A key figure in a controversial Justice Department gun probe continues to insist that Operation Fast and Furious used widely accepted law enforcement techniques and contends that federal agents now identified as whistleblowers never complained about the investigation while it was being conducted.
Contrary to arguments presented during widely publicized congressional hearings, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives “used a wide variety of well-established law enforcement techniques during the investigation” in an effort to identify straw gun purchasers, their financing methods and to seize guns, William D. Newell, the former Special Agent in charge of the Phoenix ATF office, says in a statement submitted Wednesday to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
A copy of the statement, which supplements earlier testimony by Newell, was obtained by Main Justice and can be viewed by clicking on the link in the upper right corner of this article.
Also this week, Republican members of Congress leading a probe of Fast and Furious have blasted the acting Justice Department Inspector General, saying she improperly released audio recordings of conversations between a firearms seller and an ATF agent.
Former Special Agent William Newell testifies in Congress as his attorney, Paul Pelletier, looks on. (Photo copyright Main Justice)
Newell has been at the center of the storm surrounding Fast and Furious.
“The investigation, which initially focused on a few suspected ’straw’ purchasers, quickly ballooned to an expansive and expanding firearms trafficking network,” Newell said in the statement. He added, “We did not stand idly by and watch more than 2000 guns be transported to Mexico.”
Operation Fast and Furious allegedly resulted in at least 2,000 firearms being sold to straw buyers, who resold them to drug cartel members in Arizona. The ATF then allegedly allowed the guns to be taken Mexico, where the bureau lost track of them. Two guns from the operation were recovered in December at the scene of a shootout between Border Patrol agents and Mexican bandits near Rio Rico, Ariz., that ended in the death of Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry. Other firearms sold during the operation have been linked to scenes of violent crime in Mexico.
The GOP-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, have been conducting a probe of the operation.
During hearings held by Issa’s panel, Newell was widely criticized for the operation.
But Newell said he didn’t hear much criticism during Fast and Furious. “I am unaware of any concerns of ‘gun walking’ raised by the whistleblowers during the operational phase of the investigation until they were reported publicly in or about February 2011,” he said, adding that the testimony of whistleblowers who spoke to the committee was untrue.
In the new statement, Newell said he should have presented clearer testimony to the panel. “It was not my intention to give answers that lacked the clarity everyone on the panel deserved from a law enforcement aqgent in my position,” he said, blaming the intense pressure he had been under as a result of the investigation.
Agents “attempted to be innovative” during the probe, he said, adding that ATF officials coordinated their efforts with the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s office and contrary to assertions made during the congressional investigations, officials in the ATF Country Office in Mexico were kept apprised of the probe. Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke recently resigned as a result of fallout from the investigation and the assistant U.S. attorney who superised the probe was reassigned.
Newell continues to defend the decision not to immediately arrest straw purchasers, saying that such a decision would have resulted in the probe being exposed and would have allowed a large-scale gun network to continue unabated.
Newell had planned to take over as the ATF’s attaché to Mexico, but the agency announced this summer that he would instead become special assistant to the assistant director of the ATF’s Office of Management in Washington. Newell is represented by former Justice Department prosecutor Paul Pelletier, who spent nine years at the Justice Department as the Criminal Fraud Section’s chief deputy and acting chief before leaving in April.
Meanwhile, Issa and Grassley this week sent a letter to the acting DOJ IG, Cynthia Schnedar, criticizing her for releasing an audio tape between an ATF agent and a gun seller, contending that the release will hamper their investigation. “Your decision to immediately disclose the recordings to those you are investigating creates, at least the appearance, if not more, that your inquiry is not sufficiently objective and independent,” they wrote. Schnedar has said she released the tapes as part of the discovery process in a criminal case.
