High-Ranking DOJ Official Soon to Resign Amid Scandals
the scandal plagued U.S. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich plans to resign his position soon. Weich, you may remember, is the author of the February 2011 now “withdrawn” letter to Senator Grassley falsely denying that the DOJ was aware of gunwalking.
Weich, who has served as Attorney General Eric HolderÂ’s emissary in congressional communications, will become the next dean of the University of Baltimore School of Law in July, according to the National Law Journal.
The DOJ official is the same Holder deputy who falsely told Congress that neither the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives nor any part of the Department of Justice ever allowed illicit firearms to “walk” across the U.S.-Mexico border — even as contrary facts emerged from the investigation into Operation Fast and Furious.
On Feb. 4, 2011, Weich wrote to Congress that the idea that “ATF ‘sanctioned’ or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico … is false.”
“ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico,” Weich added in that letter.
The DOJ has since retracted WeichÂ’s letter but has not held anyone accountable for providing that misinformation to Congress, or for Operation Fast and Furious itself.
Scores of lawmakers — 125 House members, three U.S. Senators, two governors — and many major political figures including likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney have demanded Holder’s resignation or firing over Fast and Furious.
Other officials who are suspected to have been aware of the gunwalking include Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler, Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, ATF Director Kenneth E. Melson, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Administrator Michele Leonhart, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller, U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota/Chair of the Attorney GeneralÂ’s Advisory Committee/Acting ATF Director B. Todd Jones, top federal prosecutors in the southwest, White House staffers, and of course Attorney General Eric Holder