Romney campaign fundraises off 'Fast and Furious'
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Stephen Dinan The Washington Times - October 2, 2012, 08:02PM
Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan sent out a fundraising plea to supporters Tuesday saying that donating to the Romney campaign will help ensure that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., whose Justice Department oversaw the botched "Fast and Furious" gunwalking operation, will be kicked out of office.
The email plea comes a day after Univision reported that guns from the U.S. government operation ended up in the hands of major drug cartel leaders and were used to kill 16 people at a birthday party in Juarez, Mexico.
"It's time for Attorney General Holder to step aside," Mr. Ryan said in the email. "He's misled Congress, and entirely botched the investigation of the Operation Fast and Furious debacle — yet he still leads our nation's Justice Department."
Fast and Furious was an operation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that began under Mr. Obama's administration. The operation was supposed to try to stop gun-trafficking from the U.S. to Mexico, but as part of it, ATF knowingly allowed guns bought in stores in Arizona to be taken to Mexico — and agents then lost track of the weapons.
Guns from the operation have been linked to crime scenes including the shootout that killed Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010, which ultimately halted the operation.
An inspector general report found Mr. Holder was not aware of the details of the gunwalking operation nor of the Justice Department's explanations for it, which included providing false information to Congress. The audit did fault many of those under Mr. Holder, however, and one deputy assistant attorney general did resign in the wake of the report.
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Border Patrol Agent Brian A. Terry (Associated Press) more >
Stephen Dinan
Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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