Attorney General Eric Holder may be facing perjury charges on account of Operation “Fast and Furious.”
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“Fast and Furious” is an operation conducted by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) which allowed middle men for drug cartels to buy thousands of weapons from Arizona gun shops.
Now, as it turns out, the ATF has lost track of about 1,400 of the 2,000 of the guns purchased and many of them are being used in the current drug wars in Mexico. In fact, many of the weapons have been recovered at crime scenes in Mexico.
The chairman of the House oversight committee, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, is planning on sending subpoenas to the Obama administration over the weapons lost.
At a congressional hearing in May of 2011, Holder testified that he had only recently heard about the matter, but it’s suggested that the Attorney General may have known about “Fast and Furious” the previous year.
This latest scandal may blow the lid off a bigger story and could mean serious trouble for the Obama administration and Attorney General Eric Holder. Here are five things to know about operation “Fast and Furious.”
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It all started in 2009, when the (ATF) allowed middle men for drug cartels to buy thousands of weapons from Arizona gun shops.
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The (ATF) lost track of about 1,400 of the 2,000 of those guns purchased in an Arizona gun shop, which have been recovered at crime scenes in Mexico.
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Operation Fast and Furious came to light after two assault rifles were purchased by small-time gun buyers, which turned up at a shootout in Arizona, where Customs and Border Protection agent Brian Terry was killed.
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Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee is convinced that Holder committed perjury about the investigation, known as Operation Fast and Furious, at a hearing in May.
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The Obama administration has denied that high-level officials knew about them, and no testimony or documents have so far shown otherwise.
