Darrell Issa: Contempt vote coming on Fast and Furious
House Republicans are charging head first into their most direct conflict with President Barack Obama’s administration over the extent of executive branch power, as they prepare to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress on Wednesday.
Holder and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) failed to reach an agreement on what documents the administration would fork over to help Republicans investigate the Fast and Furious program, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives operation that put guns into the hands of Mexican cartels.
Continue ReadingThe two sides remained at loggerheads Tuesday evening, after a 20-minute huddle in Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s third-floor Capitol suite. Holder later called Issa’s position “political gamesmanship” and not a true attempt to resolve the dispute.
(Also on POLITICO: Obama uses executive privilege on Fast and Furious)
After the session, Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said no deal was in hand and Wednesday’s vote would move forward, barring a last-minute reversal.
The contempt fight with Holder and the White House is a big moment for House Republicans. With stubbornly high unemployment, a president with weak approval ratings, a redistricting process that has shored up Republican seats from coast to coast and a worse-than-expected economic recovery, GOP officials think they’re poised to keep the House in their control, and many believe they have a shot at taking the Senate and White House.
Yet, despite public pronouncements of support from Boehner and other GOP leaders, significant pockets among GOP leadership think the spectacle of holding the attorney general in contempt of Congress would knock the party off message.
The crux of the issue is simple: Holder said he would brief the committee on documents detailing what the Justice Department knew about the program and fork over some additional documents if Issa agrees to forgo his threat to hold Holder in contempt of Congress. For Holder, the contempt issue has to disappear. Issa, for his part, said he wants the documents in his hands before he makes any decision about whether to proceed with the contempt vote.
(PHOTOS: Eric Holder's career)
But there is a huge gap of trust and confidence between House Republicans and the Justice Department — backed by the White House — that has only widened throughout the long Fast and Furious probe. Obama administration officials and their Democratic counterparts on Capitol Hill say Issa keeps increasing his demands.
“They keep moving the goal posts,” said Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings , the top Democrat on the Oversight panel. He predicted the committee’s Democrats would all back Holder.
Readers' Comments (406)
Good. Put Holder in jail now!
If I was Eric Holder I would tell Issa and the gop I'll see you in court and on the way kiss my a**..
Mr. Holder. Comply and you shall be spared. It is so simple even a lawyer can understand!
Eric Holder has to go. Plain and simple. The cat and mouse games need to stop.
The subpeona was issued in October and not yet satisfied. Contempt is in order.
It appears that negotiating with Holder has become somewhat like negotiating with Iran. No substance, just neverending machinations.
So I'm guessing the house will spend the week on this rather then on the highway bill or working on the student loan rate. If Issa wants to have his partisan battles that's fine by me, but I think his timing is poor.
This is a huge overreach and it will come back to bite the dirtbag in the butt.
Holder was offering a bait-and-switch. Issa says, "No!"
Holder is required, by law, to be responsive to Congessionl supeonas.
He hasn't been, and doesn't appear to be willing to in the future.
Hold the vote ... put him in jail until he complies.
Any other analysis or negotiating is unnecessary.
I don't know enough about the details of this disagreement to say whether or not Holder SHOULD be held in contempt. But I do know enough to say this:
Issa is the WORST kind of bloodthirsty Republican and is not to be trusted. I doubt there is ANY deal that Issa would accept now that he's on the warpath.
News Flash! Holder been in “contempt” since the impeached Clinton administration.
I remember Dems CRUCIFYING Gonzales..and Gonzales hardly did anything
Yet, give a pass on Holder?
No way. You reap what you have sown. Try him and fry him.
Issa has, throughout this entire process, purposefully requested documents he knew he would not and could not receive. The man is nothing but a grandstanding buffoon.
Eric Holder defiles the Justice Department with his very presence.
It's About Time
Somehow the authors forgot to mention that Issa has paired his request down both in scope and time frame. One may wonder ho such a fact could escape such a fair institution as Politico. It is clear that the AG is playing for time in producing the requested documents. One may suppose they will only serve to confirm the widespread opinion that he is the liar he appears to be.
Holder is definitely holding back something. I am thinking Obama was involved and aware.
Nixon did say he'd be back
But this time, Nixon looks like this:
You should have stopped there.
"Good. Put Holder in jail now!"
The villagers don't even know how this works. Holder isn't going to jail. Should there be a vote of contempt, the case would then head into the court system.
Let Issa and Republicans go ahead with their contempt charges. History has shown that the American public doesn't look kindly on the witch hunters."
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"I remember Dems CRUCIFYING Gonzales..and Gonzales hardly did anything"
'Hardly did anything?' Punishing attorneys who won't pursue cases against Americans for political gain 'hardly anything'?
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