Last-minute effort to avert Eric Holder contempt vote fails

(CBS News) Administration officials and staff of House Republican lawmakers attempted, but failed, to reach an agreement to stave off Thursday's contempt vote against U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

The Department of Justice and House Republicans have been at a stalemate regarding documents pertaining to Fast and Furious, the failed federal gun-smuggling operation that resulted in guns landing in the hands of Mexican cartels. President Obama granted executive privilege over the documents last week, which provides protection from Congressional inquiry. Republicans have said the action calls into question the White House's role and if it is participating in a cover up.

A senior administration official said the White House officials "reached out" to the staff of House Speaker John Boehner and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and provided "a representative sample" of documents in question. The official said the effort "would dispel any notion of an intent to mislead Congress."

But a Republican congressional aide told CBS News that the Republicans rejected the offer because the administration showed fewer than 30 pages of documents and that they wanted the House to put an end to the investigation and cease the threat of contempt before they could see all the documents.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz said, "This was a good faith effort to try to reach an accommodation while still protecting the institutional prerogatives of the Executive Branch, often championed by these same Republicans criticizing us right now. Unfortunately Republicans have opted for political theater rather than conduct legitimate Congressional oversight."

The contempt vote scheduled for Thursday comes a week after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee charged Holder with contempt for not complying with a subpoena related to gun smuggling operation.

CBS News' complete coverage of the Fast and Furious investigation.

[lg144]

Another example of American's downward spiral by the hands of ruthless republicans. TWho have proven they only care about abortion, corporations, big oil and the wealthy. Struggling Americans be damn! Now why would a sane struggling American vote for them?

[newseer]

BOEHNER SHOULD LIMIT HIMSELF TO PICK UP BEANS INSTEAD OF PICKING ON HOLDER.(BOEHNER IN HIS ANCESTRAL GERMAN IS "BEANER"). MOST LIKELY, THERE ARE JUSTIFICATIONS FOR ACTIONS THAT CAN NOT BE DISCLOSED TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, BUT THAT ARE TAKEN TO PROTECT OUR INTERESTS. BOEHNER AND THE OTHER REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD, INSTEAD, WORK ACTIVELY IN SOLVING THE MOST PRESSING AND URGENT NEEDS OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, THAT IS, CREATING JOBS, HELPING KEEP THEIR HOMES, AVOIDING THE INCREASE IN INTEREST ON STUDENT LOANS, HELPING THE POOR AND DESTITUTE, ETC. BASICALLY, HELP AMERICANS GET OUT OF THE DIRE SITUATION THEY CREATED IN THE TWO PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATIONS. THIS IS WHY WE ELECTED CONGRESS AND NOT TO WASTE TIME ON UNIMPORTANT ISSUES, BICKERING AND PLAYING DIRTY POLITICS. VOTERS SHOULD TAKE NOTE OF THIS WHEN THE NEXT CONGRESS ELECTIONS WILL TAKE PLACE. AND THE NRA SHOULD STAY OUT OF THIS, AS THEIR PROMOTION OF 'WEAPONS FOR EVERYBODY" HAS RESULTED IN THE DEATHS OF MILLIONS OF INNOCENT PEOPLE.

[TimeToEvolve]

This whole thing was ginned up by the Republicons to deflect attention from the fact they cannot govern. In fact all their actions speak to the fact they would rather see America fail than work for the benefit of the 99%.

[fiddlestickawshucks]

Vote to hold Holder in contempt.!

As it stands now, what the reams of papers he already has have more words blacked out than appear on the pages.

Another example of corrupt behavior on the part of someone we are supposed to be able to trust.

We trusted Obama (some of us)when he was elected President in November 2007.

Now, in 2012 he is exercising Executive Privilege to back up Holder and prevent us from finding out how much the WH had to do with this dirty deed and every other destructive action that has taken place in the last 3 1/2 years.

Despicable is the only word I can come up with to describe these people and their actions.

The US needs to start over with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights guiding us as they have for the last 200+ years.

