Obomination: Holding Attorney General in Contempt Now “On the Table”

Republican House leaders are threatening to hold the Attorney General in contempt. Politico reports that “If Justice complies only partially with the Issa subpoena, leadership will send a contempt referral to DOJ, accusing the agency of obstructing a congressional investigation.”

Last Friday, Republican leadership sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday citing a “lack of full cooperation from the Department of Justice” in the Congressional investigation of Fast and Furious. The letter from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy indicates that "If necessary, the House will act to fulfill our constitutional obligations in the coming weeks.”  Boehner explained that this means “all options are on the table.”

There are two key items that the legislators want to know: "First, who on your leadership team was informed of the reckless tactics used in Fast & Furious prior to Agent Terry's murder; and, second, did your leadership team mislead or misinform Congress in response to a Congressional subpoena?"   They requested communications in the Justice Department after February 4, 2011 to answer such questions.

An American federal agent has been killed as a result of the outrageous gunwalking program, Fast and Furious.  Congress has constitutional duties to conduct oversight, but it has not been given all the documents requested from the Obama administration.  This stonewalling has to stop so we can get to the truth.  Speaker John Boehner said that we must “hold everyone at the Department of Justice and the administration accountable” who is responsible.