House committee schedules contempt vote against Holder

story from CBS News
June 11, 2012 3:00 AM

House committee schedules contempt vote against Holder
CBS news is reporting that the House Oversight Committee will vote Wednesday June 20th on whether to "Hold" Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress !!!

The issue seems to be about some of those documents still being "Held" by Holder concerning the Fast and Furious scandal that he is into way over his head.

(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.

Alternative Story from Breitbart:

Sharyl Attkisson at CBS News reports the House Oversight Committee will vote on contempt charges against Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday, June 20. Mr. Holder and the Department of Justice have not turned over the remaining documents from an October 11, 2011 subpoena concerning Operation Fast & Furious.

Fast & Furious lead to the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and hundreds in Mexico. Guns from the operation have also been found at numerous crime scenes in America.

"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," wrote Chairman Darrell Issa.

Contempt Vote Against Holder Scheduled For Next Week

More votes down the drain for Obama ?

reply to post by xuenchen

An interesting quote found on Sen. Chuck Grassley's website (Grassley is Issa's Senate "counterpart" in the investigation):

“The idea that senior political appointees have clean hands in these gunwalking scandals doesn’t pass the laugh test, especially considering we’ve seen less than 10 percent of the pages that the Justice Department has provided the Inspector General. They ignored the warning signs and failed to put a stop to it or hold anyone accountable. Lanny Breuer is a senior political appointee, and he admits to knowing about gunwalking as early as April 2010. Documents turned over late Friday night indicate he was still discussing plans to let guns cross the border with Mexican officials on the same day the Department denied to me in writing that ATF would ever let guns walk. He stood mute as this administration fought tooth and nail to keep any of this information from coming out for a year. It will take a lot more than a knee-jerk defense from their political allies in Congress to restore public trust in the leadership of the Justice Department. The American people want to see those who failed to act be held accountable.”

Source: Grassley Reacts to New Fast and Furious Report

Considering the Grassley quote above, I have one question: Holder himself asked last year for the Inspector General (another Executive Branch outfit, organized under State Dept.) to investigate Fast and Furious. They hold some 74,000 pages of documents that Holder turned over to them. So why can't Congress just order up those documents from the Inspector General?

I don't know what the rules are on that, to be honest. But it seems like it would be easier than beating a dead horse (Holder's office)....

I don't want to jump the gun here, but is it not possible that some individuals from these investigations may just be found guilty of treason?

Someone can claim, all they want... that they gave weapons to another, in attempts of 'surveillance'. Yet with the seemingly unorganized, shotty means of keeping track of the weapons, and everything else... this is straight up supplying and supporting the enemy.

Think about it... mexican gangs, or mobs... the war on drugs, they're not citizens of the US, come from another sovereign country, and the US has declared war against the very practice that they partake in!

That's all I'm going to say, I guess we'll just have to watch how the show goes down. 'We' could speak up, and have our voices heard and all that fun stuff... but it seems that this is currently being addressed appropriately.

reply to post by xuenchen


I see it as smoke and mirrors! Even if Holder is found in contempt, what would his conviction and sentence be compared to a "normal citizen" of this country? Can anyone say Linsey Lohan??

It is like Vince McMahon of the "old" WWF levying a fine against Sgt. Slaughter for spitting in Hulk Hogan's face! Purely entertainment value and not a damn thing will change!

The media is using this to make us "THINK" there are honest politicians that want to do the right thing, but the laws and actual sentences will prove once again, that "Justice" means "JUST US"!

Originally posted by seeker1963
reply to post by xuenchen

 

I see it as smoke and mirrors! Even if Holder is found in contempt, what would his conviction and sentence be compared to a "normal citizen" of this country? Can anyone say Linsey Lohan??

It is like Vince McMahon of the "old" WWF levying a fine against Sgt. Slaughter for spitting in Hulk Hogan's face! Purely entertainment value and not a damn thing will change!

The media is using this to make us "THINK" there are honest politicians that want to do the right thing, but the laws and actual sentences will prove once again, that "Justice" means "JUST US"!

There's plenty of evidence that the consequences will be trivial. Any punishment will be set aside by Obama; there will be an entry on Wikipedia; the only people who care (the American public) will be impotent to do anything; and the status quo will go on.

We always hope it will be different, but it never will be. The rationale is that it would be too disruptive to start charging agents of government with crimes. Once started, where would it all stop? We'd fill all the jails AND the FEMA camps with government officials. Never happen, I don't care if they went so far as to commit major felonies, terrorism, and treason on a daily basis. Oh wait....

