WASHINGTON—A House committee will vote June 20 on whether to hold U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt, the committee announced Monday.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by California Republican Darrell Issa, is after documents from the Justice Department (DOJ) relating to the botched gun-tracking program, Fast and Furious.
“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,” Issa said in a statement.
The DOJ has refused to release the documents, created after Feb 4, 2011, saying they show “internal department deliberations,” Issa says, but he has accused Holder of obstructing the investigation and in doing so of contempt.
“Congress has an obligation to investigate unanswered questions about attempts to smear whistle-blowers, failures by Justice Department officials to be truthful and candid with the congressional investigation, and the reasons for the significant delay in acknowledging reckless conduct in Operation Fast and Furious,” he said in the statement.
The Fast and Furious gun-walking program, set up to stop the flow of weapons from the United States into Mexico, backfired when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) allowed thousands of guns to be purchased by straw purchasers—arms traffickers ostensibly working on behalf of Mexican drug cartels.
Fewer than half the guns were tracked down and some were found at the scene of violent crimes, including the shooting death of Arizona Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.
