"Gunwalker Bill" speaks to the press, a little, with forked tongue. Insipid defense of Gunwalker emerges. US Atty's blame ATF. CYA time in AZ.

"Gunwalker Bill" Newell. The Mexicans consider him an international criminal who waged acts of war on the Mexican people. He says it was all the fault of weak gun laws.

Robert Anglen, who has taken over responsibility for the Gunwalker Scandal stories at the Arizona Republic from Dennis Wagner, writes "Questions of blame remain in ATF gun-trafficking investigation."

But the fate of Burke and other Justice officials may hinge on questions of law and how much they knew about the operation.

It's unclear, for example:

- Whether officials could have stopped the sales of guns to suspected straw buyers. Critics have blasted the program because agents sometimes encouraged dealers to keep selling, but Justice officials say Arizona and federal laws didn't allow them to block such sales.

- Whether ATF agents would have had probable cause to arrest straw buyers before guns moved south. A Justice official and testimony from ATF agents conflict as to whether agents were authorized to make such arrests.

- Whether the ATF told prosecutors everything it knew about where the weapons went. An official for Burke's office said it was assured guns wouldn't cross the border.

The Justice Department itself has not stepped forth in explicit defense of Burke's office, saying the ATF operation is now under investigation. There's no indication so far that Burke, Holder or other officials are on the verge of losing their jobs.

Right. Well, the week is still young.

Patrick "It ain't me babe" Cunningham, head of the Phoenix Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney's office. He says it is all "Gunwalker Bill's" fault.

Enter Patrick Cunningham as the public face of the Phoenix U.S. Attorney's office cover-up of Gunwalker. According to a 30 November 2009 story in the Yuma Sun, Cunningham, a native Arizonan from Kingman, "has extensive experience in the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. He served as chief counsel of several divisions, including the Criminal Division, the Environmental Enforcement Section and the Civil Rights Litigation Section." The story continues:

Prior to joining the Attorney General’s Office, Cunningham was an assistant U.S. attorney from 1986 to 1991. Previously, he was a prosecutor, defense counsel and an appellate attorney from 1980 to 1986 in the U.S. Army JAG Corps in Europe and Washington, D.C.

Most recently, he has served since 2003 as the deputy director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. In his position at ADEQ, Cunningham acted as the chief of staff to the director, supervised the daily operations of the agency and attended to selected enforcement cases and policy issues including legislative affairs and rulemaking.

He also co-chaired the Governor's Smart Growth Scorecard Committee and worked on climate change issues for Arizona in the Western Climate Initiative.

Cunningham is expected to assume his duties in January. Until then, Joseph Lodge will serve as the acting criminal chief. Lodge is the branch chief of the Flagstaff office.

“We are very excited in having Pat join this office. He is an outstanding attorney and one of the most accomplished prosecutors in Arizona,” said Dennis K. Burke, U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona. “He possesses the prosecution and management skills and experience to take this office to the next level in one of the most active federal districts in the country.”

So, it seems Cunningham, like his boss Dennis Burke, is an acolyte of former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano. He also took his position in January 2010, so almost the entire Phoenix portion of the Gunwalker Scandal crossed his desk. But Cunningham tells the Republic, "It ain't me, babe":

Patrick Cunningham, chief of the criminal division for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Phoenix, who supervised Fast and Furious prosecutions, denied that his office knowingly allowed guns to cross the border.

Cunningham said agents with the ATF, who took the lead in day-to-day operations, repeatedly assured his staff that guns were not being allowed to go to Mexico, which is referred to as walking guns across the border.

"(ATF agents) were telling us point blank" that they were not allowing guns to get that far, he said.

Moreover, Cunningham said, his office gave agents a green light to seize guns every time they requested permission, save one, where it was determined by agents and prosecutors that agents lacked probable cause.

Cunningham laid out the legal hurdles federal agents had to overcome in order to seize guns. For instance, none of the gun sales was illegal when they were made, even when someone would come in day after day and buy dozens of weapons.

In Arizona, nearly anyone can walk into a gun store and buy as many rifles as he wants without having to report it to the federal government. Buyers must pass a federal background check and sign a form declaring they are purchasing the guns on their own, not for someone else.

The decision to sell dozens of rifles to the same customer day after day is up to gun dealers.

