Holder's contempt vote over Fast and Furious deepens partisan divide

(CBS News) A day after a House panel voted along party lines to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over a government gunwalking program, Democrats fired back, defending Holder and calling the move political.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters that the actions against Holder are related to electoral politics and the Justice Department's effort to respond to allegations of voter suppression.

"I'm telling you, this is connected," Pelosi said.

Watch Pelosi's comments in the video to the left.

However, House Speaker John Boehner said the president's assertion of executive privilege over documents sought by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee smells of a cover-up.

"What is the Obama Administration hiding in fast and furious?" Boehner asked.

Republicans in Congress, led by chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Darrell Issa, R-Calif., have been investigation the botched 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 a gun was found where U.S. border agent Brian Terry was killed.

At Thursday's White House press briefing, spokesman Jay Carney said the White House is "absolutely" not covering up anything, but that the executive privilege was granted to protect internal discussions.

"The issue here is about after- the-fact internal documents that have to do with the executive branch's ability to operate appropriately and independently in response to congressional investigations and media inquiries," Carney said.

Holder: Vote to hold me in contempt "unwarranted"
Fast and Furious wiretap information obtained by Congress

Carney said the Justice Department has handed over all 7600 documents pertaining directly to the Fast and Furious case.

But Republicans in the House Oversight Committee were not satisfied and voted Wednesday to hold Holder in contempt.

Watch Boehner's comments in the video to the left.

Speaker Boehner asserted that the full House of Representatives will move forward with contempt proceedings next week.

"This is about getting to the truth for the American people and the Terry family. It's not about personalities here," Boehner said.

[RedReason]

There were no tracking devices placed in the weapons. There was no attempt to track them. The Mexican government was not informed about the operation, which placed thousands of lethal weapons, including full automatics and .50 calibre sniper rifles, in the hands of some of the most dangerous people on earth.

The cartels have been waging war on the Mexican government, and our government armed the cartels with thousands of weapons. What if Mexico gave thousands of lethal, military-grade weapons to terrorists in the US? Over three hundred Mexicans have been killed, so far. At least one, and perhaps two, Americans have been killed by vicious psychopaths armed by our own government. Only a few hundred have been recovered, the rest are still out there.

[arthanyel]

This entire witch hunt is ridiculous. All of the documents about the program have been produced. None od the Republicans have found a single thing in the released documents, nor are they asking about them. What they are chasing is documents about internal discussions AFTER THE FACT - not only after the events, but after the public revealing of the events. BY DEFINITION that means nothing can be covered up, since to cover something up they would have had to have known about it IN ADVANCE.

I know conservative wingnuts do not understand logic of critical thinking, but at least they should admit that something which BY DEFINITION is not relevant should not be talked about as relevant, let alone evidence of a "massive coverup" or "secret plans to get our guns".

[moretruthnow]

Right wing simpletons will be the pawns of the GOP. This is a lie thrown at President Obama. The ATF situation in Arizona was about the large quantities of guns going right to Mexico. Darrell Issa is a rotten sorry hateful thug who was determined to cause as much trouble for President Obama and his administration as possible. President Obama has no interest in doing anything other than protecting Americans and helping the economy. The GOP, not so much. They are now being the corporate thugs for the NRA. Fear among gun owners is gravy for them. So run out and buy that ammo and those guns. Waste all your money believing the lies of the party that lies all the time.

[RCRawlings]

Har!
Holder and Obama Zombie blah, Blah Babble projecting there shortcomings on others.
Pathetic!

[RCRawlings]

by realist2010 June 22, 2012 1:00 PM EDT
At this rate, your conspiracy theories are going to get you admitted to a hospital involuntarily. Tread softly.



realist,
Holder, Obama and the the left have been treading on the flag, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and it would a righteous thing if Holder and Obama would be involuntarily admitted into Leavenworth Penitentiary, Super Max or Gitmo for their capital crimes against the people of The United States and of Mexico.

[arthanyel]

Not even conservative propaganda, just delusional ravings as none of these statements contain even a single molecule of fact.

