Friday, August 24, 2012

When Is An ATF Agent Not An ATF Agent?

When he's a J. P. Morgan six-figure employee. Or at least that's what the Obama administration claims. In fact, Bill McMahon is drawing his full salary from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF, ATF) while working as a top security official at J. P. Morgan. Bill McMahon was the assistant director in the Phoenix office of ATF, and he was up to his neck in Operation Fast and Furious.

But now he's “on leave, drawing his full salary while awaiting complete vesting of his federal pension, medical and retirement benefits. Is this illegal? Maybe. Is it unethical? You bet your bippie it is, and at the same time it's another example of the favoritism and coverups being perpetrated by Barack Obama and Eric Holder.

One whistleblower in the Justice Department disputes the Department of Justice's conclusions about the dismissal of charges against the New Black Panthers in Philadelphia, and he's sent to the DOJ equivalent of Siberia. ATF Special Agent John Dodson gives testimony before Congress that points the finger at McMahon's involvement in Fast and Furious, and he is told that he must wait until the Inspector General's report is complete before the DOJ can consider retracting the false statements made about him by McMahon et al during testimony and in memos from DOJ to Congress. McMahon, on the other hand, gets sent to the Fountain of Wealth.

I should note that the Inspector General's report is now complete, but we can't see it, nor can Congress, because it is currently “under review” by Attorney General Holder and his political lawyers. These are the same people who time and again stonewalled Congress and/or simply refused to provide information requested by committees in both the House and the Senate. There is little doubt that McMahon was fully-involved and active in Fast and Furious, but it's unlikely to look that way when DOJ gets done tampering with the Inspector General's report

Billy Boy is doing just fine, making big bucks at J. P. Morgan while hiding from Congress and enjoying his “leave” from ATF. Committee head Darrell Issa in the House, and ranking committee minority member Chuck Grassley in the Senate are both demanding answers as to why McMahon is being allowed to double-dip and at the same time use his private employment as a shield from Congressional investigators. If for no other reason, shouldn't the Obama administration be miffed with McMahon for taking a job with one of those evil Wall Street corporations (sarcasm off)?

Hard evidence, including e-mails to and from McMahon were presented to Congress which proved conclusively that McMahon knew about Fast and Furious, and was actively involved in its planning and subsequent coverup. Yet McMahon continued to claim he was just a low-level agent who knew nothing about any of the details of Fast and Furious. In doing so, he also maligned the character and veracity of agent John Dodson and other ATF agents who testified clearly about McMahon's involvement. Right up until the heat was getting too great and he took his “leave.”

McMahon and his shysters at DOJ now claim that the “leave” means that McMahon is no longer technically a federal employee, and has every right to assert “no comment” to any questions posed to him as a private employee of J. P. Morgan. The final Congressional Report nevertheless found that McMahon's fingerprints were all over Fast and Furious. He was a high-level supervisor in Phoenix where the Fast and Furious operation was launched during his tenure.

His records and e-mails clearly show that he knew that straw purchasers had bought over nine hundred sophisticated weapons which ended up in the murderous hands of Mexican cartel members. At the hearings, McMahon even admitted that he rubber-stamped Fast and Furious documents without reading them, but that his actions were negligent rather than intentional. As if that matters. Either way, he is at least partially-responsible for a serious breach of national security and the duty to protect American citizens. He was a vital link between the Phoenix field office and ATF headquarters in Washington DC.

McMahon claimed that it was not his duty to as a mere supervisor to ask questions about operations in the field. Sounds a lot like “I was only following orders.” He did admit that it was his duty at least to review the documents in front of him, but that failure to do so was a minor failure, not even a dereliction of duty. If carefully monitoring agent activities was not his major duty as a supervisor, what was?

In the long run, McMahon's actions and inactions, followed by his lies and coverups, have left hundreds of innocent victims dead in Mexico and perhaps dozens on our side of the border. Poetic justice would require that McMahon and Holder be required to submit to a face-to-face confrontation with the loved ones and relatives of the dead, specifically including the family of murdered Border Agent Brian Terry. But that won't happen, because McMahon is busy performing his duties at J. P. Morgan and Holder is busy re-writing the Inspector General's report.

35 comments:

Joel Farnham said...

"If carefully monitoring agent activities was not his major duty as a supervisor, what was?"

Collecting paychecks, shredding files, destroying evidence, covering butts, lying, inventing new theories to match evidence already out there, digging up dirt on Obama to be used for blackmail, and watching *West Wing on streaming video while on company time.

You see, he has a busy day.

*What? You don't think West Wing is pornographic enough?

tryanmax said...

Hawk, so what you're trying to say is this is all a GOP fishing expedition urged on by the Tea Party? /sarc

Anthony said...

That's ridiculous. So much for transparency.

StanH said...

As Carter is thrilled with Barry, he will become the worst president in American history, Nixon, wherever he resides, will be pleased to lose the most corrupt administration (at least according to the press, we must give Slick Willie his due) in modern history.

Patriot said...

