Holder: Vote to hold me in contempt "unwarranted"
Rep. Darrell Issa, Chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee (left) and Attorney General Eric Holder (right)
/ CBS News(CBS News) Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday called "unwarranted, unnecessary, and unprecedented" a vote by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to hold him in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious.
A year-and-a-half long investigation into the botched gun trafficking program culminated Wednesday with the committee's vote along party lines to pass a resolution holding the attorney general in contempt. The vote went forward despite intervention by President Obama, who invoked executive privilege, which protects the Justice Department from handing over documents, even though a subpoena has been issued.
For Holder to be held in contempt, the full House of Representatives must approve the committee's resolution. According to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., the vote will take place next week.
Watch Holder's comments in the video to the left.
"We put before the committee a proposal that would have allowed for a resolution of that matter, consistent with the way these have been resolved in the past through negotiation," Holder said Thursday following a meeting in Copenhagen with European Union justice officials. "I think the possibility exists that it can happen in that way - the proposal we have made is still there."
In a statement, Republican leaders clung to their requisite that Holder produce the documents in order to avoid contempt: "While we had hoped it would not come to this, unless the Attorney General reevaluates his choice and supplies the promised documents, the House will vote to hold him in contempt next week," they said. "If, however, Attorney General Holder produces these documents prior to the scheduled vote, we will give the Oversight Committee an opportunity to review in hopes of resolving this issue."
Watch a CBS News special report in the video to the left.
If the House backs the panel's actions, punishment could be hard to hand down. A 2007 Congressional Research Service report notes if "information is protected under executive privilege, past practice suggests that the Department of Justice will not pursue a prosecution."
At issue are documents over the Arizona gunwalking program that put guns in the hands of illicit gun purchasers as a way to track Mexican smuggling cartels. As a result of the program, hundreds of guns showed up in Mexico and one was found where a U.S. border agent was killed. Issa and his counterpart in the Senate, Charles Grassley, R-Iowa., opened an investigation into the case more than a year ago.
An attempt to diffuse the standoff failed Tuesday after Rep. Issa and Holder were unable to reach an agreement regarding Justice Department documents on the program between February and December of 2011.
"We're not looking to hold people responsible. We're looking for document production," Issa said Tuesday.
Holder said he has provided more than 7,500 pages of documents and that on Tuesday he made Issa an "extraordinary" offer that includes documents, a briefing on those documents and answers to questions Issa and his committee might have.
Watch Issa's comments after hearing in video to the left.
The contempt proceeding has elevated the face-off between the executive and legislative branches, which has led to the White House becoming involved by asserting executive privilege.
In a letter to President Obama asking for executive privilege, the attorney general wrote "that the Committee has not established that privileged documents are demonstrably critical to the responsible fulfillment of the Committee's legitimate legislative functions."
A White House aide told CBS News that this is the first time President Obama has asserted executive privilege, and noted that President George W. Bush used the privilege six times and President Bill Clinton used it 14 times.
With the White House's move, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, raised the prospect that the Obama administration was involved in Fast and Furious.
"Until now, everyone believed that the decisions regarding Fast and Furious were confined to the Department of Justice. The White House decision to invoke executive privilege implies that White House officials were either involved in the 'Fast and Furious' operation or the cover-up that followed. The Administration has always insisted that wasn't the case. Were they lying, or are they now bending the law to hide the truth?" Boehner spokesperson Michael Steel wrote in a statement.
However, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee defended the president's assertion of executive privilege.
"In this case, it seems clear that the Administration was forced into this position by the Committee's unreasonable insistence on pressing forward with contempt despite the Attorney General's good faith offer," Rep. Cummings said at Wednesday's contempt proceedings.
Lindsey Boerma contributed.
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Of course Holder thinks his being held in contempt is unwarranted.!!
Does anybody out there really think he's going to admit to anything with Obama and Executive Privilege behind him.??
Recent security leaks from the White House; and this attempted cover-up only goes to prove how dangerous Obama and his cronies are to the United States.
Bring back Jesse Ventura and his television program Conspiracy Theory and find out what's really going on in Washington.!
LOL! The current republican theatrics is because of past acts started during the bush years, they wish to just sweep under the carpet! Why do you partisan posters continuously give bush/cheney a pass on everything, when it's plain to see that nobody was prosecuted for gunrunning until 2011 under AG Holder, from 2006 escapades?
Ed Morrissey's Operation Wide Receiver Lie: "They Accounted For Those Guns"
June 15, 2012
During the June 13 broadcast of Cam & Company on NRA News, conservative blogger Ed Morrissey relied onblatant falsehoods to draw a distinction between the failed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Operation Fast and Furious and its Bush-era analogue, Operation Wide Receiver.
Morrissey claimed that during Wide Receiver ATF "coordinated" with Mexican law enforcement officials and that firearms involved in the operation were "accounted for." In reality, no such coordination occurred and many of firearms involved in Wide Receiver were lost after being allowed to "walk" across the U.S. border with Mexico.
Far from being "accounted for," the vast majority of the 450 guns involved in Wide Receiver were never recovered by the United States. This may have been because the ATF agents involved in Wide Receiver did not actually coordinate with the Mexican authorities as Morrissey claimed.
