurately described the problems with Fast and Furious. What he said was consistent with the claims I had already heard from other whistleblowers. Information such as this is why I was skeptical days later when the Department sent its February 4 letter to me, denying the allegations. In other words, I had proof they were lying to us. The agent wrote in the memo about being ordered by a Fast and Furious case agent to hold back in their surveillance, so that they did not ``burn the operation.'' While watching straw purchasers hand off weapons to traffickers-- violating the laws of this country but encouraged to do it by their own Justice Department--the case agent ``told all the agents to leave the immediate area.'' While a crime was being committed the agent said to the agents to leave the area immediately. The memo explicitly says: The transaction between the suspects took place and the vehicle that took possession of the firearms eventually left the area without agents following it. A crime is committed, U.S. agents there let them move on. After the phone call to my staff, the ATF agent's supervisor requested that he write this memo documenting what he had told my investigators. This passed up the chain all the way to the ATF leadership.…”