House panel backs contempt for Holder, Issa says floor vote can still be avoided
[FoxNews.com]
Published June 20, 2012
NEXT STEP: THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WILL VOTE FOR A RESOLUTION TO UPHOLD CONTEMPT CITATION; if upheld, CIVIL CRIMINAL PROCEDURES FOLLOW.
A House panel voted Wednesday in favor of holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress, a move that inflamed partisan rancor on Capitol Hill and sets up the possibility of legal action against the attorney general himself.
Holder has not yet been formally held in contempt of Congress. The full House would still need to approve the resolution in order for that to happen — Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., afterward told Fox News that such a floor vote can still be avoided.
But the 23-17 party-line vote on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee marked a significant turn in lawmakers’ 16-month investigation into the botched anti-gunrunning operation Fast and Furious. With the vote, Republicans on the committee signaled they had exhausted all other means to extract sought-after documents from the Justice Department — though Democrats had insisted there was still an opportunity to sort out the mess without a contempt vote.
“We and the American people need answers sooner, not later,” said Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the committee.
Issa: Holder didn’t produce Fast and Furious documents in Capitol Hill meeting
[FoxNews.com]
June 19, 2012
FoxNews Video – DOJ Eric Holder up for CONTEMPT VOTE
GOP Rep. Darrell Issa said his face-to-face meeting Tuesday with Attorney General Eric Holder failed to produce the documents requested for the congressional investigation into the Justice Department’s botched Fast and Furious gun walking operation and suggested he needs them by Wednesday morning to stop a scheduled vote to put Holder in contempt of Congress.
Issa told reporters after the roughly 20-minute meeting that Holder instead briefed them on the documents in lieu of delivering them. And he suggested he might delay the contempt vote, called for because Holder and the department have not responded to two subpoenas requesting additional information.
“The deadline will always move to the last minute,” said Issa, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. “We’re not looking to hold people responsible. We’re looking for document production.”
Issa also acknowledged being “disappointed” that he and Holder could not reach a deal that would stop the contempt vote.
The failed Fast and Furious operation attempted to selling thousands of guns to arms dealers along the U.S.-Mexico border to trace them to leaders of drug cartel. However, many of them showed up in crimes scenes, including where U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed in a shoot out.
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