House is Set to Vote on Finding Eric Holder in Contempt of Congress

Regardless of outcome, GOA’s lawsuit forges ahead.

Gun Owners of America

Washington, DC –-(Ammoland.com)- The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on a contempt citation against Attorney General Eric Holder this Thursday because of his role in suppressing and withholding Fast & Furious documents from congressional investigators.

A successful vote would represent the first time in history that the U.S. Congress has held an Attorney General in contempt.

The lead investigator, Rep. Darrell Issa of California, heads the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which last week voted to send the contempt citation to the floor of the full House.

Rep. Issa said that he’s committed to fixing the problems related to Operation Fast & Furious — where the Obama administration helped gun smugglers sneak firearms south of the border in an apparent attempt to create a demand for more gun control laws in the U.S.

Remember, this is the Attorney General who stated in 1995 that he wanted an ad campaign to “brainwash” people into supporting gun control.

Democrats claim that Issa’s investigation is just a political “witch hunt.” But they ignore the fact that hundreds died while Holder lied.

“We know that there’s a lot of wrong things and we want to fix it,” Issa said. “[But] when the American people get lied to, there can’t be oversight.”

Issa told CNN he was surprised that President Obama exerted executive privilege in an attempt to seal up the requested documents. This move, he says, indicates the White House’s role in Fast & Furious “has been greater than previously acknowledged.”

This revelation – that the President himself may have had more intimate knowledge of Fast & Furious – is greatly motivating legislators on both sides of Capitol Hill. The ranking Senator on the Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, said that he had previously only traced the Fast & Furious program to an assistant attorney general.

But now Grassley says that Obama’s claim of executive privilege “raises the question of what does the president know and when did he know it.”

The contempt vote is expected to garner the support of some Democrats in the House. And for this reason, the White House might still try to work out a deal – releasing some of the requested documents – in an attempt to stave off Thursday’s vote.

Regardless, the Gun Owners Foundation’s lawsuit will continue to forge ahead. As we reported earlier this month, GOF has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for DC to compel the Justice Department to produce tens of thousands of documents related to Operation Fast & Furious.

If Eric Holder were to refuse the court’s demand for producing documents, then a “contempt of court” citation could land the Attorney General in jail.

ACTION: Click here to send a prewritten letter urging your Representative to support finding Eric Holder in contempt of Congress on Thursday.

About:
Gun Owners of America (GOA) is a non-profit lobbying organization formed in 1975 to preserve and defend the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. GOA sees firearms ownership as a freedom issue. `The only no comprise gun lobby in Washington’ – Ron Paul