ATF head removed by DOJ after 'Fast and Furious' controversy

[RLMoeller]

The head of the ATF has been removed after months of speculation about his role in a botched gun-tracking operation that could have contributed to the death of a Border Patrol agent.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Tuesday that acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Kenneth Melson was being replaced. Melson is being transferred to the Office of Legal Policy, where he will be a senior adviser.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Todd Jones will take over as acting ATF director, according to the Department of Justice.

Link to full story:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/178735-atf-head-removed-after-fast-and-furious-controversy

[JimP]

They did not even fire him: he's merely been reassigned.

DOJ is rotten, through and through.

[kozball]

Washington DC is a world of their own. Exempt from the Constitution, common sence, dignity, and certainly from prosecution. Any Joe Schmo like me would be breaking rocks in Leavenworth for the rest of our lives.        Something still stinks.

[bullit]

Heard he is driving one of Obama's buses.....

[FarmerRick]

A little background on B. Todd Jones, newly appointed head of the ATF: 

http://www.law.umn.edu/news/jonesconfirmed-8-10-2009.html



B. Todd Jones ('83) Confirmed for U.S. Attorney, District of MN
AUGUST 10, 2009—The Senate has confirmed alumnus B. Todd Jones ('83) as U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota. He was nominated by President Barack Obama on June 4, 2009, and will replace acting U.S. Attorney Frank Magill, who was appointed in January 2008 to fill the position after Rachel Paulose resigned.

Jones has already served in this capacity, from 1998 when he was recommended by then-Senator Paul Wellstone, until the end of January 2001. He was the first black U.S. Attorney in Minnesota history.

Since leaving the U.S. Attorney's office in 2001, Jones has worked with the law firm of Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, where he is a partner.

After completing his undergraduate work at Macalester College, Jones obtained his J.D. at the U. of Minnesota Law School, and then served on active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps until 1989. In 1991, he was recalled as a Marine Corps Reservist for Operation Desert Storm and served as the commanding officer of the fourth Marine Division Military Policy Company until his honorable discharge in 1998. Jones was a senior associate attorney at Oppenheimer, Wolff & Donnelly from 1989-92 and a managing partner at Greene Espel from l994-97.

With his confirmation as U.S. Attorney of Minnesota, Jones joins a distinguished group of Law School alumni who have served in the office: Including Tom Heffelfinger ('76), Judge James M. Rosenbaum ('69), Thomas K. Berg ('65), Andrew W. Danielson ('61), Thorwald H. Anderson Jr. ('64), Hartley Nordin ('48), and Miles Lord ('48).



     ~~ Another story here: http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/media/Minnesota-Monthly/December-2010/Federal-Agent/


He was appointed to the Minnesota post in 1998 by Clinton, and...

From page 2:
    By the time he stepped down, in 2001, after George W. Bush’s inauguration, Jones had made some good friends—everyone from
Janet Reno, to whom Jones reported as chair of the influential Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, to a new Hennepin County Attorney named Amy Klobuchar, to the man who President Barack Obama would later make his attorney general, Eric Holder.




Not good at all.   

[Dan W]

HOLDER PLAYS ‘SHELL GAME’ AT JUSTICE,
SHOULD RESIGN INSTEAD, SAYS CCRKBA


BELLEVUE, WA – Today’s  replacement of Kenneth Melson as acting head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a political charade by the man who really ought to tender his resignation, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today. That man is Attorney General Eric Holder.

CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb called for Holder’s resignation after this morning’s announcements that Melson was being “reassigned” and replaced. This action appears to be an attempt by Holder to convince people he is taking action in response to the Fast and Furious scandal, now being investigated by Congress.

“Holder is just moving deck chairs on the Titanic,” Gottlieb stated. “Today’s announcements will do nothing to restore America’s confidence in the BATF or the Justice Department so long as Eric Holder remains the Attorney General.

“The ultimate responsibility for Fast and Furious lies with Holder,” he continued. “Melson is just the latest player to be shifted around, rather than lose his job. Everyone directly involved in the Fast and Furious scandal has simply been moved to another position. There has been no discipline and no accountability, because the man who should be ultimately accountable is still running the Justice Department.”

Gottlieb called today’s announcement “self-serving” for Holder, who is “looking out for his own interests.”

“That’s the only thing that is really transparent about this entire administration,” Gottlieb observed. “They are looking out for themselves, and playing administrative games when they should step up to the plate and accept responsibility for this scandal. Several people have been moved from the ATF office in Phoenix to other jobs, especially in Washington, D.C. because of Fast and Furious.

“If there had not been significant wrong-doing,” he said, “none of these moves would have been made. This is an admission of guilt by the Obama administration without saying so. And where is the president in all of this? Maybe he’s hiding out on the ninth hole of a golf course.”

[Chris Z]

Just trying to appear they are doing something to address their huge mistakes....... I hope the pressure is kept on Holder to expose the real responsible parties in this fiasco

[Lorimor]

Just trying to appear they are doing something to address their huge mistakes....... I hope the pressure is kept on Holder to expose the real responsible parties in this fiasco

Will Holder fall on his sword for his boss?  What other ethical and legal shenanigans have these boys engaged in to further their agenda?