The full House will vote on the contempt of Congress measure against Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday, reports The Washington Post.
Last week the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted to advance the resolution against Holder, voting along party lines, 23-17. The committee voted to advance the contempt measure despite President Barack Obama’s assertion of executive privilege over several internal deliberative documents. The resolution centers on a battle for Justice Department documents related to Operation Fast and Furious.
Eric Holder
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has lead the charge against Holder. The lawmaker has repeatedly criticized the attorney general for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena issued in 2011. Issa says the documents requested in the subpoena could indicate high-level Justice Department officials knew of the use of gun-walking in Operation Fast and Furious before Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s death. Holder has repeatedly stressed that no one in Washington knew about the use of gun-waking.
Operation Fast and Furious was an joint effort by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Arizona U.S. Attorneys office to nab higher-ups in Mexican drug cartels. Officials allowed straw-buyers to purchase thousands of guns and tracked them as they crossed the Southwest border. Hundreds of guns were lost, however, and two showed up at the scene of Terry’s death in 2010. Terry was killed in a gun fight between Mexican bandits and Border Patrol agents.