A report issued on January 30 by the Minority Staff of the House Oversight Committee, indicates that ATF hoped to coordinate with Mexican law enforcement during Wide Receiver, but the idea was never executed in practice.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201206150011
If continued under Obama/Holder, O/H is equally culpable - so, if you acknowledge the illegality of the operation under Bush, by default you must acknowledge the culpability of O/H for allowing the operation to continue on their watch.
Thanks Occupy!! You've indicted Obama for me!! Fantastic job! Now we can work on getting that dirtbag out of office.
BTW:
Operation Wide Receiver: 2006-2007; 450 guns; most lost in Mexico
Operation Fast and Furious: 2009 - Jan. 2011; 2020 guns; most lost in Mexico
'Wide Receiver' gun-walking records released by Justice Department
The Justice Department released documents Thursday on the Bush-era Wide Receiver gun-walking operation that suggest the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was aware that guns were likely flowing into Mexico but allowed it to continue in the hopes of penetrating deeply into U.S.-Mexico gun trafficking networks.
An August 2006 briefing memo on Wide Receiver, which was conducted from 2006 to 2007, shows that "there is currently sufficient documentation to conclude" a criminal case from the investigation.
In addition, the memo suggests that it was "highly unlikely," due to the limited recovery of firearms, that weapons had not already entered gun trafficking conduits to Mexico.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71127.html#ixzz1yRIr9blZ
June 15, 2012
During the June 13 broadcast of Cam & Company on NRA News, conservative blogger Ed Morrissey relied onblatant falsehoods to draw a distinction between the failed Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Operation Fast and Furious and its Bush-era analogue, Operation Wide Receiver.
Morrissey claimed that during Wide Receiver ATF "coordinated" with Mexican law enforcement officials and that firearms involved in the operation were "accounted for." In reality, no such coordination occurred and many of firearms involved in Wide Receiver were lost after being allowed to "walk" across the U.S. border with Mexico.
Far from being "accounted for," the vast majority of the 450 guns involved in Wide Receiver were never recovered by the United States. This may have been because the ATF agents involved in Wide Receiver did not actually coordinate with the Mexican authorities as Morrissey claimed.
A report issued on January 30 by the Minority Staff of the House Oversight Committee, indicates that ATF hoped to coordinate with Mexican law enforcement during Wide Receiver, but the idea was never executed in practice.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201206150011
Holder said he has provided more than 7,500 pages of documents and that on Tuesday he made Issa an "extraordinary" offer that includes documents, a briefing on those documents and answers to questions Issa and his committee might have.
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Any republican on this thread should really be ashamed of their leaders in congress. Dumb DUmb Repugs !!
Also, anyone with the sense god gave a gnat knows that if there were damning evidence in the documentation and he gave them 7500 pages of documentation, but there were 8000 pages left, where do you suppose the damning evidence is?
You evidently believe anything you read on your favorite lib blogs.
Since this started under Bush, why were no people from his cabinet called to testify? Issa subpoenaed some documents that would be against Federal Law for Holder to give him, why is the Justice Department not going after Issa criminally for attempting to violate the law by subpoenaing them? Throw Issa's a$$ in jail!
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You can't prosecute for someone who "attempted to violate the law" because if they only attempted, then, you idiot, they weren't really successful at actually violating it, were they?
Calm down, your frothing hatred of the republicans is getting the better of you.
If it started under Bush, fine. But if it continued under Obama/Holder, and they knew about it, then they are equally culpable. And if the Committee on Oversight were chaired by Dems, then they would be giving Obama/Holder a pass, and Bush too, since if they went after Bush, they'd have to go after Obama/Holder.
LMAO, ya think?
Dept. of Justice is part of the Executive Branch! Why would they pursue themself?
by my count this is one of 20 significent scandal under the Obama Administration. He simply can't lead. He was elected to office with one talent, the ability to "read" a good speech. We and the rest of the world are paying the price for having this amateur in office.
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Well, there is not enough space here to state all the things done WRONG by the BUSH REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION for EIGHT years before OBAMA took office.......the most significant one being that of going to WAR with IRAQ over lies for access to their OIL. The cost of this war in LIVES and MONEY are what we are paying for today. Are you without any memory, or only have selected memory?
OBAMA, with all his defeated-by-Republican-filibuster-efforts, is far superior for this country than ROMNEY, the filthy rich businessman who has no qualms about destroying the pension and lives of hard-working people for PROFIT.
This is a political witch hunt. That is proven because only the Repubs voted for the citation. Boehmer now has a very real problem. If he lets this go too far, the involvment of the Bush administration and current Repub members will come out too and in an election year that helps no one including Boehmer. Right now, he must be reaming out Issa in private. At any rate, this goes nowhere. No way the Justice Department will do anything with it. If the courts do get involved nothing will be done there until 2013 or 2014 when the matter will be dropped. Issa knows all of this so he is just grandstanding for his political sake.
Reply to this comment ..by realist2010 June 21, 2012 5:42 AM EDT
This is brought to us by the irresponsible lunatics who dreamed up the birther movement. There is no honor in the Republican party. It's win at all costs, including to the detriment of our nation
LOL!
Holder recanted his statement that Bush had anything to do with the Fast and Furious Operation.
This is on Obama.