House moving forward with contempt proceedings against Holder

The House of Representatives is moving forward with proceedings to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress — a major escalation in the separation-of-powers battle over “Fast and Furious,” the Obama administration’s botched gun-walking operation.

Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said his panel will take up the contempt issue next week, and the move has the blessing of House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican.

“The Justice Department is out of excuses,” Mr. Boehner said in a statement Monday morning. “Either the Justice Department turns over the information requested, or Congress will have no choice but to move forward with holding the Attorney General in contempt for obstructing an ongoing investigation.”

Both Mr. Holder and President Obama have acknowledged the operation — which allowed guns to be sold to straw purchasers in the U.S. with the knowledge they were being sent across the border to Mexican cartels — was wrong. But they said the operation was handled entirely by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives employees, with little oversight at the Justice Department.

Mr. Issa, though, is investigating who in the Justice Department knew of the operation’s tactics. He has obtained sealed affidavits supporting wiretaps that he says indicate top Justice officials knew the tactics.

Read more at the Washington Times HERE.