Fast & Furious scandal may have its first cover-up

By Thomas Lifson

Evidence has emerged that suggests a cover-up of the Fast & Furious scandal involving the Department of Justice - specifically the recently-departed US Attorney in Phoenix. Fox News has been almost the only major outlet following the story, but that may change given the disclosures coming to the surface as Sen Grassley and Rep. Issa press their investigation. William La Jeunesse and Laura Prabucki of Fox News report:

Just hours after the death of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry, federal officials tried to cover up evidence that the gun that killed Terry was one the government intentionally helped sell to the Mexican cartels in a weapons trafficking program known as Operation Fast and Furious.

The revelation comes just days after a huge shake-up of government officials who oversaw the failed anti-gun trafficking program and Congress renewed its demand for more answers. (snip)

Also late Thursday, Sen. Charles Grassley's office revealed that 21 more Fast and Furious guns have been found at violent crime scenes in Mexico. That is up from 11 the agency admitted just last month.

The specter of a US attorney possibly involved in a cover-up makes this potentially huge. How likely is it that he made such a decision by himself?

Issa and Grassley said they want to speak with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Emory Hurley and Michael Morrissey, along with Patrick Cunningham, chief of the office's Criminal Division.

Not only do congressional investigators want to "make sense" of details of the operation that allowed more than 2,000 guns to "walk" and later turn up at crime scenes on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, but they want to known why Hurley -- who knew almost immediately the guns found at Terry's crime scene belonged to Fast and Furious -- tried to "prevent the connection from being disclosed."

In an internal email the day after the murder, Hurley, and then-U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, decided not to disclose the connection, saying " ... this way we do not divulge our current case (Fast and Furious) or the Border Patrol shooting case."

"The level of involvement of the United States Attorney's Office ... in the genesis and implementation of this case is striking," wrote Issa and Grassley.