6/11 -- House Sets Contempt Vote on AG Holder

[The Hammer]

House committee schedules contempt vote against Holder

(CBS News) CBS News has learned the House Oversight Committee will vote next week on whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. It's the fourth time in 30 years that Congress has launched a contempt action against an executive branch member.


This time, the dispute stems from Holder failing to turn over documents subpoenaed on October 12, 2011 in the Fast and Furious "gunwalking" investigation.


The Justice Department has maintained it has cooperated fully with the congressional investigation, turning over tens of thousands of documents and having Holder testify to Congress on the topic at least eight times.


However, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., says the Justice Department has refused to turn over tens of thousands of pages of documents. Those include materials created after Feb. 4, 2011, when the Justice Department wrote a letter to Congress saying no gunwalking had occurred. The Justice Department later retracted the denial.


"The Obama Administration has not asserted Executive Privilege or any other valid privilege over these materials and it is unacceptable that the Department of Justice refuses to produce them. These documents pertain to Operation Fast and Furious, the claims of whistleblowers, and why it took the Department nearly a year to retract false denials of reckless tactics," Issa wrote in an announcement of the vote to be released shortly. It will reveal the vote is scheduled for Wednesday, June 20.

Read more:

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_1...MainColumnArea

[The Hammer]

House moving to hold Holder in contempt

The House of Representatives is moving forward with proceedings to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress — a major escalation in the separation-of-powers battle over “Fast and Furious,” the Obama administration’s botched gun-walking operation.

Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said his panel will take up the contempt issue next week, and the move has the blessing of House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.

“The Justice Department is out of excuses,” Mr. Boehner said in a statement Monday morning. “Either the Justice Department turns over the information requested, or Congress will have no choice but to move forward with holding the Attorney General in contempt for obstructing an ongoing investigation.”

Read more:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...lder-contempt/

[Taz]

So they find him in contempt. What does that actually mean in action? Is it recorded and then we go on as if nothing has happened?

[Seditious]

[TheSearcher]

So they find him in contempt. What does that actually mean in action? Is it recorded and then we go on as if nothing has happened?

IMHO:

It may not get Holder out of office now, but the O will take a major broadsides into his re-election campaign, so Holder leaves in January 2013. OTOH, if the political damage is that critical, the O may just throw him under the bus in trying to limit the impacts.

Either way, Holder's job will have a short shelf life if contempt hearings actually convene.

[breezy]

Must be an election year.
I do hope they sincerely go after these criminals and the others of our gov.

[Kayso]

I hope they throw the book at him.

[Paranoid1]

color me skeptical, but I expect the vote won't even pass. in the unlikely event that it does, nothing will happen anyway

[WTHay]

So how does this work? Republican held House calls for contempt. Senate hearings then have to take place.....Democratic Senate Majority hearings????

[Seditious]

This attorney general should be asked every day, how many innocent people have died to date because of just-us department actions? He should be made to keep a running tab. This should be done by both media and congress.