dodson pushes. submits to a supervisor.ohn dodson who is issa's chief whistle blower is thenly agent who actually used taxpayer funds, purchased guns, and put them into the hands of a suspected trafficker. >> so the main witness, the main whistle blower of what atf agents wrs doing, john dodson, was the only one that actually did this. >> that is correct. and whatever your definition of gunwalking and there have been so many in the course of this investigation, that is really the most egregious example that he procured the gun and put them into the hands of the trafficker. there is no other exame of phoenix group seven of that occurring. >> so the attorney general of the united states for the first time in history is facing contempt. largely based on the word of one of the witnesses. this witness who in fact is the only one that participated in the sale. you've done six months investigating this. "fortune" magazine. what's the bottom line the american people should know from your investigation? >> the bottom line is the atf

. >> cenk: now that's atf agent john dodson. he appeared to be a whistle blower telling us how the government screwed up giving the cartels these guns. now let's find out what he actually did. i got to give credit to "fortune" magazine. they did a six-month investigation. they looked at thousand documents and interviewed 39 people. it was exhaustive. what did they conclude? the fast and the furious program as you know it is a myth. it didn't happen. we didn't buy the guns. we didn't give them to the mexican drug cartel. the opposite. our atf agents were desperately trying to stop those guns from going to mexico, but there were people aligned against them. let me tell you the whole story. first the conclusions from the report. atf had no such tactic. they said they seized weapons whenever they could but they were hamstrung by prosecutors and weak laws that stymied them at every turn. the nra are the ones who had the weak laws passed in the first place. in arizona to buy a gun you just have to be 18 and pass a background check. yo

tomorrow we'll bring you the story of john dodson. what he has gone through in the last year. martha: that is quite a story. it sure brings it all home to the central issues involved here. william, thank you very much. william la jeunesse in l.a.. bill: fascinating to hear the passion too on the other side. >>> coming out strong against the president's immigration announcement. why governor mitt romney says the timing of that decision it is pure politics. is he right? fair and balanced debate on that with a great panel. >>> plus did you catch this? >> he will dribble it out. that will do it. miami will take a 2-1 lead in --. martha: lebron james and miami heat beating the oklahoma city thunder taking a 2-1 lead in the nba finals. james had 29 points in the game last night. kevin durant had 25. a little bit of foul trouble put him on the bench in the third quarter. game 4, another chance for to come back for oklahoma city. >> james the rebound. martha: governor mitt romney slamming the timing of president obama's controversial new immigration order that will allow certain young

i mean, the only thing i wanted to do is my job. >> reporter: dodson left phoenix at a financial loss. moved four children to new schools in south carolina and now sits at home while the scandal plays out internally. >> i can't do my job and every time i go, even if i help another agent i endanger their case by be there under this, this cloud of accusation. >> nobody who can make any decisions has even bothered asking him, what happened? what went on within your group? nobody. >> reporter: do you regret what you did? >> no. >> reporter: second thoughts? >> no. to me there was never a choice. >> reporter: but there was for dozens of others who stayed silent after the death of agent terry to protect their job, pension and way of life. >> a lot of people can't talk because they fear the retribution and fear losing their jobs. they need to provide for their families. to me it was far more important to be the man that my son thinks i am than have a job like this. >> reporter: officially atf still considers dodson a liar although the attorney general admits the agency screwed up and persona

. >> that was john dodson, an atf agent.arch alleging the core of the scandal which is that atf agents were instructed to intentionally let guns walk, as it were, these straw purchases. let them go and watch them wade off into the sun set with a vague sense they would be traced and lo and behold one of them ended up at the crime scene in which a u.s. border agent named brian terry was shot and killed. what about your reporting calls that story into question? >> well, first of all, and john dodson may not have been privy to this although they talked about it every day, but prosecutors repeatedly told the group supervisor and the other case agents that they did not have grounds to seize these weapons. there is a long record of e-mails which clearly supports the contention. >> a huge difference between we ird letting guns walk as part of a strategic vision of how we are going to bring down the drug cartels and what you say and the reporting indicates happened which is that the agents said we want to do something about the straw

atf agent john dodson risked his career when he came forward with fast and furious a year ago. he blue the whistle to senator chuck grassley. he is speaking out about the investigation and the handling of the scandal by attorney general eric holder. william la jeunesse is live in los angeles with some of the exclusive details. >> reporter: jon before going to senator grassley agent dodson repeatedly tried to resolve this internally. twice supervisors referred him to a voice mail line and internal affairs never returned his calls. only when his own agency tried to hide their connection to the death of agent brian terry did he go public. >> brian tere he re's death is horrible, and still is, his family doesn't have any answers, that's the sole reason i'm here. >> reporter: he blew the whistle on fast and furious. >> the guns turned up at crime scenes in the united states and in mexico and yet we still did nothing. >> reporter: congress vowed to get answers. >> we will not rest until every single person responsible for all of this. no matter where they are, are brought to justice.

