Judge Gives Holder 'Fast & Furious' Ultimatum - AG Announces Resignation As Deadline Set to Produce Documents

Bob Unruh / WND

A federal judge has concluded that enough is enough, and the Department of Justice must respond properly to a federal Freedom of Information Act case brought over its handling of the Fast and Furious scandal.

U.S. District Court Judge John D. Bates ruled Wednesday that by Oct. 22, the DOJ must submit a “Vaughn index” listing Fast and Furious materials Judicial Watch sought in its June 2012 Freedom of Information Act request and a subsequent September 2012 FOIA lawsuit.

The index identifies each document withheld, why it’s being withheld and explains how its release could damage someone.

In the Obama administration’s Fast and Furious operation, federal agents oversaw the delivery of guns and other weapons to straw purchasers who turned them over to Mexican drug cartels. An estimated 2,000 weapons were part of the operation, but only about one-third were recovered, and no high-level cartel figures were arrested. One of the guns tracked by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was found at the scene of the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.

The government watchdog organization explained the ruling denied a motion by the Obama DOJ that it be given until Nov. 3 to produce the Vaughn index.

Judge Bates said the DOJ request showed “at best, it means the department has been slow to react to this court’s previous [July 18, 2014] order.”

“At worst, it means the department has ignored that order until now.”

Judicial Watch asked for documents that were withheld from the U.S. House of Representatives by Obama on a claim of executive privilege.

The court’s decision brought satisfaction to several interested in the outcome, including the sister of Terry.

Kelly Terry-Willis said in a Townhall report that the announcement of Holder’s resignation Thursday suggests there’s something in the documents that Americans need to know.

Read more at WND:

http://www.wnd.com/2014/09/judge-gives-holder-fast-furious-ultimatum/