they got there by his justice department handing them guns. and we've heard over and over again from the media that this was a botched program, that this was somehow a mistake of a program that, you know, thousands of guns accidentally and somehow fell into the wrong hands. but if you look at all the testimony and you look at all the documentation, the word "botched," and this being a mistake couldn't be further from the truth. whistleblowers who have been the only people throughout this process, um, who have been telling the truth with documentation to back it up have said that this wasn't a program where a couple thousand guns accidentally fell into the wrong hands, this was a program where they were mandated by their superiors -- including senior officials and the number two with man, lanny breuer, in the justice department -- to allow these guns to go to mexico, not to arrest these guys. they watched them buy guns over and over and over again and transfer them over and other again without watching them or seeing where they were going. and

an investigation of the justice department conducted by the justice department. here's crime and justice correspondent joe johns. >> reporter: it's the closest thing so far to a definitive account of an investigation that almost everybody agrees was a terrible idea, allowing firearms to slip south of the border to try to catch the cartels that were doing the gun running in mexico. at the justice department, most did not see the red flags until december of 2010 when two of the guns turned up at the murder scene of cbrian terry. larry alt is one of the atf agents who blew the whistle. >> i found it egregious that we were observing the transfer of firearms to persons that were transferring these guns to persons in mexico and we were not taking an enforcement action. >> reporter: a report from the justice department said operation fast and furious and related matters revealed a series of misguided strategies, tactics and judgment and permeated atf headquarters at the headquarters of the department of justice. it referred 14 people for possible disciplinary action but

the justice department had been probing the deaths of two men: one in iraq, one in afghanistan. gul rahman died in 2002 while being held a secret cia facility known as the salt pit in afghanistan. he had been shackled to a concrete wall in near freezing temperatures. manadel al-jamadi died in 2003 while in cia custody at iraq's notorious abu ghraib prison. his corpse was photographed packed in ice and wrapped in plastic. in a statement, holder said -- we will have more on this story later in the broadcast. a federal court has blocked the controversial voter id law in texas, saying it discriminates against people of color. the law requires voters to show their photo id at the polls and texas had hoped to implement it before the november election, but on thursday, a three-judge panel said texas had failed to prove the law would not harm the voting rights of ethnic minorities. the justice department blocked a lot earlier this year, warning is to to disenfranchise at least 600,000 voters, a disproportionate number of which are latinos and other minorities. texas says it plans to app

first by the decision of the justice department to permit with their boater ideologue? >> it shows the problem on a national level. there seems to be one set of laws for some states with the united states constitution all should have equal protection. it seems like texas is being treated differently where voters can cast a provisional ball it. if they don't have their identification they can cast the ballot and approve the diddy later. said this in the texas law if you don't have one you can cast the ballot then produce it later. why do they allow for new hampshire but not texas does not make sense. lou: the reason there is a difference with the justice department because of the civil-rights history with the requirement they must have the approval of the justice department but that does not apply. but the burden of the photograph is placed on the like toro system rather than the individual. >> you sound like a good lawyer. that is the reason why we appeal the decision to the u.s. supreme court. it has already approved the constitutionality of the voter i.d. law. that is

we have new reports that justice department employees turned to the left-wing media site, media matters to help spin bad press plaguing attorney general eric holder and the rest of his department. the report by the conservative daily caller website reveals internal justice department e-mails showing staffers help media matters target news outlets reporting on scandals ranging from operation "fast and furious" to the new black panther party voting scandal. media matters bills itself as a media watchdog group but spends much of its time and energy attacking fox news. joining me now for more on this, judge andrew napolitano. fox news senior judicial analyst. is there anything questionable, anything morally wrong, anything legally wrong with a government agency getting in touch with this website to try to spin the news cycle? >> the general answer on legally is no. however, media matters is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. meaning people that contribute to it the money they contribute is not taxable by the irs. that limits what media matters can do. for example, it can not advocate for

