Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Sharyl Attkisson: ATF Manager says he shared Fast and Furious Info with White House

CBS Reports:

At a lengthy hearing on ATF's controversial gunwalking operation today, a key ATF manager told Congress he discussed the case with a White House National Security staffer as early as September 2010. The communications were between ATF Special Agent in Charge of the Phoenix office, Bill Newell, and White House National Security Director for North America Kevin O'Reilly. Newell said the two are longtime friends. The content of what Newell shared with O'Reilly is unclear and wasn't fully explored at the hearing.

It's the first time anyone has publicly stated that a White House official had any familiarity with ATF's operation Fast and Furious, which allowed thousands of weapons to fall into the hands of suspected traffickers for Mexican drug cartels in an attempt to gain intelligence. It's unknown as to whether O'Reilly shared information with anybody else at the White House.

Congressional investigators obtained an email from Newell to O'Reilly in September of last year in which Newell began with the words: "you didn't get this from me."

"What does that mean," one member of Congress asked Newell, " 'you didn't get this from me?' "

"Obviously he was a friend of mine," Newell replied, "and I shouldn't have been sending that to him."

Newell told Congress that O'Reilly had asked him for information.

"Why do you think he asked for that information," Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA) asked Newell.

"He was asking about the impact of Project Gunrunner to brief people in preparation for a trip to Mexico... what we were doing to combat firearms trafficking and other issues."

Today, a White House spokesman said the email was not about Fast and Furious, but about other gun trafficking efforts. The spokesman also said he didn't know what Newell was referring to when he said he'd spoken to O'Reilly about Fast and Furious.

4 comments:

Ashrak said...

Other operations huh? Like in New Mexico maybe?

I noticed today, I believe it was McMahon, slip and almost say New Mexico (well he said about 3/4 of the word "New").

Me thinks the dam is breaking......

With it being shown that a White House staffer knew about GunWalker, how can Soetoro, or Holder for that matter, continue to claim they didn't know? Is ignorance and incompetence going to be the 2012 campaign slogan in place of hope and change?

The brewing is real, as media tires of Carney, and the left is protesting Barry's deportations and even now there is a cal for a primary challenge.

Though most won't yet admit it - they know GunWalker is bringing Barry down ummmm, quickly and furiously....

He knew, he lied about it and he is busted.

Anonymous said...

"Today, a White House spokesman said the email was not about Fast and Furious, but about other gun trafficking efforts."

Yeah, what about those "other gun trafficking efforts" eh, puke? You just confirmed that the scandal goes far beyond Fast and Furious.

Thanx, Mike - prayers for your safety continue.

III N TN

Anonymous said...

Maybe there is a reason Axelrod and Emanuel left the white house in a hurry. Kinda "get outa Dodge" moment.

Anonymous said...

The White House can deny all they want. Bottom line: Newell openely stated he emailed and talked on the telephone to Kevin O'Reilly about Fast and Furious.