The conservative advocacy group Judicial Watch announced Monday that it is suing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to obtain records of communication between ATF and the White House over the disastrous Fast and Furious operation.
Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit to gain records of Fast and Furious conversations between ATF officials and Kevin O’Reilly, the former White House Director of North American Affairs at the U.S. National Security Council,
Politico reports.
Bill Newell, an ATF special agent in charge of the Phoenix office, testified previously to Congress that he offered details of the gun walking operation to O’Reilly, but didn’t specify what they discussed.
“The Obama administration has clammed up on Fast and Furious,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement Monday discussing the lawsuit, which was filed June 6.
“We’re having trouble getting almost anything out of them. No wonder, as the Fast and Furious lies and killings make it one of the worst scandals in recent American history. The American people deserve to know what White House officials knew and when they knew it.”
Under the Fast and Furious operation, the ATF provided weapons to Mexican criminals, hoping to track them back to drug kingpins. Instead, the criminals used the weapons themselves. And one was linked to the 2010 shooting death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Judicial Watch’s lawsuit comes as Attorney General Eric Holder and Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are negotiating a way to postpone a House vote censuring Holder. The congressmen are upset at Holder for refusing to turn over Fast and Furious documents requested in a congressional subpoena. ATF is part of the Justice Department.
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