A prelude for what was to come?
Tonight, September 30, 2012, at 7pm, Univision News Investigative Unit reveals their findings after investigating Fast and Furious, which are being called a "bombshell." The report will be aired with closed captioning in English
Fast and Furious was a program of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, overseen by Attorney General Eric Holder’s DOJ. It sent thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels via straw purchasers — people who purchased guns in the United States with the known intention of illegally trafficking them somewhere else.
Via The Daily Caller:
Spanish-language television network Univision plans to air a television special that it said reveals more violence than previously known, as well as the stories of how many more Operation Fast and Furious victims were killed, the network announced in a Friday release.Read the rest at The Daily Caller.
“The consequences of the controversial ‘Fast and Furious’ undercover operation put in place by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in 2009 have been deadlier than what has been made public to date,” the network said. “The exclusive, in-depth investigation by Univision News’ award-winning Investigative Unit — Univision Investiga — has found that the guns that crossed the border as part of Operation Fast and Furious caused dozens of deaths inside Mexico.”
Among other groups of Fast and Furious victim stories Univision says it will tell in the special to air Sunday evening at 7 p.m., is one about how “16 young people attending a party in a residential area of Ciudad Juárez in January of 2010″ were gunned down with weapons the Obama administration gave to drug cartel criminals through Fast and Furious.
“Univision News’ Investigative Unit was also able to identify additional guns that escaped the control of ATF agents and were used in different types of crimes throughout Mexico,” the network added. “Furthermore, some of these guns — none of which were reported by congressional investigators — were put in the hands of drug traffickers in Honduras, Puerto Rico, and Colombia. A person familiar with the recent congressional hearings called Univision’s findings ‘the holy grail’ that Congress had been searching for.”
CBS News' Sharyl Attkisson, who broke the the scandal open wide, aggressively investigated and reported on Fast and Furious, to the point where she said White House officials screamed and cussed at her because she would not stop, now has further information.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, have pressed, unsuccessfully, for an interview with Kevin O'Reilly for a year. O'Reilly also declined to speak to the Department of Justice Inspector General (IG) who investigated Fast and Furious. Last week, the IG issued a scathing report that criticized many officials at ATF, the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney's office and said O'Reilly had declined to be interviewed.
O'Reilly, then a White House National Security staffer, had phone and email exchanges about Fast and Furious from July 2010 to Feb. 2011 with the lead ATF official on the case: ATF Special Agent in Charge Bill Newell. Just days after Newell testified to Congress on July 26, 2011 that he'd shared information with O'Reilly, whom he described as a long time friend, O'Reilly was transferred to Iraq and not available for questioning. Thereafter, he declined interviews with congressional investigators and the IG.
In a letter sent to O'Reilly's attorney Thursday, Issa and Grassley state that O'Reilly's "sudden transfer" to Iraq took him out of pocket in their investigation, and placed him in a position that had already been given to somebody else, raising "serious questions about O'Reilly's assignment in Baghdad (and) the motivation for his transfer there."
ABC News has a video preview of tonight's report.
