Fast and Furious Re-opened?

[cowboy8055]

Looks like previously withheld documents have been ordered to be released as per court order.

http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepa...claim-n1873165

[IIFFOFRDB]

Thanks Cowboy!


BREAKING: Judge Orders DOJ to Release Fast and Furious Documents Withheld From Congress Under Obama Executive Privilege Claim
Katie Pavlich | Jul 31, 2014


Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act Lawsuit pursued against the Department of Justice by government watchdog Judicial Watch, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has ruled documents being withheld from Congress under President Obama's claim of executive privilege must be turned over. Obama made the claim on the same day Attorney General Eric Holder was voted in criminal and civil contempt of Congress in June 2012.

"This order forces the Obama DOJ, for the first time, to provide a detailed listing of all documents that it has withheld from Congress and the American people for years about the deadly Fast and Furious gun running scandal," Judicial Watch released in a statement.

The FOIA lawsuit has been ongoing for 16-months and is now proceeding after a lengthy delay. The Justice Department originally asked the court for an indefinite hold on a FOIA request from Judicial Watch, citing executive privilege and an ongoing investigation. That indefinite hold request was shot down more than a year ago.

The documentation DOJ is required to now turn over is a "Vaughn index" of "all requested Fast and Furious materials from a June 2012 Judicial Watch FOIA request."

A Vaughn index must: (1) identify each document withheld; (2) state the statutory exemption claimed; and (3) explain how disclosure would damage the interests protected by the claimed exemption." In ordering the DOJ to provide Judicial Watch the Vaughn index, the Court ruled, “In this circuit, when an agency is withholding documents under exemption claims, courts require that the agency provide a Vaughn index so that the FOIA requester – at a distinct informational disadvantage – may test the agency’s claims.”



“Once again, Judicial Watch has beat Congress to the punch in getting key information about another Obama scandal – this time, the Fast and Furious outrage,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “A federal court has ordered the Obama administration to produce information that could, for the first time, provide specific details who in the administration is responsible for Fast and Furious lies to Congress and the American people. This is a battle that put Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, saw Nixonian assertions of executive privilege by Barack Obama, and a hapless Congress in face of all this lawlessness. Finally, we may get some accountability for Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and the countless others murdered as a result of the insanely reckless Obama administration program.”

This is a huge step forward.

[Guest123018-4]

It will be interesting to see if the DOJ compies with the order.

[IIFFOFRDB]

It gets better...

http://sharylattkisson.com/brian-ter...d-from-mexico/


Brian Terry Murder Suspect Extradited From Mexico

by sattkisson on July 31, 2014

Just a coincidence that on the day it’s announced that a federal court has ordered the Justice Department to initiate the process of turning over withheld Fast and Furious documents, the Justice Department announces another defendant in Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder has been extradited to face charges.

According to a Justice Department news release, Ivan Soto-Barraza was extradited to the U.S. from Mexico today to face first degree murder charges in Terry’s December 14, 2010 shooting near Nogales, Arizona just north of the Mexico border.

Of six defendants charged so far, two have pleaded guilty and two are awaiting trial, says the news release.

Soto-Barraza will be arraigned in federal court in Tucson, Arizona tomorrow. Besides Terry’s murder, the defendants are charged with assaulting Border Patrol Agents William Castano, Gabriel Fragoza and Timothy Keller, who were on site with Terry when the gunfight broke out. The Border Patrol agents were targeting so-called RIP crews, illegal immigrants who prey on other illegal immigrants crossing into the U.S.

Lionel Portillo-Meza was captured in Mexico in September of 2012 and extradited to the U.S. on June 17 of this year. Soto-Barraza was captured in Mexico in September 2012. Two fugitives are still on the loose: Jesus Rosario Favela-Astorga and Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes. A fifth defendant, Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, pleaded guilty last February and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. A sixth defendant, who was in custody at the time of Terry’s murder, plead guilty to other crimes related to illegal border activity.

Fast and Furious was the name of a controversial case in which federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms allowed thousands of assault rifles and other weapons to be trafficked to violent drug cartels in Mexico. The Department of Justice initially denied any so-called “gunwalking” had occurred. However, the coverup unraveled after ATF Special Agent John Dodson spoke out against the strategy in an interview with me in February of 2011.

Documents subsequently revealed that officials as high up as Attorney General Eric Holder had been sent briefings on the case, and Justice Department officials communicated with White House officials about it. However, Holder and the White House say they were unaware that the cross-border gun operation was employing the controversial gunwalking strategy.

An Inspector General report in 2012 faulted numerous officials under the Justice Department for mismanagement and other transgressions in the case.

In June of 2012, Congress held Holder in contempt for refusing to turn over subpoenaed documents. President Obama declared executive privilege to withhold documents in the case from Congress. Freedom of Information requests filed by outside groups and journalists, including me, have not been answered.

[cowboy8055]

I just hope the Fast and Furious documents have been printed out or copied to disc.
You know how it goes with those pesky hard drives.