Judge May Allow White House To Hold Back Fast And Furious Documents

By Dennis Lambert
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2014 - 12:12pm
Updated: Thursday, May 15, 2014 - 12:16pm

A federal judge says she’s leaning toward allowing a claim of executive privilege by the Obama administration in the fight over Operation Fast and Furious

If Federal District Judge Amy Berman Jackson rules that way it would mean many of the documents being sought by Congress in the failed law enforcement operation would remain confidential.

Berman Jackson says while she has not decided whether to uphold executive privilege she thinks the claim may be valid. Lawyers for the U.S. House of Representatives and the Obama camp have been arguing whether the president’s privilege trumps a Congressional subpoena.

Under Fast and Furious, federal agencies allowed straw buyers to take firearms into Mexico in the hope they could track them to drug cartel leaders and arrest them. 

But agents lost track of many of the weapons, and some showed up at crime scenes, including the southern Arizona murder of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in 2010.