Issa is one of the richest members of congress and a globalist. Obama can't be investigated because fast and furious ties back to Bush so the compliant rethuglicans will not burn their own man. They will tease the public by threatening Holder but even he will remain unscathed.

How many times has Holder lied and the house is "scheduling a vote"?! Give me a break, the house can't just openly arrest him? So much for a 'police state'. But if someone gets one penny more than they deserve from a bank teller they will go to federal prison.

here is an article about it from Newsmax:

House Moves to Hold Holder in Contempt on Fast and Furious

Newsmax

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.

Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, says Congress needs to examine records regarding the Justice Department's conduct following public disclosures in early 2011 that hundreds of guns illicitly purchased at gun shops on the U.S. side of the border wound up in Mexico, many of them at crime scenes.

The hearing is scheduled for June 20.

Originally posted by Ex_CT2
Considering the Grassley quote above, I have one question: Holder himself asked last year for the Inspector General (another Executive Branch outfit, organized under State Dept.) to investigate Fast and Furious. They hold some 74,000 pages of documents that Holder turned over to them. So why can't Congress just order up those documents from the Inspector General?

I don't know what the rules are on that, to be honest. But it seems like it would be easier than beating a dead horse (Holder's office)....

I recently saw an interview with Issa on Fox cable News. His answer to that very question was, that as long as those documents were being held in a supposedly active investigation, the one Holder set up and turned the 74,000 pages over to, the only way they could be released is if Holder agreed to it.

How's that for setting up a back room deal to keep those documents from prying eyes....

ETA Watching news now on FOX on this topic. Yep Holder said he can't release those documents because of ongoing investigation....gimme a break...

Des

reply to post by Lord Jules


Fast & Furious does not go back to Bush. Nice try on attempting to put it on Bush though. The operations done during Bush's term were with the Mexican gov'ts assistance and they actually tried to track the guns. Not so much with F&F. Here is a little something from a older thread that is updated.link A little timeline of events.

he will be convicted and pardoned by an outgoing president.

Originally posted by Destinyone

Originally posted by Ex_CT2
Considering the Grassley quote above, I have one question: Holder himself asked last year for the Inspector General (another Executive Branch outfit, organized under State Dept.) to investigate Fast and Furious. They hold some 74,000 pages of documents that Holder turned over to them. So why can't Congress just order up those documents from the Inspector General?

I don't know what the rules are on that, to be honest. But it seems like it would be easier than beating a dead horse (Holder's office)....

I recently saw an interview with Issa on Fox cable News. His answer to that very question was, that as long as those documents were being held in a supposedly active investigation, the one Holder set up and turned the 74,000 pages over to, the only way they could be released is if Holder agreed to it.

How's that for setting up a back room deal to keep those documents from prying eyes....

ETA Watching news now on FOX on this topic. Yep Holder said he can't release those documents because of ongoing investigation....gimme a break...

Des

edit on 11-6-2012 by Destinyone because: (no reason given)

I'm back. We had an electrical outage here (Oakland, CA). Just came back on a few minutes ago.

Thanks for that info Des. I might have expected it would be something like that. God I am so sick of it all....

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan
he will be convicted and pardoned by an outgoing president.

Yeah. Sigh.... IF he's convicted. God I'm so sick of it all....

reply to post by Ex_CT2


If you want to understand the way government works, study how the mafia works. They legitimize themselves in large meetings where people that the masses vote on (and believe they have a choice in) make decisions that are fully legitimized by the fact that there is a process (no matter how convoluted and corrupt) that is in place to aid in this legitimacy.

I was telling a family member today, while they made excuses for their bad decisions that created their current dillemma, that the right thing to do is always obvious, yet often painful. All you have to do is make the choice to endure the pain that comes with being righteous. No, I am not a saint, but having this realization demands my fullest efforts.

In government, the processes do not take what is right into account. It only takes into account the policies created by brokered deals between wealthy individuals who, as is always seen, use their positions to increase their wealth. They justify this by creating wealth for all those under them. Just like the mafia. And, like the mafia, the only way that their actions are legitimate is within the confines of their process, protocol, and policies. To the objective observer, it is obviously corrupt.

Problem in America is, there are VERY few objective observers. Almost everyone has a prejudice, buys into the political melodrama (as i call it, "The False Political Dichotomy"), and is worried about "getting their own" in this world of manufactured scarcity. Another mafia tactic: cement your power by making yourself needed (protection rackets, for example)