The Department of Justice improperly withheld public documents related to Fast and Furious after the first Freedom of Information (FOI) requests for them several years ago. Now that the agency has been forced by a court to produce some of the illicitly-withheld materials, they reveal clues as to why President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder kept the public documents secret for so long. As we opined at the time, if the documents had been turned over when Congress subpoenaed them or when they were first requested under FOI law, they would have revealed damaging information in the lead-up to President Obama’s re-election in 2012. But by illegally claiming executive privilege, the President and Holder kept them hidden until the court challenge forced their release, too late to affect the election.

The documents also provide evidence of widespread knowledge of and participation by several federal agencies in the gunrunning scandal, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement branch, the IRS, the Phoenix Police Department, and the ATF in Washington (not just “rogue agents in Phoenix”). But Holder says he knew nothing about it. Hopefully they will also reveal Hillary’s State Department’s complicity. The evidence also indicates that the reason for the operation was to gin up support for more gun control laws.