i mean, only thing i wanted to do is my job. >> reporter: dodson left phoenix at a financial loss. four children to new schools in south carolina. he sits at home while the scandal plays out internally. >> i can't do my job. every time that i go, even if i help another agent i endanger their case by being there under this cloud of accusation. >> nobody who can make any decisions has even bothered asking him, what happened? what went on within your group? nobody. >> reporter: do you regret what you did? >> no. >> reporter: second thoughts? >> no. to me there was never a choice. >> reporter: but there was for dozens of others who stayed silent even after the death of agent terry to protect their job, pension and way of life. >> a lot of people can't talk because they fear the retribution. they fear losing their jobs. need to provide for their family. to me it was far more important to be the man my son thinks i am than have a job like this. report now there's a lot of pressure on the hill today. the union representing the border patrol today called for holder to resign while the naac

well, that wasn't the case in the john dodson investigation. >> so the "always" was the issue there. >> so they retracted the letter. in my article, i do say it appears the obama administration has basically saved or laid down on the railroad tracks in order to hold it at bay. >> republican lawmakers have been attacking the atf for not seizing enough weapons, which when you look at, as you describe the sort of weak possibility for prosecution has tremendous irony. >> well, this really gets even stranger because i had law enforcement agents speak to me because they said issa's inquiye is actually harming the second amendment. he's out there bashing atf agents for not seizing enough guns. these were guns deemed to be legally transferred by prosecutors. so what's the alternative? should they be going out and illegally seizing guns? this was a clash and a conflict that occurred repeatedly between the agents and the prosecutors. >> you end your article with a look at who really was part of fast and furious. the cartel and mexican nationals using their money to purchase those guns that wer

that denial prompted one of the lead agents on the case, john dodson, to step forward and speak to cbs news. >> here i am. tell me i didn't do the things that i did. tell me you didn't order me to do the things that i did. tell me it didn't happen. now you have a name on it and you have a face to put it with. here i am. someone now. tell me it didn't happen. >> reporter: cbs news learned there were other alleged gun walking operations dating back to the bush administration in 2005. no drug kingpins were ever arrested, but the drug cartels became well armed. records obtained by cbs news show the weapons were used in a u.s. immigration agent's murder last year in mexico. they were also used by drug cartels that assassinated a mexican official's brother and attacked two mexican government helicopters. many of these guns will be on the streets for years to come. according to the justice department, any so-called gun walking operations have now been stopped. holder issued an internal directive after the story broke saying, "we should not design or conduct undercover operations, which includ

dodson is who? >> guest: aff whistleblower. mandated to allow these guns to go into the wrong hands. this wasn't a mistake. nothing drives multiple whistleblowers who i talk to in the book more crazy than when they hear this was a botched operation. they say this was absolutely intentional. it's not a partisan issue. you know, when this investigation first started, 31 democrats sent a letter to the justice department and the obama administration saying we need transparency here. there's nothing wrong with asking questions and, yes, it turned into what they say is a political witch hunt in a way on the democratic side because they've turned it into issues about gun control, issues about this being political for the attorney general when really chairman issa six months ago said i want to wrap up my investigation. i'm really hoping the justice department complies because i don't want to get into the political season. the terry family deserves better. this is about thousands of guns being trafficked int

jon: any blow back on dodson's career from him coming forward. >> reporter: we are preparing a story for tomorrow about the retribution he's received for coming forward. it's in the a pretty story. jon: i guess we'll look forward to watching it. jenna: there is a standoff in washington between the white house and a growing chorus of critics who want more to be done to track down potentially the sources of a string of national security leaks. some top lawmakers are calling for the appointment of an independent prosecutor, but the obama administration insists the two u.s. attorneys assigned to this case are enough. national correspondent steve centanni is on this story. he's live in washington. what is the latest here, steve. >> jenna pressure is mounting for an independent counsel to investigate the hraoebgts. it includes marriages that the president had kill lists to target al-qaida fighters with drone aircrafts. information was leaked about a computer virus targeting iran and word of a yemeni double agent was leaked. they say it was designed to boost his credentials in an election y