Under Arizona and federal law, it is also legal for buyers to transfer the weapons to another individual within the state.

Cunningham said guns can be seized only if the purchaser is a known felon or if the agents had evidence the gun was involved in a crime or that it would be used in a future crime.

Agents built their cases for gun trafficking using wiretaps, informants and surveillance.

In February, the Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office and the Phoenix ATF announced that more than 20 people had been indicted and that agents had seized hundreds of weapons as part of Operation Fast and Furious.

None of those arrested was a significant cartel figure. But the charges, some involving conspiracy, drugs and smuggling, were far more severe than those for the typical straw buyer.

"We think the indictment of 20 people is a very successful indictment and the case is still ongoing," Cunningham said.

He said that the death of Agent Terry was tragic but that he could not discuss the case.

Spare me. Of course that contradicts everything the ATF agents testified to on 15 June.

Cunningham's depiction of the operation contrasts vividly with the one painted by congressional members leading the inquiry into Fast and Furious.

In a report last month, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who chairs the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and ranking Senate Judiciary Committee member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, blasted the Justice Department. They said the operation yielded only low-level prosecutions and put countless people at risk.

In a statement Friday, Issa singled out Burke's office.

"As the U.S. attorney, Dennis Burke has a responsibility for decisions that have created an ongoing public-safety hazard, endangered the criminal prosecutions of firearms traffickers, and been linked to deaths on both sides of the border," he said.

"While he wasn't the most senior Justice Department official who knew about Fast and Furious, it certainly wouldn't have continued had he objected."

Issa and Grassley pointed to e-mails and other records that indicate high-level Justice Department officials, including ATF Director Ken Melson, were aware that the guns were crossing the border. The lawmakers questioned ATF claims that agents didn't knowingly allow guns into Mexico.

Three Phoenix ATF agents testified in Issa's committee last month that they were ordered by supervisors to encourage gun-store owners to make sales and allow straw purchasers to move the weapons without interdiction.

Agents say they repeatedly warned supervisors that the guns were being used in crimes in Mexico and spoke of their fear that they would sooner or later be used against American citizens.

Their story is bolstered by some Arizona gun-store owners.

Cunningham is laying out his offices' tepid defense of what they did in Gunwalker, blaming it all on the ATF. Unfortunately for him, further hearings will demonstrate what an incompetent liar he is. But the most interesting to me is that "Gunwalker Bill" Newell has popped up his ugly head in this story.

The fallout to date has mostly hit the ATF. Bill Newell, former special agent in charge of the Phoenix ATF, who before the scandal broke was tapped to be the agency's liaison with Mexico, instead has been transferred to Washington, D.C.

In a brief phone interview last week, Newell suggested the problem with the operation lies with Arizona's gun laws, "or lack thereof."

Newell also pointed to weak gun laws in an interview with congressional investigators. Transcripts of the interview obtained by The Republic show that Newell steadfastly maintained that weak laws stymied agents in their ability to interdict guns.

Investigators grilled Newell on whether agents could have taken other steps short of arresting suspects to stop the guns. Newell replied the agents could have.

Agents have said an example would be to post ATF agents outside gun stores to attempt to spook straw buyers, or follow buyers and attempt to make a traffic stop.

Still, the three agents who testified to Congress said supervisors told them not to intervene.

The investigators also peppered Newell with scenarios involving straw buyers.

He maintained that agents could not legally seize guns based on multiple purchases, cash transactions, ownership transfers or suspicious behavior.

Investigators repeatedly referred to the sales as illegal. Newell disagreed, saying there was no proof of illegality.

"It is not unusual for people in places like Arizona and Texas . . . to go in and buy multiple firearms, multiple handguns, multiple long guns. It is not unusual, and it is not illegal in many instances," Newell said in the interview.

"And so, we have to put the evidence together to prove that, in fact, that transaction is illegal by many different ways. And that's what we struggle with to do all the time on these cases."

It was all the NRA's fault, according to Newell.

Yeah.

Well, we'll see how that plays out as the hearings proceed. I was interviewed at some length last night by a Mexican news organization. One thing is clear about "Gunwalker Bill."

A significant and growing portion of the Mexican political establishment consider him an international criminal who committed acts of war on the Mexican people and deserves extradition to face the music of Mexican justice.

No more casual vacations south of the border for "Gunwalker Bill," I'm afraid.