Contempt: Committee votes 23-17, finds Attorney General Holder in contempt; Update: Holder responds,

Twitchy US Politics ^ | June 20, 2012 | Mark Knoller

[lbryce]

Complete Title: Contempt: Commit Votes 23-17, Finds Attorney AG Holder in Contempt; Update: Holder Responds, Will Media?

House Oversight Committee votes 23-17 to cite Atty Gen Eric Holder for contempt of Congress for withholding subpoenaed documents. 20 Jun 12

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Despite President Obama’s use of executive privilege this morning, the hearing before a vote on holding Attorney General Holder in contempt proceeded. And proceeded.

Minutes ago, the vote took place.

Katie Pavlich @KatiePavlich

23-17 HOLDER HELD I CONTEMPT, now moves to the House #fastandfurious 20 Jun 12

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GOP Oversight

✔

@GOPoversight

23-17: We just sent the #EricHolder #contempt resolution to the full US House of Representatives

[diverteach]

“I’m just curious. I definitely wanted Congress to do it, but thought this would get him fired. Does this just put a reprimand in his file or what? I.E. does this action have any teeth?”

Please correct me if I’m wrong.

I would imagine that since Holder is head of the Justice dept that in itself makes for no way for there not to have a conflict of interest with the court system and therefore would be up to congress to deal with it through impeachment.???

Then of course should that happen it would most certainly result in numerous wrongful death civil suits from both the families of the border agents killed AND any families in Mexico who could also prove weapons from this operation were involved.

[newzjunkey]

The Republican voted for contempt, the Dems voted against.

REPUBLICANS
Rep. Darrell E. Issa (CA-49)
Rep. Dan Burton (IN-05)
Rep. John L. Mica (FL-07)
Rep. Todd Platts (PA-19)
Rep. Michael Turner (OH-03)
Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (NC-10)
Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-04)
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (UT-03)
Rep. Connie Mack (FL-14)
Rep. Tim Walberg (MI-3)
Rep. James Lankford (OK-5)
Rep. Justin Amash (MI-3)
Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (NY-25)
Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ-1)
Rep. Raúl R. Labrador (ID-1)
Rep. Pat Meehan (PA-7)
Rep. Scott DesJarlais (TN-4)
Rep. Joe Walsh (IL-8)
Rep. Trey Gowdy (SC-4)
Rep. Dennis Ross (FL-12)
Rep. Frank Guinta (NH-1)
Rep. Blake Farenthold (TX-27)
Rep. Mike Kelly (PA-3)

DEMOCRATS
Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD-7)
Rep. Edolphus Towns (NY-10)
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14)
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D.C.)
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (OH-10)
Rep. John Tierney (MA-6)
Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (MO-1)
Rep. Stephen Lynch (MA-9)
Rep. Jim Cooper (TN-5)
Rep. Gerald Connolly (VA-11)
Rep. Mike Quigley (IL-5)
Rep. Danny Davis (IL-7)
Rep. Bruce Braley (IA-1)
Rep. Peter Welch (VT-At-Large)
Rep. John Yarmuth (KY-3)
Rep. Christopher Murphy (CT-5)
Rep. Jackie Speier (CA-12)

[Michael Barnes]

Well, I guess I better start spoon feeding myself that crow. I didn't think Issa was gonna do it.

I stand corrected.

[Still Thinking]

I don’t think so.

[IrishPennant]

A pardon doesn’t do jack for a civil suit, does it?

I'm diggin' your thinkin' here. $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail means you can keep your stash....Pardon means you can keep your stash...either way, you are still civilly liable and your assets are up for grabs!!!!

[SJackson]

Yes, Ford pardoned Nixon for all offenses committed, or not committed depending on ones views.

I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, pursuant to the pardon power conferred upon me by Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, have granted and by these presents do grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed or taken part in during the period from July (January) 20, 1969 through August 9, 1974. You might recall at the end of GWB's 2nd term there was some disappointment that he didn't do the same thing to protect CIA and military operatives from future charges. Holder won't be wearing an orange suit.

[Third Person]

Issa is a brave and true leader.

[thouworm]

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Statement of Attorney General Eric Holder on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Vote

Attorney General Eric Holder issued the following statement today:

“In recent months, the Justice Department has made unprecedented accommodations to respond to information requests by Chairman Issa about misguided law enforcement tactics that began in the previous administration and allowed illegal guns to be taken into Mexico. Department professionals have spent countless hours compiling and providing thousands of documents — nearly 8,000 — to Chairman Issa and his committee. My staff has had numerous meetings with congressional staff to try and accommodate these requests and yesterday, I met with Chairman Issa to offer additional internal Department documents and information that would satisfy what he identified as the Committee’s single outstanding question.

