By Mary Chastain
It appears Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano perjured herself in front of Congress numerous times. In her new book “Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and Its Shameless Cover-Up” Townhall’s News Editor Katie Pavlich provides evidence from inside sources that Ms. Napolitano did in fact lie to Congress under oath. She also provides evidence Ms. Napolitano did know about Fast and Furious.
In September 2011 she denied any knowledge of Fast and Furious until Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered on December 14, 2010. She told Senator Grassley in October 2011 she hadn’t talked to former Arizona US Attorney Dennis Burke, which is odd since they are friends and he is also her former chief of staff. Later that month she told Congressman Jason Chaffetz she didn’t talk to Attorney General Eric Holder about Fast and Furious.
Inside sources tell Ms. Pavlich a completely different story.
“When she says that [she] and Attorney General Eric Holder have not discussed it, that is a lie. That’s why they keep asking her those questions in the Judicial, Oversight, Homeland Security Committee hearings. They’ve asked her that same question twice and she’s lied twice,” the source told Ms. Pavlich.
This source said there are five emails between her and Mr. Holder starting two days after Agent Terry was murdered. Ms. Napolitano and Mr. Holder discuss his death in those emails.
“We honestly believe that Holder kept her in the dark about a lot of things but we also know that her office approved the guns going across the border because CBO [Customs and Border Protections] agents had to go through her chain of command in order to let those guns go across the border,” the source said.
Ms. Pavlich points out that the guns were often transported on major freeways, which have Border Patrol checkpoints. But even more evidence points to the fact Ms. Napolitano knew.
“Oh she knew, she was briefed,” an ATF source told Ms. Pavlich. “There is no doubt about it. There was an ICE Agent assigned specifically to be the co-case agent of Fast and Furious. He had to [file] an ICE report that either mirrored or referenced every ATF report that was done. The ICE Special Agent in Charge and ATF Special Agent in Charge and the ATF Assistant Special Agent in Charge, were constantly in battles over who gets ‘this gun seizure or issue’ to the point where I know phone calls were made to both headquarters to try and settle those disputes.”
It’s been 16 months since Agent Terry’s brutal murder. No one within the government has been held responsible or fired. Some were allowed to resign, others moved to a different job. Some have even been promoted!
It’s going to be extremely hard for Ms. Napolitano to convince us that she didn’t know anything. Ms. Pavlich brings a very strong case against her and it will be interesting to see how this will play out. Hopefully this revelation will answer a few questions, especially for Agent Terry’s family.