john dodson said his own agency tried to cover up their links to the murder of a border patrol agent.brian terry, as horrible as it is and still is, because the family doesn't have the answers they deserve which is the sole reason i'm here. the guns we saw these individuals buy were turning up at crime scenes in the united states and mexico, yet we still did nothing. >> reporter: congress vowed to get answers. >> we'll not rest until every single person responsible for all of this, no matter where they are, are brought to justice. >> here we are a year later. do they know anything more about this program and who is responsible for it? has anybody been held accountable? have any of their questions been answered? >> reporter: the justice department denied and discredited his claims before the congressional investigators proved him right. >> this is what this is suppose to be about, to get the truth. >> reporter: democrats have called the investigation a political witch hunt. >> no has ever asked me my political affiliation ever. to say this is party games, oh cape'for me, not for brian

dodson. >> clarify this to me. no one charged the united states government went out and bought guns and gave them to the straw buyers and allowed them to go into mexico, did they? did anybody charge that? >> issa has. >> you say we paid for the guns? >> his -- charges shifted many times. many of the republicans on the hill said that we have paid for the guns or u.s. taxpayers were -- funds were used. other times said that they let all the guns walk. you have to remember where this comes from. this is -- conspiracy theory on the right that the administration did this intentionally to drum up support for gun control. >> that's crazy. >> of cose it is. people believe it. >> i like to get the facts first, analis and then the opinion. did the united states government in fast and furious, the campaign being held run by this administration, did they allow guns to go into mexico and could have been used to kill people? >> according to "fortune" magazine piece, no. the inspector general has not yet finished the report p.m.

there was one rogue atf agent named dodson who on his own started a little -- you know what he did? he went on cbs news and accused atf of something that was patently false which is having such a program and to cover up the fact that he had gone rogue. and cbs news bought this without checking out the story. that then kicked off the whole thing. darrell issa completely ignored all of the facts. was just interested in the politics. if you want to know what happened in arizona, you want facts as opposed to just spin and politics, read this "fortune" article. >> dane a we heard congressman issa repeatedly say openly that there was some kind of conspiracy on the part of the white house, the obama administration to deal perhaps with assault weapons or to cutback on -- americans owning guns. is there any evidence for that notion? >> no. >> what's the white house done in your recollection to suggest that that would be true? >> well, he was pressed on this in the hearing today. and he sort of backed away from that saying he had no evidence of this. he was -- suppose merely asking questions.

issuing fewer tickets is is something police chief jimmy dodson says is already happening in his district>> we're supposed to be educating kids and putting them into college. and not putting them into the criminal justice system. >> reporter: but for students like this one who have already been swept up into the legal system and for his mother who helped him through it, change isn't coming quickly enough. >> my concern is that the children who have received these tickets sometimes makes me wonder, are they not working? are they having trouble getting into schools, finding jobs, going into the military? >> reporter: last year the texas state legislature did take up the issue of curbing the number of criminal citations handed out in schools. but the bill died in the house when the session ended. its sponsor plans to bring it up again when the legislature reconvenes. >> ifill: you can go online to find an interview with another parent who was cited for his son's actions at schools and a look at penalties in other cities and states. american graduate is a media initiative funded by the corpor

i mean, the only thing i've wanted to do is my job. >> dodson left phoenix at a financial loss, movedand now sits at home while the scandal plays out internally. >> i can't do my job and every time that i go, even if i help another agent, i endanger their case by being there under this cloud of accusation. >> nobody who can make any decisions has even bothered asking him, what happened? what went on? within your group? nobody. >> do you regret what you did? >> no. >> second thoughts? >> no. to me, there was never a choice. >> but there was for dozens of others who stayed silent even after the death of agent terry. to protect their job, pension and way of life. >> a lot of people can't talk because they fear the retribution. they fear losing their jobs. they can't do that. they need to provide for their families. to me, it was far more important to be the man that my son thinks i am than to have a job like this. >> so later this morning, the attorney general is scheduled to drop off as many as 1300 documents dealing with the cover-up and a list of documents they are not willing to hand

two months after that atf agent john dodson blew the whistle sparking an investigation by the judiciaryittee. on september 14th of 2010 border patrol agent brian terry was shot and killed with a gun that was involved in the fast and furious operation. in may 2011 attorney general eric holder testified before the house judiciary committee that he first learned about the gun-walking scandal just several weeks earlier. in october 2011 some memos surfaced addressed to eric holder dated nearly a year before the time holder claims he found out about fast and furious. a month after that holder admits that gun walking was allowed to occur. jenna: today the house is gearing up for a court battle to compel the attorney general to hand overall the documents. we will continue to follow this develop story and bring you updates as they happen. in the meantime two information on the supreme court's landmark healthcare ruling and what it means for the presidential race. in the last 24 hours alone governor mitt romney's raising more than $4 million, urging americans to vote for him if they want the law