Allll riiiight! Now we're getting somewhere! CBS & WSJ reports Lanny Breuer signed off on Gunwalker wiretaps! "The makings of a political scandal."

Darth Breuer, the father of Gunwalker, strikes again!

Regular readers of this blog will recall that as long ago as 4 February, I accused Lanny Breuer of being a central figure in the Gunwalker cover-up.

In late March, Darren Gil stepped forward and implicated Breuer in the decision not to tell the Mexican government. At the time Kurt Hofmann wrote:

'Project Gunwalker' now definitively traced to near top of Justice Department.

Back in early February, before CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson led the way for the rest of the mainstream media to the "Project Gunwalker" scandal, National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea and the Sipsey Street Irregulars' Mike Vanderboegh were very nearly the public's only sources of information about this still-growing political bombshell. It was Mr. Vanderboegh, in fact, who on Feb. 4 strongly implied Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer's heavy involvement in the fiasco. In that post, Vanderboegh also revealed that the BATFE's (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) Mexico City attaché Darren Gil had vehemently objected to "walking" thousands of guns into Mexico, without the Mexican government's knowledge or agreement, and was overruled by Breuer. . ."

Now CBS' Sharyl Attkisson reports: DOJ's Breuer authorized wiretap in ATF Fast and Furious case.

Congressional investigators have just released documents in the so-called gunwalking scandal at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). This in advance of a Senate hearing in which Attorney General Eric Holder will testify.

One document indicates a Holder Asst. Attorney General, Lanny Breuer, authorized a wiretap in the controversial gun trafficking case headquartered in Phoenix. In that case, called "Fast and Furious," multiple sources say ATF allowed thousands of guns to hit the streets, destined for Mexican drug cartels.

Yesterday, at a House hearing, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) asked

Holder who authorized Fast and Furious. President Obama has previously said neither he nor Holder authorized the operation.

"What about the Asst. Attorney General of the Criminal Division, Lanny Breuer? Did he authorize it?" Issa asked Holder.

"I'm not sure," answered Holder.

Another newly-released document is an ATF Briefing Paper dated Jan. 8, 2010, just four months into Fast and Furious - which continued for over a year. It indicates that ATF knew early on that so-called "straw purchasers" who bought guns for personal use were illegally transferring them to third parties, and that some of the guns were already showing up in Mexico.

Critics say this counters claims of ATF and Dept. of Justice officials who have recently argued nobody was intentionally letting guns "walk," that there was simply no evidence to stop people who legally purchased guns.

The Briefing Paper says more gun purchases were to be allowed and "monitored."

The practice of law enforcement allowing guns to hit the streets is known as letting guns "walk." Critics say it's a dangerous practice that is virtually unprecedented in law enforcement because it's deemed too dangerous to ever be allowed, even for a larger goal.

The ATF Briefing Paper also states that Arizona US Attorney Burke was in "full agreement with the current investigative strategy."

In response to the controversy, Holder issued directives to US Attorneys in recent weeks making it clear that guns should never be allowed to "walk" even if intercepting them jeopardizes a bigger investigation.

The Wall Street Journal also reports that Breuer's knowledge of, and involvement in, the Gunwalker scandal went back to the beginning.

The Justice Department official who heads the criminal division signed off on wiretaps used in a gun trafficking investigation that is the subject of growing controversy over tactics that allowed guns bought in the U.S. to enter Mexico illegally.

The finding is from documents released Wednesday by Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. It’s the first document released so far that indicates high-level Justice Department involvement in the operation.

Mr. Issa has been investigating the Justice Department’s Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives’ conduct in the investigation, dubbed “Operation Fast and Furious,” which was run out of the U.S. Attorney’s and ATF’s Phoenix offices. The documents, however, do not indicate that anyone beyond local Phoenix ATF and Justice Department officials knew specifics about the tactics being used.

Republican lawmakers see the makings of a political scandal as they press Attorney General Eric Holder to explain why ATF agents in Phoenix lost track of guns they were supposed to be monitoring, letting the weapons pass into the hands of Mexican cartels and perhaps be used to kill U.S. officials.

One particular case has drawn scrutiny: a December shooting in Arizona that killed a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Authorities suspect traffickers or bandits operating near the border killed the agent. Weapons recovered near the scene were traced to a suspect who was already under investigation by the ATF, according to documents released by congressional investigators.

The ATF documents released by Mr. Issa include a January 2010 memo that details the operation, which centered on allowing straw purchasers to buy weapons, mostly variants of AK-47s rifles, in hopes of following the weapons to top Mexican cartel gun smugglers. The ATF memo says that Phoenix U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke and ATF Phoenix chief William Newell “both are in full agreement with the current investigative strategy.”

The March 2010 Justice Department wiretap approval came from Lanny Breuer, assistant attorney general who heads the criminal division. His office handles a large volume of such requests and the documents do not indicate whether Mr. Breuer was aware of the details of the ATF operation that are now the focus of controversy.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee and who is also investigating the ATF operation, is expected to question Mr. Holder about the operation at a hearing today.

Mr. Grassley on Wednesday released ATF documents that show that the targets of the Phoenix probe purchased 1,318 weapons after ATF agents began monitoring them, and a total of 1,725 in 2009 and 2010 before and during monitoring.

At a House hearing Tuesday, Mr. Holder said the Justice Department’s policy is to stop weapons from being trafficked to Mexico. “Under no circumstances should guns be allowed to be distributed in an uncontrolled manner,” he said, describing his instructions to ATF and other agencies under his charge.

In the aftermath of the controversy, James Cole, deputy attorney general, issued a directive saying: “We should not design or conduct undercover operations which include guns crossing the border,” according to a Justice Department memo circulated to agents March 10, 2011. That document was also released by Mr. Issa.