[Libertyprotected]

FULL ACCESS? they sent thousands of pages that have paragraphs BLACKED out --- they have provided very very very little of documents that provide info.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX is XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX then XXXXXXXXXXXX

[Libertyprotected]

THOSE who have nothing to hide -- hide nothing!

Congress will see the pages that have been requested not the news...
if there is no evidence -- then the case will end.

Seems like the WH and Holder IS hiding something BIG -- really big!

Where and why did these weapons go to criminals.
BRIAN TERRY's family has the right to have this case reviewed for wrong-doing.

I support the Fast and Furious investigation 100% - holder turning over thousands of blacked out pages - that have no info does not count as valid information ---- THEY are hiding something!

[stormerF69]

If it is not a cover up why does Obama need executive privilege?

[moretruthnow]

President Obama did this to end this travesty created by the bullies of the GOP to browbeat and harm Holder in a deceitful partisan way. The president got sick and tired of the way they where treating the attorney general and stopped it for that reason. After Eric Holder appeared 9 times before this GOP committee and after turning over thousands of documents and also offering to have authorities come in to review every document it was not enough for these partisan assassins of our country. I am proud of President Obama for taking this step. The GOP have acted so unprofessionally to so many people before them that they are the shame of this country.

[nearl451]

"deepens the partisan divide"......by what measure?

It is a manifestation of the divide, not a cause.

[stormerF69]

After listening to Pelosi,it makes one wonder why anyone would vote for this Cow? Can the Democrats in California be that stupid?

[RealWorldNow]

Yes Stormer they are, sad but true and they are dragging us down with them !!

[marychgo]

Ignoring the chatroom interchanges and responding to the subject of this story, I'm trying to imagine how Darrell Issa could POSSIBLY believe his paranoid conspiracy theory.

I SUPPORT some types of gun control, but I'm not dumb enough to believe that, if Fast & Furious released 1,400 guns to the Mexican drug cartels (at a time when they had 66,600 OTHER American guns), gun control legislation would suddenly become possible on this side of the border. I do NOT believe Barack Obama and Eric Holder are dumber than I am, so I do NOT believe that THEY thought the F&F guns would somehow allow them to sneak gun control legislation through Congress, or to enact it through executive order. They're far from perfect human beings, but there's NO WAY that they're THAT stupid!

Is Issa that stupid? I'm not sure. About the only answer I can figure out is that Darrell Issa believes, like the Queen of Hearts in "Alice in Wonderland," that it's his responsibility every day to "believe three impossible things before breakfast"....

[RealWorldNow]

Mary Mary Mary,
I do NOT believe Barack Obama and Eric Holder are dumber than I am
I think they are, and based on you posts that's saying a lot !!

[moretruthnow]

Fortunately I also have great confidence that President Obama and Attorney General Holder are very intelligent and are not as stupid as anyone in the GOP Congress coming up with this stupidity. The Fox watchers really are the low information people and the low intelligence people who can't even think for themselves or care enough to investigate the lies from the liars on Fox and the republicans.

[diamondblue]

This hearing the GOP had on the "fast and furious" is nothing but a sham. I've learned by listening to the Repugs that when they say one thing, you can bet your life that it's the exact opposite. Never just except what a repug says. You have to do your research to come out with the truth. The repugs are in the pockets of the NRA and they don't want to stop the sales of guns. They don't care about the boarder patrol agent who lost his life and they don't care about the drug war in Mexico. And don't evern think that they give a rat's butt about what the American people want. They have given us their behinds to kiss too many times when we told them what we really want. The Repugs are putting the spotlight on AG Eric Holder to get it off of themselves and their involvement with the NRA. I'd be willing to bet that the documents the Repugs want so badly, but the President won't give them, will probably implicate the Repugs' involvement in some dirty dealings with the NRA. If I were the President, I'd take another long look at those docs. Everything they accuse the President of, the Repugs are the ones actually doing it. There's a scandal here but it's the Repugs I'm betting who are involved up to their necks in it.