U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday testified in front of the House Oversight Committee over the investigation of the botched Operation Fast and Furious gun-smuggling program.
“This has become political, that’s fine,” Holder said, according to The Associated Press. He added there is no “cover-up” after House Republicans demanded that the Justice Department give up documents about handling of the program.
“I think you’re hiding behind something here,” Republican Rep. Dan Burton from Indiana told Holder, according to AP. “You ought to give us the documents. ... It appears we’re being stonewalled.”
The operation was created to monitor the flow of weapons and allowed illegally purchased guns to be taken from gun stores in the United States across the Mexican border. Many of these weapons were lost or went unaccounted for, which caused the controversy.
Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from California, said that he would begin a contempt proceeding against Holder to release more documents, according to CNN.
“If the department continues to obstruct the congressional inquiry by not providing documents and information, this committee will have no alternative but to move forward with proceedings to hold you in contempt of Congress,” Issa said, according to the news agency.
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