House Democrats criticized Republicans on Friday for leaking a draft of a possible contempt of Congress citation against Attorney General Eric Holder.

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Elijah Cummings

House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) sent the committee chairman a letter ^[2] Friday, saying the draft contempt citation should not have been disclosed to the press before other members of the committee were given a chance to review it.  The citation relates to the committee’s inquiry into the Justice Department’s handling of the gun-tracing investigation on the Mexican border, Operation ^[3] Fast and Furious. Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and other GOP lawmakers have said Holder and the department have not cooperated with the congressional investigation.

“Holding someone in contempt of Congress is one of the most serious and formal actions our Committee can take, and it should not be used as a political tool to generate press as part of an election-year witch hunt against the Obama Administration,” Cummings wrote in Friday’s letter. “Leaking a draft contempt citation that Members of our Committee have never seen suggests that you are more interested in perpetuating your partisan political feud in the press than in obtaining any specific substantive information relating to the Committee’s investigation.”

The Maryland Democrat asked Issa to provide all members of the committee a copy of the draft contempt citation immediately.

The 48-page draft was provided to the press and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), according to Cummings’ news release ^[2].  The citation states the Justice Department has repeatedly “obstructed and slowed” the congressional investigation, according to a report ^[4] in the LA Times.

Holder has said publicly that the department is complying with the committee’s requests, including submitting more than 6,400 pages of documents related to the botched gun-tracing operation.