Secret recordings raise new questions in ATF 'Gunwalker' operation
Inspector General
WASHINGTON - CBS News has obtained secretly recorded conversations that
raise questions as to whether some evidence is being withheld in the murder of a
Border Patrol agent.
MORE: ATF
Fast and Furious secret audio recordings
(Scroll down to listen to the audio)
The tapes were recorded approximately mid-March 2011 by the primary gun
dealer cooperating with ATF in its "Fast and Furious" operation: Andre Howard,
owner of Lone Wolf Trading
Company in Glendale, Arizona. He's talking with the lead case ATF case agent
Hope MacAllister.
The tapes have been turned over to Congressional investigators and the
Inspector General.
As CBS News first
reported last February, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives allegedly allowed thousands of weapons to "walk" onto the streets
without interdiction into the hands of suspected traffickers for Mexican drug
cartels in its operation "Fast and Furious."
The conversations refer to a third weapon recovered at the murder scene of
Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Agent:
I was ordered to let guns into Mexico
Court records have previously only mentioned two weapons: Romanian WASR
"AK-47 type" assault rifles. Both were allegedly sold to suspects who were under
ATF's watch as part of Fast and Furious.
Also, a ballistics report turned over to Congressional investigators only
mentions the two WASR rifles. The ballistics report says it's inconclusive as to
whether either of the WASR rifles fired the bullet that killed Terry.
Law enforcement sources and others close to the Congressional investigation
say the Justice Department's Inspector General obtained the audio tapes several
months ago as part of its investigation into Fast and Furious.
Then, the sources say for some reason the Inspector General passed the tapes
along to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona: a subject in the investigation.
It's unclear why the Inspector General, who is supposed to investigate
independently, would turn over evidence to an entity that is itself under
investigation.
A spokesman from the Office of the Inspector General today said, "The OIG
officially provided the United States Attorney's Office with a copy of the
recordings in question so that the USAO could consider them in connection with
the government's disclosure obligations in the pending criminal prosecutions of
the gun traffickers. Prior to receiving the tapes, the OIG made clear that we
would have to provide a copy of the recordings to the United States Attorney's
Office because they would need to review them to satisfy any legal disclosure
obligations."
(Listen to the audio)
In the audiotapes, ATF Agent MacAllister tells Howard that a third weapon
recovered at the Brian Terry murder scene last December is an SKS assault rifle.
Agent MacAllister claims to know that the SKS "had nothing to do with" the Brian
Terry murder and, unlike the WASR's, did not trace back to the Lone Wolf gun
store.
It's unclear why a weapon would be, in essence, missing from the evidence
disclosed at the crime scene under FBI jurisdiction.
Agent MacAllister and Howard (the gun dealer) also discuss various
Republicans and Democrats in Congress who are investigating Fast and Furious.
They express concern that whistleblower ATF special agent John Dodson has
further evidence that could be damaging to the government.
Transcript of the audio below:
Agent: Well there was two.
Dealer: There's three weapons.
Agent: There's three weapons.
Dealer: I know that.
Agent: And yes, there's serial numbers for all three.
Dealer: That's correct.
Agent: Two of them came from this store.
Dealer: I understand that.
Agent: There's an SKS that I don't think came from.... Dallas or Texas or
something like that.
Dealer: I know. talking about the AK's
Agent: The two AK's came from this store.
Dealer: I know that.
Agent: Ok.
Dealer: I did the Goddamned trace
Agent: Third weapon is the SKS has nothing to do with it.
Dealer: That didn't come from me.
Agent: No and there is that's my knowledge. and I spoke to someone who would
know those are the only ones they have. So this is the agent who's working the
case, all I can go by is what she told me.
