House GOP to distribute draft contempt citation against Eric Holder over "gunwalking"

Attorney General Eric Holder

/ AP

(CBS News) Republicans on the House Oversight Committee were to take the first formal step Thursday toward contempt proceedings against Attorney General Eric Holder over the Fast and Furious "gunwalking" operation, CBS News has learned.

The case for a citation declaring Holder in contempt will be laid out in a briefing paper and 48-page draft citation distributed to Democrats and Republicans on the committee. CBS News has obtained copies of both documents. In them, Republican members use strong language to accuse Holder of obstructing the committee's investigation, which is now in its second year.

Read the memo and draft version of contempt report (.pdf)

The documents allege that the Justice Department has issued, "false denials, given answers intended to misdirect investigators, sought to intimidate witnesses, unlawfully withheld subpoenaed documents, and waited to be confronted with indisputable evidence before acknowledging uncomfortable facts."

Gov't answers CBS News "Fast and Furious" records requests with blank pages
Republicans prep contempt citation against Holder over Fast and Furious
ATF let "gunwalking" suspect go after arrest

"The Justice Department's demonstrable contempt for the congressional investigation has inflicted harm on the people of two nations seeking the truth - and very pointedly on the family of fallen Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and ATF whistleblowers who now face retaliation in the wake of their own heroic efforts to expose wrongdoing," says the brief to be distributed Thursday.

For its part, the Justice Department says it has complied with the congressional investigations, led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa).

"We've done twice-a-month (document) productions since last year, and the Attorney General has testified about this matter no less than seven times," a Justice official tells CBS News.

There have been at least three House contempt actions against the Executive Branch in the past 30 years.

In 1983, Congress found EPA administrator Anne Gorsuch Burford in contempt for failing to produce subpoenaed documents.

In 1998, the GOP-controlled House Oversight committee found Attorney General Janet Reno in contempt for failing to comply with a subpoena on campaign finance law violations.

In 2008, the Democratic-led House Oversight Committee found former White House counsel Harriet Miers and Chief of Staff John Bolton in contempt for failing to cooperate with an inquiry into whether a purge of federal prosecutors by the Bush administration was politically motivated. Congress went to federal court to seek enforcement of that contempt action, but a compromise was reached with the Executive Branch before any court decision was final.

[hollywoodjason]

If Holder had just hired Oliver North to handle all the details, the Republicans would be treating Eric as a hero by now.

[gwbdopesmoker]

Exactly ! It is not like he was selling missiles in exchange for hostages that were being fired at US oil tankers ! You are dealing with Loons at the shallow end of the thinking spectrum.

[nottblu]

you people are idiots and hypocrites, when ever you libs cannot justify the actions of democrat or a democrat appointee you simply state the republicans did so we can too, while at the same time freely critisize any republican wrongdoing. Look, wrong is wrong and in regards to Holder there is no justification.

[awenshok]

..."waited to be confronted with indisputable evidence before acknowledging uncomfortable facts."
Really? Well, OK, Holder, the white boys gotcha.

[twobays]

Usual election year politics. Won't go anywhere.

[marychgo]

Fact: "Gun-walking" was a well-intentioned but profoundly dumb tactic, whether it was called "Wide Receiver" under the Bush administration or "Fast and Furious" under the Obama administration.

Fact: "Fast and Furious" lost track of 1,400 of the 2,000 guns the Phoenix US Attorney and ATF office were trying to track. Sadly, one of those guns seems to have killed Border Patrol officer Brian Terry.

Fact: During the same period, a total of some 68,000 US guns found their way into the hands of the Mexican drug cartels. In other words, just over 2% of the guns the cartels are using to kill both Mexicans and Americans are attributable to "Fast and Furious."

Fact: If Issa, Grassley, and commenters on this blog honestly believe these facts constitute a scandal that demands contempt citations and the impeachment of Eric Holder, they're too out of touch with reality for conversation with ordinary American citizens.

[gwbdopesmoker]

Those 680000 *guns* were likely bought at weekend gun shows in every southern state whose sponsor was no other than - NRA, Colt, S&W .. those poor victimized honest dealers the gun lobbyist earn their weekend resort travels from .. then sold by middle men who can't be traced .

So to the shallow Loon thinkers.. Prove I am wrong !

[memestryker]

You have your facts wrong.

Fact: This was quite different from the Bush administration operation. The Bush operation did not allow guns to walk without surveillance.

Fact: There will always be a black market, and saying that the government adding to it makes it OK that negligent homicide occurred using guns supplied by the government is pure poppycock.

Fact: The ATF were not trying to track these guns. They let them walk without surveillance. Have you read none of the earlier reports that even appeared (briefly) in the liberal media? (Or is this your attempt at smoke and mirrors?)

Fact: We know that negligent homicide occurred, and we know there was a cover-up and that even people in the White House were aware of this operation. You are right on one thing, though. Most ordinary American citizens are too busy watching Dancing With the Stars to pay attention to current events. I agree that someone is out of touch with reality, but given the terms of use on this website, I'll not name names.

[gep1955]

Nice way to end the article basically saying, "Bush did it too". Here's a news flash for you folks, Bush isn't president any more, this is about who's in charge now. Holder has supplied completely redacted (blacked out) documents to the committee. This would be the normal political theater except for one thing, an American border agent died because of this botched operation. I don't know about where you work but when somebody botches a project and then lies to cover it up, they get fired.

