BY LINDA BENTLEY | JUNE 27, 2012

Holder, Obama and Napolitano fortified gun running operations in 2009

Seems as though both Holder and Obama knew about gun running operations as early as 2009, likely earlier

WASHINGTON – The House committee voted 23-17 along party lines on June 19 to move forward with a contempt citation against Attorney General Eric Holder (r) for his failure to produce requested documents pertinent to Operation Fast and Furious, the ATF program that allowed guns to be purchased and walked into Mexico, which resulted in the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.

At the 11th hour, President Obama responded by asserting executive privilege to provide Holder with immunity from having to produce documents requested by the committee over the past year or so as part of its investigation.

The House is expected to vote sometime next week as to whether or not it will find Holder in contempt of Congress for stonewalling on the production of documents relative to the program responsible for Terry’s murder.

The committee wanted to know who authorized the botched gun running operation and when Holder and or the president became aware of it.

The answer is easily ascertained by reviewing video footage from a press conference following passage of the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009,” otherwise referred to as the “stimulus bill,” signed into law by Obama in February 2009.

The Act states its purpose as, “Making supplemental appropriations for job preservation and creation, infrastructure investment, energy efficiency and science, assistance to the unemployed, and state and local fiscal stabilization, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, and for other purposes.”

On page 16 of the Act, under the heading “Office of Justice Programs,” it states: “For an additional amount for ‘State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance,’ $40,000,000, for competitive grants to provide assistance and equipment to local law enforcement along the southern border and in High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas to combat criminal narcotics activity stemming from the Southern border, of which $10,000,000 shall be transferred to ‘Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Salaries and Expenses’ for the ATF Project Gunrunner.”

Someone had to have requested the additional funding of $10 million for ATF’s Project Gunrunner.

During a March 24, 2009 press conference, Press Secretary Jay Carney stated, “I want to discuss an issue that’s very important to the president this morning, the steps we are taking on both sides of the border to support the Mexican government’s campaign against the violent cartels and to reduce contraband in both directions across the border … U.S. Deputy Attorney General David Ogden (r) will lay out the administration’s comprehensive response to the situation along the border with Mexico …”

Former Deputy AG Ogden stated, “Under the president’s leadership, together with the state department and DHS, the Department of Justice stands ready to take a fight to the Mexican drug cartels.

“The president has directed us to take action to fight these cartels and Attorney General Holder and I are taking several new and aggressive steps as part of the administration’s comprehensive plan.

“Those steps include the following: DOJ’s Drug Enforcement Administration, which already has the largest drug enforcement presence in Mexico with 11 offices in that country.

“It’s placing 16 new DEA positions in Southwest border field operations, specifically to target Mexican trafficking and associated violence.

“DOJ’s Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives is increasing its efforts by adding 37 new employees and three new offices, using $10 million of Recovery Act funds and redeploying 100 personnel to the Southwest border in the next 45 days to fortify its Project Gunrunner, which is aimed at disrupting arms trafficking between the United States and Mexico.

“ATF is doubling its presence in Mexico itself from five to nine personnel working with the Mexicans specifically to facilitate gun tracing activity, which targets the illegal weapons and their sources in the United States.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano spoke at the same press conference, bolstering what Ogden had to say.

From what Ogden stated in that press conference, it sure sounds as though Holder and Obama were well aware of the gun running operation in February 2009, likely earlier, as the DOJ requested and received $10 million in additional ATF funding specifically for the purpose of fortifying “Project Gunrunner.”

While correspondence might prove Obama and Holder communicated about the failed gun running operation that left Terry dead and could be withheld by asserting executive privilege, it would then mean Holder lied to the committee.

Neither scenario bodes too well for either Holder or Obama.