Today, CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson was on the Laura Ingraham show to discuss new documents that show Attorney General Eric Holder was briefed about Operation Fast and Furious as early as July 2010, which contradict Holder’s Congressional testimony on May 3 when he said, "I'm not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks."
Attkisson revealed that she had been yelled and screamed at by the Justice Department and White House spokesmen for asking about what Holder knew and when he knew it.
1:31 - In between the yelling that I received from Justice Department yesterday, the spokeswoman--who would not put anything in writing, I was asking for her explanation so there would be clarity and no confusion later over what had been said, she wouldn't put anything in writing--so we talked on the phone and she said things such as the question Holder answered was different than the one he asked. But he phrased it, he said very explicitly, 'I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.'
6:05 - Laura: So they were literally screaming at you?
Attkisson: Yes. Well the DOJ woman was just yelling at me. The guy from the White House on Friday night literally screamed at me and cussed at me. [Laura: Who was the person? Who was the person at Justice screaming?] Eric Schultz. Oh, the person screaming was [DOJ spokeswoman] Tracy Schmaler, she was yelling not screaming. And the person who screamed at me was Eric Schultz at the White House."
7:33 - Laura: Do we know the exact number [of guns] that went over to Mexico?
Attkisson: We know more than 2,000 in Fast and Furious and I will soon be reporting on the fact that that is not the only case. 2,000 for that operation according to the agents involved.
8:28 - ...It is sort of a drip, drip. And I'm certainly not the one to make the case for DOJ and White House about what I'm doing wrong. They will tell you that I'm the only reporter--as they told me--that is not reasonable. They say the Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, the New York Times is reasonable, I'm the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I'm unfair and biased by pursuing it.
How has the Obama Justice decided to handle reporters inquiring about this lethal operation? They have denied access to, lied and yelled at reporters.
For weeks, Townhall has been inquiring about Fast and Furious and the Obama DOJ has ignored multiple phone calls and multiple document requests. Not only is DOJ restricting access to information about the program to the House Oversight Committee, but to the press and the American people as well.
Considering the Washington Post has aided in smearing law abiding gun shops, accusing them of trafficking guns to Mexico when they were really helping ATF carry out gunrunning operations, it is no surprise the Obama Administration thinks the newspaper is reasonable. I reported about this in the June issue of Townhall Magazine.
One of those gun shops was Carter’s Country in Houston, Texas. In a Dec. 15, 2010, report, several weeks before the ATF’s scandalous behavior in Operation Fast and Furious was exposed, the Washington Post smeared the business by implying it had engaged in criminal activity and was responsible for drug-gang-related deaths in Mexico, saying Carter’s Country was an illegal source of guns for cartel members. The bogus Post report began:
“No other state has produced more guns seized by police in the brutal Mexican drug wars than Texas. In the Lone Star State, no other city has more guns linked to Mexican crime scenes than Houston. And in the Texas oil town, no single independent dealer stands out more for selling guns traced from south of the border than Bill Carter.
“Carter, 76, has operated four Carter’s Country stores in the Houston metropolitan area over the past half-century. In the past two years, more than 115 guns from his stores have been seized by the police and military in Mexico.”
Was the ATF forthcoming in the Post report? Not exactly. Not only did they not tell the reporters about their purposeful sale of guns to cartel straw men and their orders that agents allow the guns to flow into Mexico, they were quick to blame gun dealers for the south-of-the-border gun problem.
Turns out, Carter's Country was simply doing what they were told by the United States Federal Government and the attorney for Carter's Country has said gunrunning operations carried out by the Obama Administration through the use of law abiding gun shop owners has resulted in one of the worst examples of government abuse of a citizen that he has ever seen in his legal career.
National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre agrees:
“What’s indefensible is all the time they’re letting U.S. gun dealers take the rap in the Washington Post and the American media, and they’re making it look like these dealers are committing criminal violations and are not on the up and up, when in fact the dealers were ordered to make these sales by the U.S. government,” LaPierre told Townhall in May 2011.
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