However only way holder would be responsible for the death would be if him or an agent personally handed the rifle to the criminal and told him where the officer was.
Wrong semp. Let's drop the whole "circular logic" thing for a minute and draw a straight line from the rifle that killed the agent (I actually had thought two agents died). This line goes from the gun to the shooter to the store it was bought at to the seller (ATF) to the seller's boss (Holder).
Basically Holder
did hand the shooter that weapon and the outcome was tragic.
EDIT: basically what the ATF was trying to do was a "Bait Car" scenario. Put the object out there and snatch up the villains. Unfortunately one cannot turn the motor off and lock the doors on a gun. It was a ridiculous premise and I can't believe someone thought it would work.