The Media is now starting their own investigations!

CBS nails ATF coverup attempt on guns found at Brian Terry's murder scene
by Hugh Holub on Sep. 02, 2011,

CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson absolutely has nailed ATF in trying to cover up the discovery of "Fast and Furious" guns at the murder scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.

Congressional investigators tell CBS News there's evidence the U.S. Attorney's office in Arizona sought to cover up a link between their controversial gunwalking operation known as "Fast and Furious" and the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

Terry was murdered in Arizona near the US border last December. Two assault rifles ATF had allegedly allowed onto the street without interdiction were found at the scene.

But the US Attorney's office working both the Terry murder and the "Fast and Furious" operation did not immediately disclose the two had any link. Two Republicans investigating the scandal, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) say there's evidence that officials at ATF and the US Attorney's office sought to hide the connection.

In a letter, Grassley and Issa say the lead prosecutor on Fast and Furious, Assistant US Attorney Emory Hurley, learned almost immediately that guns allowed onto the street in his case, had been recovered at Terry's murder. "In the hours after Agent Terry's death," says the letter from Grassley and Issa, Hurley apparently "contemplated the connection between the two cases and sought to prevent the connection from being disclosed." The Justice Department recently transferred Hurley out of the criminal division into the civil division.

An internal ATF email dated the day after Terry's death reveals the quick decision to not disclose the source of the weapons found at the murder scene: "... this way we do not divulge our current case (Fast and Furious) or the Border Patrol shooting case."

Another ATF email indicates that the justification both offices used to not charge the suspect with crimes related to the murder scene "was to not 'complicate' the FBI's investigation."

ATF whistleblowers revealed the link between the two cases to Congressional investigators and CBS News, saying their supervisors were attempting to cover it up.

Today's letter from the Congressional Republicans also criticizes Hurley's boss, US Attorney Dennis Burke. It says Burke denied a connection between Fast and Furious and Terry's murder in court, but recently "readily admitted the connection" in an interview with Congressional investigators. Burke resigned from his job on Tuesday.

The Justice Department had no immediate comment.

Former BATFE Phoenix office group supervisor Peter Forcelli testified before the House oversight committee that the US Attorney's office in Phoenix refused to prosecute what he called clear cases of straw purchasing. He specifically fingered Assistant US Attorney Emory Hurley and US Attorney Dennis Burke.

Dennis Burke, U.S. Attorney, a Democrat, worked on the Obama-Biden transition team. Currently, he serves in an advisory capacity to both Attorney General Eric Holder — also as chair of the Subcommittee on Border and Immigration Law Enforcement — and Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano, for whom he was chief of staff when Napolitano was governor of Arizona.

Because of this inaction, Forcelli had to turn to the Arizona State Attorney General to prosecute firearms law violations. The Justice Department has blamed the general 'gun culture' in Arizona for making it difficult to tell a straw purchaser from anyone else in the Grand Canyon state.

BATFE agent Lee Casa refuted that assertion with extreme prejudice, saying that when you see someone purchasing hundreds of guns over time, there's very little ambiguity as to what's going on.