because i don't want to politicize justice department and i right now believe the justice department is politicized left, that in unhealthy way so i say no to mr. west. last word? >> i agree with you the last word is. this i agree with you but that's why we have elections. you decide about the man at the top. do you want somebody who appoints people like this? or don't you? but i reject him for the post because is he a civil libertarian who believes in defending just about anybody. >> bill: charles, thank you as always. interesting debate plenty more ahead as the factor moves along this evening. watters on the biden watch. we sent watters to see the vice president in new hampshire. things got interesting there. bernie goldberg on the koppel o'reilly shootout. what did mr. goldberg thing about that? we hope you stay tuned to those reports. >> bill: i have known vice president biden for years and talked to him on the phone very allusive sitting for an interview. we thought it was time for jesse watters to go see the v.p. ♪ >> define this college for me darth mouth. >> everyone crazy ri

it suggests action against 14 current department of justice employees. on the way out is the assistant attorney general of the deputy assistant attorney general who is resigning from the department of justice. this report says that he was the most senior official who was in a position to stop operation "fast and furious." also on the way out the former head of the a.t.f., the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. he has retired. the senior leadership, including the acting director, should have known, and represent three failed to act in a timely fashion this information. >>shepard: we her the response from the attorney general. what is the justice department's response, mike? >>reporter: they are happy to point out that the report notes that the attorney general was not informs of the flawed tactics until february of 2011. the border agent was killed in december of 2010. they are also happy to point out the department of justice, according to this report, did not intentionally provide misleading or false information to members of congress that gun beca

>> together 8 senior republicans sending a letter to the justice department and the state department.awmakers responding to published reports that the blind sheikh omar rockman convicted in that first world trade center attack could be transferred to egyptian authorities for humanitarian and health reasons. a justice department source telling fox the idea of transferring the sheikh especially in the election season was absurd and this response from the state department. >> let me say as clearly as i can, there is no plan to release the blind sheikh. there is no plan. to my knowledge, we have not been approached about it recently by any senior egyptian. >> the head of the house homeland security committee one of the eight republicans who signed that letter says he wants firm assurances. >> i'm still waiting for the administration to say absolutely not. they are not saying that they are hedging. again, to say there is no plan, that sounds too cute, too clever. >> i can guarantee we have not heard the last of this discussion, shep. >> i bet not. catherine herridge in d.c. great catherine

he gets almost no cooperation from the justice department.atters which is a partisan hit group with tax exempt status is in moment to moment coordination with the justice department. and this is a problem on a pretty basic level. the point of the public affairs office in a federal agency is to keep the public informed of what that agency is doing. the point is not to come up with new lines of pop grand toda of pop grand today ipropaganda. martha: we just did a story that showed that the border area that brian terry patrolled is being named after him. his family is still waiting for an investigation that will come up with answers as to what happened and all. this is very, very serious stuff. so if media matters were holding up what were supposed to be their mission they would want to make sure that everyone is being held to task in covering this story but it doesn't appear that there is an effort to do that. >> a lot of the things we call scandals in washington really aren't. this is. people died, a lot of people died, most of them mexican ale

today, the justice department's inspector general issued a long- awaited report, and sharyl attkisson, who first broke the fast and furious story, has our report tonight. >> reporter: the justice department employees who stepped mewn today are jason weinstein, number two in the justice department's criminal division, and kenneth melson, the former head of a.t.f. at headquarters. both men issued statements saying they disagree with the inspector general's report which faulted them for mismanagement. overall, investigators say the review revealed a series of misguided strategies, tactics, tsrors in judgment and management failures. the inspector general said there is no evidence that attorney general eric holder knew about the gun running operation but it hees fault three of holder's deputies. it was the murder of border patrol agent brian terri that sparked the outcry over a.t.f.'s investigative tactics. terri was gunned down by illegal ermigrants in 2010. veo a.k.-47-type rifles from an gueration called fast and nurious were found at the scene. a.t.f. whistleblower john dodson told cb

