A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) agent tells “Full Measure’s” Sharyl Attkisson the Obama Administration obstructed justice in the investigation into the “Fast and Furious” gunrunning program and Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry’s murder. The agent says the Department of Justice and the ATF tried to cover up any link between the gunrunning scandal and Brian Terry’s death.
“When Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed, I immediately noticed that my agency was attempting to cover up any link between the investigation and the strategy that we employed and the death of Agent Terry,” ATF Agent John Dodson told Attkisson in an interview that will air on “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson” Sunday morning.
Attkisson reiterated the connection stating, “Illegal immigrants armed with Fast and Furious rifles gunned down Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in Arizona in December 2010 near the Mexican border. Agent Dodson says Department of Justice officials frantically worked to cover up the killers’ links to weapons trafficked as part of the secret federal case.” She reported first on this issue a few months after the murder of Agent Terry in an interview on CBS News.
This writer reported on Terry’s murder the morning after he was killed by the Mexican bandits in southern Arizona in December 2010. Breitbart News and Breitbart Texas have extensively reported on the investigation, prosecution of his killers, and the lack of accountability to anyone in the Obama Administration. We have also constantly provided Agent Terry’s family with a platform to express their frustration with the lack of progress in finding justice for their loved one.
During Attkisson’s 2011 breaking interview with Dodson, she explained: “Dodson’s job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen. Investigators call the tactic letting guns “walk.” . . . Dodson’s bosses say that never happened. Now, he’s risking his job to go public.””I’m boots on the ground here in Phoenix, telling you we’ve been doing it every day since I’ve been here,” he continued. “Here I am. Tell me I didn’t do the things I did. Tell me you didn’t order me to do the things I did. Tell me it didn’t happen. Now you have a name on it. You have a face to put with it. Here I am. Someone now, tell me it didn’t happen.”
Dodson worked in the operation that put thousands of guns into the hands of Mexican cartels and other criminals. Attkisson asked if it was the agencies job to stop such trafficking, not to facilitate it. The ATF agent turned whistleblower responded, “Yes, ma’am, meaning the federal agency that was in charge of combating that very thing.”
Attkisson said Dodson objected about the Fast and Furious program internally but “his objections fell on deaf ears.”“Part of my mission with the ATF in Phoenix was to combat a legal firearms trafficking to the Mexican drug cartels,” Agent Dodson explained. “Somehow, in order to achieve that goal, the strategy that had been adopted was to facilitate and allow the illegal firearms trafficking to the Mexican drug cartels. We were essentially flooding the border region with firearms from the US civilian market, and then tracking and tallying the results as they were used in crimes on both sides of the border.”
Dodson said Agent Terry’s murder was the last straw. She asked him what happened after he came forward.
“Well, originally the Department of Justice issued what was a letter denying the allegation, categorically denying the allegations,” Dodson answered. “And from that point on, there was a congressional hearing and obstruction and document hiding and it seemed like everything that the United States government could do at the time to avoid showing the allegations that was alleged and proving them and uh, and still continuing to deny that there was any nexus between the investigative strategy and Agent Terry’s death.”
Dodson said his decision to expose the program was a life changing event where he went from being an “agent of the government… to an enemy of the state.”
Watch the full interview on “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson” Sunday morning.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to clarify Agent Dodson’s status as an active duty ATF agent.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.
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