Iowa Senator Charles Grassley has officially called for the resignation of Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny Breuer on the floor of the Senate for his role in Operation Fast and Furious and for knowingly submitting false information to Congress. Grassley, who has been investigating Operation Fast and Furious in partnership with the House Oversight Committee for 11 months now, said it is well past time for some accountability and that Breuer showed a complete lack of judgment by failing to object to gun walking when he knew about it.
“The Justice Department had publically denied to Congress that ATF would ever walk guns. Yet the head of the Criminal Division, Mr. Breuer knew otherwise and said nothing,” Grassley said.
Remember, Breuer knowingly submitted false information to Congress in a letter to Grassley in February 2011, saying he did not know about gun walking tactics being used prior to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010. During testimony on Capitol Hill a few weeks ago, Breuer admitted he knew about gun walking tactics being used as early as April 2010, but failed to notify Attorney General Eric Holder.
A DOJ document dump last Friday show Lanny Breuer was heavily involved in the drafting of a letter that was sent to Sen. Charles Grassley, despite previously denying under oath that he had seen the letter before it was submitted to Congress.
“Saving face was more important than the bad policy,” Grassley said.
Grassley went on to explain that the Terry family and Americans who sympathize with their loss as a result of Fast and Furious, are outraged that their own government would deliberately put thousands of guns into the hands of ruthless criminals.
“It’s astounding that it took the public controversy of Fast and Furious to help the chief of the criminal division realize that walking guns in unacceptable,” Grassley said.
“This is the final straw, Mr. Breuer has lost my confidence and his ability to affectively serve the Department of Justice,” Grassley said, adding that Attorney General Eric Holder should remove Breuer and that if Breuer wanted to do the honorable thing, he would resign; anything less would show the American people that the Justice Department isn’t serious about getting to the bottom of this.
Next step? Prosecution.
Meanwhile, senior ranking officials within the Department of Homeland Security, ATF, Department of Justice and even Barack Obama himself, continue to deny knowledge about gun walking tactics used in Fast and Furious.
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