LawHawk....if this was a reality show, the Democrat Party series would be cancelled and all of these crooks would be voted off the island.

Since it's a political espionage thriller, the bad guys will be found out and a scapegoat will be offered, then things will get back to the way they have always been.

Bilderberg Cabal Members said...

We know just who to offer up as the village idiot

T-Rav said...

They don't have to take care of it right away, but in the event we see Republican control of Congress and the White House next year, I want to see all these vermin hauled into hearings and charged with everything lawmakers can think of. This is despicable.

Libertarian Advocate said...

Bilderberg Cabal Members said... We know just who to offer up as the village idiot

Hey, Joe Biden, are you paying attention?

Individualist said...

Again who are the 99 and who is the one percent...

I think the One percent are Obama Chronies working in the Goldman Sachs Justice Treasury Department and the Merril Lynch Justice Department.

When you pay as much as these Wall Street firms for government access it is only right to rename the federal departments. It is the same thing with football stadiums in the NFL. Just professional courtesy don't ya know

Libertarian Advocate said...

LawHawk: Excellent piece of commentary. The stench coming off this Administration is now way beyond nauseating.

rlaWTX said...

I hate them; I hate them; I hate them!!!!!!!
GRRR!

AndrewPrice said...

It's ironic that an administration which came into office demanding transparency should be waging a war on whistleblowers while simultaneously protecting it's own corrupt people. It's not unexpected, but it is ironic.

Unknown said...

Joel: I guess I didn't realize what a full day an ATF supervisor has. That would explain his inability to notice Fast and Furious. LOL

Unknown said...

tryanmax: Yeah, that's it.

Unknown said...

Anthony: The cynicism with which this administration handles every issue is just breathtaking.

Unknown said...

Stan: And he's young, so he'll have years to clinch the title of worst ex-president as well.

Unknown said...

Bilderberg: Since you are a very secretive organization, I assume your choice will remain a secret. LOL

Unknown said...

Libertarian Advocate: Shhh. The nominees haven't been announced yet.

Unknown said...

Tehachapi Tom: Maybe we can just sum the two things up in one sentence: this is the most transparently corrupt administration in a very, very long time.

Unknown said...

Indi: And the J. P. Morgan ATF.

Unknown said...

Lib Ad: Obama is two cliches in one. A fish stinking in the sun, and a fish rots from the head down.

Unknown said...

rlaWTX: I know how you feel. After each day of new revelations of corruption in the administration, I can't do much more than sputter in disbelief.

Unknown said...

Andrew: So true. They've raised irony to a high art.

Patriot said...

LawHawk.......It sure looks like Americans are finally starting to see how the "Chicago Way" really operates. It is really amazing to me how many Pulitzers and awards could be had by any enterprising young reporter who had the cajones to follow up on just some of the corruption emanating from this Admin....and how the old media won't even go near these crimes due to their sheep-like behavior when it comes to democrats.

Thank Buddha for the internets!!

Patriot said...

....or Crom....wherever your beliefs are....

T-Rav said...

A soft head is certainly a sign that the fish is rotting. (sigh)

BevfromNYC said...

Tom - "This "Ship of State" is operating with a crew of pirates"

No truer words have been written! May I steal that? It's only fitting since there's pirating involved...AAARRRRR!

Unknown said...

Patriot: Even given their liberal proclivities, Woodward and Bernstein dug deep, and their editor (Ben Bradlee) insisted on facts and evidence. Today's big dailies are peopled with "reporters" who consider their job one to be to buoy up liberal causes and the Democratic Party rather than expose corruption. They love juicy scandals, but only if those scandals are Republican scandals. And if the scandals aren't juicy enough, they'll spice 'em up.

Without the internet, talk radio, and to a certain extent Fox News, we wouldn't hear about any of these Democratic scandals. And if we did hear, they would be laundered and spun before being placed below the fold on the third page of the lifestyle section of the New York Times.

Unknown said...

Patriot: I'll thank Gaea. LOL

Unknown said...

T-Rav: Soft head, but warm heart. Oh, God, I think I'm going to ralph.

Unknown said...

Bev: And at the same time, the captain is hiding in his cabin, and the rudder is broken.

Patriot said...

Just a little off-topic...but.....we should all swear to start using the term Democrat and NOT Democratic when referring to the mule party. Democratic is an indictment of our system of government and not the idiot party itself.

Back to our regularly scheduled topic......

Unknown said...

The spam filter is at it again. We've already lost three comments, so be prepared. If your comment disappears, please don't try to re-post it. Write an all-new comment rather than try to re-post the missing comment.

Unknown said...

Patriot: I've used the two terms interchangeably, depending on my mood. If I'm angry enough, I'll use Democrat. If not, I'm still likely to use Democratic.

AndrewPrice said...

Folks, Comments are disappearing.

1. Please stop posting sockpuppet comments.

2. If your comment disappears, don't try to repost it. The spam filter has you in its site and trying to force will get you banned by the spam filter.

3. Lawhawk can't post more comments today because there is a big risk that will make all his comments disappear. He apologizes.

Sorry about the inconvenience.

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