October 7, 2011 12:40 PM

Deputy AG received detailed Fast and Furious briefing

By
Sharyl Attkisson
Topics
News

(Credit: CBS)
Documents recently turned over by the Justice Department to Congressional investigators indicate that then-Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler received a detailed briefing on Fast and Furious more than a year and a half ago.

"Deputy Attorney General" is the Justice Department's No. 2 figure, directly under Attorney General Eric Holder.

Grindler moved from Deputy Attorney General to a spot as Holder's chief of staff last January.

The briefing Grindler attended was on March 12, 2010, six months into ATF's Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed thousands of weapons on the street in an attempt to track down Mexican drug cartels. Portions of the documents are redacted.

In handwritten notes about Fast and Furious that are not all legible, Grindler writes about "seizures in Mexico" and "links to cartel." He also noted "seizures in Mexico" on a map of Phoenix, the home base for Fast and Furious, and Mexico locations where some guns ended up.  And Grindler made notations on a photograph of several dozen rifles.

There is no specific mention of the controversial tactic known as "letting guns walk" which, law enforcement sources say, was the heart of the Fast and Furious case.

Late today, a spokesman for the Justice Department told CBS News that "Much like presentations given in 2010 on the status of ATF's investigative efforts along the SW Border to many others - including a briefing to Chairman Issa within the same timeframe - this one did not get into the operational tactics that have since raised concerns... Indeed, as both the former U.S. Attorney in Arizona and the former Acting Director of ATF (who provided this briefing) have made clear, they did not themselves know the operational details and did not brief Justice officials on them."

Yesterday, the President stated he has full confidence in Holder and reiterated that neither he nor Holder knew of the controversial tactics being used in Fast and Furious. Holder has asked the Inspector General to investigate.

As we reported on the Early Show, a CBS News Investigation has uncovered allegations of "gunwalking" in ten cities and five states, some of them dating back as far as 2006, under Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.


  • Sharyl Attkisson

    Sharyl Attkisson is a CBS News investigative correspondent based in Washington. All of her stories, videos and blogs are available here.

Add a Comment See all 12 Comments
by rshawk October 8, 2011 6:18 PM EDT
There has only been a trickle of selected, redacted, information controlled by the DOJ. What could be so awful as to put this much effort into sanitizing the truth and making sure everybody is on the same page? When I heard about this 7 mos. ago ( I knew about it before Holder ), it sounded like a statistical science experiment. We have etrace up and going so let's dump some guns and see where they flow. What is the time to crime scene data. Now let's use paid informants to direct the flow. This is "fun", you see on this computer model we have actually created a market and flow in sector 7. We can actually pull up a video of the purchase. Cool, huh? And since we have live video and the cooperation of the FFL we can easily bypass the purchase requirements. Morally, ethically, and Legally? The DOJ says we're covered legally and that's the most important thing. Ethically? You have to look at it this way. "The cartels are going to get their guns", so we're really not doing anything wrong and we are "righteous" in our efforts. Control the flow, create the flow, direct the flow. Statistics can be used effectively in many ways. When the crime scene and fatality data come in it can simply be explained as a small error in " risk assessment". You see, "risk assessment" is a much gentler term than fatalities or even collateral damage and we have statistics to back that up.
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by djaymick October 8, 2011 2:35 PM EDT
If people from both Administrations let this happen, then they all can share a cell together.
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by scottsdale101 October 8, 2011 1:53 PM EDT
" Sharyl Attkisson is a CBS News investigative correspondent based in Washington". This is a true statement. Very,very few working in msm are investigative correspondents today. Thanks for doing the job that the rest of media refuses to do.
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by puhiawa October 8, 2011 1:52 PM EDT
The idea that no one higher up knew the operational parameters of a program designed to supply 2,000 or so weapons to drug cartels, hitmen, gangbangers, and such is absurd. Think of the buidget this entailed.
As far as the blame Bush argument, let us first start with the ATF and DOJ. Get the employees responsible. If Gonsalves is implicated as you say, he should be subpoenaed post haste. There are only two explanations for this insane program(s). It is either the most negligent ever by a fixated, power drunk agency, or it has the ulterior purpose of having been morphed into a vehicle to suppress American gun ownership in view of the Heller decision.
As a matter of law, the criminal charges are identical.
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by grannysunni October 8, 2011 1:50 PM EDT
Thanks for another great report! Weapons were bought with stimulus money. Who signed off on the money? The lower level peons would have not that kind of authority. Holder can deny any knowledge but the fact is that he allowed this to happen on his watch. Hundreds of Mexicans have died, Americans have died and Holder should be charged with at the minimum criminal stupidity, but also with accessory to murder. Those involved in Watergate went to jail for far lesser of a crime.
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by paul_1149 October 8, 2011 12:32 PM EDT
Way to go, Sharyl. This is the way it should be done. Your compatriots are about 10 miles behind you, and it's doubtful they're even pointed in the right direction. God bless.
Reply to this comment
by ihavemydoubts October 8, 2011 10:16 AM EDT
Thanks again Sharyl Attkisson for being the ONLY source on this, the ONLY investigative reporter in the entire U.S. and that may be the saddest fact revealed here. We all accept media bias as an unavoidable fact of life but when that bias blinds journalists to such a shocking story of murder and treason committed by the U.S. "Justice" Department that bias is out of control and beyond all reason.
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by Dedicated_Dad October 7, 2011 9:43 PM EDT
Don't start "being reasonable" (ie: minimizing their crimes) with these scumbags now, Cheryl!

What happened under Bush/Gonzales was a SINCERE attempt to track guns with locator beacons and aircraft, which failed. WHEN it failed, the whole idea was abandoned!

That's not even CLOSE to the crimes under the current regime, where THOUSANDS of guns were DELIBERATELY allowed to go to (and in some cases BOUGHT WITH TAXPAYER MONEY AND GIVEN DIRECTLY TO!) SMUGGLERS!

Not.
Even.
CLOSE!

THIS WAS TREASON!

These people conspired to cause the deaths of THOUSANDS of Mexicans, in order to "justify" further infringing the rights of Americans - rights which The Constitution says "...SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED(PERIOD!)!!"

All involved should HANG!
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by jillmonterey October 7, 2011 9:20 PM EDT
Good ol' Friday night document dump, the few memos with "Operation Fast and Furious" written on them containing no description of tactics.
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by issuesdude October 7, 2011 3:43 PM EDT
Don't let this go. There is no way a Deputy AG would NOT brief the AG. No way. Holder knew about this. Keep digging, Sharyl Attkisson, don't stop.
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