It was a long time coming but according to the Department of Homeland Security, the gunman who is said to have murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry had finally been captured. “The suspected shooter in the 2010 murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry has been arrested…” announced CNN’s Jake Tapper on The Lead Thursday, “38-year-old Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes was taken into custody in Mexico Wednesday, it was part of a joint operation between the two countries.” But despite this positive news, all of the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) ignored it.
But it’s not hard to figure out why none of them would want to cover this development for a long-awaited justice. It’s because it leads back to one of the first major scandals for their perfect President Obama. “The murder of Terry along the Arizona/Mexico border exposed the failed gun-tracking operation known as ‘Fast and Furious,’ which put in place under the Obama administration,” Tapper recalled as he walked through some of the details of the botched operation:
The operation had allowed known drug traffickers to purchase firearms in hopes of the U.S. government being able to document the illegal transit of weapons, but the ATF lost track of more than 1,000 guns, two of which were recovered at the scene of Terry's killing.
Tapper also reminded viewers that Terry’s family had sued the Obama administration “claiming the government acting irresponsibly,” but the case was dismissed. “Former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, you might recall, was held in contempt of Congress after failing to turn over documents in their investigation into the ‘Fast and Furious’ operation,” he added.
During Thursday’s Special Report on Fox News, Correspondent William Lajeunesse reported that the suspect was deported seven times before he murdered Terry in a firefight with Border Patrol. And according to Lajeunesse, Osorio-Arellanes was looking at 30-year to life in prison and that he had been implicated by DNA found at the scene and by his accomplices.
At the end of the segment, Tapper said that “CNN has learned that the U.S. government is currently working with Mexico to extradite the suspect in Terry's death as soon as possible.”
What makes the absence of this news from the Big Three networks even more outrageous, is that only NBC had a report written up on their website, while ABC only reposted an Associated Press article. When it came to being reported on CNN, Tapper had been the only one to mention the story. MSNBC had so far avoided it all together.
When the story originally broke in late 2011, ABC and NBC would cover ‘anything but fast and furious,’ while CBS touched on it. And as more details came to light, ABC and CBS omit Holder’s role in the controversy.
Transcript below:
CNN
The Lead
April 13, 2017
4:48:57 PM EasternJAKE TAPPER: In other world news, the suspected shooter in the 2010 murder of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry has been arrested according to the Department of Homeland Security. 38-year-old Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes was taken into custody in Mexico Wednesday, it was part of a joint operation between the two countries.
The murder of Terry along the Arizona/Mexico border exposed the failed gun-tracking operation known as "Fast and Furious," which put in place under the Obama administration. The operation had allowed known drug traffickers to purchase firearms in hopes of the U.S. government being able to document the illegal transit of weapons, but the ATF lost track of more than 1,000 guns, two of which were recovered at the scene of Terry's killing.
Terry's family subsequently sued the Obama administration, claiming the government acting irresponsibly. That suit was eventually dismissed. Former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder, you might recall, was held in contempt of Congress after failing to turn over documents in their investigation into the "Fast and Furious" operation. CNN has learned that the U.S. government is currently working with Mexico to extradite the suspect in Terry's death as soon as possible.
