Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. is sticking to his guns, insisting “the upper levels of the Justice Department” were unaware of the flawed and controversial ATF gun program “Operation Fast and Furious.”
“The notion that somehow or other this reaches into the upper levels of the Justice Department is something that, at this point, I don’t think is supported by the facts,” Holder said at a press conference Wednesday, according to Politico. “We’ll certainly see, I think, at the end of [the Inspector General’s investigation] exactly who was involved, exactly who made the decisions.”
The controversial Fast and Furious operation encouraged Arizona gun dealers to sell to straw purchasers or middlemen, all with the hopes of tracing the weapons to the Mexican cartels. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Ia.) have been trying determine who in the Justice Department knew about the operation and gave the okay.
ATF lost track of some weapons that ended up surfacing at crime scenes.
Fox News reported that a spokesman for Issa said Holder’s comments were baseless “whining.”
“My hope would be that Congress will conduct an investigation that is factually based and not mired with politics,” Holder said regarding Issa’s investigation, according to Politico.
