House holds Eric Holder in contempt: What happens to him now? (+video)

Republicans say Attorney General Eric Holder is withholding documents that could show a coverup. Democrats say the investigation is a witch hunt. The outcome? Likely, more delay.

By David Grant,?Staff writer / June 28, 2012

Rep. John Lewis (D) of Georgia (c.), House Democratic whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland (r.), and other Democrats hold a moment of silence for slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry during a news conference on Thursday, after the group walked off the House floor in protest of a contempt of Congress vote for Attorney General Eric Holder.

David Goldman/AP

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In a debate and vote that was emotional, rhetorically explosive, and bitterly divisive ? even by congressional standards ? the House of Representatives voted Thursday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress over the Fast and Furious gun-walking debacle. The House held Mr. Holder in contempt on two separate votes of 255 to 67 on criminal charges and 258 to 95 on civil charges.

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'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "off"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // --> All but two Republicans in the House have voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. But more than 100 Democrats boycotted the vote, calling it a political stunt.

Seventeen Democrats joined all but two House Republicans on the first vote, while 21 Democrats joined a united Republican front for the second. The National Rifle Association?s announcement that it will score the vote on on its annual ratings of members of Congress pressured Democrats from conservative-leaning districts to favor the measure.

Several dozen Democratic members led by the Congressional Black Caucus but including the party leaders like minority leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi and House whip Steny Hoyer walked out of the House chamber in protest, holding a press conference on the House lawn where they derided the vote as a ?ridiculous partisan stunt.? More than 100 Democrats did not vote on the first measure, while 70 were absent for the second.

The votes were the first time in the nation?s history that a sitting Cabinet member had been held in contempt by either house of the US Congress. Only once before has Congress even used its other significant power of disdain, impeachment proceedings, against a sitting Cabinet official. That was in 1870 against William Belknap, President Ulysses Grant?s Secretary of War, according to Senate Historian Donald Ritchie.

So what?s the outcome of a pair of historic votes in the House today?

In all likelihood, nothing.
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When the House?s measure is referred to the Justice Department, the institution could use what?s known as prosecutorial discretion to avoid taking up the issue. That?s what the Justice Department decided under President Bush when House Democrats moved criminal contempt charges against two members of the White House staff who refused to testify before Congress in 2008.

The House could then file a civil contempt suit in federal court, asking a judge to compel Holder to deliver the documents in question. If the 2008 saga is any barometer, a legal fight in the courts will likely take years.

The day?s vote capped a contentious, year-long showdown between congressional Republicans, led by House Government Oversight Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa (R) of California and Holder, who has appeared before Congress nine times and delivered thousands of pages of documents relating to Fast and Furious, an operation that began in 2009 when federal agents allowed guns to ?walk? into Mexico in order to trace where they ended up and that came to a head when guns from the scheme were linked to the death of an American border agent.

Holder was being held in contempt for failing to provide documents to the House Oversight panel, after President Obama claimed executive privilege to shield the documents, which stem from a period after Fast and Furious was shut down.?

Republicans claim that the documents could show a Justice Department coverup. Democrats say that the conduct of the House Oversight Committee, especially the shift to the period after the operation was complete, show that the entire investigation is a political witch hunt.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/5oGrSAUcCy0/House-holds-Eric-Holder-in-contempt-What-happens-to-him-now-video

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