. >> brown: the justice department ends its three-year investigation into alleged torture of terror suspects by the cia. margaret warner has our update. >> woodruff: while delegates gather for the democratic convention in north carolina, paul solman is on the ground, getting a preview of the party's economic platform. >> democratic economic advisor jarrod bernstein takes us around charlotte way pit stop at the nascar hall of fame, for an unusual policy demonstration. >> brown: what will it take to convince voters still on the fence? ray suarez watched mitt romney's speech last night with a group of undecided virginians. >> i thought it did a very good job of personalizing him. i oughhe came across just a little more human. >> i just don't know if he has the fire to actually convince people to jump on board, whatever his policies end up. >> woodruff: and back from tampa, before heading to charlotte, are mark shields and david brooks. that's all ahead on tonight's newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engin

reviewed the office of inspector general's report, and it is consistent with what he and other justice departmentng. the inappropriate strategy and tactics employed were field driven, he says. they date back to 2006. leadership of the department didn't know or authorize the use of flawed strategy and tactics. and the department's leadership didn't attempt to cover up information or mislead congress about it. and so that's what he says and i wanted to throw in before we go, brooke, a statement that came out from eric schultz over at the white house. i have to put on my glasses to read this. it said, today's report affirms the problem of gun walking was a field-driven tactic that dated back to the previous administration, says it was this administration's attorney general who ended it. down further in the statement, they make a political turn and say if republicans still have any legitimate questions about "fast & furious" this report answers them in light of the thorough report in congress, a 16-month investigation. republicans, it says, have no excuse to keep wasting time and taxpayer resources o

the department of justice is not just another political entity.nts and everyone else needs to have confidence in. we should not have had to have an ig report. we, frankly, should not have had to have a congressional investigation. miss o'brien, go back to the date those letters were written to the justice of department from us. are those letters accurate? if we would have stopped when we got those letters and said okay, would we have had the full truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? we would not have. >> attorney general called for the report. >> i hate to correct you, but chuck grassley called for the ig report before the attorney general did. >> and he also did. >> oh, he did. i'm not saying he didn't. but at a certain point, we're calling him four committees of congress. if you're a cynic you could also argue that the way not to answer our questions is to call for an ig report and say i want to wait until that report is concluded. i never have said the attorney general knew about this. i've never said he was complicit in gunwalking

we got over 70 pages of e-mails between spokesmen at the department of justice and writers from media matters in which they discuss programming they see on fox news, pieces written in the daily caller, other journalism critical or they believe is critical of certain programs from the justice department, mostly fast and furious. >> bill: why would these fast and furious is the scandal involving the guns going to mexico where the border agent was killed. why would these pages be in print? these i assume were e-mails. is that right? why didn't they delete them? >> because they can't. because e-mails from executive branch offices are subject to freedom of information requests. which, by the way, we put in nine months ago. the rules require them to respond within 20 days and it took nine months and slow walking for them to come up with the documents and i can see why, because they're damning. >> bill: anybody, any government agency, the justice department, in this, when they e-mail somebody, they have to put the e-mail in their system and keep it? >> exactly. for official business. >> bill

the case for wide receiver went to the justice department in 2010. one of the concerns was the department officials to read reports on the wide receiver did not ask more questions and find out about fast and furious. host: i was going to ask if there were equal amount of concerns with operations, but was one run better than the other? guest: they did not approve of either program. what of the main arguments is, there has to be a choice of going after low of will suspects and high level suspects. you can do both and they are not in conflict. host: this is keith from houston, texas on the republican line. caller: i have watched a lot of the hearings on c-span. i am very familiar with it. the bottom line is, at what point did eric holder find out about it, and why did it president obama exert executive privilege into this question mike your guest david says, there are strop persons in houston i am familiar with here. if they called betting, should we intervene, people were buying 10, 20 at a time, they were saying, let them go. let them go to mexico. i d

