From The Hill:
A series of emails written in October 2010 between Jason Weinstein, the deputy assistant attorney general of DOJ’s criminal division, and James Trusty, the acting chief of the DOJ’s organized crime and gang section, reveals a fluid knowledge of the operation.
“It’s not going to be any big surprise that a bunch of US guns are being used in MX [Mexico], so I’m not sure how much grief we get for ‘guns walking,’ ” wrote Trusty to Weinstein. “It may be more like, ‘Finally, they’re going after people who sent guns down there … ‘ ”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, launched the first congressional investigation into the operation at the beginning of the year.
In a February letter to Holder inquiring about allegations over the operation that had been brought to his attention from whistleblowers, Grassley referenced a letter the DOJ had sent him earlier that month refuting any assertions that it had let guns “walk.”
“The Department [of Justice] categorically denied that the ATF ‘knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser … ‘ The Department said the ATF makes ‘every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation into Mexico,’ ” the letter reads.
President Obama has denied knowing about the operation until it was made public by news organizations. Holder has ordered the DOJ’s inspector general to investigate the matter, and in August the acting head of the ATF stepped down.
Read the whole thing here.
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