Saturday, September 22, 2012

Obama fudges truth on Fast and Furious in Univision interview

During a Thursday interview with Spanish-language television network Univision, President Barack Obama made at least one false statement about the Operation Fast and Furious scandal plaguing his administration.
As ABC News’ Jake Tapper noted, Obama incorrectly stated that the program began under the George W. Bush administration.
“I think it’s important to understand that the Fast and Furious program was a field-initiated program, begun under the previous administration,” Obama said.
But Fast and Furious began in October 2009, which Tapper pointed out is “nine months into the Obama presidency.”
White House Spokesman Eric Schultz told Tapper, “The President was referring to the flawed tactic of gun-walking, which despite Republicans efforts to politicize this issue, began under the previous Administration and it was our Attorney General who ended it.”
That Fast and Furious statement was not the only questionable one during the Univision interview. Obama suggested that an inspector general report released Wednesday cleared Holder of wrongdoing.
“When Eric Holder found out about it, he discontinued it,” Obama also said. “We assigned an inspector general to do a thorough report that was just issued — confirming that in fact Eric Holder did not know about this, that he took prompt action and that the people who did initiate this were held accountable.”

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