who first broke the fast and furious story, has our report tonight. >> reporter: the justice department employees twho stepped down today are jason weinstein, number two in the just department's criminal dwition, and kenneth melson, the former head o a.t.f. both men issued statements saying they disagree with the inspector general's report which faulted them for mismanagement. overall, investigators say the review revealed a series of misguided strategies, tactics, errors in judgment and management failures. the inspector general said there is no evidence that attorney general eric holder knew about the gun running operation but it does fault three of holder's deputies. it was the murder of border patrol agent brian terri that sparkedly the outcry over a.t.f.'s investigative tactics. terri was gunned down by illegal immigrants in 2010. two aconclude-47-type rifles from an operation called fast and furious were found at the scene. atm whistleblower john dodson told cbs newshey been guns fall into the hands of the drug cartel in a strategy to see if they would let investigators to a drug

will anyone in the justice department be held accountable for this? kulow is the chief counsel for the american center of law and justice, he also served a at the united states department of justice. jay, welcome. so, you know, media matters is going to -- it's designed to, you know, bring down fox news. how's that going? >> right. [laughter] megyn: but this is the department of justice. they serve all of us. >> yeah. megyn: tracy works for you and me and all the viewers who are watching this program right now. what is she doing? >> well, what she's doing is using media matters as an outside public relations consultant for the united states department of justice. i looked at the, i've got the e-mails that have gone back and forth that daily caller was able to get their hands on, and the fact of the matter is when you read through this material, you see not only is media matters being consulted with ideas and con cements, but stories -- con cements, but stories are being pitched, and media matters' job is to undercut what we're discussing right now on f

every 60 days, justice department, national security officials and the director of national intelligence conduct

department of justice conspired with the far left media matters website to attack the department of justicetics. fox news correspondent james rosen has that story. >> reporter: six months ago judson phillips advanced the claim hotly disputed by the obama administration that operation fast and furious was designed to usher in draconian gun control laws. someone was watching closely because tracy smaller e-mailed a transcript to deputy research director of media matters. you see this, he wrote. completely false. wide receiver, hernandez, launched under a the george bush administration put this to a lie. by that afternoon. website featured this blog post critical of the philips segment. that attorney general's advisors have worked so closely is the chief revelation of 69 pages of doj documented that they provided under the freedom of information act to the conservative paper the daily caller. >> it's an attempt to lie and in one case spokesman for just department e-mailing and saying why don't you do a story on this. i saw something on fox and why don't you attack it. >> founded by david brobl

captioning sponsored by macneil/lehrer productions >> woodruff: the justice department's inspector general blamed the agency today for a bungled gun-trafficking operation known as "fast and furious." good evening, i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. on the "newshour" tonight, we get the latest on an investigation into the program that allowed thousands of illegal firearms to cross the u.s. mexico border. >> woodruff: then, congress awards burma's opposition leader its highest civilian honor. margaret warner examines the country's move toward democracy. >> ifill: students headed back to school in chicago today. ray suarez assesses the lessons learned from that city's teachers' strike and what it might mean for the nation. >> woodruff: we have two political stories. first, what the latest polls tell us about what's driving voters this fall. >> ifill: and a conversation with journalist bob woodward, whose new book offers an inside look at partisan bickering over last summer's debt limit deal. >> some of the negotiations, some of the proposals, were made impulsively by telephone.

alabama and mississippi need the green light from the justice department.eight , only tennessee ad kansas will have to meet the new strict standards this november. >> we want to make it easy to vote or hard to cheat? we can do both. >> reporter: with both sides fighting against any voter being disenfranchised in november, neither is willing to give up a single vote. make sure to stay with cnn throughout the week for updates on this story. pennsylvania is expected to announce its decision on voter i.d. laws by tuesday. >>> the onions gallup poll says white rural americans prefer iran's president over president obama. we'll tell you who took credit for the phony story. >>> but, first, let's go to chicago. a man came up with the idea to open up a gym after he lost his job. as you see, it has a lot more to offer than just dumbbells and treadmills. chicago yoga instructor bret holten had no idea to be a small business owner until he lost his job. >> this gym actually closed down and those of us that worked here pretty quickly got together and said, is there anyt

