The top Republican on the House Oversight Committee is moving to hold
Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for failing to
cooperate in the panel's investigation of the controversial "Operation
Fast and Furious" weapons sting.
Rep. Darrell Issa,
R-California, sent a 17-page memo and a draft contempt resolution to
members of his committee Thursday, outlining what he argued was Justice
Department's "refusal" to comply with the panel's probe to get
information about the sting set up by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives that allowed weapons to be purchased illegally
in order to track them to senior drug cartel members.
Issa indicated the
committee may vote on the measure in an upcoming session, setting up a
major confrontation between the Republican-led House and the Obama
administration.
The Justice Department
firmly rejected the committee's publicly released document. A senior
Justice Department official disputed the contention that Holder has
failed to comply with the requests of the House Committee on
Investigations and Governmental Reform.
"The department continues
to comply with committee information requests. We would note the
attorney general has testified on this no less than seven times in the
last year and a half. We've provided many officials for hearings,
interviews, and briefings, and thousands of documents," the official
told CNN.
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