“Unfortunately, Chairman Issa has rejected all of these efforts to reach a reasonable accommodation. Instead, he has chosen to use his authority to take an extraordinary, unprecedented and entirely unnecessary action, intended to provoke an avoidable conflict between Congress and the Executive Branch. This divisive action does not help us fix the problems that led to this operation or previous ones and it does nothing to make any of our law enforcement agents safer. It’s an election-year tactic intended to distract attention — and, as a result — has deflected critical resources from fulfilling what remains my top priority at the Department of Justice: Protecting the American people.

“Simply put, any claims that the Justice Department has been unresponsive to requests for information are untrue. From the beginning, Chairman Issa and certain members of the Committee have made unsubstantiated allegations first, then scrambled for facts to try to justify them later. That might make for good political theater, but it does little to uncover the truth or address the problems associated with this operation and prior ones dating back to the previous Administration.

“I have spent most of my career in law enforcement and worked closely with brave agents who put their lives on the line every day. I know the sacrifices they make, so as soon as allegations of gunwalking came to my attention – and well before Chairman Issa expressed any interest in this issue — I ordered the practice stopped. I made necessary personnel changes in the Department’s leadership and instituted policy changes to ensure better oversight of significant investigations. And, I directed the Department’s Inspector General to open a comprehensive investigation. That investigation is ongoing, and the American people and Congress can count on it to produce a tough, independent review of the facts.

“When Chairman Issa later began his own investigation, I made it clear that the Department would cooperate with all appropriate oversight requests, while still adhering to our legal obligations to protect information involving ongoing law enforcement investigations, legally-protected grand jury material and other sensitive information whose disclosure would endanger the American people or our agents investigating open cases.

“The American people deserve better. That is why, I will remain focused on, and committed to, the Justice Department’s mission to protect the rights, safety, and best interests of my fellow citizens and to stand by my brave colleagues in law enforcement.”

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/June/12-ag-776.html

[rcrngroup]

Even though Dennis Kucinich (OH-10)(D) is a RAT bastard, demoRAT, actually more a full fledged socialist, I felt he was generally more of an independent thinker as opposed to just being part of the demoRAT plantation ideology & agenda. With Holder's obstructions & dishonesty & stonewalling, plus trafficking in illicit gun running and murder of 2 U.S. border patrol agents, I would have thought these facts would compel Kucinich to buck the 0dumb0-Holder party line and vote for the contempt resolution. Guess Kucinich is every bit as much a part of the 0dumb0-Holder corruption as all the other RAT bastard D's.

[offduty]

Interesting reply by AG Holder. I especially like the portion where he states he found out about the gunwalking BEFORE Issa and ordered it stopped and an IG investigation.
Hmmm...that doesn’t seem to square with his testimony under oath before the Committee. I thought he only found out about it weeks...or was it months (depends on which letter you read) before his testimony.

Methinks Mr. Holder just gave Issa the written proof that he perjured himself in front of a Congressional Committee.

This piece of work can’t even keep his stories straight. Resignation is not warranted in this case. Criminal prosecution is. It’s time for a perp-walk.

[optiguy]

That stuck out to me as well.

[tsowellfan]

Issa is a brave and true leader.

He should know how much we support such leadership.

[kanawa]

[jurroppi1]

This whole letter is Holder confounding his botched operation with the previous administration’s operation that lost what, one or two guns that had trackers on them and were later found through diligent effort and no one got killed (IIRC)?

Yeah, that takes some real brass to make that comparison.

[jurroppi1]

on second thought, confabulating might be a better word to use here...

[Girlene]

Interesting reply by AG Holder. I especially like the portion where he states he found out about the gunwalking BEFORE Issa and ordered it stopped and an IG investigation.

Hmmm...that doesn’t seem to square with his testimony under oath before the Committee. I thought he only found out about it weeks...or was it months (depends on which letter you read) before his testimony.

Agreed. His reply made no sense.

[digital-olive]

His friend E.T. must of told him not to vote for the contempt.

[Blood of Tyrants]

What is worse is how the Rats have decided that their role in this hearing is to defend Holder KNOWING FULL WELL that he is probably guilty of overseeing a scheme to illegally place the guns in the hands of known criminals and to facilitate their illegal deportation to Mexico. The Rats on the committee ought to be brought up on charges of contempt, too.

[JoshuaLawrenceChamberlain]

That is because NBC is a domestic terrorist organization that has dedicated billions of tax payer money to anarchy, disruption and destruction of all traditional American values.
Lean forward... And take it dry.
Unfortunately for them they have complete destroyed every single one of its own entities in the process

[Tennessee Nana]

Rep. Scott DesJarlais (TN-4)
_____________________________________

My new Congressman...

My half of our county have been kicked out of the 3rd District ...

Hes off to a kind of good start ...

except for the veterans...