>>shepard: the inspector general's report does not criticize a top official at the justice department, the attorney general, holder. not at all. now like to capitol hill. james? >>reporter: the inspector general did conclude, however, that top aides to attorney general holder failed to brief him at key junctures in the case. case in points when the aides realized the weapons found at the murder scene of the agent were linked to the ongoing gun smuggling investigation. they failed to take steps to correct falseness about "fast and furious" that the justice department provided to congress back in february of 2011. a democratic lawmaker asked this morning about the rationale originally for allowing guns to flow south of the border to the mexican drug cart sell. >> did the agents have bad motives? did they just fail to consider the public risk involved? >> having a long time investigate ever strategy that dismantled a large organization was the greater good they were undertaking, to dismantle the organization, stop the trafficking, and that is what they believed was in the best interest o

they went to the "fast and furious" gunrunning operation led by the justice department's atf.nother of the suspects has been in custody since the night of the shooting. his case is set to go to trial until february of next year. three suspects remain at large. up next, president obama, well, he is getting some love from voters. it was this bear hug stage? was the done? the "a-team" reason. we are joined by hank sheinkopf, kevin williams am everyone in the nicu, all the nurses wanted to watch him when he was there 118 days. everything that you thought was important to you changes in light of having a child that needs you every moment. i wouldn't trade him for the world. who matters most to you says the most about you. massmutual is owned by our policyholders so they matter most to us. if you're caring for a child with special needs, our innovative special care program offers strategies that can help. this is a test. lou: joining us now is the "a-team." kevin williams am, he is >> we have an incumbent president that is a terribly dangerous position for him to be on, and you can

they went to the "fast and furious" gunrunning operation led by the justice department's atf.nother of the suspects has been in custody since the night of the shooting. his case is set to go to trial until february of next year. three suspects remain at large. up next, president obama, well, he is getting some love from voters. it was this bear hug stage? was the done? the "a-team" reason. we are joined by hank sheinkopf, kevin williams am want to try to crack it? yeah, that's the way to do it! now we need a little bit more... a little bit more vanilla? this is great! [ male announcer ] at humana, we believe there's never been a better time to share your passions... because the results... are you having fun doing this? yeah. that's a very nice cake! [ male announcer ] well, you can't beat them. [ giggles ] ohh! you got something huh? whoa... [ male announcer ] humana understands the value of spending time together that's a lot of work getting that one in! let's go see the birdies. [ male announcer ] one on one, sharing what you know. let's do it grandpa. that's why humana agen

you know this is the kind of abuse of power and the misuse of the department of justice using it as a political to that that has to be stopped and and so it is our hope that by signing this petition it don siegelman dot org or free down settlement or for free done. that it will send a message not only to the president but to congressman the president does to be nice and it's a part of me or to the courts that this this dangerous situation. has to be stopped and corrected that predawn. raid on dot org or park street on it's a little mn dot org right ok great or don siegelman dot org all of the. what are what are your thoughts on the obama justice department have they had they had he had any interactions with them it seems like they should at the very least be looking over their own attorneys. well you know i think what has happened is that there were a lot of holdovers from the bush administration a lot of holdovers and a lot of them were in fairly high ranking positions moreover rove used a litmus test for many of the others. aren't. subordinate positions and so those people are also

you got three statements from the justice department, the national security council and the state departmenting it's not happening. why do you suspect it still might be happening? >> let's focus on the state department statement. that does not say it's not going to happen. that was not unequivocal. they said there is no plan and to the best of her knowledge there has been no recent contact with the egyptian government. does that mean there was prior contact with the egyptian government, that was not so recent? that was certainly a very equivocal type answer. so if we get a clear unequivocal statement, not somebody saying it's garbage or anything else, we get the attorney general, secretary of state, to say emphatically that he will never, ever be released from an american prison and he will die in prison, that's a different story. >> so when the spokesman for the national security council says, and i will put it up one more time, the spokesman for the national security council says the blind sheikh is going to serve out his life sentence, that seems like a pretty flat -- firm statement to me