Contempt vote scheduled for Holder in House Committee tomorrow

The Fox News article is available here.  Holder demanded that if he gave Issa a briefing and some supportive documents, the case would have to be closed down.  Issa had dramatically scaled down his request for documents.

"Issa wrote back to Holder later Monday requesting he deliver roughly 1,300 documents pertaining to the Feb. 4 letter. . . ."

Holder also has not fired anyone over Fast & Furious.


National Border Patrol Council represents about 17,000 agents.  From the Daily Caller:

The National Border Patrol Council — the union that represents Border Patrol agents around the country — demanded Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation over Operation Fast and Furious on Monday.
According to the Arizona Daily Star, the union deliberated for over a year before making this call for Holder to step down.
“This is something that all of our guys are concerned about, because they know it could be any one of them,” Shawn Moran, a union vice president, said according to the Arizona paper. . . .

Some calls from politicians

SEN. JOHN CORNYN, R-TEXAS: You violated the public trust, in my view, and by failing and refusing to perform the duties of your office. So, Mr. Attorney General, it is more with sorrow and regret than anger that I would say that you leave me no alternative but to join those who call upon you to resign your office. It is my sincere hope that president Obama will replace you with someone who is up to that challenge. . . .
VAN SUSTEREN: Senator Cornyn says he should resign, the attorney general. Do you agree with Senator Cornyn.
GRASSLEY: If you asked me a few hours ago I probably would have said yes. I am open to his so-called negotiation. But I don't like the fact that he is talking about a constitutional crisis, because he has created this constitutional crisis. And I think it's a situation of where he is waking up to the fact that there are people serious about getting this information one way or the other. And he should be held in contempt if he doesn't give us this information because he's taking contemptible action against the Congress. . . .

129 Congressmen called for Holder's resignation as of Tuesday.

Huckabee joins 129 House members, five U.S. senators, two sitting governors and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney in calling for Holder to leave office. Others who have joined them include the NRA, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and many candidates nationwide. . . . .

Huckabee summarizes it pretty well.

“In an administration that pledged transparency, the Department of Justice has operated not merely opaquely, but behind the stone walls of stone-walling,” he said. “After 18 months, numerous hearings, and threats of contempt of Congress charges regarding the disastrous Fast and Furious program that used American taxpayer money to buy guns, put them in the hands of Mexican drug dealers, he has released just over 7,000 documents of 140,000 that Congress has requested. 300 Mexicans are dead, and one American border patrol agent is dead. He has yet to answer what he knew and when he knew it about this disgusting fiasco.” . . . 

Politico describes the differences between Issa and Holder

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. . . .
“To summarize, he came with an offer of a briefing,” Issa told reporters in the Capitol after the meeting. “We went through the process of what was being offered, as I think we have to, which is that the documents that they may choose to give in the future, we need to have tomorrow. Ultimately, the documents necessary to cause a postponement appear to be in their possession. We’re hoping that we have them tonight. If we can evaluate them even partially, that will give us grounds to negotiate a postponement and perhaps a final resolution.” . . .

The investigation finally got going again when a mole in DOJ gave Rep. Issa some important documents.

Big news about the Obama Administration’s “Fast and Furious” scandal broke earlier this week, when the House Oversight committee finally got its hands on some of the documents it subpoenaed long ago – specifically, a set of wiretap applications that prove high officials at the Justice Department were very well aware of the deadly “gun walking” tactics that put American weapons into the hands of Mexican drug cartel killers.  Attorney General Eric Holder has always maintained that knowledge of these tactics did not reach the upper echelons of his department.
The revelation of documents shredding Holder’s claims stirred some in the Republican leadership to begin taking the idea of filing contempt of Congress charges against the Attorney General more seriously.  Justice sent a letter to the House Republican leadership on Tuesday, offering to work out a deal for releasing some of the “Fast and Furious” information covered by those long-defied subpoenas.  As House Oversight chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) said in an angry letter challenging Holder’s honesty, it’s increasingly clear why he doesn’t want congressional investigators to see the documents he is refusing to hand over.
It turns out that Issa didn’t get those bombshell wiretap applications because Holder suddenly decided to comply with the subpoenas, and dribble out some useful material.  It seems the House Oversight committee has a “mole” in the Justice Department, who surreptitiously gave the wiretap documentation to House investigators. . . .