OK, here’s the background.  CJ Ciaramella is a reporter at the Washington Free Beacon, and he emailed the Department of Justice to find out if they had any response to the allegations being featured in Kate Pavlich’s latest book on the Operation Fast & Furious scandal (Fast and Furious: Barack Obama’s Bloodiest Scandal and the Shameless Cover-Up).  Specifically, the allegation that there was a third gun found at the scene of Border Agent Brian Terry’s murder that could be traced back to that DOJ/DEA botched gunrunning operation; and that the existence of this third gun was being covered up in order to protect a confidential informant.  And let me note in passing: I don’t care how highly-placed this alleged informant could be; his or her needs do not take precedence over the needs of Agent Terry’s surviving loved ones, or indeed the survivors of anybody that the US government helped murder by freely letting guns get illegally sold to Mexican narco-terrorists.

But let us move back to the main point: Ciaramella emailed the DoJ for their response to this issue… and the DoJ’s official response, in the form of one Office of Public Affairs spokeswoman Katie Dixon?  Go read Media Matters for America (MMfA).

No, really.

Now, never mind the fact that MMfA is a notoriously anti-Semitic organization.  Also never mind that it’s in what is alleged to be a near-constant violation of the tax exemption rules for nonprofits.  Never even mind that its stated purpose (as per its application for tax-free status) is to go after supposed “Christian influence” in the media.  What makes this particularly egregious is that (as CJ Ciaramella noted) the MMfA article does not actually address those allegations.  In other words: it’s not just that the DoJ is officially responding to requests for information with links to claptrap being peddled by Jew-hating hard Left groups.  The DoJ is officially responding to requests for information with completely extraneous links to claptrap being peddled by Jew-hating hard Left groups.

And it’s starting to look like this is sinking in over there, because the cover-up’s started.  Breitbart.com has to keep updating its post on this scandal-within-a-scandal, because the sanitizing is ongoing.  First, Kate Dixon’s prior (and previously public) links to the DNC, Organizing for America were hidden; now Dixon’s prior tweets are apparently being retroactively vetted – and when necessary, deleted.  Needless to say, nobody’s talking over at DoJ – which means that nobody’s explaining whether all of these clumsy attempts to obscure the record are either Dixon’s own idea, or Justice’s.

Great to get an answer on that, by the way.  And, hey: at least they’re tacitly admitting that getting caught at treating with MMfA too openly is a public relations disaster…

Moe Lane (crosspost)