ticklethewire.com
The plot thickens.
Acting ATF Director Ken Melson has agreed to talk to Senate investigators about Operation Fast and Furious, the ATF program that encouraged gun dealers to sell to straw purchasers so federal agents could trace them to the Mexican cartels , according to The Daily Beast and Newsweek.
The website reported that the development was a “potentially important breakthrough” for Congress, which has been trying to figure out who in the Obama administration gave the okay for the disastrous program. He is expected to provide testimony next months.
Newsweek and the The Daily Beast testimony reported that the deal to get Melson to testify was part of a deal brokered between Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and the committee’s top Republican, Iowa’s Charles Grassley.
The website reported that the deal involved giving fellow Republicans full access to ATF documents, Melson, and other key witnesses. In return, Grassley agreed to release three Obama administration nominees — Jim Cole for deputy attorney general, Lisa Monaco for assistant attorney general for national security and Virginia Seitz as head of legal counsel, Newsweek and The Daily Beast reported.
OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST
- Jurors Like Blagojevich But Didn’t Believe Him (AP)
- New York Times Reporter Seeks to Avoid Testifying in CIA Trial (Courthouse News Service)
- NJ Transit is increasing security on trains, buses (Newark Star Ledger)
- Supreme Court Term in Review; It’s a Mixed Bag (Wired)
- Judge Partially Blocks Controversial Georgia Immigration Law (Wall Street Journal)
- Deputy Killed When Patrol Car Collides With Pickup (Police One)
