Emails Show Senior Obama Officials Snagged in Fast and Furious Scandal

Eric Holder

Daily Caller - The heated Congressional investigation into the botched Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program Operation Fast and Furious reached a whole new level on Friday. New emails obtained by the Los Angeles Times appear to show senior Obama administration and White House officials were briefed on the gun-walking operation. The three White House officials implicated by the LA Times’ reporting are Kevin M. O’Reilly, the director of North American Affairs for the White House national security staff; Dan Restrepo, the president’s senior Latin American advisor; and Greg Gatjanis, a White House national security official. The emails were sent between July 2010 and February 2011, before the scandalous ATF program was exposed, according the LA Times.

Brian Terry

The LA Times says a senior administration official denies that the emails which lead Fast and Furious ATF agent Brian Newell sent to O’Reilly — who later briefed Restrepo and Gatjanis –included details on “investigative tactics” used in the program. By “investigative tactics,” the White House means how ATF agents facilitated the sale of firearms to drug cartels via “straw purchasers,” or people who could legally buy guns in the U.S. but did so with the intention of selling them to individuals who would traffic them to Mexico. Those emails apparently show Newell and O’Reilly discussing how the program was affecting Mexico. Another explosive new detail that emerged on Thursday was a set of documents showing senior officials in Phoenix attempting to cover up a connection between Fast and Furious weapons and U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s death.
 Read full story here: News New Mexico

Emails Show Senior Obama Officials Snagged in Fast and Furious Scandal