If not, we can look forward to becoming a Socialist/Marxist; or GOD FORBID; a Communist country and we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

[TimeToEvolve]

If you are a conspiracy theorist, scared, right wing wacko who listens to Fox Keeps You Stupid Channel and loves American socialism for the rich, "Blame Yo'self" - Herman Cain, 2012

[Kijane]

Now it seems that CBS news is being held responsible for the interview it did with a rogue agent responsible for the Fast and Furious mess. According to reports that interview did not go far enough to search out the facts that this person may have not had the blessings of the ATF and was acting on his own.

[oneslownewsday1]

by bigmanfrommaine June 27, 2012 12:59 PM EDT
Can we all just agree that they tried to use guns as bait to flush out the criminal element in Mexico and that it went very badly. All this other nonsense is political BS!

This is just more proof (like we need any more) that both parties are far more interested in scoring political points than actually solving any of the problems this country faces.

What a disgrace!

---

No we cannot!
This isn't about that.
This is about criminal activity by the Attorney General and the President.
Is this the type of corrupt and renegade leadership we want in America?
People died because of this
People have to be held accountable for their actions.
This isn't about someone in the Obama administration having an improper sexual relationship.
These are capital crimes.

[RollotheNorman]

It's been apparent for a couple of weeks now that the RepubliCON's were going to hold this political kabuki theater instead of working of the problems of real American's, which is what we pay them $174,000 a year for.

Almost everybody in the country, with the possible exception of a fraction of the 1%, want's them to do something about fixing the economy. Instead they want to play silly games.

[takacrat]

Are you telling me that for the first two years of Congress that didn't pass any budget bills still got paid?
Get a rope and hang they all!!!

[bigmanfrommaine]

Can we all just agree that they tried to use guns as bait to flush out the criminal element in Mexico and that it went very badly. All this other nonsense is political BS!

This is just more proof (like we need any more) that both parties are far more interested in scoring political points than actually solving any of the problems this country faces.

What a disgrace!

[luadda22]

by RulesofEngagement June 27, 2012 10:51 AM EDT
The GOP and Issa are going to look like fools. The ATF is finally opening up and telling the truth.
http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/27/fast-and-furious-truth/
====================================================================

WHAT?? You didn't read the part that stated;

"ATF and Justice Department officials have reversed themselves. After initially supporting Group VII agents and denying the allegations, they have since agreed that the ATF purposefully chose not to interdict guns it lawfully could have seized. Holder testified in December that "the use of this misguided tactic is inexcusable, and it must never happen again."

And that is making Issa and the GOP "look like fools"???

Plus remember that this "investigation" was done by CNN.

[takacrat]

F&F came from a mission in 1990, Desert Shield. A Royal Kuwaiti Civilian from the ruling King was enlisted in the UA Army. When Iraq invaded Kuwait he and his half Uncle, that was born just days apart and raised as brothers, got the King and all of their family out, but being a US Citizen, by birth and being a member of the US Army, he stayed and was found by the Iraqi's. He acted like a inbred goat herder and the Iraqi's made fun of him and took him and others out in the middle of the desert to die. The desert tribes knew of him being of Royal Blood, the same that the ones that was with him, that was trying to help in, in an escape. These desert tribes got him and now treated him as King, not knowing that the real King was now under guard by the USA.
He went to the Americans lines and was arrested as a desert wounder, and was released the next day, in which he reported to a Col. on his way out. This is when he found out the safety of his Royal family. His half brother came to this forward fire base and they ran a mission that the military would place GPS, Cameras, even Mic. in M-4 and would allow the Iraqi's to find them, thinking that this was high tech desert weapons and radios that was drop for spies but was not able to get them.
Saddam himself got one of these weapons, thinking that he was two steps ahead of the War. He even stated that the desert would run red from the blood of this war with the blood of the Americans and all the time, the US Military was inside the Iraqi's War Room, listening to every word that they was saying.
This is where that F&F came from, but they didn't have a legal way to get there hands on this type of weapons and tech. for these weapons. What ATF and DOJ did was to used old Drug SOP with these weapons and not thinking of the fire power that these cartels was getting.
Good ideas, but a bad policy in doing this.