The Justice Department’s inspector general (IG) on Wednesday cleared Attorney General Eric Holder in the controversial “Fast and Furious” operation but faulted several other federal officials for acting irresponsibly.
The 471-page IG report was issued after an 18-month investigation and recommends 14 agency officials receive administrative or disciplinary action for their role in the botched gun-tracking operation.
But it exonerates Holder, who has repeatedly butted heads with congressional Republicans over what he knew about the program and when he knew it.
The report, which reviewed more than 100,000 documents and interviewed more than 130 witnesses, found that Holder did not know about the controversial tactics before Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent him a letter raising questions about the operation he had received from whistleblowers within the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
It did find that ATF agents and the U.S. attorney’s office were responsible for not bringing serious concerns to their superiors about the tactics used in Fast and Furious. The operation let straw buyers for Mexican drug cartels buy and “walk” away with nearly 2,000 high-powered weapons — two of which were found at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.
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Imagine that. The Attorney General cleared of wrongdoing in an investigation conducted by his own department and in an election year too. Incredible.