Illegal gun trade, the Attorney General and Republican lawmakers are at odds

Illegal gun trade, the Attorney General is at odds with Republican lawmakers. Attorney General Holder clashed with congressional Republicans last Thursday over a failed investigation into Arizona's illegal gun trade...

Illegal gun trade, the Attorney General was at odds with Republican lawmakers. Attorney General Holder clashed with congressional Republicans last Thursday over a failed investigation into Arizona's illegal gun trade. Lawmakers attending a House Judiciary Committee hearing that day asked Holder what he knew about a so-called "gun-walking" tactic before it became public in early 2011. As part of "Operation Fast and Furious," federal agents were asked to forego immediate arrests of some suspects and instead try to surveil them in an effort to uncover the biggest names in gun-trafficking rings. This tactic is generally prohibited under Department of Justice policy. In "Operation Fast and Furious," hundreds of guns that flowed south from the border into Mexico ended up at crime scenes, including two missing weapons found at the scene where Border Patrol Agent Terry was killed. Holder told the Judiciary Committee that he knew about the gun-walking tactic at the same time as the public and that he learned "at about the same time" that the weapons at the scene of Terry's death originated from Operation Fast and Furious. In recent months, Holder has been involved in multiple confrontations with Republican lawmakers including Issa over his handling of the failed arms trafficking investigation. Holder said the Justice Department has fully cooperated with the congressional investigation and has sent 7,600 pages of materials about the operation to Congress. "I don't want to hear anything about these 7,600 pages," Issa said. He is chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which is investigating the action. He pointed out that the listening devices in "The Fast and the Furious" showed that many key figures in the Department of Justice were responsible for the "gun-walking" strategy. Holder disagreed with Issa's conclusions, saying: "I don't think anyone in Washington knew about these tactics."