[reality_sanity]

With congress still dragging theirfeat on Obama's appointees -- the BUSHIES are still running many departments of the government. Prove that the Bushies were not responsible for the gunwalking incidents.

[Obama4more]

"Bush isn't president any more,..."
---

I never tire of hearing that....

[formerlyluvnut]

He should be held for deriliction of duty for NOT pursuing charges against the "new" black panthers when they publicly put out a bounty on George Zimmerman in Sanford Florida. He's a chump.

[moretruthnow]

What would you expect from the most dysfunctional and uncompromising GOP Congress against the welfare of the country? This stunt just means more contempt for these republicans and their wicked behavior. With their votes against Medicare, but always for giveaways to the wealthy and big oil we see them and they are not on the side of the middle class and working people of America. They are bigoted and have had a rigid agenda against Eric Holder and our President which means they have never been for America recovering from the recession caused by their policies of greed and avarice.

[VRWCmember20]

moretruthnow, your comments:

"With their votes against Medicare"

Obama is going to gut Medicare to TRY (and fail) to pay for Obamacare with the unelected board know as IPAB. Obama's the one pushing grandma off the cliff.

"always for giveaways to the wealthy and big oil"

Giveaways??...what are you talking about? Oil companies make money, deliver a crucial product and pay BILLIONS IN TAXES. Obama has taken billions from tax payers (like me) and gave it to failed debacles like Solyndra.

"They are bigoted"

moretruthnow, YOU'RE BIGOTED through your projection and YOU'RE probably a RACIST since you're defending the biggest racist in America - Holder.

"have had a rigid agenda against Eric Holder and our President which means they have never been for America recovering from the recession caused by their policies of greed and avarice"

America is not recovering from the recession, unemployment has been above 8% every full month Obama has been in office and anyone who votes foe Obama in November is either a far left liberal, dangerously uninformed or an idiot.....which are you?

[CelesteRAdams]

Eric Holder has been reserved in chasing or going at the Republicans for their extremist and radical actions and fraud against the government. The Republican Party conspired, schemed, connived, planned, plotted, collaborated to overthrow the government for three and a half years. Take the gloves off Eric Holder. Do unto them as they do unto you!You have thousands of complaints on them. You wasted money on this John Edwards trial and the witch hunt on the Alabama gambling campaign against Milton McGregor that started from the Alabama Republican ex-governor Bob Riley relationship with someone who works for the government to hide his own corruption! Find out what happened to the 50 million dollars that was given to him for the oil spill that never got to the cities when the spill first happened. $25 million disappeared and the day before the President came to Alabama Bob Riley got another $25 million dollars.
They want to waste your time looking for flaws. Tell them about the arrest that have been made from the operations.

[memestryker]

Do you honestly condone sending arms without surveillance to cartels? This is what happened, and hundreds of innocent lives were lost. The media makes a bigger deal of hiring prostitutes, spending too much money at conferences, using politically incorrect language, and letting a schoolboy languish in jail for 5 days. Really? Do you think hundreds of murders that are a direct result of the actions of this DOJ, and the obvious cover-up that has followed are so trivial that you draw on a bait and switch?

[RDriftwood]

G.W. Bush's gunwalking operation "Wide Receiver" was run by ATF's Tucson office and the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, started in 2006 - when George W. Bush's Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was running the show. No charges were filed. Guess it's ok during a republican administration. But when gop policies spill over into a democrat's administration, it's an excuse to blame Obama. Just like adding to the debt, TARP, wars, etc. etc.

[nearl451]

And it should have been stopped by Holder and Co. But that does not meet merit for contempt. By my reckoning Holder has not witheld anything from this Congressional witchhunt.

[VRWCmember20]

RDriftwood, since you never researched this matter here is some factual data you should know:

Operation Wide Receiver was a local BATF operation and the DOJ under was NOT involved. It was strictly a BATF operation. Wide Receiver used RFID chips placed in weapons shipments and surveillance aircraft in hopes of tracking smugglers to their bosses. The plan failed because ATF agents did not know how to install the RFID devices competently, shortening the range of their broadcast signals, combined with the fact that smugglers were far more cunning than the agents allowed.
Operation Fast and Furious was designed explicitly to walk guns, and succeeded wildly, successfully delivering thousands of guns, responsible for the deaths of 200+ people before ATF agents finally blew the whistle. Holder along with other senior members at Main Justice knew about FF in 2010. Holder committed perjury May 3, 2011.

You can't blame Bush for Holder being a criminal....so stop blaming Bush.

[bondmen]

Who first broke this story? "Gun Rights Examiner in its Operation Fast and Furious "gunwalking" coverage... share[d] original sourced findings derived independently or in partnership with Mike Vanderboegh, who blogs at Sipsey Street Irregulars, and who, on December 28, 2010, was the first citizen journalist to report and reach out for confirmation on postings from the CleanUpATF website alleging guns were being walked, and that walked guns were found at the Terry murder scenes."

Katie Pavlich notes in her new book "Fast and Furious," that "The [CleanUpATF] chatter immediately gained the attention of two bloggers, Mike Vanderboegh and David Codrea. Working together, they vetted the information through their vast network of informants in the ATF."

[nearl451]

I don't know. Attkisson seems to have eaten high off the hog on this story and any innuendo associated withit from the get go.

For audacity, she puts Judy Miller to shame.